ras “epednee 
ee ee 


ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 


Cornell University 


The original of this book is in 
the Cornell University Library. 


There are no known copyright restrictions in 
the United States on the use of the text. 


http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924097635480 


The Rural Tert=Book Series 
Epitep sy L. H. BAILEY 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
NEW YORK + BOSTON + CHICAGO 
SAN FRANCISCO 


MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 
LONDON + BOMBAY + CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 


THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lp. 
TORONTO 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(EXCLUSIVE OF FORAGE PLANTS) 


BY 
JOHN FREDERICK DUGGAR 


DIRECTOR OF THE ALABAMA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 
AND PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ALABAMA 
POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 


Net Work 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1911 


All rights reserved 


Copyrrient, 1911, 


By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 


Set up and electrotyped. Published April, rgt1. 


Norwood Press 
J. 8, Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 


Zo 
MY PARENTS 


DR. REUBEN HENRY DUGGAR 
AND 


MARGARET LOUISA (MINGE) DUGGAR 
THIS BOOK 
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 
AS A SLIGHT TOKEN OF APPRECIATION OF 
THEIR HIGH IDEALS AND CAREFUL 


PARENTAL TRAINING 


EDITOR’S PREFACE 


THERE are many types of text-books in agriculture. 
Three types have now found their places in The Rural 
Text-Book Series: One type, represented by Warren’s 
“Elements of Agriculture,” expounds the general basis 
and practice of the agricultural pursuit; another type, 
represented in Lyon and Fippin’s “Principles of Soil Man- 
agement,” presents in detail one of the large fundamental 
subjects; and another type, represented in the present 
volume, explains the reasons and practices underlying the 
raising of particular crops. , 

These three honest books also represent three ranges of 
presentation: the Warren, a high school method; the Lyon 
and Fippin, a distinctly college method; and the Duggar, 
an intermediate method, designed for. both advanced high 
school and college. 

A book may be adapted at the same time to college work 
and to reading and reference by the best farmers. The 
practicing farmer is increasingly requesting books that give 
him real reasons and real facts. Text-books will increase 
in use among farmers, not only among those farmers who 
have had college instruction, but also with those who have 
come to their work by other routes, but who desire to proceed. 
substantially. These text-books open new fields of observa- 
tion. How many farmers really know how the roots of the 
wheat plant look, or what is their mode of growth, or how 
these roots compare with those of oats? How many know 

vil 


viii EDITOR'S PREFACE 


the form and features in detail of the leaves of wheat and 
barley and oats and rye? And yet all good farming rests 
on good observation, and on sound reasoning from the facts 
and phenomena that one observes. 

I have been struck with the suggestions for original and 
painstaking observation that the pages of this book contain. 
It presents a type of teaching method that was well put 
in book form by Hunt in his “Cereals in America,” — the 
method :that sends the learner directly to the plant in the 
field, to make careful observation from tip of root to tip of 
top. Most farmers do not even yet really know the plants 
that they till, This volume by Duggar will discover his 
cotton and his cane to many a man who long has grown 
them, but who has known them not. These makers of 
observation text-books, that present the crops and the 
animals in their real and living details, will set going a 
great quiet movement to examine minutely the conditions 


of agricultural failure and success. 
L. H. BAILEY. 


AUTHOR'S SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


Tuts book has been prepared to fill the needs of two 
classes of individuals, — students desiring a full and practi- 
cal, yet logical and pedagogical treatment of the staple crops 
of the South, and farmers seeking a simple presentation of 
the scientific principles underlying agriculture, together with 
a condensed statement of the results of recent experiments 
and experience. 

Scientific terms have been excluded, except when de- 
manded by accuracy and clearness, so that farmers having 
no training in the use of such terms may be able to read the 
volume understandingly. The meaning of every unfamiliar 
term may be found in the glossary. Farmers will usually 
omit the reading of the Exercises except when pursuing a 
course of instruction, as in some study-center, or short- 
course, or correspondence-course. 

As a text-book, this volume is intended especially to serve 
for classes in high-schools and normal schools. It is also in- 
tended to constitute an outline of the subject for college use. 
In high-school classes, it is expected that the teacher will 
direct the students to omit all the matter printed in small 
type, all technical names in parentheses, and such of the 
exercises as deal with crops of which specimens cannot be 
found in the neighborhood. 

ix 


x AUTHOR'S PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


For high-school use, the matter may be further abridged 
by the omission of the study of those particular crops that 
are unsuited to the locality. : 

College students are expected to prepare all the matter 
in this book, including that in fine print, and all Exercises. 
Their instructors will probably assign additional work on 
the crops of chief interest to the locality. These additions 
will usually take the form of supplementary lectures and 

.of collateral reading selected from the literature cited under 
each crop. 

It is scarcely necessary to point out that the use of a text- 
book to afford at least the outline of the subject-matter on 
crops will enable the student to cover much more ground 
than would be possible if he relied exclusively on lecture 
notes. The use of a text-book is also advantageous to the 
instructor, since it permits him to devote a larger proportion 
of his time to supplementary lectures, which will direct in- 
creased attention to local problems and practices, suggest 
methods of agricultural investigation, and discuss the most 
effective methods of teaching the subject of agriculture. 

The author desires to express his thanks to the numerous 
friends who have assisted him in this work, and especially to 
the following: To Messrs. C. A. Cauthen, H. P. Agee, W. R. 
Dodson, J. N. Harper, and C. R. Ball for reading the manu- 
script of certain chapters; and to Dr. L. H. Bailey for 
editorial work and for the use of certain illustrations from 
his Cyclopedia of American Agriculture. 

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Dr. W. E. Hines for 
a number of photographs of insects; to Professor L. N. 
Duncan for making the photographs of corn ears; and to 
Miss C. M. Cook, who made most of the drawings prepared 
especially for this book. In the List of Illustrations credit 


AUTHOR'S PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi 


is given in detail to the U. 8. Department of Agriculture 
and to those Experiment Stations that contributed photo- 


graphs for this volume. . 
J. F. DUGGAR. 
Avupurn, ALABAMA, 
January 2, 1911. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I 


PAGES 
Oats — Avena sativa . : ‘ c - ‘ , * . 131 
Structure, 1; Varieties, 6; Climate, Soils, and Fertilizers, 
18; Cultural Methods, 16; Enemies, 23; Laboratory Exer- 
cises, 29 ; Literature, 31. 


CHAPTER II 


Wnreat— Triticum sativum : ‘i , ‘ : F 32-67 
Structure and Composition, 32; Species and Varieties, 
40; Soils, Rotation, and Fertilizers, 45; Preparation and 
Sowing, 50; Harvesting, 58; Enemies, 59; Laboratory Ex- 
ercises, 64; Literature, 67, 


CHAPTER III 
RYE anpD BARLEY ‘ ‘ : : . : ; Z 68-77 
Rye — Secale cereale . : 7 ‘ . : . 68 
Barley — Hordeum sativum F r ‘ - . 74 


Laboratory Exercises, 77 ; sieeeatare: 77. 


CHAPTER IV 


Corn or Maize — Zea mays . F r F F 78-97 


Structure, 80; The Corn Grain or Kernel, 92; Laboratory 
Exercises, 95 ; Literature, 97. 


‘CHAPTER V 


Corn—CoMPposITION AND JUDGING . 7 ‘i . F 98-111 


Judging Corn, 101. 
Laboratory Exercises, 102; Literature, 111. 
xiii 


xiv CONTENTS 


CHAPTER VI 


Corn— Races anD VARIETIES . : . . 
Laboratory Exercises, 125; Literature, 126. 


CHAPTER VII 


Corn— BREEDING OR IMPROVEMENT . . - 
Laboratory Exercises, 148; Literature, 149. 


CHAPTER VIII 


Corn— Sots, Rorations, AND FERTILIZERS 


Soils, 150; Rotation, 151; Fertilizers, 153; 


Exercises, 157; Literature, 157. 


