ONE-VARIETY COTTON COMMUNITIES. 17 
when definite advantages have been shown and seed supplies are 
available, so that all neighboring farmers may change together to the 
new variety. 
RENAMING VARIETIES OF COTTON. 
The practice of renaming varieties is one of the obstacles in the 
way of a more general understanding and application of the one- 
variety plan, as tending to conceal or obscure the fact that the same 
variety of cotton can be maintained and utilized in the same commu- 
nity for many years with no deterioration or " running out " if isola- 
tion and selection are maintained. 
Xo doubt the renaming of varieties is, at least in part, a concession 
to the popular idea that new kinds are needed every few years. 
Knowing that this idea is prevalent, the dealers suppose that more 
seed can be sold under new names than by continuing to offer old and 
well-known varieties. With the public better informed regarding the 
value of good varieties and the need of maintaining supplies of pure 
seed, the policy of renaming varieties may be altered. Farmers who 
are sufficiently intelligent to buy good seed in practical quantities 
prefer to know what they are buying, whether it is a variety already 
known or a new and different sort. They do not wish to buy even 
good seed under a new or unnecessary name. 
Special quality of seed is properly to be claimed if careful selection 
of the basic stocks is continued and the seed-increase fields are in- 
spected to see that the plants are uniform and to remove the off-type 
individuals that continue to appear even in the best stocks. But 
the use of precautions to keep a variety pure is not a reason for 
changing the name. Discarding the original name tends rather to 
confuse the public and to restrict the use of the variety instead of 
securing a wider appreciation of its value. In view of the general 
scarcity and active demand for good seed of such varieties as Co- 
lumbia and Lone Star, it is difficult to believe that anything was 
gained by advertising some of the seed stocks under new names, like 
"Webber" or "Bennett." The Foster variety, also originated and 
distributed by the United States Department of Agriculture, was ex- 
ploited for several years in Mississippi and in the Imperial Valley of 
California as '"Unknown." At Yuma. Ariz., in 1919, a stock of 
Durango seed was sold as ;i Rowden " to settlers from Texas who were 
anxious to grow the true Rowden cotton, a big-boll sort that is very 
popular in some of the sandy land districts of Texas. But the so- 
called * ; Rowden " of the Yuma Valley attracted further attention 
by yielding a premium staple, and now a " California Improved 
Rowden " is being advertised in Texas as a new and valuable long- 
staple Upland variety. 
2551°— 22 3 
