Historic, Archive Document
Do not assume content reflects current scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.
THE SIGN OF QUALITY
SPECIALTIES
Cotton, Corn, Oats, Abruzzi Rye Peas, Beans, Sorghum
mi orm me sms ifscmai sunt nut am
1915
PEDIGREED SEED COMPANY
Operating the Pedigreed Seed Farms DAVID R. COKER, Manager
HARTSVILLE, - - - SOUTH CAROLINA
TEN REASONS WHY
IT WILL PAY YOU TO BUY
Coker’s Pedigreed Field Seeds
1. The seeds we are now offering for sale as our own strains, represent the cumulative results of twelve years of scientific work in selecting and breeding field seeds by the plant-to-row method. During this time, our seeds have been planted and tested in every Southern state with results which have shown conclusively that Coker’s Pedigreed Seeds make bigger yields and better quality than ordinary seeds.
2. The value of pedigreed seeds depends on the scientific knowledge and painstaking care of the breeder. Anybody can increase the seeds from a single plant and have so-called “pedigreed” seed but such seed may have no particular virtue. To make a truly valuable pedigreed variety, hundreds of plants must be selected, tested, and only the best strains upbred, by men who understand the business thoroughly. We therefore entrust this work only to scientifically educated and experienced experts who have made plant breeding a profession.
3. We are Field Seed Specialists. Our entire attention and efforts are directed along the single line of Held seeds for Southern planting. We submit, therefore, that we are better prepared to furnish the best field seeds than seedsmen who do a garden and flower seed business with field seeds bought largely from people they don’t know, as a side line.
4. We are continually upbreeding the seeds we sell. Our plant breeding and experimental work with field seeds is, so far as we are informed, the most extensive of its kind carried on by any individual or firm in the cotton belt. The cost of this department alone is more than five thousand dollars a year. It is necessary, however, to do this work on a big scale, testing each year the seeds of hundreds of individual plants and increasing the seed of the best individual strains to get absolutely dependable results.
5. Our results are accepted as authoritative. The Southern Farming editorially says : “The conclusions which he (Mr. Coker) comes to in regard to various crops, varieties, etc., are just as accurate and dependable as those of any Experimental Station anywhere. He is looked upon by all who know him as one of the best and most accurate experi- menters with farm crops to be found anywhere, and when he says anything, he has proofs to back his statements.”
6. The greater part of the seeds we sell are raised on our own farms of more than twelve hundred cultivated acres. Every detail of this work is personally supervised by experts. The seeds of our varieties not produced on our farms are raised by the most reliable planters in this section from seed which we furnish them and all the work of planting, cultivating, selecting, harvesting, etc., is done under the direction of our head plant bleeder. The right is reserved by us to reject any part or all of any crops which are not absolutely satisfactory.
7. We stand behind every seed we sell with our reputation and a guarantee that they are sound, true to type and of high germination. Actual germination tests are made with seed from every bag or crate of grain we ship and from every lot of cotton seed and any falling below our high standards are not disposed of as seed.
8. We never offer seeds as “Coker’s Pedigreed” until they have been bred and tested for at least four years and have made a performance record that makes them worthy of our stamp of approval.
9. Our new warehouse is the best equipped in the South for handling, grading, recleaning and testing field seeds. It was designed after a careful study of seed houses in several states and is fitted out with the most modem and highly perfected machinery to be found. We are therefore able, usually, to fill every order the day it is received.
10. It is our final purpose in distributing high yielding strains of pure bred seed to make Southern Agriculture more profitable and help the farmers secure the biggest possible money returns from their labors.
"V r This 1915 catalogue, we offer more than a mere list of seeds. It
YOU is our purpose in the following pages to tell you not only about our fine seeds but about better methods of farming which will help you secure bigger crop yields and larger money returns. The advice and sug- gestions we offer are the authoritative results of our extensive experimental work for the past twelve years and are not merely untried theories of agriculture. They are accepted results which have been subjected to numerous accurate field tests for over a number of years.
We call special attention to our large new seed warehouse which at much expense we have built and equipped with the very best machinery and fixtures to be found for handling, grading and recleaning field seeds. It will greatly facilitate our prompt and efficient handling of seeds and enable us to give our customers the best possible service.
Our old customers who already know and appreciate the value of our pure bred seeds, we thank for their past orders and trust they will continue to use our seeds regularly. All who are not using our seeds, we invite to join with us in this new progressive Southern agriculture for which we are trying to stand. It is the keynote of the South’s present great opportunity. Better methods and better seeds are the essentials. We urge you to renew your interest and bend afresh your energies toward better farming and bigger yields of high grade products — an effort which will mean more money and a greater joy in your work.
PEDIGREED SEED COMPANY,
David R. Coker, Manager.
Farming in the South
Old Methods Unprofitable
Cotton farming in the South, notwithstanding the comparatively high price of our staple products for several years and until recently, has not generally been a very profitable business. That the South is not on a sound economic basis is demomstrated by the widespread demoralization and distress this year, when our largest Southern crop has brought about half of normal prices. This situation proves that even at twelve to fifteen cents for cotton, our farmers have not accumulated much, if any, surplus. Most of them are still living from hand to mouth, buying most of their provisions, fertilizer, labor and mules on credit at an ex- pense which takes the bulk of a full crop at full prices to liquidate. Most of them cultivate the bulk of the land in cotton, and year by year the soil is depleted of its life-giving humus, and yields are only kept up by constantly increasing applications of expensive fertilizers.
WE ARE FIELD SEED SPECIALISTS— NOT GENERAL SEEDSMEN
Pa g e Two
► SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD «•
Better Methods
Mr. Mclver Williamson, (the great corn man), and Mr. D. R. Coker of this county realized the danger of this situation years ago. Through the Williamson corn plan and other propaganda for diversification, cover crops, stock raising, better cultural methods and better seeds, they have done much to place the agriculture of this section on a sounder basis. Both these gentlemen are following the methods they advocate and are making heavier crops, a better quality of produce and a greater cash outturn on lands that are steadily improving.
The plan pursued on our own farms for the past five years is a rotation of half cotton, one-fourth corn and one-fourth small grain, with a rye cover crop in the cotton, peas in the corn, peavine hay after the grain, and rye cover crop after the peavine hay. We break our lands deeply, use ground limestone every four years and apply ground phosphate rock when heavy cover crops are turned in. We use moderate amounts of commercial fertilizers on all crops but are steadily reducing the ammonia used, as our lands increase in fertility and humus content.
This past year we plowed in a heavy crop of Abruzzi rye on our corn land and had the best corn crop in the country for the acreage planted. Our cotton on lands where a heavy crop of rye was plowed in last spring was very fine. It resisted the drought remarkably and made excellent staple and good yields. What we have sold so far has netted us 11 to 15 (4 cents per pound. Our results are due in the main to the ex- cellent quality of our seeds and to our methods, and especially to the use of a cover crop of Abruzzi rye which produces a heavy coat of humus in time to do the spring plowing in February and March.
Pure Pedigreed Seeds
One of the greatest needs of the Southern farmer is pure pedigreed seeds of staple farm crops. There are so-called varieties without number of cotton, corn, oats and other crops, but few of them when planted show anything like uniformity in the individual plants. For several generations the farmers of the South have understood the superiority of the pedigreed hog, the pedigreed cow, and the pedigreed horse; but many of them do not understand what you mean when you speak of pedigreed cotton or pedigreed corn.
The same general principles apply in the breeding of plants and animals. You do not expect to raise a record trotting horse or a prize-taking Berkshire hog unless their parents have shown the highest qualities in their respective classes. Why then should you expect the best crops of cotton or corn from seed which have not been carefully and scientifically bred? You might as well undertake to raise a herd of fine cattle from ordinary scrub stock.
You can go into almost any cotton or corn field in the Southern States and see at a glance that the in- dividual plants vary greatly in almost every visable character. Some are very productive, others almost or quite barren; some are tall, others short; some look healthy, others have a sickly color; some have large, others small leaves; some stalks of cotton have extremely large bells, others very small; some have lint less than one-half inch long, others in the same field have lint which measures full one and one-eighth inches.
These variations give the plant breeder his opportunity. His effort is to find the single plant the seeds of which will produce the biggest yields of the highest quality. Each year he must select many plants and sow the seeds in separate rows to observe and record the yields and characters, so as to know definitely which is the best parent strain. No man who does not work in this manner is doing real plant breeding and such work requires trained experts and costs thousands of dollars if done on a big scale. It generally costs us thousands of dollars to breed the first bushel of each meritorious strain of seed.
We Do Your Plant Breeding Work
Any farmer who will take the time and trouble can breed his own seed by using our method described in the following pages. Many of them, however, had rather pay us to do this work for them. They realize that we have an advantage in doing plant breeding on a large scale and of having scientifically trained ex- perts of experience to carry on the work. Many planters have found that it pays them to get seed from us every year, others come back every second or third year. We commend this method to you as the cheap- est and most satisfactory way to secure the best planting seed. In distributing these seed, we feel that we are performing a service to Southern farmers that will mean much money to all who take advantage of our work. But whether you do your own plant breeding work or have us to do it for you, the cost of pure bred seed is very small compared to the handsome returns on your investment.