CHAPTER IX 


Corn —Tue TILLAGE OR CULTIVATION . 
Laboratory Exercises, 188; Literature, 188. 


CHAPTER X 
Corn—HaRrvEsTING . q ‘ * 
Laboratory Exercises, 204; Literaturé, 205, 


Cue ins XI 


Corn— ENEMIES . 


PAGES 


. - 112-126 


= . 127-149 
. . 150-157 
Laboratory 


. - 158-188 


. - 189-205 


- 206-216 


Insects, 206 ; tegen eer 214; ee Exer- 


cises, 216 ; Linratars, 216. 


CHAPTER XII 


Rice — Oryza sativa 5 . : - 
Laboratory Exercises, 229 ; Literature, 230. 


, 


: . 217-230 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER XIII 


Tue Sorcuums — Andropogon sorghum 


XV 


PAGES 


231-247 


The Sorghums in General, 231; Saccharine or Sweet Sor- 
ghums, 234; Kafir, 239; Milo, 240; Broom Corn, 244; 


Laboratory Exercises, 245 ; Literature, 246. 


CHAPTER XIV 


Cotton —StrucTURE AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 


Laboratory Exercises, 265; Ijterature, 266. 
’ 


CHAPTER XV 
Corton —CoMPOSITION AND THE PRINCIPAL UsEs 
Laboratory Exercises, 273 ; Literature, 273. 


CHAPTER XVI 
Cotron — Tue Principat Species : ‘ 
Laboratory Exercises, 281; Literature, 281. 


CHAPTER XVII 
Cotton — VARIETIES OF AMERICAN UPLAND 


Laboratory Exercises, 299; Literature, 299. 


“CHAPTER XVIII 
Cotton BREEDING : 


Laboratory Exercises, 313; Literature, 314. 


CHAPTER XIX 


Cotton — Sorts anp FERTILIZERS 


General Considerations on Fertilizing Cotton, 315; Ni- 


248-266 


267-273 


274-281 


282-299 


800-314 


815-340 


trogenous Fertilizers, 325 ; Phosphatic Fertilizers, 329 ; Pot- 
ash Fertilizers, 332 ; Miscellaneous Fertilizers and Effects of 
Fertilizers, 335 ; Laboratory Exercises, 339 ; Literature, 339. 


xvi CONTENTS 


CHAPTER XX 


PAGES 
Corron — THE CULTIVATION OF THE AMERICAN UPLAND Group 341-360 


Laboratory Exercises, 360 ; Literature, 360. 


CHAPTER XXI 


Cotton — Harvesting aND MARKETING . 5 . . 861-376 
Laboratory Exercises, 376 ; Literature, 376. 


CHAPTER XXII 


Corron— History anp Statistics . J i 3 . 9877-387 
Laboratory Exercises, 387 ; Literature, 387. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


Corron — Insect ENEMIES . ‘ Fi - 888-410 


Cotton Boll-worm, 388 ; Mexican Cotton Boll-weevil, 392 ; 
Insects of Minor Importance, 407; Laboratory Exercises, 
410; Literature, 410. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


Corron —Funcous anp OTHER DisEASES . ‘ , . 411-420 
Laboratory Exercises, 420; Literature, 420. 


CHAPTER XXV 


Heme — Cannabis sativa. . ; F - 422-424 
Laboratory Exercises, 424 ; . iterate: 424, 


CHAPTER XXVI 


SWEET-PoTaTo — Ipomeea batatas - ‘ . 425-456 
Composition and Uses, 428; ‘iataiek, 431; Soils, Fer- 
tilizers, and Rotation, 434; Culeneal Methods, 438; Har- 
vesting and Storing Sereet-poratoas, 447; Enemies, 452; 
Laboratory Exercises, 455 ; Literature, 455. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER XXVII 


Cassava — Manihot utilissima . % j . 


Laboratory Exercises, 462; Literature, 462. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


Peanut — Arachis hypogea 
Laboratory Exercises, 482; nrneres 483. 


CHAPTER XXIX 


Suear-cane — Saccharum officinarum 


Composition, 492; Soils and Fertilizers, 494 ; 


xvii 


PAGES 


457-462 


463-483 


484-522 


Cultural 


Methods, 499 ; Varieties, 506; Harvesting and Uses, 508; 
Sirup Making, 515 ; History and Statistics, 518 ; Enemies, 


520 ; Laboratory Exercises, 522; Literature, 522. 


CHAPTER XXX 


Tozacco — Nicotiana tabacum 


523-547 


Cultural Methods, 530; lumen a Curing, 5389 ; 
Enemies, 545 ; Laboratory Exercises, 546; Literature, 547. 


GLossarY 


INDEX . 


549 
563 


i 


i 
an 


Bee eee ee 
OMIA Oe OOD 


bo bo dh bh 
BR OoONr © 


bp po 
on 


SCO KMNHMAP HOHE 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Part of an Oat Plant, showing the Absence of Clasps , 

A Panicle of Oats . j 

Oak Spikelet in Bloom. (L. ‘. Bailey) 

Spikelets of Red Rust-proof Oats . 

A Panicle of Red Rust-proof Oats 

Burt Oats . 

Spikelets of Burt Oats 

Oats destroyed by Smut F : i 

Green-bug (Toxoptera graminum). (S. J. Hunter) : 

Two Stages of a Lady-bug which destroys pares 
(S. J. Hunter) 


. Oats and Wheat grown with Crimaon Clover. "(Alabama 


Experiment Station) . 
Part of a Young Wheat Plant 


. Floret of Wheat. (L. H. Bailey) é 

. A Head, Spikelet, and Grain of Bearded Wheat . 

. A Typical Head of Beardless Wheat 

. A Good Sample of Wheat. (California Heenan Station) 
. Heads of Wheat Z P é 3 2 : 

. Heads of Wheat : . . . ‘ 
, Shocks of Wheat from Pua iiens, (Alabama Experiment 


Station) 


. Double-disk Grain Drill 

. Loose Smut of Wheat 2 - F 

. The Angoumois Grain-moth. (W. E. Hinds) 

. Heads of Southern Rye 

. Part of a Young Rye Plant, aiawiie ihe small Clasps of he 


Leaves 


. A Mixture of Rye and Grimson Cioxeey 
. Ergot in a Head of Rye. (L. H. Bailey) 


xix 


XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
FIG. PAGE 
27. A Head and Grains of Bearded Barley . : . : . 74 
28. The Large Clasps of Barley Leaf . : 5 : : 75 
29. Head and Spikelet of Beardless Barley . : Z . . 76 
30. Roots of Corn 47 Days after Level Planting. (Kansas Ex- 

periment Station) 79 
81. Showing Roots of Corn 47 ‘Days fier Planting in "Deep 

Furrows. (Kansas Experiment Station) . ‘ » 81 
32. Brace-roots on the Corn Plant . 5 : . . 82 
38. Part of a Corn Leaf showing Wavy Mareing. 84 
34. An Ear of Corn on which Leaf-blades are borne on tiie Tips 

of many of the Shucks 85 
35. Differences in Height and Position of Ear in n the ‘Game Was 

riety . : 2 87 
36. Diagram showing Course of the ‘Pollen- ‘ihe from Silk és 

Ovary. (C. S. Ridgway) . F 89 
87. The Embryo-sac of Corn at the Time of Fertilization. (F. E. 

Lloyd) ‘ é 90 
38. A Well-proportioned Rar of a . Hard Yellow Vattety 91 
39. Transverse Section through Corn Grains 94 
40-45. Ears of Henry Grady Corn to be criticized by wipes 

(L. N. Duncan) . , s . 102-103 
46-57. Ears of Corn with Various Defects. ‘a, N. Duncan) 104-107 
58. Ear with Long, Well-formed Grains. 7 : . 108 
59. Ear with Short Grains . 108 
60. An Ear having too much Space ‘hebwaan Grains near the 

Cob 108 
61. An Ear in yihieh tens is no Teast oases ‘betwee raihe near 

the Cob 108 
62. Showing Variations amend Corn Grains 109 
63. Various Shapes of Corn Kernels. (Michigan Psesaeat 

Station) 110 
64. Sections across Greta of Dent, Flint, Pop, sweets ane Soft 

Corn . 112 
65. Longitudinal Sections through Grains of Dent, Flint, Pop, 

Sweet, and Soft Corn . 118 
66. Showing an Ear with Tip well dovered by Shucks 116 
67. Showing an Ear Tip not well covered by Shucks . 116 


Fig. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


xxi 


PAGE 


68, 69. Varieties of Corn. (Alabama Experiment Station) 123, 124 


70. 


