the idea and a group went down to South 
Carolina to observe the results. This was 
the beginning of the vocational agricul- 
ture work that is now nationwide in 
its scope. 
e Active in Many Fields 
David R. Coker’s unusual talents were 
put to work in many fields. He was a 
director of the Federal Reserve Bank of 
Richmond (Va.); mayor of Hartsville, 
1902-04; chairman of the South Carolina 
Council of Defense, 1917-19; Federal 
Food Administrator, 1917; trustee of the 
University of South Carolina and of 
Coker College; member of the National 
Agricultural Advisory Committee, 1917- 
18; member of the National Agricultural 
Commission to Europe, 1918; served as 
president of the South Carolina Plant 
Breeders Association; and member of 
the Business Advisory Council, U.S. De- 
partment of Commerce. He was an A.B. 
of the University of South Carolina, and 
was awarded the following honorary de- 
grees: D.Sc. Clemson College, D.Sc. Duke 
University, LL.D. University of North 
Carolina, and LL.D. College of Charles- 
ton. He received the MacMaster Medal 
from the University of South Carolina, 
awarded for distinguished service to hu- 
manity, and the American Legion Award 
for South Carolina. 
The Coker Breeding System 
THE METHOD of pedigreed breeding 
worked out by Mr. Coker early in his 
career is still in use at Hartsville. It 
is known as the plant-to-row method and 
is generally recognized by plant breeders 
and experiment stations as the best ever 
devised for plant improvement. The plant 
breeder, like the animal breeder, must 
make the individual the unit of selection, 
and this idea is carried out in the plant- 
to-row method. 
Pedigreed breeding, as applied by the 
Coker organization, means that every 
year a new strain or family is started 
of each variety from the best plant of 
that variety selected the preceding year. 
Since the selected plants are taken each 
year from the best progenies in the plant- 
to-row tests, the pedigrees of the differ- 
ent strains are, therefore, continuous. 
e The “Tremendous Trifles” 
The work of the seed breeder appears 
to be easy until the various steps in pro- 
ducing a new strain are followed through- 
out the season and over a period of years. 
And while as a general rule the proce- 
dure is pretty much a standardized series 
of progressive steps, the plant breeder 
actually is engaged in one of the most 
exacting sciences known. Small mistakes, 
little cversights, a momentary departure 
from the hard rules he must follow can, 
either singly or in combination, result 
in very serious damage to the breeding 
program. Because of the great impor- 
tance of these “tremendous trifles,” the 
plant breeder must be doubly careful in 
selecting responsible staff members to 
place in charge of the many detailed 
steps in producing a new strain of cotton, 
oats, soybeans, hybrid corn or any other 
crop. 
Each year Coker’s makes up to 50,000 
individual plant selections. In its Coker 
100 Wilt program alone, the company in 
1948 made 35,000 selections in its plant- 
to-row test of that variety. There were 
more than 200 strains in the first-year 
increase and 25 strains in the second- 
year increase. In the third-year increase 
1,600 acres were planted, to produce seed 
marketed in 1950. 
e Breeding a New Variety 
Mr. Wilds gave a clear explanation of 
the procedure in a recent talk. Here, in 
his own words, is how a new strain is 
developed: 
“The plant breeder in conducting his 
work of producing a pedigreed strain 
deals with individuals the same as does 
the stock breeder, and certain individuals 
selected may be potentially of as great 
or greater value than the finest animals 
ever sold, as their value is reckoned only 
in their after effect on an industry. 
“Since cotton plants vary in their char- 
acteristics and producing ability as do 
hens, cows and human beings, we must 
employ one of the two fundamental meth- 
ods in the breeding process. First, that 
of selection—choosing always the best 
from the best, and discarding the in- 
ferior. Second, crossing two (or more) 
strains, in order to induce desirable va- 
riations where selection alone has not 
disclosed them. 
“Let us take as the basis of our ex- 
perimentation one acre of cotton. The 
cotton on this acre has already been 
planted and thinned sufficiently to allow 
the plants to develop normally, at the 
time when we begin our experiment. 
From the cotton on this one acre we 
shall endeavor to breed by selection over 
a period of years a new, superior variety. 
Let us follow this breeding procedure. 
“1. Let us watch this cotton carefully 
and at frequent intervals as it develops 
in the field, and during the season mark 
any conspicuously good plant. 
