COTTON-TESTING EQUIPMENT

Aids to the cotton breeder and grader are instruments that quickly and accurately measure cotton fiber for length, strength, and structure. Above, left, Chester Chew measures fiber length with the fibrograph. At right Marion Simpson runs a test on the Pressley fiber-strength machine, while (lower, left) Martha Chamblin measures fiber structure with the X-ray diffraction unit. Earl E. Berkley (lower, right) tests resiliency of cotton to determine its ability to resist injury from packing or crushing. An article by Dr. Berkley appears on page 369.

Although the Victoria oat (above) has little value as a field crop, it resists crown rust and smut and is the parent stock of about 30 improved varieties of oats. The Department brought it from South America in 1927. ( See p. 395.) Fulgrain (above, right), when crossed with Victoria, acquired resistance to crown rust and is now the earliest red oat grown extensively in the South. Another progeny of Victoria is Vicland which, in 1945, constituted about one-fourth of our total oat production. It resists rust and smut and, as shown to the right of the lower left photo, it does not lodge. Another improved oat is Clinton (lower, right), whose parentage is Iowa D69 and Bond. Developed at Ames, Iowa, it has a high yield and test weight and resists crown rust, stem rust, leaf spot, Helminthosporium blight, as well as lodging.