Care in Handling Our Cotton 
Seed 
The same painstaking care given our cotton seed 
throughout their breeding and testing is devoted to 
the growing and preparation of the seed which we 
offer for sale. 
Our seed increase fields are concentrated in the 
immediate vicinity of Hartsville where they can be 
inspected by our specialists at regular intervals. 
These fields are carefully rogued for all off-type or 
variant plants which are removed and destroyed to 
prevent their producing seed. Good cotton land is 
selected and adequate fertilizer supplied in order 
to produce healthy plants, good yields and seed of 
high vitality. 
When the cotton is mature it is picked as rapidly 
as possible, is sunned and stored in well ventilated 
store rooms where its temperature and moisture 
content can be closely watched. If any moisture 
remains in the cotton it is run through our “cotton 
dryer” which removes excess moisture and lessens 
the danger of seed heating. All of our cotton seed 
are ginned on our private gins. There is a special 
gin day for each variety to avoid possibility of 
mixing. The gins are specially equipped so that 
they can be thoroughly cleaned out before another 
variety is run through. 
In spite of all care, some of our seed this year 
will run somewhat under our minimum standard of 
80% in germination, due to wet August-September 
weather. However, we are giving our seed addi¬ 
tional handling, at a great deal of extra expense 
to ourselves, to assure our customers of a uniformly 
high quality product. 
Method of Handling to Insure 
Uniform Germination 
In ginning, the seed from each bale is bagged 
separately and given an individual “lot” number. 
The seed are then stored and allowed to cure out 
naturally. When there is no further chance of 
deterioration, samples are taken from the center 
section of each bag and tested for germination. A 
duplicate sample is also tested as a check. On com¬ 
pletion of tests, all low germinating lots are dis¬ 
carded. The higher germinating lots are then 
massed in a series of five mixings which results in 
each bag of seed being uniform in germination. 
After the seed are passed through our 23 ft. reclean¬ 
ing machine, they are relotted and again tested for 
germination. Those germinating less than our 80% 
standard have been plainly tagged as to their actual 
germination and prices have been reduced in pro¬ 
portion. This means the customer will get fully as 
many high germinating seed per dollar in 60%, 
65% or 70% seed as he would normally get in 80% 
seed. We recommend, of course, that a heavier rate 
of seeding be used to offset any deficiency in 
germination. 
Ceresan Treatment 
We have also treated our seed with 2% Ceresan 
(Mercury Dust), a poisonous but very effective dis¬ 
infectant. 
Most of our customers are familiar with this treat¬ 
ment and its aid in producing better average stands, 
especially when weather conditions are unfavorable 
for proper germination. We are glad to pass this 
service on to them without charge. If untreated seed 
are preferred, we can furnish them in all our varie¬ 
ties. However, we recommend that all customers 
take the treated seed and unless otherwise in¬ 
structed, treated seed will be shipped. Ceresan 
treated seed should be used only for planting pur¬ 
poses as they are poisonous. 
Samples are taken from every bag for germination tests. 
Every lot of seed is germinated at least six times to 
insure accuracy. 
Seed treated with Ceresan to control disease and 
improve stands. 
Seed stored for shipment in our well-ventilated 
warehouses. 
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