ONE-VAEIETY COTTOlsT COMMUISriTIES. 17 



when definite advantages have been shown and seed supplies are 

 available, so that all neighboring farmers may change together to the 

 new variety. 



RENAMING VARIETIES OF COTTON. 



The practice of renaming varieties is one of the obstacles in the 

 way of a more general understanding and application of the one- 

 variety plan, as tending to conceal or obscure the fact that the same 

 variety of cotton can be maintained and utilized in the same commu- 

 nity for many years with no deterioration or " running out " if isola- 

 tion and selection are maintained. 



No doubt the renaming of varieties is, at least in part, a concession 

 to the popular idea that new kinds are needed every few years. 

 Knowing that this idea is prevalent, the dealers suppose that more 

 seed can be sold under new names than by continuing to offer old and 

 well-known varieties. With the public better informed regarding the 

 value of good varieties and the need of maintaining supplies of pure 

 seed, the policy of renaming varieties may be altered. Farmers who 

 are sufficiently intelligent to buy good seed in practical quantities 

 prefer to know what they are buying, whether it is a variety already 

 known or a new and different sort. They do not wish to buy even 

 good seed under a new or unnecessary name. 



Special quality of seed is properly to be claimed if careful selection 

 of the basic stocks is continued and the seed-increase fields are in- 

 spected to see that the plants are uniform and to remove the off-type 

 individuals that continue to appear even in the best stocks. But 

 the use of precautions to keep a variety pure is not a reason for 

 changing the name. Discarding the original name tends rather to 

 confuse the public and to restrict the use of the variety instead of 

 securing a wider appreciation of its value. In view of the general 

 scarcity and active demand for good seed of such varieties as Co- 

 lumbia and Lone Star, it is difficult to believe that anything was 

 gained by advertising some of the seed stocks under new names, like 

 " Webber " or " Bennett." The Foster variety, also originated and 

 distributed by the United States Department of Agriculture, was ex- 

 ploited for several years in Mississippi and in the Imperial Valley of 

 California as "Unknown." At Yuma, Ariz., in 1919, a stock of 

 Durango seed was sold as " Rowden " to settlers from Texas who were 

 anxious to grow the true Eowden cotton, a big-boll sort that is very 

 popular in some of the sandy land districts of Texas. But the so- 

 called " Rowden " of the Yuma Valley attracted further attention 

 by yielding a premium staple, and now a " California Improved 

 Rowden " is being advertised in Texas as a new and valuable long- 

 staple Upland variety. 

 2551°— 22 3 



