Dec. 1900,] 



479 



FIBRES. 



COTTON SEED SELECTION. 



Station No. 1 in the highway of farm progress is good seed. 



Planting selected seed of the best variety and of the highest vitality is 

 absolutely essential to the production of the best crops. 



Buying the best seed, if the farmer does not have it, is commendable ; but this 

 must be followed by the best cultivation and the most careful selection to eliminate 

 minor defects and improve the excellencies of the type, or the seed will deteriorate. 



Cotton Seed.- That like produces like, is a law of plant life to be observed 

 in all details. 



1st. From your best field of cotton select the best portion, and in this choice 

 division mark the most vigorous and productive plants, showing short joints and 

 fruit limbs near the bottom. The entire plant should be an exceptional fruit 

 producer. Seed should be selected from these marked cotton stalks, but the top 

 bolls and the bolls on the ends of the limbs should not go into the lot for seed ; they 

 tend to make the cotton later. The bolls selected for seed should be picked by 

 special field hands, sent in advance of the regular pickers. This seed cotton must be 

 stored in a dry place and watched to avoid mixing. 



Special care must be taken at the gin, that the gin and floor are free from all 

 other cotton seed before ginning. Store this seed in a dry place. 



Where greater length of staple is desired, select for seed such bolls only as 

 show the longest staple. By careful selection most any desired qualities, or charac- 

 teristics, can ultimately be secured.— Louisiana Planter, 



