4 BULLETIN 1056, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
cotton harvested late in the season, after frosts and storms, almost 
invariably is of low vitality and of poor quality for planting pur- 
poses. If a field contains a high percentage of diseased plants this 
fact immediately disqualifies it as a source of planting seed supply. 
Also, any appreciable damage by the boll weevil and pink boll worm 
renders cotton seed unfit for planting purposes even in infested ter- 
ritory, while quarantine measures prohibit the shipment and sale of 
cotton seed from infested areas into noninfested territory. 
PREPARATION. 
Cotton seed, unlike most other leading field seeds, continues to be 
sold and planted in a rather crude physical condition. Dealers seem 
to overlook the fact that commercial cotton seed of the most carefully 
selected and improved strains can be made of still greater value from 
the farmers' point of view by the use of modern machinery in gin- 
ning, delinting, and recleaning and grading. The commercial ad- 
vantages of better preparation are measured by the agricultural 
advantages accruing to the farmer planting the better prepared seed. 
If it does not mean a larger net profit to the farmer by promoting 
more economical production or a greater yield, the increased cost is 
not justified. On the other hand when it is evident that a process 
or method of improving the physical condition of cotton seed en- 
hances its value for planting purposes, it is incumbent on the dealer 
to use the process. A reduction of 100.000 tons of cotton seed in the 
annual seeding requirement and a saving of 30.000.000 pounds of 
linters, now a total waste, for industrial purposes, would result 
through the more thorough and uniform removal of the surplus lint 
and the culling out of all extraneous matter and small and light- 
weight inferior seed by the application of such methods as are now 
available. 
GINNING. 
The first mechanical operation affecting the appearance and physi- 
cal condition of cotton seed is ginning. 3 Improvements in ginning 
machinery during recent years enable the operator to produce much 
cleaner seed than formerly. Most of the sand, dirt, burs, and other 
foreign material is removed automatically. The most modernly 
equipped gin plant, however, will not turn out seed in the best con- 
dition unless a thoroughly competent operator is in charge and unless 
the cotton to be ginned is fully matured and dry. There are thou- 
sands of gins in the cotton belt but relatively few skilled operators 
who appreciate the importance of improving the physical condition 
8 Taylor, Fred, Griffith, D. C, and Atkinson, C. E. : Cotton Ginning Information for 
Farmers, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 764. 1916. 