71. 


72. 


73. 


74. 


75. 


76. 


77. 
78. 
79. 
80. 
81. 


82. 
83. 
84, 
85. 
86. 
87. 


88. 
89. 
90. 
91. 


92. 


Showing the Immediate Effects of crossing a White Pop 
Corn with Pollen from a Yellow Dent Corn . 

Relative Yields of the Same Variety of Corn from 2’ Breed: 
ing Rows of the Same Length. saa Experiment 
Station) 

Diagram showing Arrangement of Rows in ‘Goer Hieedige- 
plot 

Germinator made from 3 a Soap Box. (Ofte of Reporimant 
Stations, U. 8. Dept. Agr.) 5 

Showing Injury from In-breeding Geni. CU. 's. Deparment 
of Agriculture) . 

Showing Larger Yield on — not’ Tebireal “ww. 's. Depa 
ment of Agriculture) . 

Young Corn Plants, from Tip, Middle, aid Butt emnalé 
(Michigan Experiment Station) 

A Stalk-cutter. (B. F. Avery & Sons Co. <5 

A Subsoil Plow. (L. H. Bailey) . 

A Turn-plow . 

A Disk-plow. (B. F. Avery & Sons Co. ) 

Combined Lister and Corn Planter. (U.S. Department ei 
Agriculture) 

A One-row Corn Planter. (B. F. “Avery & Sons Co. es 

Diagram of Young Corn Plants 

Hand Corn Planter, for Replanting 

A Spike-tooth Harrow. (B. F. Avery & Song Co. ) 

A Weeder. (L. H. Bailey) . 3 

A One-horse, Spring-tooth Harrow. (B. F. Avery & Sons 
Co.) . 

Check-row Cort Planter with Double Disks: to apatt a ‘Deep 
Furrow. (U. 8. Department of Agriculture) 

Cowpeas growing between Rows of Corn 

The Williamson Method of Corn Culture 

Condition of Surface after ‘‘ Laying by’? Corn sccording io 
the Williamson Plan . 

Showing ‘‘ Throw-board ’’ on Woaror: body er in inrvest: 
ing Corn. (Oklahoma Experiment Station) . 


127 


132 


134 


189 


141 


141 


146 
158 
163 
164 
165 


165 
167 
168 
169 
171 
172 


173 
175 
182 
186 
187 


190 


xxii “LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG. PAGE 
98. Shocking Horse . e . 194 
94. Corn well Shocked. (Oklahoma Bieperiamat Station) . 196 
95. Sled Corn Cutter, with Automatic Knife Guards. (U. 8. 
Department of Agriculture) . 197 

96. A Home-made Sled Corn Cutter. (Ww. Ss. Department af 
Agriculture) . 3 . 197 
97. A Corn Harvester. tintereational Harvester Co. > « . 199 
98. Corn Husker and Shredder at Work. (L. H. Bailey) . 200 

99. A Field of Corn in Alabama that yielded 1033 Bushels per 
Acre. (Farmer’s Codperative Demonstration Work) . 203 

100. The Budworm of Corn (Diabrotica pesca (After 
Chittenden) . ‘ 5 - : - 206 

101. Eggs of Corn Ear-worm on ork Silks. (A. L. Quaintance, 

U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Entomology) . ‘ 208 


102. The Corn Ear-worm at Work in the Tip of an Ear of Green 
Corn. (A. L. Quaintance, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of 
Entomology) . . 209 

103. The Corn Ear-worm peephis on the Tender Leaves of Gave. 

(A. L. Quaintance, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Ento- 


mology) . ‘ . . 210 
104. The Rice Weevil, most Destructive in Stored Corn. (Photo 

by W. E. Hinds) . - . 211 
105. An Ear of Corn injured by Weerils, (Photo hy W. E. 

Hinds) . : . . 212 
106. Larva of Angoumois Moth in a Grain of Corn, ‘(Photo by 

W.E. Hinds) . . : 213 
107. The Indian Meal Moth. (Photo by w. E. Hinds) : . 214 
108. Corn Smut. (L. H. Bailey) 5 : . 215 
109. Bundles of Two Varieties of Rice é ‘ . : . 218 
110, 111. Two Types of Rice. (L. H. Bailey) . é - 220 
112. Preparing for Rice in Louisiana. (Louisiana Experiment 

Station) . 222 
113. An Papertmetvtal: Field of Rice at Govier, fe. (Lonisi- 

ana Experiment Station) . : ‘ : . 224 
114, A Rice Field after Harvest. (Louisiana Experiment Sta- 

tion) . . : . . 227 


115. Heads of Amber Sacer and of Red Kafir : . - 2384 


FId. 


116. 


117. 


118. 
119. 


120. 
121. 
122. 
123. 
124, 


125. 


126. 
127. 
128. 


129. 


130. 
181. 
182. 


133. 


134, 
135. 
136. 
137. 
138. 
139. 


140. 
141. 
142. 
143. 
144, 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - XxXlii 


PAGE 
Orange Sorghum. (Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture) . ‘ 285 
Goose Neck Sorghum. (Bureau of Plant ‘Tndastey, U, s. 
Department of Agriculture) . . 236 


A Field of Black-hulled White Katir. “(E, B. Voorhees) « 288 
Heads of Milo and of Black-hulled White Kafir. (E. B. 


Voorhees) . 3 ‘ ‘ : i . 239 
Broom-corn Brush . : 242 
A Vegetative Branch from near he Bass of a Catton lent 249 
A Fruiting Branch of a Cotton Plant . ‘ ‘ é . 250 
A Cotton Plant . J 251 
Cotton Plant, on which the Vegetative Branches are : Bip. 

pressed . F . . 252 
A Cotton Plant, avn only Fruiting Tima : . . 253 
Cotton Leaves . F ‘ . 255 
Cotton Bolls. (U.S. Department of Agriculture) : . 258 
A Cotton Plant deficient in Storm-resistance ‘ 260 
Storm-resistant Boll and Burs; Bolls and Burs ingle 

Storm-resistance i : : : ‘ 7 . 261 
Various Shapes of Cotton Bolls F . ‘i : 2 . 277 
A Sea Island Cotton Plant . ‘i 2 ‘ c é . 278 
Where Sea Island Cotton is Grown. (U. S. Department 

of Agriculture) 279 
A Cotton Plant of the ere Type, (U. Ss. Department 

of Agriculture) . . 284 
A Fruiting Limb of a Ciustar Govan Plant. 5 a 3 . 285 
A Cotton Plant of the Semicluster Type . zs 7 - 286 
The Peterkin Type of Cotton Plant . 7 , . 287 
A Cotton Plant of the King Type . ‘ . 288 
A Cotton Plant of the Big-boll, Stonn-proot Type 5 . 289 
A Cotton Plant of the Long-staple, Upland Type. (U. S. 

Department of Agriculture) . 4 a * . . 291 
Fibers of Several Varieties of Cotton . ‘ 7 . 292 
A Productive Cotton Plant of the Toole varia . . 297 
A Productive Cotton Plant. (University of Georgia) . 803 


An Unproductive Cotton Plant. (University of Georgia) . 304 
Diagram showing a Breeding Plot of Twenty Rows of 
Cotton . oe & ‘ 3 7 . . ‘ . 38il 


XXiV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG. 


145. 
146. 


147. 
148. 


149. 
150. 
151. 
152. 
153. 
154. 
155. 
156. 
157. 