PUKE BRED SEEDS ON EVERY FARM MEAN GREATER PROSPERITY FOR THE FARMER
I
SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
Our Seed Breeding Work
A MOTHER EAR
The beginning of our seed breeding work goes back to 1902, when our Mr. D. R. Coker became interested in the plant breeding work being carried on by Dr. H. J. Webber of the United States Department of Agriculture. Realizing its great significance and its great value to Southern farmers, if properly carried out, he shortly began the selection and study of cotton with the idea of producing a more valuable product; a combination of longer staple and heavier production. A great deal of his time and thought being devoted to this work, he soon realized the great possibilities of making the agriculture of this section more profitable, through the development of varieties of our standard farm crops which would produce greater yields of better quality and of higher money value.
Thus started, this work has taken rapid strides forward and has expanded until it now embraces the breeding of one or more varieties of Cotton, Corn, Oats, Rye, Peas and several other crops. We hope to expand this work eventually until we include the breeding of all Southern staple farm crops. We are spending thousands of dollars each year (most of it in one thirty acre field) in carrying on our seed breeding work, and although we have been doing plant breeding work on our farms since 1902, not until 1909 did we offer Pedigreed Seed to the general public.
Our Method
The Plant-to-Row method of breeding which we have adopted is recognized by all plant breeders and ex- periment stations everywhere as the best and only sure method of crop improvement. The Plant Breeder like the Animal Breeder must make the individual the unit of selection and in this Plant-to-Row method, as the name implies, this idea is carried out. The Plant-to-Row method in a few words, means just this: Testing individual plants in separate rows, as near as possible under identical conditions of soil preparation, fertilization and cultivation; noting all the qualities throughout the season, harvesting or threshing each row to itself and recording the yields, qualities and characteristics of each. By this method only is it possible to identify the inherent qualities of the individual plants, and to isolate those valuable high-yielding plants which under the same conditions and in competition with other plants have proven their superiority and the ability to reproduce their high-yielding qualities.
In animal breeding, the most val- uable animal to the breeder is not the animal with the highest individ- ual record, but the animal that has, coupled with that high record, the ability to produce the largest number of high record progeny. Likewise, in plant breeding, the most valuable plant to the farmer is not the high- yielding individual plant, but that high-yielding plant which has proven its ability through its performance records in the test blocks to repro- duce its high-yielding quality.
This method of proving the in- dividual plant , and then increasing and testing its progeny for three years, giving it a traceable pedigree back to the individual plant, is our method, and we offer for sale as “Coker’s Pedigreed Seed” only the seed from these plants that have
proven their value for four years, GATHERING CORN— Ear-to-Row Tests
and have a high performance record.
EVERY FARMER NEEDS A PLANT BREEDER-HIMSELF OR A SPECIALIST, OR BOTH
SHED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
OUR SEED BREEDING WORK -Continued
In increasing these Pedigreed Seed for the public, we are ever mindful of the fact that even in the best bred plants there are always natural variations away from the original type, and in order to keep our seed up to standard, we are careful to go over our increase blocks and discard those plants that do not meet our requirements.
All seed we sell are grown under our own personal supervision so that we take no chances as to the quality of the product we offer. Not only do we practice great care in the production of our seed, but also in the handling after production. No matter how good our seed are, it would all be of no avail, if we failed to handle them properly when taken from the field.
A Graphic Description of Our Method of Plant Breeding
Valuable plants that have “made good” in the breeding blocks are propagated in the “increase blocks” for further testing, and for increasing the amount of seed for
use in the general fields. We test and prove the individual plant and strain, and then increase the strain without mixture. Strains that make the best yields in the breeding and increase blocks and the variety tests, are planted in the general fields the fourth year, and the resulting “Pedigreed Seed” are offered to the public. This process is continued year after year. The Pedigreed Seed of one year are discarded as soon as a better strain has been found. Each of our strains has a pure and traceable pedigree, the records of which we keep year after year. It is only by this pedigree method that absolutely certain breeding results may be obtained.
In using our seed you have the advantage of all this high grade and expensive work we have done in bringing these seeds to their high state of perfection, and you have seeds that will repeat their good records under Southern conditions, and give you, barring accidents, bigger yields and more value for the money ex- pended.
PEDIGREED SEED FOR THE PUBLIC
Our Experiment Work
In addition to this breeding work we plan and carry out every year with scientific accuracy and great care many experiments in order that we may determine the best methods to be employed in the production of different crops. The results of these experiments are published in bulletins and papers for distribution to the farmers free of charge.
PLANT BREEDING IS A NEVER ENDING PROCESS TOWARD PLANT PERFECTION
Pa sc Five
BBHE
Our Plant
Our plant consists of a large Cotton Ginning Plant, a Planting Seed Storage House and our large Seed Cleaning and Storage Warehouse. Our Ginning Plant is arranged with the very best equipment for handling- seed cotton before ginning, and for handling and cleaning the seeds after they leave the gin until they are weighed into sacks for storage. The gin is connected by an aerial tramway with our storage warehouse. Our main Seed Warehouse is a three story building, consisting of shipping rooms, seed cleaning machinery, auto- matic weighers, germinating rooms, storage rooms, laboratories and general offices. It was designed and built after a very careful study of seed warehouses over the South and central Western states, and is so arranged as to give the maximum efficiency in the handling of our product with the minimum of labor. We have spared
no expense to provide the very best equipment for handling our seeds at every stage so that we could give our customers the very best possible service and we pride ourselves on having a plant unsurpassed in the South.
We extend an urgent invitation to all to visit us and let us show you our Plant Breeding work, our Seed Ware- house and our experimental and seed breeding farms. A trip will be well worth your while and a cordial welcome awaits you. We have no secrets from our customers and are glad to have them inspect our work.
OUR PRIVATE GIN — Used Exclusively for Our Fine Seed Cottons
Our Method of Handling Seed
The two requisites of good seed are: (1) proper breeding (insuring good yields and best quality of pro- duct) and (2) sound and well graded seed (insuring even stands and good germination). Therefore, it would be bad policy and poor business were we to spend so much time and money on our Field Breeding work, per- fecting our seed, if we failed to provide for the proper grading, handling and testing of the seed after they are gathered. It is a well known fact that no matter how good and pure the seed planted, there is always a certain amount of inferior seed produced, due to varying causes, all of which may not be present any one year, but some of which are always present. Environmental and weather conditions have a great deal to do with the quality of the crop produced and so it is very important that the seed be carefully handled, graded and recleaned after they are grown.
OUR NEW SEED WAREHOUSE-Most Complete in the South for Handling Field Seeds
Page Six
SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
OUR METHOD OF HANDLING SEED -Continued
Too often the Farmer or Seedsman neglects to have his seeds cleaned and graded and leaves in them a large per cent, of small, irregular and inferior seed. (This results in uneven stands and poor germination, thereby decreasing the crop yield. We have made actual field tests with heavy and light seed and have found a tremendous difference in yield in favor of the heavy seed of from five to ten bushels per acre. We are confident that there is a great deal more in seed grading than most people think and have therefore equipped our plant to do the very best grading work possible. We have also arranged to provide our customers with grading machines for their farm seeds. (See advertisement, page 24).
A Trip With a Load of Corn
In order that you may better understand how our seed are handled we will carry you on an imaginary trip with a load of corn from the field through our Warehouse until it is ready for shipment. We are now at the field. Our corn has been selected on the stalk, shucked and graded (the good corn being put in one end of the wagon body and the inferior corn in the other end). We arrive at the warehouse, weigh our load and drive to the dump chute on the side of the building, where the seed corn is shoveled in to a large bucket elevator. This drops the corn into a conveyor, which carries it to any one of the five large storage bins on the top floor of our warehouse. The corn is now ready for inspection, grading and nubbing. At the bottom of these storage bins, on the next floor is the nubbing and tipping machinery. A man sits at the bin, takes out an ear at a time and examines it. If it is found all right in every respect for seed purposes he places the ear in a nubbing machine which shells off the grains from each end of the ear. These grains are carried to the feed bins. The seed ear is then dropped into a chute that leads to storaee bins in the basement, and the in- ferior ears are dropped into a feed corn bin. After the corn is nubbed and graded, the door of a bin is opened and the corn passes out into a conveyor which carries it to the corn sheller and from there it is ele- vated to a hopper above the cleaning and grading machinery. It then goes through our large grader and cleaner where all the light, faulty, irregular and broken seeds are removed. The good corn is graded and conveyed to a bucket elevator which carries it to storage bins on the top floor. These bins feed into auto- matic scales, where the corn is weighed, sacked, tagged and sampled. We then place in each bag a card on which is printed a description of the seed and information about the best methods for growing the crop and our guarantee of pedigree, purity and vitality of the seed. The bags are then sewed up and placed away until we have made germination tests of every sample. If the sample from any bag fails to germinate properly, we go back to that bag and throw it out with our feed corn. The sacks are then ready for shipment. When the seed is shipped we record the number of the bag and the person to whom it was shipped and file away a numbered sample of the seed, so that we have a complete record of every sack of seed that goes out from our warehouse.
