! 
116 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jury, 1901, 
No. 1 is the ordinary sea island cotton, whilst No. 2 is the sea island improved — 
by selection. You will notice that the staple in the selected cotton is much longer, but - 
the other qualities, such as silkiness, softness. twist, and strength, cannot be reproduced, 
No. 3 is a sample cf sea island cotton grown in Queensland, by wuich you will see that 
there is plenty of rcom for improvement by selection. 
In choosing the mother plant for seed it is necessary to take into consideration 
not only the value of the staple, but also the general condition of the plant—its 
healthiness, its productiveness, its general all-round suitability—in other words, it is 
no use picking out one particular boll of exceptional merit, and expecting that the 
seedling plants will resemble its parent; it being now an accepted fact that the 
seedlings will resemble the general characteristics of the parent, and not the 
characteristics of one boll or branch. I am now speaking of seedlings, but in the | 
event of one branch showing a special character worthy of being perpetuated, it would 
be as well to strike that branch from a cutting, and if the second year the character is 
forthcoming, to continue the process for four or five years, and in all probability the 
seed would then carry the character and become fixed, to use a gardening term. 
Then, again, as to increasing the quantity per acre, which in its way can probably 
be made as profitable as improving the quality of the fibre. It is known that this is 
being done in the States, not only by high cultivation but by selection; certain seeds 
are enveloped by a larger amount of lint than others, and by careful selection these 
can be secured ; this has been done to such an extent that the proportion of lint in sea 
island cotton is now as one to three, whereas before selection was brought into action 
it was one to five; then certain plants are very much more floriferous than others and 
naturally carry more lint—these can be marked and secured; it has also been found 
that the lower half of a cotton plant will give you seed which will give larger returns 
than the upper. ‘ 
In dealing with the question of increasing the quantity per acre I have left out of 
consideration the fact that there are some varieties of cotton now available which give 
greater returns than others; for instance, one variety of Egyptian cotton is shown to 
give 500 lb. to the acre, but how far this is attributable to the system of irrigation 
carried on in Egypt I do not know; moreover, this variety of cotton requires less 
irrigation than others. Is not that a point that can be utilised—a variety that does not 
require as large a rainfall as others might be grown in districts where the fallis light. 
It is also to be considered whether it would not be advisable to try to alter the 
maturity of the plant to an earlier or later period; for instance, a plant which will 
mature its crop before the rainy season sets in would be advantageous, or again, if the 
crop ripens after the rains are over, it would be a gain, as those who have grown 
cotton in the old days can remember only too well how the crops were spoiled by the 
rain, the seed in the boll beginning to grow and yellowing the lint, or it secured the 
material fermented for want of proper drying. 
So far, this paper has dealt only with the improvement of cotton by the process 
of ‘selection,’ but there is still auother mode of improving cotton, and that is by 
cross-fertilisation or hybridisation. { 
To quote from the Year-Book of the Department of Agriculture of the United 
States, to which publication [am greatly indebted for information contained in this 
paper, “ selection” when used alone in the improvement of plants depends upon the 
adding up of small unimportant variations through many generations, which in the 
end may give marvellous results; but by this method the breeder has no means of 
forcing any change, but must be satisfied with slight variations and long-continued 
selection. However, when marked changes and new creations are desired it is to 
hybridisation that attention must be turned. 4n the words of Henri de Vilmorin, 
‘“cross-breeding greatly increases the chance of wide variation, but it makes the -task 
of fixation more difficult. It, however, gives the raiser the only means in his power to 
unite in one of the qualities of two different plants while discarding the weak points.” 
The attempt to produce a hybrid has been tried by the same Mr. Clark who carried 
on the selection improvements, and 1 will now give his experiences. It is obvious that 
it would be useless to endeavour to obtain a greater length of staple only to be spoilt 
by the saw gin used in uplands cotton. So Mr. Clark, knowing that a variety ot 
uplands called ‘“ Peterkin’ sometimes has bolls with free seed, or comparatively 80, | 
carefully watched for some of these seeds, and sowed them; the following year a 
larger proportion was free, and by selecting for four years he obtained seed that was 
all free. The object was to obtain a variety that combined the robustness of the — 
upland combined with the freedom of seed and the greater length of staple of the sea— 
island, and Mr. Clark then crossed or hybridised the free-seeded uplands, which he 
called “ Klondyke.’’ with the sea island. How far the experiment was a success cal 
be gauged by the illustrations. 
