UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
A^^Vl 
BULLETIN No. 668 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 
.sZ&iXj-u 
Washington, D. C. 
May 21, 1918 
NURSE PLANTING SELECT COTTON SEED. 
By P. V. Cakdon, Assistant Agronomist, Office of Acclimatization and Adapta- 
tion of Crop Plants — Cotton Breeding. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
The waste of select cotton seed 1 
Planting distinct t ypes of cotton 3 
Planting cotton seed with beans or peas 3 
Rate of combining cotton with other seeds. . . 5 
Delinting cotton seed for nurse planting 6 
Page. 
Method of planting in hills 7 
Method of planting in drills 8 
Advantages in nurse planting 10 
Summary 12 
THE WASTE OF SELECT COTTON SEED. 
How to avoid waste of select cotton seed is a problem confronting 
every cotton breeder. In order to improve varieties and to main- 
tain select stocks on the highest plane of superiority it is necessary 
to increase rapidly the best progenies. A relatively slow increase 
is all that is possible if the usual methods of planting are employed. 
The waste of valuable seed may prove to be a distinct loss not only 
to the breeder but to the cotton industry as well. If the waste of 
seed could be avoided, superior selections of cotton could be estab- 
lished in cultivation one, two, or more years earlier than is now 
considered possible. 
The usual methods of increasing select cotton seed are wasteful 
in several ways. Though differing somewhat in detail, the main 
steps are essentially the same in all methods that have come to the 
writer's attention. The seeds of a select plant are planted first in 
hills in what is called a progeny row. Only one plant in each hill 
usually is desired, but it is customary to plant five to eight or more 
seeds. This is held to be necessary in order to insure a stand. Per- 
fect germination is hardly to be expected, and many of the young 
seedlings clo not survive. A single seedling may be unable to break 
through if the surface becomes crusted, but several seedlings b}^ 
combined effort can push out. Under favorable conditions it Avould 
not be necessary to plant so many seeds in a hill, but such condi- 
tions can not be foretold and hence enough seed must be planted 
to secure a stand in an unfavorable season. 
The natural result of a heavy rate of planting is a thick stand, 
in the reduction of which it frequently becomes necessary to destroy 
46177°— Bull. 668- 
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