. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. COTTON COTTON 255 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 fr
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. COTTON COTTON 255 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 dovfn 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 wit
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
