UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 1030 



Joint Contribution from the Bureau of Markets and 

 Crop Estimates, H- C. TAYLOR, Chief, and the Bu- 

 reau of Plant Industry, WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



S^T^'^U-U 



Washington, D. C. 



V 



March 10, 1922 



MEADE COTTON, AN UPLAND LONG-STAPLE 

 VARIETY REPLACING SEA ISLAND. 



By G. S. Melot, Bureau of Markets, and C. B. Doyle, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

 Need of replacing Sea Island cotton- 1 

 Decline of the Sea Island industry. _ 2 

 Value of Meade cotton as a substi- 

 tute for Sea Island demonstrated- 2 



Origin of the Meade variety 3 



Description of the variety 4 



Meade cotton adapted to Sea Island 



conditions 4 



Increasing seed supplies in 1918 6 



Experiments with Meade cotton in 



1917 and 1918 9 



Work with Meade cotton in 1919 , 10 



Page. 



Extending the cultivation of Meade 



cotton in 1920 11 



Production of Meade cotton In 1920_ 14 



Cultivation of Meade cotton 1.5 



Closer spacing with Meade cotton 16 



Problem of seed supply of Meade 



cotton 18 



Selection necessary to maintain uni- 

 formity 19 



Spanning tests of Meade cotton 20 



Conclusions 23 



Literature cited 24 



NEED OF REPLACING SEA ISLAND COTTON. 



Since the arrival of the boll weevil in the Sea Island cotton dis- 

 tricts of the southeastern United States the production of this valu- 

 able fiber has been rapidly declining. The large growth of the 

 plants and the late maturity of the crop render Sea Island cotton 

 particularly susceptible to injury by the weevil. From an average 

 yearly production of 90,000 bales in the 10 years before 1917, less than 

 2,000 bales have been reported from the 1920 crop. 



For several years before the boll weevil reached the Atlantic sea- 

 board it was evident that this insect was likely to destroy the Sea 

 Island cotton industry. Efforts were made to develop earlier strains 

 of the Sea Island type in the hope that production might be continued, 

 but in this direction no practical results have been obtained. During 

 the same period experimental plantings of Meade cotton, a new va- 

 riety of the Upland type developed in northeastern Texas, gave indi- 

 cations of being adapted to the southeastern conditions and showed 

 promise of success as a substitute for Sea Island cotton. Meade cot- 

 ton is an early-maturing long-staple Upland variety producing a 



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