158. 
159. 


160. 
161. 
162. 
1638. 
164. 
165. 
166. 


167. 


Diagram showing Method of selecting Cotton. (H. J. 
Webber) . i F 

Cotton Plants, showins: Hetention of teases gna Shedding 
of Leaves . 

A Field of Cotton, Fortilized al Unfertilized 

A Field of Cotton, showing the Effects of Potash in retain 
ing the Leaves . < 

A Middle Burster, or Double Moldboard ‘Plow, (B. F. 
Avery & Sons Co.) - ‘ : 

An Inexpensive Cotton Planter 

One Form of Plow-stock 5 

A Young Cotton Plant, showing Two Seed dlenwes tt Two 
True Leaves ‘ 

Various Forms of Sweeps aad Bdinnes ead in Gultieatine 
Cotton. (L. H. Bailey) . : ‘ 

An Alabama Cotton Field. (Farmer’s Cobperative Demon: 
stration Work) 

The Worswick-Hardt Cotton Picker at Work 

The Dixie Cotton Picker 

Vertical Section through the Dixie Cotton ‘Ploker when at 
Work : ‘ A , , 

Section through a Ginnaiy. " (Continental Gin Company) . 

Transverse Section through a Cotton Gin. (Continental 
Gin Company) . 

Foreign and American Balas 

Cotton Bales left unprotected from Rain 

Side View of Cotton Bales . Z F . ‘ 7 

Bales from a Gin Compress. canal Gin Compress 
Company) 

The Propelling Mechaniem of an old Homespower Gin. 
(From D. A. Tompkins’ ‘‘ Cotton a Factor in Progress’) 

Percentage of the Total American Crop of Cotton grown in 
Each State in 1908. (U.S. Census Bureau) . 

Percentage of World’s Mill Supply of Cotton contributed 
by Each Country in 1908. (U.S. Census Bureau) . 

Moths of Cotton Boll-worm and Corn Ear-worm. (U. 8S. 
Dept. Agr., Bureau of Entomology) 


PAGE 


312 


316 
322 


334 
346 
349 
352 
853 
354 
362 
364 
366 


367 
368 


369 
370 
372 
872 
373 
378 
382 
385 


390 


FI@, 


168. 


169. 


170. 


171. 


172. 


178. 


174. 
175. 


176. 


177. 
178. 


179. 
180. 
181. 
182. 
183. 
184. 
185. 
186. 


187. 
188. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


The Cotton .Boll-worm on the Outside of a Cotton Boll. 
(U.S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Entomology) : 

Pupal or Chrysalis Stage of the Cotton Boll-worm and the 
Corn Ear-worm. aa S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Ento- 
mology) 

Pupa of Boll-worm in its Wuidexeround Gutrow. (Adios 
Quaintance and Brues, U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture) 

The Mature Ball-weevil, (Ww. E. Hinds) 

Cotton Square, showing Boll-weevil Larva in Position. 
(After W. D. Hunter, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Ento- 
mology) * : é é 4 . 7 

Punctured Cotton Square. (After W. D. Hunter, U. S. 
Dept. Agr., Bureau of Entomology) 

Cotton Stalk Cutter. (Louisiana Crop Pest Gomuission) + 

Side View of Cotton Stalk Cutter. (Louisiana Crop Pest 
Commission) ‘ P § 

Cotton Plant in the “Budding” Stage. (Louisiana Crop 
Pest Commission) 3 z . 

The Hinds Chain Cultivator. cw. E. “Hinds) 

Map showing the Areas infested by the Boll-weevil. (U. s. 
Dept. Agr., Bureau of Entomology) 

Cowpea-pod Weevil. (After a gaat U.S. Dent Aer fr 
Bureau of Entomology) . 

Cotton Plants attacked by Wilt . 5 

Section through Wilted and Healthy Cotton Stalks 

Root-knot or Nematode Injuries on Cotton Roots. (C. F. 
Atkinson) 2 é ‘ ‘ 

Anthracnose on Cotton Bolls. (C. F. Atkinson) 5 

Diseased Leaves, Boll, and Stem of Cotton Plant. (W. A. 
Orton, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture) 

A Field of Hemp. (Bureau of Plant Industry, U. s. De- 
partment of Agriculture) . 2 : 

Leaf and Flowers of Hemp. (L. H. Bailey) 

Shocking Hemp. (L. H. Bailey) F : p . 

A Field of Sweet-potatoes in Alabama . . . 


XXV 
PAGE 


391 


392 


393 


394 


395 


396 
400 


400 


402 
403 


404 


408 
412 
418 


416 
417 


420 


422 
423 
425 
427 


xxvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG. 


189. 


190. 


191. 


192. 


193. 


194, 
195. 


196. 
197. 


198. 


199. 


200. 


201. 


202. 
203. 


204. 
205. 
206. 
207. 
208. 
209. 


210. 


A Branch of a Vineless Sweet-potato Plant. (After Price, 
Texas Experiment Station) 

Three Shapes of Sweet-potato Leaves. (After Price, Texas 
Experiment Station) 

Sweet-potato Slips ready to be sek (U. s. Deparuient of 
Agriculture). : 

Devices employed in Setting Sweet notako ‘slips mie Vine 
Cuttings. (U.S. Department of Agriculture) 

Transplanting Machine a Sweet-potatoes. os ma 
Bailey) 7 

Sweet-potatoes atteahial toa , Bestia of Planted Vine 

Special Plows for Digging Sweet-potatoes. (U.S. meets 
ment of Agriculture) : : 

End View of House for Storing Sweat-qiotatons . 

Cross Section through Sweet-potato, showing Injuries = 
Borer. (After Conradi, Texas Experiment Station) 

Black-rot on Root and Slip of Sweet-potato. (After B. 
Halsted, New Jersey Experiment Station) 

The Cassar’ Plant. (U. 8. Department of Actoaltuess 

Method of Preparing Bed for Keeping Cassava Seed-stems 
over Winter. (S. M. Tracy, U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture) . an fee ; . 

The Lower Part of a Peanut Plant. (U. S. Department of 
Agriculture) : : . 

A Peanut ‘ Popper.’’ ‘cw. N. Repeat} 

A Field of Spanish Peanuts grown from Selected ‘Bed. 
(W. N. Roper, American Nut Journal) . 

Pods and Peas of Three Varieties of Peanuts. (U. Ss. De- 
partment of Agriculture) . : . . é 

A Bunch of Spanish Peanuts. (W.N. Roper) . 

Stacking Peanuts. (U. 8S. Department of Agriculture) 

A Part of a Stem of Sugar-cane. (W. C. Stubbs) 

Cross Section of Part of a Stem of Sugar-cane. (W. R. 
Dodson) i 

Cross Section firouaht a Buniile from the Stem of Guiguns 
cane. (W.R. Dodson) . 2 ‘ , 

One Form of Cane Loader. (L. H. Bailey) F : 3 


FIG. 


211. 
212. 
218. 
214. 
216. 
216. 


217. 
218. 


219. 


220. 


221, 


222. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxvii 


A Field of Velvet Beans . . . ‘ 

Cutting Sugar-cane in Louisiana. (W. R. Dodson) . 

A Cane Stripper . ‘ : 3 : ‘ ‘ ‘ 

Diagram of Tobacco Flower. (After Shamel and Cobey) . 

Showing the Results of Breeding a Strain of Tobacco Re- 
sistant to Disease. (Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. 
Department of Agriculture) 

Young Tobacco Plants. (Bureau of Plant Industry, Uz s. 
Department of Agriculture) ; ‘ 

A Tobacco Seed Blower. (A. D. Shamel).. 

A Cloth Shade or Tent. (Bureau of Plant Industry, U. s. 
Department of Agriculture) 

A Transplanting Machine for Setting Tobacco. (Bureau 
of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture) 

Young Tobacco Plants growing under a Lath Shade in 
Alabama . 

Diagram showing how Leaves of Wiappér Tobacco are 2 Cut. 
(U. S. Department of Agriculture) . 

