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Breeding for Fiber 
Quality and 
Spinning Value 
By George J. Wilds 
Through an amendment to the Smith-Doxey Act, passed 
in 1941, the services of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, fiber and spinning laboratories were made 
available to breeders and others for a determination 
charge. This was the one service that we have needed all 
these years, the one evaluation service that we lacked. 
Through the use of this testing service, we have been 
able to continuously advance our whole cotton breeding 
program in the line of fiber quality, and fortunately, we 
are finding within our lines of established productivity, 
quality and adaptability certain strains having very supe- 
rior fiber characteristics. This extra quality is being quickly 
reflected into our sales stocks and thus into general pro- 
duction. Many of these cottons are already established 
in one-variety communities. These new cottons move right 
in and take the place of the previous strains, being of 
the same type and productivity plus superior manufactur- 
ing value. 
Uniform variety and spinning tests conducted in the 
eastern, middle and western sections of the belt, indicate 
clearly that the variety is the main determining factor in 
quality; but these tests also show that the same variety, 
grown in different sections and in different years, may 
show an even wider range in spinning value than is noted 
between different varieties grown in the same test. 
This makes it necessary, after a manufacturer has found 
a cotton that meets his strictest requirements in every 
respect, for it to be grown in quantity and over a wide 
area to insure a supply grown in those areas favored by 

GEORGE J. WILDS 
President and General Manager 
climatic conditions for the development of maximum in 
quality. Early fiber tests will assist the manufacturers in 
locating these areas. 
The one-variety community is the best solution for all 
of us interested in cotton. There seed of a superior cotton 
is planted and systematically new breeder stocks are 
brought in each year. The conscientious, alert breeder, 
through utilization of the fiber services, can now assure 
these growers strains of increasingly good spinning value. 
The growers can find a market through the discriminating 
manufacturer, who, in turn, finds a supply of known quality 
cotton. This is a perfect illustration of what can be accom- 
plished through cooperation of breeders, growers and 
manufacturers. 
Modern, well lighted cotton classing room of the Coker Cotton Company where lint samples of our 
breeding selections are classed. Humidifier with automatic control keeps moisture content of room uniform. 

