12 BULLETIN 668, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGKICXJLTUEE. 



The saving of seed through nurse planting makes it possible also 

 to duplicate or triplicate the planting in other fields. Such a pre- 

 caution would provide against the total loss of a selection because 

 of hail, floods, or other factors. Duplicate or triplicate plantings 

 also afford an opportune to study the behavior of the selection 

 under a wider range of soil and climatic conditions. 



While this method of nurse planting seems to be especially well 

 suited to the needs of breeders, it is possible also that such a method 

 would prove advantageous to the farmer who pays a high price for 

 a small quantity of select seed. It appears that he could thus in- 

 crease his seed to an extent that would enable him to plant his entire 

 farm one or two years sooner than if he employed the usual method 

 of increase. In order to avoid all danger of crossing, however, it 

 probably would be best for farmers to use beans or peas as a nurse 

 crop instead of different types of cotton. 



A way in which nurse planting small stocks of cotton seed could 

 be of immediate practical importance is in connection with the con- 

 gressional distribution of seed. The method of distribution is, first, 

 to send out quart packages of superior seed and follow these the 

 second year with half-bushel lots to those farmers who show by their 

 care of the quart samples and their report on the behavior of the 

 varieties the proper interest in establishing and maintaining a seed 

 supply. By nurse planting his half bushel of seed a farmer could 

 obtain a much greater increase of the variety than would be pos- 

 sible by the usual methods of planting. 



SUMMARY. 



The present methods of increasing select cotton are wasteful. The 

 number of seeds planted far exceeds the number of plants that can 

 be left to mature. Usually 50 to 75 per cent of the seedlings are 

 destroyed at the time of thinning. 



The method herein suggested substitutes other seeds, those of a dis- 

 tinct type of cotton or of beans or peas, for those select cotton seeds 

 that produce surplus plants. Thus, in thinning, the number of se- 

 lect seedlings that have to be destroj^ed is greatly reduced, most of 

 the surplus plants representing other seeds (beans or peas). These 

 plants are as effective as the select plants in breaking through a soil 

 crust, which is the chief purpose of planting at a high rate. 



At San Antonio, Tex., where experiments were conducted, suc- 

 cessful plantings of seed mixtures were made by improved methods- 

 in hills and in drills with both hand and mechanical corn planters. 

 The use of corn planters for planting cotton seed was made pos- 

 sible by delinting the cotton with sulphuric acid. 



By utilizing this method of nurse planting in increasing cotton 

 selections, it is believed that a gain of at least one year and prob- 

 ably three years in time can be effected, as 30 to GO per cent more 

 land may be planted each year with select seed than is possible by 

 present methods. 



WASHINGTON" : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1918. 



