How to improve cotton by selection.—Selection of type.—After having tested varieties and deter mined in general what variety is best suited to the local conditions, grow a large field of this variety on soil which is as uniform throughout as can be selected. Give this field ordinary culti vation. The next step is to determine what type of plant of this variety is the best. Every grower knows a good cotton plant. Ordinarily, plants should be selected of medium height and stocky, with the habit of putting on numerous bolls early in the season on the lower branches (Fig. 365). A careful observation of the plants in the field will enable the grower easily to determine the best type of plant, which gives the most cotton in general earliest in the season. Earliness in almost all cases is an important point, and in sections threatened by the boll-weevil and boll-worm, earliness of maturity should always enter into the consideration of the type of plants selected.
Selection of plants.—After having determined the type of plant which is thought to be most desirable, the next process is to make the actual selection of plants. The selection should be made just before the first picking. Delay the first pick ing until the cotton is pretty well open and needs picking rather badly. Then go over the field row by row, walking slowly along each row and letting the eye have sufficient time to size up each plant. The great majority of the plants can be thrown out at a glance. When good plants are observed, examine them care fully, and if they are up to what is considered the highest stand ard, mark them by tying a strip of white rag to one of the upper limbs where it will show plainly. The problem is to select from a large field possibly about one hun dred of the best plants. In mark ing the plants the first time, prob ably two or three hundred will be chosen. After this first pre liminary examination, the field should be gone over a second time, and the marks removed from any plants which are not truly superior plants, reducing the total number probably to one hundred marked plants.
In this second examination, attention should be given to the amount of lint on the seed, as this in general determines the lint turn-out, and is im portant. The breeder should be provided with a small aluminum pocket-comb, about four inches long, which can be used to separate and straighten out the fibers on the seed, so that the covering or amount of fibers becomes plainly visi ble, as well as the length of the fiber. Every cotton-grower should learn this method of cotton-combing, as it is essen tial to the careful judging of cotton. By using the fingers,
the cotton can be separated or parted down the middle of the seed ; and then carefully using the comb, holding the fibers at their base meanwhile to prevent their being torn off the seed, the fibers can be combed out straight, as shown in Fig. 366. In this way, the amount of lint on the seed, and the length and uniformity of length, become clearly visible and easy to judge. The pro cess of combing requires some practice before it can be done successfully, but it will well repay the time spent in learn ing. As one goes over the plants either the first or the second time, several seeds from different bolls on each plant should be combed out, and any plants discarded in which the seeds are not well covered with lint of good length. In ordinary short staple cotton, no plant should be taken for seed which does not pro duce lint of at least one inch in length. In the long-staple uplands, the standard of length will neces sarily depend on the variety grown, as some sorts produce 1g-inch lint, while others produce as high as li-inch lint.
In going over the select plants the second time, take all these im portant points into consideration, and retain only those which are the very best plants and which represent the highest ideal type. These plants should be plainly labeled and numbered, and the product of each plant should be picked separately in a paper bag numbered to correspond with the number on the plant. The best bags to be used in picking and preserving sepa rately the product of each of the select plants are the ordi nary manila paperbags of about eight-pound size, which can ordinarily be purchased in any grocery store. The first pick can be made in these numbered bags and preserved, and the same bags can be taken to the field and the second or later picks placed in them, compar ing the numbers on the plants and bags each time, to see that the product of each plant is kept together.
Ginning the select plants.— At the close of the season some special arrangement should be made so that a single gin can be disconnected from the stand of gins and used to gin these select plants. The gin should be arranged so that the seed cotton of a single plant can be fed in and ginned. After the product of each plant is ginned, the seed should be carefully collected and placed back in its numbered bag. It is highly important that the seed from each select plant be kept separate and free from mixture with other seeds.