FIELD FOR ECONOMIC PLANT BREEDING IN THE COT- 
TON BELT* 
DAVID R. COKER 
In considering any subject related to the present condition of 
Southern Agriculture, it is well to remember that our section has 
not completely recovered from the effect of the civil war and the 
ensuing period of negro rule. This cannot be but plain to the 
student of Southern Agricultural conditions and is largely caused 
by the almost complete paralysis of our educational system during 
and for some years after the war. 
A large percentage of our farmers, not having had the opportu- 
nity to obtain an education, have been unable to keep full pace 
with the advance of their profession. The influence of our Agri- 
cultural Colleges and the missionary work of such men as Dr. J. 
M. McBryde, Col. J. S. Newman, Prof. W. F. Massey, Mr. E. 
Mclver Williamson and Editors Jackson and Hunnicutt are, how- 
ever, plainly evident in the general and rapid improvement of 
conditions. 
Though great advances along many lines have been made, the 
subject of plant breeding and its vital relation to agriculture has 
hardly begun to attract attention in our section. Scarcely any of 
our farmers have the slightest conception of what plant breeding 
means, and there is now almost no supply of pedigreed seed of 
any of our staple crops. Our farmers, however, can be counted 
on to buy scientifically bred seed and devote some attention to 
seed selection, as soon as the great value of pure breeding is 
impressed upon them. Our Agricultural Colleges and farm journ- 
als have a gread field for missionary work on this subject, which, 
as yet, they have scarcely touched. 
♦Read before the American Breeders Association, Washington, D. C., 
January 30th, 1908. 
1908] 
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