This gives you our method of handling shelled seed corn. All other seeds are handled in a similar way, the utmost caution being exercised in every case to ship only the very best. All our elevators, conveyors and bins are so constructed that every part is accessible and they are easily cleaned after each run of seed, so that there can be absolutely no mixing of seed in our warehouse.
Corn in Ear
To accommodate some of our customers who want corn in the ear, we have this year reserved a few thousand ears of seed corn which we ship in crates of 70 pounds (equal to one bushel of shelled corn). This corn is no better than our shelled corn but costs more to select, pack and ship. We therefore make an extra charge for ear corn of one dollar a bushel, and no orders are taken for less than one bushel.
Page Seven
SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
Views in Our Plant
SECTION OF PLANT BREEDING ROOM CHEMICAL LABORATORY
STORAGE AND SHIPPING ROOMS IN WAREHOUSE
► S E ED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD <4
Webber Long Staple Cotton
(Coker’s Pedigreed)
The origin of this cotton goes back to 1907, when our Mr. D. R. Coker, in company with Dr. H. J. Webber (then with the United States Department of Agriculture and for whom we have named this cotton), took a few seeds from a particularly productive and healthy plant of Columbia cotton growing in a field of
that variety in Columbia, S. C. From these seed twelve plants were grown in 1908. The fruitfulness, length and general char- acter of this cotton was so striking that all of the seed of these twelve plants were increased in 1909. Two rows were placed in our comparative variety test of twenty-four varieties and the balance of the seed were increased in an isolated plot. In this variety test each row of Webber made more seed cotton than any other of the forty-six rows.
In 1910, with two bushels of seed raised in 1909, we planted twenty-five acres in checks, getting a very poor stand on account of the season and light seeding. It was estimated in September that we would make one-half bale per acre on this field, but we actually har- vested eighteen and three-quarters five hundred weight bales, selling most of it at 23 to 26 cents per pound.
In our 1911 variety test Webber stood second in a test of twenty-two varieties, making one pound per acre row less than our ITartsville No. 7, and one-half pound per acre row more than our Flartsville No. 5. Again in 1912, 1913 and 1914, tested in that time against one hundred varieties and strains of varieties, Webber has stood among the highest yielders tested and in money value has surpassed anything we have tried. (See chart on back of cover.)
Webber is a low growing, very fruit- ful cotton, with large, pointed bolls, usually making one and one-fourth to one and five-sixteenths inch staple. Fif- teen hundred pounds of dry seed cotton will make a bale weighing about five Webber Plant and Seed, with Lint Combed Out hundred pounds, including bagging and
ties.
Our New Pedigreed Strains
In 1910 we began our new breeding work on this cotton, making plant selections from our twenty-five acre field of this cotton. In our 1911 plant-to-row test, consisting of about ninety rows, each planted from the seed of a different plant of Webber selected in 1910, several rows stood up splendidly in comparison with the general average. Two of the most striking rows in the block were numbers 49 and 82.
“ I have planted Webber Cotton three years and find that it yields as much cotton per acre as any short staple
variety I have ever planted.” — H. G., S. C.
Page Nine
SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
Webber No. 49
The No. 49 was very much earlier than any other row in the block. It produced more cotton than the average, made very uniform strong staple of 1*4" to 1 tV' length, had small seeds and was almost all open before most of the other rows were half open. The striking earliness of this row is well illustrated by the photograph at the bottom of page, which was taken about mid-season.
We have further improved and selected SfMf!' Tiff?1 'ncreas'nS h and now have a few
hundred bushels of absolutely pure and very um ror n is e e cr 0 f KnsNurnm for sale. In our variety test for some years we have tried to plant and test all varieties of upland staple cottons of any prominence that are planted in the South and we have not been able to discover any which approaches this Webber 49 in its combination of earliness and character of staple. We consider this cotton better adapted to boll weevil conditions than any staple cotton in existence. In fact, it is approximately as early as any of the short staple varieties and has made in our variety tests here about the same yield . as the early short staples. In 1913 when we had to plant over our variety tests in June and when the very early frost prevented all the later varieties from mak- ing more than half a crop, the 49 was one of the three highest yielders in thirty-eight varieties of both long and short staples. Fifteen hundred pounds of this seed cotton will easily produce a 500 pound bale.
Webber No. 82
Our Webber 82 is the most productive strain of Webber cotton we have in average seasons. It is more productive than the parent strain and makes more than any other cotton in our tests except our highest bred Hartsvilles. It has very large bolls, makes 1 3/&" staple under good conditions, has much smaller seed than the parent type and is earlier, being intermediate in this respect between the original strain of Webber and the No. 49. The first picking of this cotton this season turned out 3 4/ per cent, lint, including bagging and ties. Our field of this cotton this year has caused widespread comment on account of the uniformity of type and extreme productiveness. We have averaged from our crop of No. 82 this season more than twice the price of short staples. While we do not expect these premiums to be maintained, we feel confident that this character and length will continue to bring premiums of several cents per pound and its production per acre being greater than most short staple varieties it should be an immensely popular variety to plant continuously no matter whether staple premiums are high or low.
PRICES. Coker’s Pedigreed General Webber seed described on opposite page, $1.25 a bushel (30 pounds). Twenty bushels and above, $1.10 a bushel. Coker’s Pedigreed Webber No. 49 and No. 82, described above, $1.25 a peck, $2.50 a half bushel, $5.00 a bushel.
These seeds are recleaned, graded and tested for germination. They are put up in new strong bags which bear our name and contain a card on which is printed our guarantee of quality.
BREEDING ROWS OF WEBBER COTTON SHOWING COMPARATIVE EARLINESS OF No. 49 (MIDDLE ROW)
“Speaking of Webber Seed, I Know It Will Please You to Learn that from 62 Acres I Have Ginned this Season
Sixty Bales.” — G. H. B., Camden, S. C.
Pa ge Ten
SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
Hartsville No. 7 Long Staple Cotton
(Coker’s Pedigreed)
In 1902 cotton breeding was begun on our Hartsville plantation by the selection of thirty plants from a field of Jones’ short staple cotton. These original plants were selected by Dr. W. C. Coker and Dr. D. N. Shoemaker, both Ph. D., graduates of Johns Hopkins University. Mr. D. R. Coker shortly took charge of this breeding work and has continued it on a rapidly widening scale until the present.
Plant No. 16 of the original selection showed great fruitfulness and character and made about 11/r inch staple. After seven years of pedigreed breeding of this strain we increased the best plant of the seventh generation, naming this strain Hartsville No. 7. Tor general planting in this section we know of no cotton of greater productiveness. It has large bolls, is very easy to pick, is practically storm proof, always makes a high grade as com- pared with other cottons picked at the same time and makes lint of remarkable uniform- ity and strength under good conditions. In this section this cotton will usually produce 1A inch staple and under poor or droughty conditions it makes l]4, inch. We know of some instances where it has made full lft inch to V/4 inch in Mississippi staple territories and the Piedmont sections of this state. We have known few cases of crop failure or dissatisfaction with this variety and we consider it one of the best and safest varieties that can be planted outside of the boll weevil territory if one is not looking for extra long staple. Its comparative lateness in maturing makes it undesirable to plant where it may be sub- ject to boll weevil ravages.
Hartsville Plant and Combed Seed
Our New Pedigreed Strain — Hartsville No. 9
After nine years of breeding our Hartsville varieties we have propagated a strain which we consider immensely superior to any type of this cotton we have heretofore discovered. It shows all the advantages of
advantage of grd^tSSNar mess ;ndl logger Staple. Our incn) staple and (was s\tjs tie§// We are Usyjtnjgytl prefer to distribure~-frr lots '
the Hartsville N/d^Tr^id of this cotton thik^gtrr-Hm thirty-four per c^\L lij)t, will have only a very^iew
1 has the inch to 1 i, [ging_ar vhich w'e
pVJjully p s of— rrm
i ever f th
crop
respect, turning out s seed ourselves and than one bushel so
that the benefits of this variety may be as widely distributed as possible.
Sold Out!
As this Catalogue goes to press we have sold our last bushel of the Number 9 Hartsville Seed described here. This shows how local farmers appreciate our fine seed
Page Eleven
► SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
PRICES. Coker’s Pedigreed Hartsville No. 7 seed, described on opposite page, $1.10 a bushel (30 pounds). Twenty bushels and above, $1.00 a bushel. Coker’s Pedigreed Hartsville No. 9, described at bottom of page, $1.25 a peck, $2.50 a half bushel, $5.00 a bushel.
These seed are recleaned, graded and tested for germination. They are put up in new strong bags which bear our name and contain a card on which is printed our guarantee of quality.
Seed from Our Breeding Fields
The seed of the Webber No. 49, Webber No. 82 and Hartsville No. 9, are from our own breeding fields and are offered for sale this year for the first time. We have only a small quantity of these seed to sell and the largest part of our stock has already been taken by local farmers. We will book orders for
these seed for later delivery on deposit of $1.00 a bushel.
