MARKETING COTTOX SEED FOR PLANTING PURPOSES. 
Table 1. — Sources from which farmers obtain planting cotton seed and estimated 
normal percentage and quantity obtained from each source. 
State. 
T ?l„l?™T£l y Produced on farm Obtained from 
planting. where used " other farmers - 
Obtained from 
dealers. 
Pounds - cent 
Pou * ds - cent. 
Pounds. 
Per 
cent. 
Pounds. 
Virginia.... 
1,755,000 47 
54,648,000 69 
100,695,000 80 
163,614,000 80 
2,626,000 34 
4,736,000 23 
29,664,000 70 
93,786,000 76 
99,792,000 80 
50,470,000 76 
314,400,000 56 
66,360,000 46 
100, 170, 000 70 
825,000 16 
37,707,000 17 
80,556,000 13 
130,891,000 12 
893,000 ' 15 
1,089,000 13 
20,765,000 13 
71,277,000 11 
79,834,000 ' 10 
38,357,000 13 
176.064,000 13 
30,526,000 20 
70.119.000 23 
281,000 37 
9,290,000 14 
13, 090, 000 7 
649,000 
7,651,000 
7,049,000 
13,089,000 
1,339,000 
3,031,000 
5, 043, 000 
Georgia 
Florida 
Missouri 
19,634,000 
394,000 
616,000 
3,856,000 
10,317,000 
9,979,000 
6,561,000 
40,872,000 
13,272,000 
23,039,000 
8 
51 
64 
17 
13 
10 
11 
31 
34 
7 
Alabama 
Mississippi 
Louisiana 
Texas 
Oklahoma 
12,192,000 
9,979,000 
5,552,000 
97,464,000 
22,562,000 
7,012,000 
2,939,000 
2,533,000 
Arizona 
California 
4,470,000 27 1,280,000 11 
2,980,000 9 268,000 j 6 
521,000 1 62 
179,000 85 
United States 
1,090,436,000 68 
740,451,000 14 
151,901,000 18 198,084,000 
The percentage shown as obtained direct from other farmers is 
considered commercial seed and is included in all references to com- 
mercial seed in this discussion. The quantities given in the table 
are based on the 1920 acreage and the reported average rate of seed- 
ing per acre in each State. 
SELECTION OF SEED STOCKS. • 
The production of planting cotton seed is so closely allied with the 
marketing of it that a line of demarcation between the two activities 
is difficult to draw. The agricultural value of the finished product 
sold depends in a large measure on the growing crop and the stock 
seed from' which it is produced. The stock seed should compare 
favorably with the " ideal." It should come direct from the origina- 
tor of that particular variety,- or the conditions under which it has 
been handled and propagated since leaving the originator's hands 
should conform with approved methods of growing and selecting 
cotton seed for planting purposes. 1 The dealer should maintain close 
cooperation with the grower and have direct supervision over the 
growing crop. To this end advance growing contracts may be ad- 
vantageous. Eogueing the fields one or more times prior to and dur- 
ing blossoming time is desirable in order to remove all barren, dis- 
eased, and off-type plants. 2 
The cotton from which seed is selected should be well-matured and 
dry when picked. Seed from the top bolls on the plants and from 
1 Distribution of Cotton Seed in 1921, U. S. Department of Agriculture Circular 151. 
1920. 
2 Cook, O. F. : Cotton Selection on the Farm by the Characters of the Stalks, Leaves, 
and Bolls. Bureau of Plant Industry Circular No. 66. 1910. 