“2. When the cotton starts opening 
we will go through the field again and 
examine carefully each plant. Those 
plants deemed best as to production and 
other desirable traits will be marked 
with a string or tag. 
“3. When ready to pick we will work 
over and examine the field carefully 
again. Now those plants showing any 
weakness or undesirable traits must be 
discarded. To the remainder of our selec- 
tions we will assign each a number. This 
number is tagged on the plant. Each 
plant must be picked separately and the 
cotton put into a bag bearing the plant’s 
number and description. Notes such as 
type of plant, height, number of vegeta- 
tive branches, total number of bolls and 
number picked, are recorded on the bag. 
“A, Now the bags of seed cotton from 
each plant are taken into the laboratory 
and notes taken in the field will be ex- 
amined carefully and transferred from 
the bags to record books. Length of lint, 
uniformity and relative strength are 
recorded. Those plants which fail to meet 
our minimum standard will now be dis- 
carded. 
“5. Next, selected plants are taken to 
our small roller gin. There we record the 
weight of the seed cotton before it is 
ginned, each bag separately, and the 
weight of lint after it is ginned. Thus we 
determine the percent of lint. 
“6. The complete records on each plant 
we will again study carefully. These 
plants which now meet the highest stand- 
ards are selected for continued breeding. 
The number of plants selected will be 
about 10 percent of the original number. 
“This ends the first year, and begins 
the second year with about 50 plants re- 
tained from a possible 500 original selec- 
tions. We will continue with our ABC’s, 
step by step, the second year. 
“1. We will delint the seed—still kept 
in separate bags — with sulphuric acid 
and treat them with Ceresan for the 
control of diseases. Now from the seed 
of each selected plant we will plant a 
separate row (1/100 of an acre long). 
The seed are planted in hills uniformly 
spaced. These seed are dropped, covered, 
and later thinned by hand. Every tenth 
row is planted similarly with seed of the 
parent variety, in order to serve as a 
check. This we call our Plant-to-Row 
test. 
“2. The same procedure of close study 
and record keeping is followed this sec- 
ond year. Now we are seeking for out- 
standing rows or families where the first 
year it was individual plants. (With 
luck we may find such a row or family 
this first year. More probably it will re- 
quire nearer six years of such plant-to- 
row selections before plant families of 
sufficient uniformity are found to war- 
rant an increase.) 
“3. Now the rows are studied as units, 
along with the individual plants, of 
course. Fifty average-sized bolls are 
picked from each row, for determination 
of boll size, staple length and lint per- 
cent, etc. Each row is then picked in a 
separate bag and a record of yield made. 
“A, The same procedure of selecting 
rows will be followed as with individual 
plants. 
“This ends the second year. 
“We have advanced now from the in- 
dividual to the row, to the plot. We will 
now plant the seed from each selected 
row of our plant-to-row into a half acre 
plot. Some seed from each row will be 
planted in a strain test, with a check 
every fifth row, planted with parent seed. 
Records will now be kept and studied as 
plots. About 5 to 10 percent of these 
plots are selected for increase and are 
planted in 25 to 50 acre fields in the 
fourth year. 
“Now we have progressed from in- 
dividual plant-to-row, to plot, to 50 acre 
field. Some seed will be saved out from 
these plots and planted in yield tests in 
Government and State Experiment Sta- 
tions, as well as in our own variety tests. 
After all reports are in from the numer- 
ous experiment station tests, data will 
be summarized, carefully studied and 
analyzed. The seed from the one best 
strain which has consistently given the 
best performance will be saved and in- 
creased further, to be put on the market 
as a new Pedigreed Cotton. The same 
system is followed in maintaining an es- 
tablished variety except that the best 
3 to 5 such plant families are saved 
each year which furnish planting stocks.” 
The Coker Breeding Staff 
THE PRESENT plant breeding staff at 
Coker’s Pedigreed Seed Company, which 
works under the direction of Mr. Wilds, 
is one of the most capable to be found 
anywhere. Highly trained plant breeders 
head up the various crops and with their 
assistants round out a scientific staff of 
more than 20 men whose aims and objec- 
tives parallel those laid down by the 
company’s founder. 
R. S. Cathcart, plant breeder, is in 
charge of all farm operations, the ware- 
houses, and the gin. In addition, Cathcart: 
supervises the contracting work for cot- 
ton, corn and grain acreage. Wallace 
Talbert is in charge of sales, working 
directly under Vice-President Robert 