If anyone were to offer us $10.00 per bushel for our entire stock of Webber 82 and 49 and Hartsville 9 (including our own planting seed), we wouldn’t consider the proposition a minute. Good middling cotton like these varieties is worth double the price of short cotton at present and the yields have been fully as good as the average short staple variety. With these cottons you are independent of staple premiums. If high you make a big profit over the short staple planter and as long as there is any premium there is a profit over short cotton.
Five dollars a bushel may seem a big price for cotton seed but you must remember that it has cost us several thousand dollars to produce these fine new strains. By careful dropping of the seed, you can plant
an acre with one peck and next year will have the best seed obtainable for your entire crop at a very small
cost.
What the Farmers Get for Long and Short Cotton
The table below shows the actual average price that 1(4 inch and short staple cotton (strict middling basis) brought on our local market during the month of November (as an average marketing month) during the past four years. These prices, of course, fluctuated a great deal during the year, but the staple premium over short cotton remained at a good figure at all times.
|
YEAR |
1(4 inch |
SHORT STAPLE |
PREMIUM |
|
1911 |
14(4 |
m |
5(4 |
|
1912 |
17(4 |
12(4 |
5 |
|
1913 |
16 |
12(4 |
3(4 |
|
1914 |
12(4 |
7(4 |
5(4 |
With yields equal to short cotton, DOES LONG STAPLE COTTON PAY? Ask any farmer around Hartsville. They will tell you that they have averaged fully as good yields as with short cotton.
A FIELD OF HARTSVILLE LONG STAPLE COTTON
SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
Keenan-Goodson Long Staple Cotton
(Pure Bred by the Originator)
Keenan-Goodson Bolls (reduced) and Combed Seed (full size)
The Keenan Long Staple Cotton is a well known variety which was bred from a short staple variety by Dr. H. J. Webber, who at that time was in charge of the Bureau of Plant Breeding of the United States Department of Agriculture. This work was done on the farm of Mr. R. C. Keenan at Columbia, S. C. The Goodson strain of this variety is descended from one of a number of plant selections made by Mr. T. E Goodson, of Hartsville, on his farm near this place, which showed excellent lint qualities and high yielding powers. Mr. Goodson practices the plant- to-row method of breeding and for a number of years his strain of the Keenan variety has been one of the most popular cottons grown in this section. It has been one of the high yielding varieties in our variety tests and is superior to the old Keenan variety in staple and character. The seed we offer are not bred by us but are grown from Mr. Good- son's own pure bred stock.
It is a medium season, semi-cluster, large, round boll, productive upland staple cotton, producing thir- ty-three per cent, lint of splendid and uniform char- acter, staple 1A to 1(4 inch. It has large, white seed and produces a very vigorous plant having one main upright stalk and usually two ascending basal branches. The crop from which our seed were produced this year made one bale per acre and much of the lint sold for from 13 to 15 cents per pound.
PRICES. Keenan-Goodson seed described above, $1.10 per bushel (30 pounds). Twenty bushels and above $1.00 a bushel. These seed are tested for germ- ination. They are put up in new, strong bags. We guarantee them to be pure and sound.
We do not urge the indiscriminate substitution of long for short cotton. The careless, haphazard farmer who does not learn and follow the essentials of success in the staple industry had better let staples alone, for he will certainly not succeed unless he does.
From Two Letters
‘‘In regard to the cotton produced from these seeds (Webber and Keenan), will say that in most cases we are getting a nice, smooth, even cotton of full 1(4 to Its inch staple, containing only a small per centage of short fibres.” — C. M. C., Alabama. (This customer used over one thousand bushels of our seed last year.)
“Of the several varieties we planted this year, the Webber seed I purchased from you gave by far the best results. . . . Please quote me a car load
of your Pedigreed Seed.” — W. T. E., Texas. (This customer planted eight thousand acres of cotton last year and used twelve hundred bushels of our seed.)
Good Middling 1)4 inch — Brought Double the Price of Short Cotton during the past Fall and Winter
SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
Advice on Planting Staple Cotton
By DAVID R. COKER — Breeder, Buyer and Staple Expert
My long experience as breeder, buyer and seller of staple cotton has suggested the following as essential points of success in the staple industry :
1st. Varieties. Plant any of the four or five big boiled productive staple varieties bred in recent years from short staples by men who understand the busi- ness.
2nd. Pure Pedigreed Seed. Breed your own seed or buy reliable seed from careful breeders, renewing them at least every third year. There are very few men who are < doing - any creditable breeding work with long staple' cotton.
3rd. Distance, Culture and Fertilizer. You can't make good staple during dry seasons unless you give the plants good distance both ways. In wet seasons if crowded it will rot. Good culture and proper fertilization are also necessary if you expect good yields and full staple.
4th. Prompt and Careful Handling. Clean bright staple is nearly always in demand while trashy blues are often difficult of sale. You must keep up with your gathering to produce a high grade that is readily salable at top prices.
5ih. Ginning. Use only an up-to-date gin sys- tem with good cleaner feeder, suction elevator and
fan blower to put the lint right into the press box. Run the gin at not over 425 revolutions with a loose gin roll. Don’t try to put through over two-thirds as much staple cotton per day as you would of short cotton. Your ginner should ask more for ginning staple cotton than for ginning short cotton, and you should see that he gives you smooth, clean cotton, free from short staple. The ginner should never gin a bale of long staple without throwing out the roll of the preceding bale unless it is of the same variety anil grade.
6th. Package. Staple cotton should be put up in bales weighing 450 to 550 pounds, using nothing but sound, strong two pound bagging (6/ yards to the bale) as covering.
7th. Condition. Protect your cotton from the weather from the day it is ginned. If you are not going to sell it at once, store it.
8th. Marketing. Sell your staple cotton in well established markets, where the buyers understand the staple business. The raiser of staple cotton should either live in hauling distance of a good staple market or should know how to reach buyers who will give him the value for his cotton.
Short Staple Cottons
For many years we have been testing the relative merits of different cotton varieties, both long and short and for three years we have gotten highest yields from Cook’s Improved, Mexican Big Boll and Cleveland Big Boll against all other varieties of short cottons tested. These we consider the best short staple cottons for four reasons: (1st) They are the heaviest yielders; (2nd) They have large bolls; (3rd) They have
uniform lint; (4th) They are easy to pick. We advise all farmers who wish to plant short staple cotton to give these varieties a trial. We can offer you pure bred seed of Mexican Big Boll and Cook’s Improved. These seed are not bred by us but are grown from the originators’ own pure bred seeds.
MEXICAN BIG BOLL. This is a very early, productive, open growing, large boll short staple cotton, has a medium sized seed and makes 36 per cent, lint of a good uniform character. We consider this the best short staple cotton we know.
COOK’S IMPROVED. This is a medium early, semi-cluster, large boll, productive short staple cotton, having a small seed and yielding 38 per cent lint. This cotton has been a heavy producer wherever it has been tested throughout the South. Reports from the Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina Experiment Stations place it among the very best varieties tested. It has stood well in our tests for three years.
PRICES. Mexican Bie Boll and Cook’s Improved seed, $1.00 a bushel (30 pounds). Twenty bushels and above, 90 cents a bushel. Our seed of these varieties are carefully selected, ginned, cleaned, graded and tested for germination. They are put up in strong new bags. We guarantee them to be pure and sound.
Plant Less Acres But Make More Cotton to the Acre with Good Seed and Proper Cultivation
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Coker’s Pedigreed Williamson Corn
Williamson Corn is one of the oldest varieties of Southern corns planted in South Carolina. For many g nerations it was bred by field selection by Mr. Williamson (the father of Mr. Mclver Williamson, of corn fame). Jn 1906 we began breeding this variety by planting an ear-to-row test from a number of apparently fine ears of Williamson corn. Ear E-l came from a stalk which made two big weevil free ears weighing twenty-five ounces. It proved to be one of the highest yielders in an ear-to-row test and we therefore in- creased the strain in a breeding block. For the past eight years we have been breeding this corn by field selection of plants and the plant-to-row method, increasing the ears true to type year after year until we raised sufficient quantity to offer for sale.
EARS OF OUR WILLIAMSON CORN-Note Depth of Grain and Well Filled Ends
DESCRIPTION. The color of the grain is light amber with white cap. The grains are hard and deep. The cob is red and has on the ear eighteen to twenty-two rows of grains. It shells out eighty-seven pounds corn to one hundred in ear. Shuck fits tight and fully protects the ear. Average height of ear on stalk four to four and a half feet.
HIGHLY RESISTANT TO WEEVILS. One of the most valuable features of any corn is its resistance to weevils. Most of the small eared prolific varieties and many of the large eared corns offered for sale in the South are so badly attacked by weevils after warm weather begins that they are hardly fit for man or beast. Our E-l strain of Williamson corn by careful breeding has been brought to a high state of weevil resistance and while it is not entirely immune to weevils, it is more resistant than any other variety we know of.
SINGLE EARED. Planted one foot apart in six-foot rows by the Williamson plan, this corn usually makes one well filled ear to the stalk and in some cases two ears. A corn which makes a small number of ears and at the same time a large yield is the most valuable one to the farmer. It costs less to gather, shuck, shell and handle at every point. What you want is the largest amount of sound, weevil-free shelled corn per acre, of high feeding value, rather than a great number of small ears.