Southern Tobacco Worm. ae 8. Pe a “Bureau of 
Entomology) . : 


PAGE 
504 
508 
509 
527 
528 


528 
529 


530 


534 


536 


543 


545 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


CHAPTER I 


OATS — AVENA SATIVA 


.THE oat plant is included in the great family of the 
grasses (Graminee), as are all the grains. It came into 
use at a later date than did wheat and barley. 

The seed or grain of oats is used chiefly as food for 
horses. It is also employed, in the form of oatmeal and 
other cereal dishes, as human food. The oat plant is 
useful for hay and for pasturage. Its straw is utilized as 
food and bedding for animals and as packing material. 


STRUCTURE 


1. Roots. — The oat, as the other grains, is a fibrous- 
rooted plant, having no tap-root. The crown from which 
the main stems originate is usually within about an inch 
of the surface of the ground. 

2. Stems. — The stems of the oat plant originate in the 
same way as those of the wheat, each as a developed bud 
or branch, from an older stem. At each underground node 
of every stem a bud may develop into another stalk and 
its lower nodes in turn may send out additional shoots, 
Hence a single plant may bear an indefinite number of 
stems, the usual number, however, being two to six. A 
large number is formed by thin sowing and by abundance 


of moisture and, plant-food, or by hilling up earth around 
B 1 


2 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


the lower nodes. The conditions that hinder tillering 
(sometimes limiting the number of stems to one or two to 
the plant) are thick sowing, late sowing, and deficiency 
of moisture or plant-food. 

3. Leaves. — The leaf-blade of the oat is wider than that 
of wheat or rye, and on its margins are scattering hairs so 
fine as to be noticed only on care- 
ful examination. 

At the junction of the leaf-blade 
and sheath there are no clasps 
or auricles (Fig. 1), which absence 
serves to distinguish the young 
oat plant from that of any other 
small grain. 

4. Pollination. — The oat in na- 
ture is self-pollinated ; hence there 
is practically no danger of crossing 
between different varieties. Sev- 
eral varieties may properly be 
sown in adjacent fields, if care 
is taken to prevent mixing by me- 
Fria. 1.— Parr or an Oar Chanical means, as in harvesting 

Pant. and threshing. 

Showing the absence of 5. The panicle and spikelets. — 
clasps where leaf-blade and The grain-bearing part of the 
sheath join. : i 

plant, though usually called a 
head, is really a panicle, or widely branched terminal part 
of the stem (Fig. 2). The branches of the head originate 
at the upper nodes or joints of the stem, several usually 
springing from each node. Each branch may bear a single 
spikelet (that is, a group of grains) or several spikelets. 


Fie. 2.—A Panicue oF Oats. 


The type here shown is Kherson, an early variety. 


3 


4 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Each spikelet (Fig. 3) consists of two or more flowers, 
of which usually only two develop into perfect grains. 
Those that usually develop are the 
two grains nearest to the branch, the 
nearer or lower one being almost invari- 
ably the larger seed. Hence an oat 
spikelet may be said to consist in most 
instances of twin grains which may or 
may not be separated in threshing. 

The third flower coming from the 
branch somet mes develops into a small 
grain, but more frequently it is abortive, 
or undeveloped. 

Showing 2 outer 6 The grain.— Each grain consists 
pieces of chaff inclos- of a nearly cylindrical kernel and of 
a : Fk i gee an inclosing hull. This hull is tightly 
pollen cases (anthers) wrapped about the kernel, and is usu- 
aad? plume-like stig- aily not removed in threshing ; but the 

two parts are not grown together, as 
shown by the fact that by pinching the grain between the 
fingers the inner part can readily be forced out, free from 
any hull. 

In most states the legal weight of a bushel of oats is 32 pounds. 
A measured bushel usually weighs 30 to 36 pounds. Oats are sold 
by the bushel of legal weight. 

Saunders found that in the cool climate of Canada oats germi- 
nated well even when the seeds were three years old, after which 
time the percentage of germination rapidly decreased. 


Fic. 3. — Oat SpPIKE- 
LET IN BLoom. 


COMPOSITION 


7. Analyses. — According to Hunt (“Cereals in Amer- 
ica’’) the average of American analyses is as follows: — 


OATS 5 


Oar Oat Hay 
Grain ies gay ee Oar Hotts 
% % % % %o 
Water... 11.0 7.9 9.2 15.0 7.3 
Ash’. 5 « « 3.0 2.0 5.1 5.2 6.7 
Protein. . . 11.8 14.7 4.0 9.3 3.3 - 
Crude fiber 9.5 0.9 37.0 29.2 29.7 
Nitrogen-free 
extract . . 59.7 67.4 42.4 39.0 52.0 
Fate «4: 5.0 7.1 2.3 2.3 1.0 


Since the percentage of hulls varies in different varieties 
and in different seasons, the composition of different lots 
of oats is naturally variable. A sample of oats with 
slender or incompletely filled grains is inferior in composi- 
tion and food value to a sample of plump oats. The hull 
averages about 30 per cent of the total weight of ‘the grain. 

8. Draft on soil fertility. — The following table: shows 
the amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash re- 
moved from the soil in a crop of 40 bushels of oats and 
the accompanying amount of straw: — 


NITROGEN P parece PorasH 

Oat grains, with hulls, per cent .| 1.76 0.59 0.48 

Oat straw, percent . . 0.56 28 1.62 
Oat grain removes in a crop of 

40 bu. (1280 1b.), lb. . 22.53 8.83 6.14 

Oat straw (1500 lb.) removes, ‘lb. 8.40 4.20 24.30 
Total crop of 40 bu. and 1500 lb. 

of straw removes, lb... . .| 30.93. 13.03 30.44 


1 Calculated from data in Hopkins’ “Soil Fertility and Per. 
manent Agriculture.” 


6 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


From the above table it may be seen that the oat plant 
makes considerable demands on soil fertility; that the 
greater part of the nitrogen and of the phosphoric acid is 
removed by the grain; and that by far the greater part of 
the potash is removed by the straw. 

These figures should impress the fact that the straw 
should be returned to the land in the form of stable manure, 
after having been used either as food or bedding. In case 
it is impracticable to make either of these uses of the straw, 
the stacks should not be burned nor left to rot in one 
place, but immediately or after partly rotting the straw 
should be distributed over the galled spots in the fields. 

In spite of the fact that a good crop of oats, if the straw be 
earried off, removes a considerable amount of plant-food, yet ex- 
perience shows that the occasional introduction of an oat crop 
into the rotation increases the yield of succeeding crops. This 
is chiefly because of the vegetation occupying the land after oats 
are harvested. Even the growth of a mass of weeds may be help- 
ful to some soils. However, the oat crop gives opportunity to 


improve the land still more rapidly, due to the succeeding growth 
of cowpeas, which is usually the best crop to follow oats. 


VARIETIES 


9. Types of Southern oats. — In Europe, Canada, and 
the northern part of the United States, the number of 
varieties of oats in cultivation is considerable. However, 
nowhere does the number equal that of varieties of wheat. 

In the Gulf States, few varieties of oats are grown. The 
types most commonly raised in the South are: — 

(1) Red Rust-proof; 

(2) Burt; 

(3) Turf or Grazing. 


OATS Tv 


Each of these may be known under several names, or 
may have several strains. For example, among the sub- 
varieties or selections of the Red Rust-proof type are 
Appler, Culberson, and Bancroft. 

