4 BULLETIN 1056, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



cotton harvested late in the season, after frosts and storms, almost 

 invariably is of low vitality and of poor quality for planting pur- 

 poses. If a field contains a high percentage of diseased plants this 

 fact immediately disqualifies it as a source of planting seed supply. 

 Also, any appreciable damage by the boll weevil and pink boll worm 

 renders cotton seed unfit for planting purposes even in infested ter- 

 ritory, while quarantine measures prohibit the shipment and sale of 

 cotton seed from infested areas into noninfested territory. 



PREPARATION. 



Cotton seed, unlike most other leading field seeds, continues to be 

 sold and planted in a rather crude physical condition. Dealers seem 

 to overlook the fact that commercial cotton seed of the most carefully 

 selected and improved strains can be made of still greater value from 

 the farmers' point of view by the use of modern machinery in gin- 

 ning, delinting, and recleaning and grading. The commercial ad- 

 vantages of better preparation are measured by the agricultural 

 advantages accruing to the farmer planting the better prepared seed. 

 If it does not mean a larger net profit to the farmer by promoting 

 more economical production or a greater yield, the increased cost is 

 not justified. On the other hand when it is evident that a process 

 or method of improving the physical condition of cotton seed en- 

 hances its value for planting purposes, it is incumbent on the dealer 

 to use the process. A reduction of 100,000 tons of cotton seed in the 

 annual seeding requirement and a saving of 30,000,000 pounds of 

 linters, now a total waste, for industrial purposes, would result 

 through the more thorough and uniform removal of the surplus lint 

 and the culling out of all extraneous matter and small and light- 

 weight inferior seed by the application of such methods as are now 

 available. 



GINNING. 



The first mechanical operation affecting the appearance and physi- 

 cal condition of cotton seed is ginning. 3 Improvements in ginning 

 machinery during recent years enable the operator to produce much 

 cleaner seed than formerly. Most of the sand, dirt, burs, and other 

 foreign material is removed automatically. The most modernly 

 equipped gin plant, however, will not turn out seed in the best con- 

 dition unless a thoroughly competent operator is in charge and unless 

 the cotton to be ginned is fully matured and dry. There are thou- 

 sands of gins in the cotton belt but relatively few skilled operators 

 who appreciate the importance of improving the physical condition 



s Taylor, Fred, Griffith, D. C, and- Atkinson, C. E. : Cotton Ginning Information for 

 Farmers, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 764. 1916. 