YIELD. In accurate tests for the past five years, our Williamson corn has stood at or next to the top every year in yield of shelled corn per acre. Other varieties make two to three times the number of ears but less actual shelled corn and the nearest competitors in yield have fallen far below the Williamson in quality of grain.
FODDER NOT PULLED. One of the very best features of our corn is that we allow it to mature nor- mally on the stalk without pulling the fodder or cutting down the plant. Thus, all the seed are fully ma- tured and vital. We have conducted accurate tests which show that seed from rows on which the fodder has been pulled at regular fodder-pulling time produced seventeen per cent, less in yield as against seed of the same variety from adjoining rows upon which the fodder had been left to dry upon the stalk. Much of the seed corn offered for sale in the South has been subjected to the destructive practice of fodder pulling, thereby lower- ing its vitality and productiveness.
“I was delighted with the Pedigreed Williamson seed corn purchased from you. My stand from this corn was perfect, the plants vigorous and strong. Planted on poor and rich soil it has made a splendid yield. The corn is beautiful and seems wonderfully free from weevils.” — H. C. H., Augusta, Ga.
- 5 .IMBdl. f :
Fagc Fijleen
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COKER’S PEDIGREED WILLIAMSON CORN -Continued
USE WILLIAMSON METHOD. Against early planting and early fertilizing, the Williamson method has averaged over twenty per cent, more yield in an accurately conducted four years’ test on our farm. If you don’t know what this method is, send for our circular fully describing it.
PRICES. Shelled: One peck, $1.00; one-half bushel, $1.75; one bushel, $3.00. Five per cent, discount on ten bushels and above. Corn in Ear: Seventy pounds to the crate ('shelling about a bushel), $4.00 a crate. Orders not accepted for less than one crate.
Note — Our ear corn is from the same stock as shelled corn but costs more to select, handle and crate, hence the higher price.
Our Corn Breeding Work
Our Ear-to-Row breeding of corn, while similar to the Plant-to-Row breeding of other crops in prin- ciple, varies somewhat as to method of procedure to accommodate the habits of the corn plant. Corn is nat- urally an open fertilized plant and will not permit of too much inbreeding without a decrease in yield. We are obliged to practice therefore a method of breeding which will eliminate, as far as possible, this inbreeding factor. Our method of detasseling the breeding rows, and of pairing the “Ear Remnants” and detasseling again in the Increase Plots, prevents all inbreeding and enables us to produce Pedigreed Strains of high yielding corn. A great deal of experimenting has been done to determine the best method of breeding corn and the one we use is considered best.
We first select one hundred of the best quality ears we can find from desirable stalks and make a record of each by number from one to one hundred. A separate row is then planted from each ear one half acre long, and then beginning with the same ear, duplicate rows are planted, making two rows from each ear. The grains are spaced accurately in the rows and cultivated and fertilized all alike, using the same fertilizer as for the general crop. Notes are made of the qualities of every row throughout the season. When the corn begins to tassel, the tassels are carefully removed, in the first set of rows planted, from the even num- bered rows, two, four, six, to one hundred, leaving the tassels on the other rows to fertilize the corn silks of all. In the second set of rows, the tassels are removed from the odd numbered rows, one, three, five, seven, to ninety-nine, leaving the tassels on the even numbered rows. This gives us one row from each ear detasseled and one row from each ear with the tassels, giving us one row from each ear that has been entirely fertilized by other rows.
We thus infuse new blood into these ears of corn by crossing them with other ears — -just as a cattle breeder introduces new blood into his herd by introducing a new bull of different blood.
At harvest time we gather and weigh every row separately and record the weights of each. Notes are made as to quality and the best rows are determined, only the detassled rows being considered and selected. After the best rows are determined, ears from these rows are selected for the next year’s breeding work. The remaining best ears from these selected rows (previously selected from the desirable stalks and placed to themselves) are shelled and planted in a large increase block the following year. The “Ear Remnants,” or that part of the ear left from planting the original best rows (which in the meantime have been care- fully preserved) are now looked up and planted the following spring in pairs in isolated breeding plots, one ear being used as the female parent (detasseled) and the other ear as the male parent. The best corn is gathered from the detasseled rows of these plots and is increased and selected year after year until offered to the public. These new strains are tested every year in test plots with other strains and varieties and if they do not hold up in yield and quality are discarded.
United States Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 229 says: “The swindling practice of advertising and selling as well bred seed a corn that has received no careful breeding is more common than the breed- ing of productive strains, and has caused many who have been imposed upon to discredit the merits of truly good seed corn. It is unwise to buy seed from parties whose method of corn breeding is unknown and whose truthfulness is not assured, and it is equally unwise to purchase in large quantity seed of a strain of corn that is not known to be adapted to the section in which it is to be planted.”
“The Williamson corn bought of you matures from butt full to the tip. No matter hove small the ear due to poor land, it matures each row and out to the tip. It is a hard, flinty corn and a good keeper. We planted about 200 acres of it and consider it our best general purpose field corn. Another year we will plant 600 acres of it.” — J. K. M., Denmark, S. C.
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Marlboro Prolific Corn
Produces stalks of medium size and height, with ears at medium height from ground. It will produce two good ears to the stalk on good land. The grains are white to cream in color on white cobs. It is a medium hard corn and matures earlier than many of the single eared varieties. Our seed of this variety were
produced from the best Pedi- greed Seed we could obtain. We have carefully selected all our seed from the field and have carefully nubbed, graded and recleaned them. We offer you as good seed as you can buy of this variety. This corn was one of the leaders in our tests this year.
PRICES. Shelled: One
peck. 85 cents ; one half bus- hel, $1.50; one bushel, $2.75. Five per cent, discount on ten bushels and above.
Corn in Ear : 70 pounds to the crate (shelling about a bushel), $3. .50 a crate. Orders
MARLBORO PROLIFIC -A Favorite Two Eared Variety 110t accepted for less than One
crate.
Garric Corn
This is a two eared Prolific Corn, producing two ears per stalk on medium sized stalks when planted on good soil. This is one of the highest yielding corns we have ever tested. The grains are pure white on white cobs. It is a rather soft corn, but is very popular throughout the South. These seed are not our own Pedigreed stock, but were grown from the best Pedigreed Garric seed we could obtain. We offer you field selected, graded, nubbed and recleaned seed of this var- iety, as good as can be had.
PRICES. Shelled: One
peck, 85 cents ; one half bus- hel, $1.50; one bushel, $2.75.
Five per cent, discount on ten bushels and above.
Corn in Ear : 70 pounds to the crate (shelling about a bushel), $3.50 a crate. Orders not accpeted for less than one
Crate. GARRIC— One of the Leading Southern Yielders
READ ARTICLE ON PAGE 6, ENTITLED “A TRIP WITH A LOAD OF CORN
Page Seventeen
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Coker’s Pedigreed Amber Sorghum
Amber Sorghum as ordinarily known is a rather small growing sorghum with scanty foliage and open sprangly heads. Coker’s Pedigreed Amber is very different, having heavy foliage and very large cluster heads. It is not surpassed in seed production by any other variety in the South. It is much sweeter than the old Amber types and is very tender and juicy, ft produces a very small stem so that it is especially suitable for use as a hay crop. When sown thick it will make a tremendous yield of hay of fine quality that is relished by every kind of live stock. It also makes a splendid green forage crop and is most often used for that purpose. If sown in alternate rows with corn for silage purposes a much heavier yield will be obtained than from corn aione. This is a com- mon practice in parts of the South. It is a very early variety, producing large, heavy seed heads, heavy foliage and small, very sweet stalks. Re- commended especially for hay and green forage purposes.
PRICE. One pound, 15 cents; peck, $1.00; half bushel, $1.75; bushel, $3.00 (50 pounds to
bushel). Seed are recleaned, graded and sacked SUM AC-Heads of Our Pedigreed Sorghum-AMBER
in new bags.
Coker’s Pedigreed Sumac Sorghum
Sumac Sorghum is especially adapted for use as a silage or green forage crop. It grows much larger than the Amber variety, producing coarse stalks, and consequently is not so well adapted for use as a hay crop. This variety is known to be one of the heaviest yielders of forage and is grown extensively in many parts of the South, often as a silage crop planted in alternate rows with corn. It is also very often used as a green forage crop to be cut and fed green to stock. Our Pedigreed strain of this variety has been bred for production and we recommend it especially for silage and green forage purposes. It is a medium late variety, producing very close cluster heads, tremendous forage yields and large stalks.
PRICE. One pound, 15 cents; peck, $1.00; half bushel, $1.75; bushel, $3.00 (fifty pounds to bushel). Seed are recleaned, graded and sacked in new bags.
FIELD OF COKER’S PEDIGREED AMBER SORGHUM-Showing Heavy Growth It Makes
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Peas and Velvet Beans
COKER’S PEDIGREED WHIPPOORWILL X NEW ERA PEAS. This pea is a cross between the
Whippoorwill and New Era varieties which was made by the Government some years ago. It has proven to be a very heavy yielder, producing large well filled pods with very plump seed, color very similar to the Whippoorwill variety. Our stock of these peas is descended from a very high yielding individual plant selection and has made heavy yields in all our tests. It produces a medium growth of vine and is well adapted as a forage or seed pea. Produces more than either parent variety. This variety has a very thin pod and must not be left long in the field after maturity. Much superior to ordinary peas.
