UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1056 
Washington, D. C. 
Issued April 5, 1922 
Revised June, 1926 
MARKETING COTTONSEED FOR PLANTING PURPOSES 
By J. E. Bakr, Assistant Marketing Specialist, Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction 1 
Commercial seed supply 2 
Selection of seed stocks 3 
Preparation 3 
Ginning 4 
Delinting 4 
Recleaning and grading 11 
Sacking 15 
Storage 15 
Warehouse should be ventilated- 15 
Storing in sacks 16 
Stacking 16 
Page 
Germination 16 
Causes of low germination 17 
Making tests 18 
The shipping tag 19 
The lot number 19 
Selling 19 
Extravagant claims undesirable- 19 
True names for varieties 20 
Renaming varieties 20 
Sales on basis of weight v. meas- 
ure 21 
Certified cottonseed 21 
Summary 21 
INTRODUCTION 
The area devoted to the production of cotton in the United States 
annually since 1920 averages 38,000,000 acres. During the years 
1924 and 1925 the area planted was considerably over 40,000,000 
acres. To plant this acreage required approximately 600,000 tons 
of seed, or about one- tenth of the annual production. It has been 
estimated that normally 35 per cent of this total planting require- 
ment is obtained by farmers from commercial sources, 65 per cent 
being produced on the farm where used. 
• The number of persons and concerns dealing in cottonseed for 
planting purposes and the total volume of their annual business have 
increased steadily, but comparatively little effort has been made to 
improve the commercial and agricultural value of their stock. It 
is true that a limited number of growers and dealers are endeavoring 
to develop either new varieties or improved strains of standard varie- 
ties ; but until recently the possibilities of enhancing the commercial 
and agricultural value of cottonseed by better methods of preparing, 
storing, and marketing have been overlooked or neglected. As a 
result the average commercial cottonseed of to-day used for plant- 
ing doesrnot measure up to a high standard. 
The seed dealer's place in the channels of trade is justified largely 
by services rendered in improving the quality of his product. If his 
stock is no improvement over the average farmer's stock farmers will 
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