4 H. G. Hastings & Co., Seedsmen, Atlanta, Georgia. 
OUR COTTON VARIETY TESTS 
Every spring the catalngnes of the seed houses are sent out with a | 
good proponioQ of their pages devoted to various varieties of cotton and 
corn with claims made that they are “the best.” The pages of the agri¬ 
cultural papers contain dozens of advertisements of cotton seed by farm¬ 
ers and growers, most of them claiming to have a “world beater” for 
yield or lint or some other point. They all claim to have the very best 
"there is. They can’t all be correct and we believe the majority of them 
are honest in stating what they think to be true. This comes about in 
thi. way: The seedsmen and dealers generally pick up seed from farmers 
and cotton growers and take the grower’s word for it. Few of them have 
any personal knowledge of the crops which produced the seed they offer 
for sale. It is no unusual thing to see advertisements in the papers by 
seedsmen and dealers asking farmers to write to them if they have any 
good cotton seed to sell. 
The farmer or grower generally acts in good faith either in selling to 
a seedsman or dealer or to his brother farmer, but as a matter of fact he 
seldom knows whether the variety of seed he has is up to reasonable 
standards or not because he has had little or no ehance for compari¬ 
son with other varieties. 
The average production of lint is about 190 pounds per acre. A grower 
living in a section where 250 pounds or half a bale is considered a mighty 
good crop, either gets hold of or selects seed until it makes 350 or tcO 
pounds per acre and thinks honestly that he has got about the best thing 
going in cotton. He sees other farmers advertising seed and proceeds to 
do likewise, and he is honest in his statements so far as he knows the 
facts. He makes representation to the seedsman or seed dealer inthe 
same way. He don’t mean to mislead anyone and the dealer gener ally 
doesn’t care so long as the seed has a pood appearance. As a matter r f 
fact neither seedsman, dealer or farmer have tlie in.^'ormation they should 
have on this subject. 
SMALL PART OF A FIELD OF OUR UNION BIG BOLL 
Here’s the difference between the Hastings’ business and others: 
Wc take no man’s word for these things. We must put all varieties 
to te^t. We carry on larger and more extensive variety tests than does 
any Southern Experiment Station. 
Last year we grew under rigid test conditions 54 of the best and most 
widely known varieties. The seed waspurcha-ed from seedsmen, dealers 
and farmers at prices ranging from 81.00 to$5.00 per bushel. Every one of 
them was given a fair test, side by side with our own varieties under ex¬ 
actly the same conditions of soli, fertilizer and cultivation. We did this 
for our own Information. If any one has any better variety or is doing 
any better work in cotton breeding than we are we want to know it. 
Our experience, covering three yearsof extensive variety testwork, is 
that three-fourths of the alleged improved seed advertised and sold by 
dealers and farmers is so badly mixed that its only proper place is in an 
oil mill. It’s no wonder that the planter buying that kind of seed, thinks 
COTTON—HASTINGS' TEST AND BREEDING FARMS 
there is little or nothing in the talk of Improved seed. 
I he real fact is that the planter who has been buying that kind of seed 
knows nothing about what really “bred up” seed is. 
The low price (usually $1.00 per bushel) catches him. Instead of be 
Ing willing to pay, say $2.00 for really good seed, he pays $1.00 for essen 
tlally oil mill seed. 
It’s about time to quit being caught by the lower prices and go after 
actual “bred in the bone” value in seed of any and every kind. 
Based on our variety test work covering past years we want to state 
here that in our opinion the mass of the cotton seed and corn advertised 
for sale is so badly mixed and contains such large proportions of barren or 
nearly barren plants that its value is very doubtful. Ourown work is not 
perfect, but our variety tests each year show a condition of ignorance as 
to what constitutes good seed that is appalling, and it’s n j wonder that 
so much discredit is cast on the question of value of improved seed. 
