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COTTON  IN  HAWAII . 
There  has  recently  been  published  by  the  Hawaii  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  a press  bulletin  of  especial  interest,  entitled 
“A  Preliminary  Report  on  Cotton  Experiments.”  Following  its 
recent  successful  investigation  on  the  tobacco  and  rice  indus- 
tries, the  Station,  upon  the  centering  of  interest  in  the  possibility 
of  cotton  growing,  commenced  a series  of  experiments  relating  ic 
cultural  methods  of  this  crop. 
Nine  varieties  or  strains,  representing  three  distinct  classes, 
have  been  tested  for  yield,  quality  of  lint,  habits  of  growth  and 
methods  of  culture.  Considerable  attention  has  also  been  given 
to  the  selection  of  superior  individual  specimens,  with  a view  to 
securing  desirable  mother  plants  from  which  to  breed  pure  strains. 
It  is  believed  that  a method  of  propagation  has  been  devised 
whereby  the  qualities  of  an  individual  plant  may  be  perpetuated. 
Owing  to  the  tendency  of  cotton  to  cross-fertilize,  plants  propa- 
gated by  seed  show  more  or  less  variability  and  any  scheme  which 
will  tend  to  establish  a uniform  strain  should  prove  a distinct  aid 
in  cotton  breeding. 
A systematic  pruning  experiment  was  begun  as  soon  as  the  first 
crop  was  harvested,  -the  general  culture  project  including  the  test 
of  varieties  as  a perennial  crop.  In  addition  to  the  experiments 
conducted  on  the  Station  grounds,  which  are  reported  in  full  in 
the  bulletin,  several  cooperative  experiments  were  conducted  in 
different  parts  of  Oahu,  the  results  of  which  are  only  briefly  re- 
corded. Beginning  with  the  present  year,  two  carefully  planned 
experiments  on  a large  scale  were  undertaken  with  private  grow- 
ers cooperatively,  the  Station  supplying  the  seed,  fertilizers  and 
supervision. 
That  much  local  interest  is  being  taken  in  cotton  culture  is  at- 
tested by  the  application  for  seed  and  information,  which  has 
taxed  the  Station  to  the  utmost.  Seed  has  been  distributed  to 
about  fifty  applicants,  representing  many  sections  throughout  the 
islands.  Altogether,  seed  sufficient  to  plant  about  200  acres  has 
been  distributed  within  the  last  twelve  months  and  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  at  least  100  acres  are  planted  to  cotton  at  this  time. 
While  definite  conclusions  cannot  be  drawn  from  a single  set  of 
experiments,  the  data  contained  in  the  bulletin  indicate  some  of 
the  possibilities  of  cotton  growing  in  Hawaii. 
The  experiments  have  been  conducted  by  Mr.  F.  G.  Krauss, 
Expert  in  Agriculture,  and  an  account  of  the  results  obtained  is 
contained  in  Press  Bulletin  No.  24,  which  can  be  procured  from 
the  Experiment  Station. 
