18 'BULLETIN- 1030, U. S. DEPAETMEISTT OF AGEICULTURE. 



PROBLEM OF SEED SUPPLY OF MEADE COTTON. 



The successful substitution of Meade cotton for Sea Island T\-ill- 

 dej^end largely upon the extent of cooperation developed between 

 the farmers and ginners to establish and maintain a supph' of pure 

 seed. The purity of a stock can not be maintained if more than one 

 variety is grown in the same or in an adjacent field, for hybridization 

 by insects that visit the flowers is sure to follow. The failure of the 

 Sea Island growers to appreciate the importance of complete isola- 

 tion and clean ginning for their cotton has been responsible for the 

 popular idea that varieties are bound to run out and that new seed 

 must be secured every few j-ears. They have failed to appreciate 

 the fact that the growers of fine Sea Island cotton on the islands off 

 the coast of South Carolina, from whom their new supplies of seed 

 were obtained, maintained the purity of their stocks by growing only 

 one variety, selecting their seed for planting each j^ear and ginning 

 their crop on their own private gins. The present flourishing Egyp- 

 tian cotton industi'}^ in Arizona owes its success to an early apprecia- 

 tion of the fact that' the purity and high quality of the product could 

 not be maintained if more than one variety of cotton were grown in 

 the same community. 



The demand for seed of Meade cotton is becoming increasingly 

 large, and efforts are being made to develop an adequate supply of 

 pure seed as soon as possible. Progress has been slower than was 

 anticipated, however, because of the lack of cooperation between the 

 growers and ginners, resulting from the failure of the farmers to 

 appreciate the necessity for clean ginning and of the gimiers to 

 appreciate their responsibilitj' to the community in assisting in the 

 maintenance of pure stocks of seed. 



With the decrease of Sea Island cotton production these ginning 

 difficulties are likely to be less serious, but there will still remain the 

 necessity for the constant selection and complete isolation of Meade 

 cotton from which seed for planting is to be obtained. Hybrids 

 between the Sea Island and Meade cottons are easil}^ detected and 

 can be rogued out in the early part of the season, but crosses between 

 the Meade and short cotton can be distinguished only with great 

 difficulty before the fiber and seed can be examined, and then the 

 damage by cross-pollination has already been done. 



SELECTION NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN UNIFORMITY. 



No matter how well selected the Meade stock may be, contmuous 

 selection will be necessary to maintain uniformity in the fiber. In 

 the most carefully selected stocks inferior plants will appear; and 

 if these are permitted to remain in the field, insects that visit the 

 flowers carry the pollen from the bad plants to the good ones, and 

 the seed produced by such plants is generally of inferior quality. 