COKER’S PEDIGREED IRON X WARREN’S NEW HYBRID PEA. This variety is a cross between the Iron (a wilt resistant pea) and a variety known as Warren’s New Hybrid (a very productive bush pea) introduced by the government some years ago. It is a very early heavy fruiting pea, producing very large pods which are very thick. This pea will keep well some time after maturity. It produces a large, dark, clay colored pea. We recommend this variety for planting in rows for seed production. It makes very little vine but is adapted for seed purposes or as a pasture crop for hogs. These peas are descended from a very productive plant selection and will make heavy yields.
BRABHAM
heaviest yielding wherever tried, the production of\j£
a wqH wilt colored
[known -variety, being the and is very popular This variety led in considerable vine and
qrrito
peas
is adapted for either forage or seed production.
PRICES. Any of the above peas: One peck, $1.00; one bushel, $3.50. Eive per cent, discount on ten bushels and more. Seed are recleaned, graded and sacked in new bags.
YOKOHAMA VELVET BEANS. This is a Japanese variety of the velvet bean, and is very early, maturing easily anywhere in the Souths cr0P ^arSe white beans and a heavy growth
of vines. It is especially adapted foAye!Us. algr|||i ijiAtuiring crop on poor lands, as it produces considerably more vine growth than any variety of cow peas and furnishes a larger amount of vegetable matter to turn under. This is the best variety of the velvet bean yet introduced that will mature seed in this climate. The Florida bean makes much more growth, but will not mature seed in this latitude. We recommend this Yokohama bean as a green manuring crop for poor lands, to be plowed under, or as a green forage crop for grazing purposes.
PRICES. One peck, $2.00; half bushel, $3.50; one bushel, $6.00.
A PILE OF OUR PEDIGREED WILLIAMSON SEED CORN
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Do You Want Big Profits?
If any man would show a big merchant or manu- facturer how he could make just one per cent, more net profit in his business, he would be well paid for his services. Anybody who has money will invest in a proposition which is absolutely sure to pay twenty per cent, or more annual profit. Now, Mr. Farmer, we are offering you not twenty per cent, but hundreds of per cent, on a small investment in good seed. For an insignificant sum you can buy from us a small amount of each of our pedigreed strains of seeds and in one year have enough seed to plant your entire acreage with the very best that scientific and expert attention have yet produced.
Yet, because we are forced to ask more than the ordinary price of common unselected seed, some peo- ple say, “You are too high.” You can just put this in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Farmer : You won’t get seed scientifically bred by experts, carefully graded in expensive machines, tested for germina- tion and shipped out with such a guarantee as our reputation gives, for the price of ordinary seed. In fact, the highest priced seed we have are to you the
cheapest. Seed of our new pedigreed strains of staple cotton at $5.00 a bushel is the most profitable investment in cotton seed we know of and any far- mer who intends to plant staple cotton next year cannot afford to pass up this opportunity to buy at least a small quantity of these strains and plant enough to raise his own seed for next year.
It is equally as profitable to plant our high bred seed corn and other field seeds. Do you know that it requires a hundred bushel of our fine corn in the field to make about five bushels for seed ? At every step from the original field selection of ears to our final grading of the seed to be shipped we carefully throw out every ear which does not measure up to our high standard, and remove all light and broken grains of shelled corn. We are equally as careful with all our other seeds or we could not uphold our unreserved guarantee of quality. We ask you, “Is it not a good business proposition for you to invest a few dollars in our fine seeds that will make you hundreds of per cent, on your investment?”
What the Mills Think About Our Staple Cottons
Extracts from letters received by dealers who handle these cottons.
A Massachusetts Mill Writes:
“The cotton bought from you last season was very satisfactory and our only regret was that we could not get more of it at the time when we were in the market. We are looking forward to doing a large business with you during the coming season.”
From New Bedford:
“We wish to state that we have been very much pleased and satisfied with the business we have done the past season with you. We find the runnning of your cotton has been most economical, it being par- ticularly well bodied and even running cotton.”
A Letter from Fitchburg, Mass.
“We are pleased to say that the staple cotton that came from you has been extremely satisfactory ; in fact as satisfactory as anything of this staple that we have ever purchased.”
From North Carolina:
“I take great pleasure in stating that our superin- tendent is very much pleased with the staple and body of the two hundred bales of cotton which we recently used, and next year we hope to be able to use this in much larger quantities.”
From an Alabama Mill:
“From a spinning standpoint we consider the Webber one of the best cottons we are using in our mills.”
Did You Ever Stop to Think
That it requires exactly the same land, labor, fertilizer and cultivation to make a crop from poor seeds
as from the best? Do a little figuring. It takes about thirty cents worth of our fine seed corn to plant an
acre. Ordinary corn would cost ten cents. Plant, fertilize and cultivate an acre planted from each side by side. The only difference in cost of production is the twenty cents difference in price of seed. But what about the yield? You ought to get, on good land, at least five bushels more shelled corn per acre from our seed than from the other. Many farmers get more. At a market price of one dollar a bushel, you have made five dollars on an investment of twenty cents — clear profit $4.80. Some planters make more money than that with our seeds ; very few who have been planting ordinary seed make less.
Is it any wonder that Southern farmers who plant ordinary cheap stock as seed usually have a hard
fight to keep the wolf from the door? ARE YOU IN THAT CLASS? IF SO, GET OUT!
“WE LIKE YOUR SEED, ARE ENCOURAGED BY THEIR USE AND EXPECT TO USE THEM AGAIN”
— H. W. M., Columbia, S. C.
v use i tvc/iiy
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Coker’s Pedigreed Abruzzi Rye
Its History
Abruzzi or Italian Rye was discovered by agents of the United States Department of Agriculture, while on an exploration trip through Italy in search of valuable plants for use in this country, and was introduced for the first time about January, 1900. It came from Naples, and brought with it this record: “Abruzzes, a superior rye grown
in the Abruzzi Province, a mountainous district east of Rome. This strain is one of the best grown in Italy, having made an average yield of 28.2 bushels per acre for a period of ten years.”
This rye was tested by the United States Department of Agriculture, found to be valuable, and was distributed about 1906 or 1907, but for some reason it seems to have been lost sight of until improved and introduced again as “Coker’s Pedigreed” Abruzzi Rye in the fall of 1913.
Its Pedigree
Coker's Pedigreed Abruzzi Rye is descended from two plants which were selected from a field of this general Abruzzi rye in the spring of 1909, and tested alongside of many other selected plants of the same variety. These two plants indicated their good qualities by the high average yield of 67.2 bushels per acre in 1910, and in 1911, 1913 and 1914 the progeny made an average yield of 56.6 bushels per acre, as against 45.2 bushels for the general Abruzzi, showing a better record by 11.4 bushels per acre than the parent strain. These high yields were of course made under test plot conditions. We make, under average farm conditions, from twenty to thirty bushels per acre of this rye on a large acreage.
Sheaf of Coker’s Pedigreed Abruzzi Rye Winner World’s 1st Prize
A Winter Cover Crop
A cover crop, to be of much value, must make a heavy growth of vegetable matter during the Fall and Winter, when the land is idle; and the fact that Ab- ruzzi Rye makes such a tre- mendous growth early, makes it the best Winter cover crop for the South that we know of.
As a Winter Grazing Crop
Abruzzi Rye is far superior to the ordinary rye varieties. In carefully conducted tests, we find that it will give from two to three times the amount of winter pastureage that our ordinary varieties will.
In addition to its heavy yield, it possesses the dis- tinct advantage of growing upright, making it easy for the animals to graze. We do not know of any crop that will give as much grazing during the Winter as Abruzzi Rye.
A H eavy Seed Producer
The superiority of Abruzzi Rye in seed production is very marked. We find no difficulty in raising from twenty to thirty bushels per acre, on fairly good soil. For the past two years we have made an average yield of twenty-six bushels per acre on our Hartsville plantation, and when we compare this yield with the average ten-year yield of 11 3 bushels per acre for our ordinary ryes in the Southern States we can readliy see the superiority of the Abruzzi Rye. In our test blocks we usually raise two to three times as much grain from Abruzzi Rye as from our native types.
Time and Method of Seeding
For Cover Crop and Grazing Purposes, we find that Abruzzi should be sown from September 15 to October 15, for best results. If sown earlier than September 15, the young plants are very apt to be killed by the hot sun, and if sown much later than October 15, the plants will not have sufficient time to make their best cover crop growth before time to turn them under. We recommend planting in cotton fields after the first or second picking, about Septem- ber 15. Sow the rye broadcast between the rows, and turn under with a large sweep, one furrow to the row. We find this method very satisfactory, and the cotton is not injured in any way. For seeding after hay, it should be sown as soon as the hay is har- vested, and may be sown broadcast and harrowed in, or seeded with a regular grain drill as suits best.
For Seed Purposes, we recommend seeding with a grain drill, from the first 'o the fifteenth of No- vember in the upper half of the cotton belt, and two weeks later in the lower half. This rye is consider- ably earlier than our native ryes, and if planted earlier than this it will head out very early in the Spring, and may be injured by cold weather.