10. Red Rust-proof oats. — This is the most popular 
type of oats from North Carolina to Texas, and is variously 
called Red oats, Rust-proof oats, and Texas oats. It and 
its strains may be recognized, or distinguished from other 


varieties, by the following characteris- 
tics: When a bunch of slender bristles 
is present at the base of the lower grain ; 


of a spikelet, they are of greater length 
than those sometimes occurring on 
other varieties growing in the South 
(Fig. 4); and almost invariably both 
of the developed grains in a spikelet ( 
are armed with beards, while in most A V7 
other varieties the beards, if present, V7 
usually occur only on the larger grain 
in each spikelet. The usual means of Fe 

ae es i 1G. 4. —SPIKELETS OF 
distinguishing Red Rust-proof oats is RepRust-proorOats. 
by the reddish or yellowish appearance _Note length of bris- 
of the grains that have not been stained ‘es 4t base of spikelet. 
‘by bad weather, and the greater plumpness of the grains 
as compared with those of other Southern varieties. The 
head or panicle is rather compact, and the branches short 
(Fig. 5). ’ 

The straw of Red Rust-proof oats is stout or large, and 
on poor or medium land the plants do not grow as tall as 
do those of Burt and Turf oats. This stout straw makes 
Red Rust-proof oats less liable to fall or lodge than are the 


8 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


varieties just mentioned. In crops yielding 15 to 30 
bushels per acre, there is usually about the same weight 


Fic. 5.—A Panicte or Rep Rust-proor Oats. 


of straw as of threshed grain; as the yield increases the 
percentage of straw increases. 


OATS 9 


The Red Rust-proof variety and its various strains — 
Appler, Culberson, and Bancroft — may be sown either in 
the fall or after Christmas. In hardiness toward cold, or 
ability successfully to withstand a severe winter, this 
variety, is superior to Burt but less hardy than Turf, and 
decidedly less hardy than barley, wheat, or rye. In spite 
of the occasional winter-killing of a crop of Red oats sown 
in the fall, it is usually more profitable throughout the 
greater part of the cotton-belt to sow in the fall than after 
Christmas. Means of decreasing winter-killing are in- 
dicated in paragraph 22. 

In maturity, the Red Rust-proof group of varieties is 
earlier by two to three weeks than Turf oats sown at the 
same time in the fall. When sown after Christmas, Red 
oats are at least a week later than Burt oats sown at the 
same time. 

Red Rust-proof oats are not really completely rust- 
proof, but strongly rust-resistant. In years when rust is 
especially severe, this variety is attacked and occasionally 
rather severely injured, but never to the same extent as 
other varieties. 

In yield of grain, the Red Rust-proof type has on the 
whole been: more satisfactory in the cotton-belt than any 
other. It is especially more productive than Turf oats 
where the soil is poor or when the weather conditions are 
unfavorable. 

Appler is a popular variety of the Red Rust-proof type, 
which sometimes has proved slightly more productive 
than an unselected strain of the Red Rust-proof. 

11. Burt oats. — This variety (Figs. 6 and 7), sometimes 
known as “ May oats,’’ has a slender, bearded grain, usu- 


10 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fie. 6.— Burt Oats. 


ally of a grayish or light dun color. The branches of the 
head are long. In the greater part of the cotton region 


OATS 11 


the Burt oat cannot safely be planted in the fall, for it is 
frequently winter-killed. It is essentially a variety for 
sowing after Christmas. It is the earliest of the commonly 
grown varieties of the Southern region. 
Its earliness, together with its great 
height of straw, are in its favor when 
the date of sowing is late. The grain 
weighs less per bushel than Red oats, 
and shatters much more easily when 
harvested. 

12. Turf or Grazing oats. — Among 
the names given to this variety, or to 
strains of it, are Gray, Virginia Gray, 
Winter, Turf, and Myers’ Turf. This pa es 
is the hardiest of the varieties, and has note shortness of 
been known to survive the winters a basal bristles, which 
little higher than the latitude of northern *” Pael evae 
Virginia. It is practically safe against winter-killing 
throughout the cotton-belt; yet it is not so hardy as 
wheat. 

The grain is slender and of a gray or light dun color. 
Usually there are beards on one grain in each spikelet. 
This oat branches or stools freely, thus making it especially 
valuable for pasturing, and winning for it the name of 
“ grazing oats.” The straw is tall and slender. 


This variety ripens about two weeks later than Red Rust-proof 
oats sown at the same time. It is much more susceptible to rust ; 
and on poor land or with unfavorable seasons it often fails to 
produce plump, well-filled grains. Its best place is in the region 
just north of the cotton-belt. 

Turf oats are unsuitable for sowing after Christmas. This 
variety requires earlier planting in the fall than Red oats. 


12 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Turf oats are suitable for sowing with hairy vetch when both 
vetch and oats are to be threshed for seed. On rich land, the 
two plants ripen together, and usually enough seed of both are 
shattered in harvesting to reseed the land the next fall. On 
poor and medium land Turf oats grow off too slowly to be ready 
to cut for hay when hairy vetch is in the best condition for hay 
making. Therefore, for purposes of making hay it is usually 
better to sow vetch with Red Rust-proof oats than with Turf 
oats. 

The weight of straw is usually about double that of grain. 


13. Improvement of varieties. — Much less work has 
been done in improving the oat by selection and breeding 
than in cotton, corn, and wheat. Breeding experiments 
at the Alabama Experiment Station with the Red Rust- 
proof variety have shown clearly that most samples of seed 
of this variety are badly mixed; that even in apparently 
uniform samples there are numerous strains or elementary 
species; and that careful selection of individual plants 
may result in modifying the yield, the time of maturity, 
and other qualities. 

Desirable improvements in the Red Rust-proof variety 
are: (1) increased yield; (2) greater uniformity ; (3) elimi- 
nation of the beards and of the black grains; and (4) in- 
creased resistance to rust. 

Desirable improvements in the Burt oats are: (1) larger 
yields; (2) increased uniformity; (3) elimination of the 
tendency to shatter; (4) greater plumpness of grain; 
and (5) adaptation of this variety to fall sowing, by selec- 
tion of plants that withstand the cold of winter. 

For sowing in the fall, preference should be given to 
seed from a strain which has been repeatedly sown at this 
season. 


OATS 18 


CLIMATE, SOILS, AND FERTILIZERS FOR Oats 


14. Climate. — The oat plant is most at home in a cool 
moist climate. Yet in the Southern States, with a moist 
but hot climate, it is successfully cultivated, although the 
yield per acre and the weight per measured bushel are 
reduced. In the South, climate is most important in de- 
termining whether Red Rust-proof oats, the kind most 
extensively grown, should be sown in the fall or after mid- 
winter. 

That part of the South in which by far the greater part of the 
crop of Red Rust-proof oats is sown in the fall lies south of a line 
drawn nearly through Birmingham in Alabama, Atlanta in Georgia, 
Charlotte in North Carolina, and Norfolk in Virginia. Yet, ex- 
perience shows that it is profitable to sow Red Rust-proof oats in 
the fall considerably northward of this line, though at the risk 
of more frequent failures from winter-killing. Even in the 
northern third of the Gulf States, this class of oats, when sown 
in the fall, is not seriously injured by cold in one winter out of 
three. Since two crops of fall-sown oats usually yield more than 
three crops of oats sown after Christmas, fall sowing should be 
more generally practiced. North of the line indicated above, 
Turf oats are hardy in most winters, at least as far northward as 
Maryland. 


15. Soils. — The oat is adapted to a wider range of soils 
than is wheat. In fact; it may be grown on almost any 
soil on which other ordinary field crops succeed. The low 
yields of oats as shown by statistics are largely due to the 
fact that the crop is often sown on land too poor for other 
profitable use. 

Moreover, the oat crop is less frequently fertilized than are 


the other staple crops. Land that is too poor for cotton is 
usually too poor for oats sown after Christmas, but such land 


14 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


can often be profitably utilized by sowing oats in the fall and fer- 
tilizing in March with nitrate of soda. 

One difficulty in growing Red Rust-proof oats without fertilizer 
on poor and rocky land is the fact that the short straw made by 
this variety under such conditions makes it difficult to save all 
the heads in harvesting the crop. This difficulty is largely over- 
come by the use of nitrate of soda and other fertilizers rich in 
nitrogen. 

