177 



Scientific Agriculture. 



cularly fine individual is again selected for further breeding, as in the preceding 

 years, the same care being taken to determine the transmitting power to see that 

 this is up to the standard. The other plants grown from the individual specially 

 selected in the third year will this year give sufficient seed to plant a five acres seed 

 patch the fifth year. The seed used to plant the general crop of the fourth year is that 

 from the seed patch of the third year, grown from the unselected plants of the 

 second year, and thus the general crop the fourth year is derived directly from the 

 plant selected the first year, and so on through succeeding generations. The diagram 

 illustrates the above method of selection. 



1st YEAR. 2nd YEAR. 3rd YEAR. 4th YEAR 5th YEAR. 



Select Plant (1) 



500 

 PLANTS 



5 ACRES 



GENERAL 



CROP 

 50 ACRES 



SELECT PLANT (1) 



5 ACRES 



GENERAL 



CROP 

 50 ACRES 



SELECT PLANT (1) 



500 





PLANTS 





5 ACRES 



SELECT PLANT (1) 



500 

 PLANTS 



SELECT PLANT (1) 



Necessity op Selecting more than One Plant.— It is highly import- 

 ant in practice to select more than one excellent plant, as it not infrequently 

 happens that a very fine plant is found having poor transmitting power, so that the 

 progeny will be even below the general crop of the year preceding. It is impossible 

 in a short article to lay out a general plan which will fit all cases. If the plantation 

 is of moderate size, a sufficient number of individual plants could be selected each 

 year, so that instead of the five acres seed patch represented in the diagram, the entire 

 plantation could be planted the third year. According to this scheme, five plants 

 selected the first year would in the third year plant 25 acres, and if 20 plants were 

 selected the first year, they would plant 100 acres. It is thus within possibilities, on 

 a moderate sized plantation, to select enough plants each year to plant the general 

 crop from select seed the third year. The diagram illustrates the method of selec- 

 tion pursued by planters of Sea Island Cotton on James and Edisto Islands. 



This description and diagram show that after the selection work has com- 

 menced, special selections are made each year from the small areas of very select 

 seed, and that the main area is continually grown from seed descending from a 

 single selected individual plant. Consequently in this system, the selection of the 

 individual plant each year is considered. In practice, however, a grower selects 

 several plants each year from which to breed. It is seen therefore that the quality 

 must improve year by year, and this has gone on with Sea Island planters until a 

 very high standard of excellence has been reached. The writer in fact was informed 

 that 40 or 50 dollars per 100 lbs. were sometimes obtained for the finest grades of 



