ON TEXTILE PLANTS 



years, the best pure types of cotton represented in 

 the strains under investigation will have been 

 isolated, and the experimenter will find it difficult 

 or impossible to make further improvement by the 

 mere process of selection. 



Then it will be necessary to introduce the 

 method of hybridizing, to give new vigor to the 

 plants and to produce new segregations and com- 

 binations of characters that will be equivalent to 

 the production of new varieties. And for this 

 purpose, as I have already suggested, the mixing 

 of strains of the American cotton with the Oriental 

 ones, and also doubtless, the utilization of some 

 hitherto neglected wild species may be expected, 

 reasoning from analogy, to prove of value. 



A beginning is said to have been made by H. 

 H. Webber, through combining the fine, long, 

 strong lint of the Sea Island cotton with the large 

 bolls and productiveness of the upland cotton. 

 Insect Foes of Cotton 



It goes without saying that a highly specialized 

 plant like the cotton, and in particular a plant 

 growing in sub-tropical regions, is subject to the 

 attacks of many insects. 



In point of fact, the distinguished entomologist. 

 Dr. L. 0. Howard, enumerates no fewer than 465 

 species of insects that feed upon the cotton plant. 

 But among these there are four that are so pre- 



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