Rate of Seeding
After conducting experiments running over sev- eral years, we find that a seeding of bushel per acre "on good soil, and bushel per acre on light soils, for November 15 planting, will give best re- sults. When planted in this way, every plant will have ample opportunity to produce a large number of heavy heads, and large grains. If planted much later than November 15, however, a heavier seeding should be used, for the plants will not have time to stool properly, and bigger yields can then be ob- tained from heavier seedings.
PRICES: WRITE FOR PRICES AFTER AUGUST FIRST
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Coker’s Pedigreed Red Oats
The origin of Coker’s Pedigreed Red Oats goes back to a field of Red Appier Oats harvested in the Spring of 1908, and the Red Appier Oat itself traces back many years to the well-known variety of Texas Red Rustproof Oats. Good heads and plants were selected for a number of years from Red Rustproof stock, and grown by a man named Appier, who introduced them as Red Appier Oats, and for many years they have been planted very generally throughout the Southern States.
The beginning of our oat breeding work was made in the Spring of 1908, when a number of apparently productive plant selections were made from a field of Red Appier Oats for testing in our plant-to-row test of 1909. Every year since that time we have made plant selections for similar tests, and in all have tested over three hundred individual plants, the records and yields of each plant being recorded separately in our record books. Out of these three hundred plants tested only four .plants, up to the present time, have proved worthy of increasing and offering to the public
The oats we are now offering for sale trace back to two high-yielding plant selections in our 1910 breeding plots, which for the past four years, 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914, have been increased separately, and have proved their ability in both the test plots and general fields to reproduce their high-yielding qualities.
In all our breeding work we have had as our primary object the production of high-yielding, uniform strains of oats, and only those strains that combine these two qualities are offered to the public.
Our Oats Make Big Yields
Every year we conduct variety tests of oats in which we test our Pedigr strains in comparison with other standard varieties. For the past three years
oats have consistently led in
yield of all varieties tested. The
eed
our
chart opposite gives the results of our 1914 variety tests, and while a one year test is not con- clusive, yet it shows in this case that Coker's Pedigreed Red Oat holds its former record by lead- ing all varieties tested. There is also an additional quality of uniformity with these oats in stalk and grain, and the top of a field of them is regular and level like a table top. Prices Quoted After August First.
Sheaf of
Coker’s Pedigreed Red Oats Winner of Southern Sweep- stakes Prize
OAT VARIETIES 1914- COMPARAT1VE YIELDS. BUS PEP ACRE.
Fulghum Oats
On account of the extra earliness of the Fulghum Oat, this variety is much demanded by planters of a large acreage of oats for a portion of their crop, as it lengthens the harvest period. Our stock of these oats is not pedigreed but is raised on our own farms from the finest planting stock we could find in the South. The seed is pure stock, recleaned and graded, and tested for germination before shipped. Prices quoted after August first.
Time and Method of Seeding Oats
The time and method of seeding oats varies con- siderably in different sections of the South, and very often it varies in a particular section, depend- ing of course upon the purpose for which the crop is intended, the variety of oats planted, weather con- ditions, and so on.
Although the time of planting does vary in any given section, there is a best average time for plant- ing, and every farmer should try to ascertain this best time for his particular section, and try to plant as near that time as possible every year. For this section of the South, our experience seems to show that seeding from the fifteenth to the thirtieth of November will give best average results, especially when a light seeding per acre is used.
For many years, almost every farmer seeded his oats by hand, broadcast. As soon as the corn crop was gathered, his land was broken, the oats sown broadcast, and harrowed in. This method had its disadvantages ; a very serious one being that often there was much winter killing. The little plants came up on the level, and had no protection from the cold winds. The method of planting with a drill is today being used on most up-to-date farms. The open furrow method is popular and effective in some sections, but is not so economical of labor and seed as the drill method. We recommend planting with a drill after the land has been thoroughly pre- pared, and we have never lost a crop of drill-planted oats by winter killing.
“YOUR (COKER’S PEDIGREED RED) OATS YIELDED AT THE RATE OF 92 BUSHELS PER ACRE’’
— S. C. Exp. Station.
Page Twenty- two
SEED WITH A PERFORMANCE RECORD
Rate of Seeding Oats
The question of how much seed to sow to obtain best results is one of very great importance. It is not uncommon to find farmers who plant as much as five bushels of seed per acre, but perhaps the ma- jority of them plant from two to three bushels per acre. If you will examine a field of oats seeded at the rate of five bushels per acre, you will at once notice that the plants are very thick. Some plants will be high, others low, showing that there is com- petition between the plants. If you examine the crop at harvest time you will notice that in the com petition some of these plants have been choked out and are practically worthless, and that while those plants that were most vigorous have grown and matured, they have been hurt in the competition Many of them have only one stem from a seed There has not been room for development, and con- sequently the heads are small, the grains light, and the yield and quality not what it should be. If you now examine a field with a light seeding per acre, you will notice that each seed has produced a plant with a number of stems ; there has been no com- petition between the plants ; each plant has developed into its best ; the stems are many, the heads are heavy, and the yield is large.
Observing this fact, we began a set of experiments to determine the best rate of seeding to use for
heaviest yields. These experiments began in 1910, and were carried out with the greatest care. All grains were placed and spaced in the test plots by hand, and everything was done with the greatest accuracy. _ For three years in succession the three- peck seeding gave best results, yielding an average of nine bushels per acre more than the six peck seeding, and 3^4 bushels per acre more than the nine-peck seeding. The fourth year, with seedings from one peck to one bushel per acre, the three- peck seeking gave a yield of nine bushels per acre more than the next heaviest yielding plot, which was seeded at the rate of two pecks per acre. Our 1914 tests give practically the same results for the dif- ferent seedings of 1 14, V\ and 3/s bushels per acre, but on account of irregularities in the test plots these last results are not considered accurate.
We conclude, therefore, that the correct seeding per acre for good soils in this section, where drill planting is used, is about three pecks per acre. Our experiments lead us to believe that much less seed are needed on rich land than on poor, and while we recommend a seeding of three pecks on good soil, we feel that as much as two bushels per acre may be needed on soils of a light sandy character. Of course a thin seeding requires a good seed bed, as we have already recommended.
Seed Wheat
We offer seed of the three best varieties of wheat we know of for Southern planting. These seeds are not pedigreed but are from the best planting stock we can secure. They are recleaned, graded, tested for germination, and sacked in new bags. Write for prices after August first.
OREGON FORTY FOLD. A promising new variety for this section that has proved a big yielder. Originally came from Oregon and has been grown with great success in Tennessee. Grew last year twenty- eight bushels to the half bushel sowing per acre in Tennessee. It is strong, hardy and has stiff straw. We have not yet seen this variety tested in this section but will give our results, after the present crop is harvested.
LEAPS PROLIFIC. One of the most popular varieties in this section, usually making good yields and a fine quality of grain.
BLUE STEM. One of the best yielders for Southern planting. Preferred by many plantei's of big crops.
Advice T1
(Editorial from The Country
The advice that counts and produces results is the first-hand object-lesson example such as that offered by David R. Coker, of Darlington County. South Carolina. Mr. Coker, as you will learn in the arti- cle, A Farmer Seed Specialist, in this issue of The Country Gentleman, does not utter advice or pro- claim theory until he has first made a comprehen- sive demonstration of the value of his idea. He is a Southern business man and a successful one, but before he set out to dictate and to “educate” he tried out a long series of methods of seed selection and breeding. He saw that the farmers of his state were losing immense aggregate wealth by haphazard planting and cultivation. There was a woeful lack of grass and forage crops in South Carolina, but merely to state this fact would not bring about a revolution. The thing was to demonstrate that grass and forage crops could be grown at a vastly greater profit than most planters believed.
iat Counts
Gentleman February 28, 1914)
Having looked into the general custom of planting from two to five bushels of oats to the acre Mr. Coker decided that there was something radically wrong with the economy of this method. Wherefore he launched into several phases of practical oat culture, or you might say scientific oat culture with a practi- cal object in view, and soon made the interesting dis- covery that by seeding three pecks of oats to the acre he obtained a yield of five bushels more than was produced by a six-peck seeding and three and a half bushels more than by means of a nine-peck seeding.
Just as important were the results obtained by him in breeding pedigree strains of cotton, corn and rye. Mr. Coker kept at it for ten years, and when- ever he was sure of his results he issued a bulletin and sent it out among the farmers, inviting them at the same time to come to his farm and see for them- selves. This is the object-lesson method that counts. * * * * * * *
BIGGER CROPS AND MORE MONEY FOR THE SOUTHERN FARMER— IS OUR AIM
Page Twenty -three
bbed .Wi^Ma performance record
ONE OF OUR STATE FAIR EXHIBITS
PERFORMANCE RECORDS
Coker’s Pedigreed Seeds in the Show Ring
Fifth National Corn Exposition, 1913 — Columbia, S. C.
Grand Champion Sweepstakes Prize, Sheaf Abruzzi Rye, (World Prize).