Oats thrive on a moderately rich soil, and fertility is especially 
important when sowing is done after Christmas. On land exces- 
sively rich in nitrogen, and at the same time quite moist, there is 
danger that the straw will grow so tall and weak as to fall or lodge, 
and thus reduce the yield. The same danger may occur from 
excessive use of stable manure or other nitrogenous fertilizer. 


16. Place in the rotation. — The usual position of the 
oat crop in a rotation in the cotton-belt is immediately 
after corn, the oats being followed by cowpeas the same 
year, and the cowpeas being followed by cotton the next 
year. This is the logical practice for fall-sown oats, since 
the corn crop can be removed in October in time for the 
sowing of oats, while cotton is usually not removed 
in time for the largest yield of fall-sown oats. However, 
in regions where spring sowing of oats is practiced, this 
crop may just as well follow cotton as follow corn. 


In the usual practice of fall-sowing of oats after corn, the oats 
get the advantage of the fertilizer produced by the cowpeas 
that are usually planted between the rows of corn. 

Inquiry is sometimes made whether it may not be practicable 
to grow oats continuously on the same land with a catch-crop 
of cowpeas each summer, the cowpeas to be used for hay. This 
would be advisable only under exceptional conditions and when 
phosphoric acid and potash could be restored to the soil in the 
fertilizer, especially in the fertilizer for the cowpea crop. 


OATS 15 


17. Fertilizers. — Too frequently oats are sown on poor 
land without being fertilized. Experiments in several 
Southern States have shown that it pays to fertilize oats 
growing on medium or poor lands. On many of these 
lands, acid phosphate should be used. This may be ap- 

_ plied at the rate of 100 to 200 pounds per acre at the time 
of sowing. It may be run through the fertilizer attach- 
ment of the grain drill, and its contact with the seed will 
not injure germination. However, it would not be safe 
thus to sow through the grain drill and with the seed any 
considerable amount of cotton-seed meal, or other nitrog- 
enous fertilizer or of potash salts. 

While some sandy soils may require for the maximum 
growth of oats a small amount of potash, it is not usually 
necessary to apply this fertilizer constituent to the oat 
crop. 

The most universal need of oats on the average soils of the 
cotton-belt is for nitrogen. Since the oat makes its growth 
in the cooler part of the year when vegetable matter does 
not rapidly nitrify or become available as plant-food, the 
best form of nitrogenous fertilizer is nitrate of soda. This 
fertilizer does not require further change, but is immedi- 
ately available. 


Experiments have shown that it is usually profitable to apply 
any amount of nitrate of soda between 40 and 160 pounds per 
acre. About 80 pounds per acre is usually advisable. The 
lumps should be carefully crushed and the fertilizer sown broad- 
cast as a top-dressing at least two months before the average date 
of harvest. As a rule, the first half of March is a suitable time 
for applying nitrate of soda to fall-sown oats, and the latter 
half of the month for spring-sown oats. 

No covering of soil is necessary in using nitrate of soda, but the 


16. SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


use of a light harrow or weeder immediately after sowing the 
fertilizer would often be advantageous, especially if the surface 
should be quite dry, or if a heavy rain should fall soon after the 
application. = 


CuLTURAL METHODS FOR OATS 


18. Preparation of land. — The usual preparation of the 
land for the oat crop is poorer than for most other crops. 
Too often the seed is sown broadcast on unplowed land and 
then covered with a one-horse or two-horse turn-plow. 
The danger in this procedure is that the seed may be 
covered too deeply or by large clods, either of which pre- 
vents the germination of some of the seeds. A method 
that insures more thorough preparation is the following: 
plowing, then sowing the seed broadcast, and covering by 
the use of a disk-harrow. A still better method consists 
in first plowing the land and then sowing with the grain 
drill. 

Either of these methods permits deeper plowing than is 
advisable when the seed is covered with the turn-plow. 

On clean, friable soil oats are sometimes merely disked 
in without plowing. This method is not so well suited to 
Southern soils, deficient in vegetable matter, as it is to 
regions farther north. 

19. When to sow. — Repeated experiments have shown 
that throughout the greater part of the cotton-belt the yield 
secured from fall-sown oats is at least 50 per cent greater 
than from crops sown after Christmas. Frequently fall- 
sown oats yield twice as much as those sown in February. 

The exact date of planting that is most likely to give the 
maximum yield varies with the latitude and climate, and 
even with varieties. The earliest practicable date for fall- 


OATS 17 


sowing is in the first half of September. In the central 
and southern part of the cotton-belt, this is too early for 
sowing Red Rust-proof oats, since it tends to make the 
plants form stems and to head too early the latter part of 
the winter, at which stage the oat is easily killed by freezing 
temperatures. However, very early sowing may be prac- 
ticed when the oats are to be rather closely grazed through- 
out the winter. 

The period that is generally preferred for sowing Red oats 
extends from October 1 to the middle of November; 
sowings made in the earlier part of this period usually 
afford the larger yields. If sowing is postponed much 
beyond the latter date, the young plants do not have 
time to become firmly rooted and anchored before they 
are subjected to heaving by the alternate freezing and 
thawing of the soil. 

In sowing oats after Christmas, custom varies greatly, 
the usual limits being from January 1 to April 1. In the 
central part of the cotton-belt, probably the first few weeks 
in February is a safer period than is an earlier date, and 
any delay after this time is likely to reduce the yield 
greatly. 

20. Drilling versus broadcast sowing. — Some experi- 
ments have shown advantage in yield from sowing oats 
with a grain drill as compared with broadcast sowing. 
Drilling has the advantages: (1) of saving at least half a 
bushel of seed per acre; (2) placing the seed at a more 
uniform depth, thus favoring uniformity in ripening; and 
(3) leaving the plants in a very shallow depression, which 
affords a slight degree of protection against cold and 
heaving. 

c 


18 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Extensive experiments in the cotton-belt have proved that, 
on an average, drilling affords a larger crop than broadcast sow~ 
ing. The Illinois Experiment Station found the smaller yield 
with broadcast oats to be due in part to the more uneven and 
generally shallower depth at which the seed were placed in broad- 
cast sowing. 

In countries where it is customary to sow red clover with the 
small grains, it has been noticed that the clover is thriftier and 
less injured by hot weather when the rows made by the grain 
drill extend north and south rather than east and west. 


21. The open-furrow method of drilling oats. — This 
consists in sowing the seed, not with a two-horse grain 
drill, but with a one-horse planter, which deposits the seed 
in the bottom of a deep furrow or trench previously opened 
by a large shovel plow. The seeds are barely covered by 
the small amount of soil which falls into the trench as the 
planter passes along. Therefore, the plants grow from 
the bottom of a rather deep furrow which remains unfilled 
throughout the winter. Here they are somewhat protected 
from cold and greatly protected from heaving, since the soil 
and the plants in the bottom of a furrow are not easily 
lifted by alternate freezing and thawing. 

These deep furrows are 18 to 24 inches apart. Fertil- 
izer is drilled in with the seed. 


An incidental advantage of the open-furrow method is the 
fact that it permits thorough harrowing in early spring. This 
affords all the usual advantages of cultivation and partially 
fills the open furrows so as to make easier the operation of the 
binder or mower. 

At the Alabama and Georgia Experiment Stations, this method 
has given larger yields than were secured from broadeast sowing, 
besides almost complete protection from winter-killing. How- 
ever, this method is not adapted to very stiff or poorly drained 


OATS 19 


soil. It is also a slow method, but the reported invention of a 
machine for sowing several rows at one time may possibly over- 
come this objection. 


22. Prevention of winter-killing. — Since Red Rust- 
proof oats are sometimes thinned, or even killed com- 
pletely, by cold weather in winter, methods of decreasing 
this injury are important. Oats are more frequently win- 
ter-killed on account of heaving, or lifting of the soil and of 
the young plants when the ground freezes, than from the 
direct effects of low temperatures. Heaving is due to 
the expansion in freezing of the water in the soil. Every 
one has noticed on a frosty morning the little icicles pro- 
jected upward from a spot of wet clayey land. Often these 
icicles lift on their summits particles of soil. By this 
same process of expansion of soil-moisture in freezing, 
young plants are lifted. This heaving is worst in soils 
that contain the most water; that is, in:clay spots and 
where the drainage is poor. 

