10 Journal of the Mitchell Society [May 
There are for sale in the South numerous so called varieties of 
seed which are advertised under high sounding names and with 
most extravagant claims of productive capacity. Many of these, 
however, prove to be mixtures of types and are frequently found 
to be worse than valueless. Plant breeders, as well as farmers, 
would welcome an effort by the National and State Governments 
to stop this pestiferous class of swindling, and I hope the Associa- 
tion will take some steps to this end for the general good and pro- 
tection of its members. 
The importance of plant breeding to the south cannot better be 
shown than by calling attention to the value of some of the work 
that has already been done. 
The earliest work of this kind that is known of by the writer 
was undertaken before the war by Hon. John Townsend of Edisto 
Island, who succeeded in improving a strain of Sea Island cotton 
until its length was about two inches. I am informed that he 
invariably got $1.00 or more per pound for this cotton as long as 
he lived. Other Sea Island planters have kept up a more or less 
perfect system of breeding to the present day, and to this, in part 
at least, is undoubtedly due to the admitted pre-eminence of 
South Carolina Sea Islands. 
Valuable varieties of upland long staples have been originated 
by Mr. Allen and Mr. Griffin of Mississippi and Mr. Stoney and 
Prof. C. L. Newman of South Carolina. Prof. Newman has also 
done some remarkable work on field peas. 
The experiment Stations of all the cotton states are, I believe, 
now doing more or less plant breeding, but most of their work has 
not advanced far enough to have general effect on agricultural 
conditions. 
The work of the National Plant Breeding Department, under 
the direction of Dr. H. J. Webber, stands preeminent in the breed- 
ing of those of our economic plants to which attention has been 
given. 
The success of this department with pineapples, citrus fruits, 
cotton and tobacco are no doubt more or less familiar to all of 
this audience. 
The Columbia, bred by Dr. Webber personally, is the first of 
his cottons to be distributed by the Department of Agriculture. 