Grand Champion Sweepstakes Prize, Peek Beans, (World Prize). Sweepstakes Prize, Southern Zone, Sheaf Oats.
Sweepstakes Prize, Southern Zone, Peek Oats.
Sweepstakes Prize, Southern Zone, Sheaf Abruzzi Rye.
vSweepstakes Prize, Southern Zone, Peck Velvet Beans. First Prize, South Carolina .State, Sheaf Oats.
First Prize, South Carolina .State, Peek Oats.
First Prize, South Corolina State, Peek Abruzzi Rye. First Prize, South Carolina .State, Sheaf Abruzzi Rye. First Prize, South Carolina State, Peek Velvet Beans.
Sixth National Corn Exposition, 1914 — Dallas, Texas
Grand Champion Sweepstakes Prize, Sheaf Abruzzi Rye, (World Prize).
Sweepstakes Prize, Southern Zone, Sheaf Oats.
Sweepstakes Prize, Southern Zone. Sheaf Abruzzi Rve.
Third World Prize, Peek Peas, W. X N. E-
Fourth World Prize, Peek Velvet Beans.
Fifth World Prize, Peek Peas, I. X W. N. H. Sixth World Prize, Heads Amber Sorghum. First Prize, South Carolina State, Sheaf Oats. First Prize, South Carolina State, Peek Oats.
South Carolina State Fair, 1913
Award Ribbon World’s First Prize National Corn Show
Certificate of Award — World’s Fir3t Prize
Award Ribbon Southern Sweepstakes National Corn Show
First Prize, First Prize, First Prize, First Prize, First Prize,
Farm Exhibit.
Bale Webber Cotton.
Peek Velvet Beans.
Ten Heads Amber Sorghum. Peek Peas, W. X N. E.
First Prize, Sheaf Oats.
First Trize, Peck Oats.
First Prize, Sheaf Abruzzi Rye. First Prize, Peck Abruzzi Rye.
South Carolina State Fair, 1914
First Prize, Five Hartsville Cotton Plants.
First Prize, Peck Velvet Beans.
First Prize, Bundle Velvet Beans.
First Prize, Ten Heads Amber Sorghum.
First Prize, Pea Varieties.
First Prize, Sheaf Abruzzi Rye.
First Prize, Peck Abruzzi Rye.
First Prize, Sheaf Oats.
These are the only fairs or shows awarding prizes in which we have exhibited our pedigreed seeds.
TO SUCCESSFULLY GROW — Alfalfa, Clovers, Cow Peas, Soy Beans, Vetches and other Legumes, to increase your yield, and to improve your soil use
THE MULFORD NITRO-GERM SCIENTIFICALLY PREPARED AND TESTED
Uninoculated ALFALFA Inoculated Photographed (same scale.) Plant on left not inoculated — Plant on right inoculated with The Mulford Nitro-Germ. All other conditions identical. The contrast speaks for itself.
SMALL COST— LARGE RETURNS- EASY to USE— NO LABOR EXPENSE
THE MULFORD NITRO-GERM consists of pure, tested cultures of active, vigorous nitrogen-fixing bacteria, for inocu- lating seeds of legumes or soil.
Legumes offer the best known means of maintaining soil fertility and rejuvenating over-cropped and worn-out fields.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture and many State Agricultural Experiment Stations recommend inoculation of legumes with nitrogen-fixing bacteria to induce a prompt “catch” and increase the yield.
THE MULFORD NITRO-GERM is prepared and tested by experts, in the biological laboratories of H. K. Mulford Co., Philadelphia, Pa., U. S. A., with the same degree of care as Mulford Antitoxins, Serums, Vaccines, etc., which are standard all over the world.
Be sure to always specify the particular legume for which THE MULFORD NITRO-GERM is desired, otherwise we will not know how to fill your order.
Write today for free booklet describing the preparation and use of THE MULFORD NITRO-GERM.
PRICES — The Mulford Nitro-Germ is supplied for the varieties of legumes indicated, at the following prices: Garden Size (about
l/f acre) $0.50. One Acre Size, $1.50. Five Acres Size, $5 00. (Not returnable. )
The above advertisement was written by the manufacturers and we believe their representations to be fair and true. We have not yet, however, conducted sufficient experiments with nitrogen fixing bacteria, to justify us in making the above state- ments as our own.
The Clipper Seed Cleaner and Separator
Increased Yields
Cotton seed properly separ- ated will yield at least one bale more of cotton to the horse than uncleaned seed. This machine allows only the mature and full size seed to fall into the seed box, all others being removed. The fan blows out all the light seed leaving only the heavy ones
Effect i ve Work
This machine can be regu- lated for most any kind of seed by changing screens, five pairs of which in different sizes come with every machine. The Clipper is the most satis- factory seed cleaner we have ever used and we have at present four of them in our plant.
d'he No. 2 Clipper Cleaner
These machines come in all sizes from a small hand machine to large triple-decked stationary cleaners. The No. 2 machine shown above is best suited for ordinary farm work and can be used either with hand- power or engine. Write us for cpiotations and special catalogue describing these cleaners.
NEW IMPROVED STRAIN OF KEENAN COTTON
KEENAN-GOODSON NO. 2
Bred By Mr. T. E. Goodson in Cooperation With Our Plant Breeders
From a single plant of Keenan Long Staple Cotton given him in 1907, Mr. T. E. Goodson began his breeding work with the Goodson strain of this cotton. By careful selection and the plant-to-row method, Mr. Goodson bred a high yielding cotton of excellent lint qualities, which soon proved very popular on account of its good character, length of fibre and its wide opening boll which makes it very easy to pick. In 1911, in cooperation with our plant breeders, Mr. Goodson made new selections from the parent strain and began breeding his Keenan-Goodson No 2. Thirteen stalks from an original selection of fifteen which showed up superior in length and quality of staple, in yield and high percentage of lint, was the beginning of this new strain. These plants were put into a plant-to-row test the following year and have been increased annually until this year when a sufficient quantity of seed was produced to offer them for sale. Mr. Goodson has turned over to us his entire stock of the seed of this strain for sale and we are selling it at
S1.25 A BUSHEL
This is an unusually low price for pure bred seed the first year they are put out and if you are going to plant Keenan cotton, it will pay you to plant your whole crop in these new improved seed. If you could get only one-sixteenth of a cent more a pound for your cotton from these seed, it would pay the difference in cost between them and ordinary seed. Place your orders at once as we have but a limited quantity of these seed and there are no more to be had, as Mr. Goodson has turned over to us all he has to sell.
PEDIGREED SEED COMPANY
DAVID R. COKER, Manager, HARTSVILLE, S. C.
Read These Instructions
How to Order
Be careful to write your name and address plainly. If your shipping point is different from your post office address, give both. Cash must be sent with orders as we do not care to sell on credit. Send money by bank draft, money order or check. We make ship- ment with draft attached to bill of lading only to customers whose credit is already estab- lished. Absolutely no orders on small quantities accepted at less than advertised prices.
Shipments
We ship out every order the same day it is received except car loads of cotton seed which are usually shipped the following day. Small orders are given just as careful atten- tion as large ones, On less than one bushel orders we make a small charge in addition to the proportional bushel price to cover extra cost of sacking, handling, etc. When shipments are to be made by parcel post or by prepaid express or prepaid freight, add sufficient amount to cover charges and if there is any balance, we will return it.
Shipments of twenty pounds or less in South Carolina are usually cheapest by parcel post. Small shipments to points more than ISO miles should be sent by express and larger shipments by freight. If no shipping instructions are given, we use our own discretion about method.
When Seed Arrive
Our seed are put up in substantial bags and boxes, and delivered to the railroads in good order. When goods arrive in bad order, do not accept them or pay the freight until your station agent makes out a statement to that effect on your receipted freight bill, which you should then return to us. We will at once put in a claim to the railroad for any loss or damage.
Upon receiving our seed you have ten days to examine and germinate them. If within that time they are found to be unsatisfactory in any way, they are to be returned at once in the original packages at our expense, and we will refund your money. We cannot return money for any seeds that have been in your hands for more than ten days.
Our Guarantee
Our seeds are bred to Pedigree on our own experiment farms, or are grown in the neighborhood under our supervision, and we guarantee them to be pure, true to type, fully matured and of high germinating power. All seed are handled on our own machines, and are recleaned, graded and germinated before' shipping. While we exercise every pre- caution to have our seed pure, true and reliable, we do not give any warranty, expressed or implied, as to yields, and are in no way responsible for the crop as there are many reasons for crop failures.
Our Trade Mark
A heart with a solid background containing the words, “Coker’s Pedigreed Seed — Blood Will Tell,” is the trade mark under which all our pedigreed seeds are sold. Other people may advertise our seed and “Pedigreed Seed,” but none of them are genuinely ours unless the bags contain a card on which is printed this trade mark and our guarantee.
Our Financial Standing
We are a department of J. U. Coker & Co., Hartsville, S. C. Any commercial rating agency, bank or banker will give you the financial rating of the above firm.
ALWAYS ADDRESS
PEDIGREED SEED COMPANY
HARTSVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA
P. S. — If you forget our name, just think of Pedigreed Seed and the heart — Hartsville, S. C. Your letter will reach us.