Means of decreasing winter-killing of oats are: (1) plant- 
ing in depressions or unfilled furrows (the open-furrow 
system); (2) improved drainage; (8) selection of hardy 
varieties or strains; (4) the use of the roller to settle the 
lifted plants into closer contact with the soil. 

23. Quantity of seed. — On account of the ability of the 
oat plant to throw out an indefinite number of shodts or 
culms, and thus to utilize whatever space may be avail- 
able, the thickness of sowing does not directly determine 
the rate of yield. From 4 to 16 pecks to the acre may be 
taken as the extreme limits. The quantity of seed usu- 
ally advisable for broadcast sowing is between 14 and 
24 bushels per acre. By using the grain drill, this may 


20 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


be reduced by about half.a bushel per acre, and the open- 
furrow method makes possible an even greater reduction. 
The earlier the date of sowing and the more complete the 
preparation of the land, the smaller may be the quantity of 
seed employed. 

24. Size of seed. — Scores of experiments have been 
made to determine the size of seed or grain to sow for the 
best agricultural results, most of which show a distinct 
advantage from sowing large or heavy seed. 


Zavitz secured the following results (American Breeders’ As- 
sociation, Vol. II, p. 121): — 

After selecting seed for thirteen years, the large seed being 
taken each year from the plot sown with large grains, the small 
grains continuously from the plots sown with small seed, the crop 
from the large seed yielded 65.5 bushels per acre as compared 
with 44.7 bushels from the small seed; the crop from the large 
seed weighed 35.5 pounds per bushel as compared with 24.3 
pounds per bushel from the continuous sowing of light seed. The 
deterioration due to sowing poor seed is still better shown by the 
fact that the crop from the large seed required only 1149 grains 
to weigh an ounce while that from the light seed required 2066 
grains. 

Among the publications summarizing the experiments on this 
point are the following : — 


Nebraska Expr. Station Bull. 104. 

Ohio Expr. Station Bull. 38. 

Kansas Expr. Station Bull. 74. 

Canada Expr. Farms, Rpt. 1901. 

Ontario Agr. College and Expr. Farms, Rpt. 1903. 


25. Separation of grains by fanning. — It should be 
borne in mind that there is a tendency for any one oat 
plant to bear as many heavy seeds as light seeds. This is 
because each spikelet usually matures one large and one. 


OATS 21 


small grain. Hence separation by fanning machines 
tends to place among the large seeds and among the small 
seeds, grains from the same parent plants. This indicates 
that for most rapid improvement of the oat, reliance cannot 
be placed chiefly on selection by the use of the fanning 
machine, but rather on the selection of individual plants. 

However, seed oats should be fanned for the following 
reasons: (1) to eliminate many grass and weed seeds; 
(2) to remove those oat grains that are too light to germi- 
nate or to make vigorous plants ; (3) to decrease the danger 
of clogging the grain drill with broken straw and trash and 
beards, especially in the Red Rust-proof variety. 

26. Change of seed.— There is a widespread belief 
that some indefinite and mysterious advantage results 
from changing the seed of almost any crop. In the case of 
oats, all available evidence is against this notion and seems 
to indicate that the varieties do not ‘ run-out,” or degen- 
erate, from being grown continuously in any part of the 
cotton-belt. Oats grown in the locality where they are to 
be planted are best for sowing. 


The advantages of home-grown seed are usually the following : 
(1) A yield equal or superior to that secured from seed grown 
in a different latitude. (2) The ability to select a strain of seed 
adapted to fall sowing,, whereas the seed obtained from other 
localities is frequently from a spring-sown strain, and hence less 
able to escape winter-killing. (3) Greater freedom of home- 
grown oats from admixture with seed of Johnson-grass or noxious 
weeds that might be introduced from abroad. 

In itself there seems to be no virtue in changing seed. How- 
ever, a farmer should not hesitate to change seed to procure an- 
other strain grown in the same latitude, if his own seed is espe- 
cially light or poor ; or if, by changing seed, he can secure a better 
or purer variety suited to his soil or climate. 


22 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


27. Cultivation or inter-tillage of oats. — It is unusual 
to till oats after germination occurs. It is probable that in 
the South, especially on soils inclined to bake, it will be 
generally advantageous to harrow drilled oats. Harrow- 
ing is seldom injurious to the stand of oats sown with the 
grain drill and not at all hurtful to the stand of oats sown 
in open furrows. . 


But few tests have been made to determine whether inter- 
tillage of small grains is profitable. At the Nebraska Experiment 
Station (Bulletin No. 104) the yield of oats sown with a grain 
drill was increased by harrowing, in three dry years out of five. 
With oats sown broadcast, harrowing reduced the yield every 
year, because it thinned the stand. Drilled oats, tilled, yielded 
more grain than broadcast oats without tillage. At the same 
station.the yield on the harrowed plots decreased as the space 


between rows was widened from 6 to 12, 18, and 24 inches. 
7 ie 


28. Pasturing oats. — During periods when the soil is 
so dry as to be uninjured in its mechanical condition by the 
tramping of live-stock, there may be no harm in pasturing 
oats intended for grain. 

Cautions to be observed in pasturing any small grains 
are: (1) Keeping the stock off the land while wet ; (2) dis- 
continuing pasturage early enough to afford abundant 
time for the plants to tiller and head; (8) avoidance of 
pasturing too closely while there is danger of severe 
freezes. 

For oats sown rather early in the fall, pasturing may be 
a distinct advantage in preventing the formation of stems 
while there is still danger of freezing weather, which would 
be especially injurious to oats in the “‘ booting ” stage, that 
is, after the stems have begun to lengthen rapidly. 


OATS 


ENEMIES 


29. Weeds. — The same 
weeds are troublesome in oats 
as in wheat. Chief among 
these is cheat or chess. The 
use of clean seed, that has been 
carefully fanned and screened, 
is the best means of avoiding 
weed pests. 

In purchasing seed oats, care 
should be taken that they con- 
tain no seed of Johnson-grass. 
'.30. Fungous diseases of 
oats. — Chief among diseases 
caused by. fungi is rust, for 
_ which there is no treatment. 
The Red Rust-proof variety 
and its various strains are the 
most rust-resistant varieties, 
but even these are not entirely 

exempt. Rust is worse in 
- damp weather. 

Oat smut (Fig. 8). — This 
disease usually reduces the 
yield of oats 10 to 20 per cent. 
Unlike rust, it is entirely under 
the control of the farmer. 
It appears as blackened heads 
in which no grains develop, 
but in the place of which are 


28 


Fic. 8.— Oats DESTROYED BY 
Smovr. 


24 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


conspicuous masses of black, powdery material or spores. 
These spores answer the purpose of seed in carrying smut 
to the next crop of oats. This particular fungus originates 
from a tiny spore (or particle of black dust) which has 
found its way during ripening, or harvesting or threshing 
to the seed grain. The fungus grows in the form of threads 
through the entire length of the oat plant and finally 
bears what may be called its fruit or spores at the time of 
heading. 

To prevent smut, all that is necessary is to destroy the 
life of the tiny spore that may have found lodgment 
on the surface of the seed grain. There are several 
methods, the simplest and most convenient of which is the 
formalin treatment, the directions for which follow :— 

For each three gallons of water add one ounce of formalin. 
With this liquid, wet or thoroughly moisten the seed, either by 
dipping the sacks of grain or by thoroughly sprinkling the seed 
while it is being stirred. Then leave the damp seed in a pile 
for at least two hours, covering it meantime with a sheet, or 
old carpet, which has also been dipped in this liquid. The pur- 
pose in thus covering the pile is to enable the vapors formed 
by the evaporation of the formalin to completely envelop 
every seed. Dry the oats before sowing them, and do not let 
them come in contact with old sacks or floors that have not been 
disinfected with formalin. 


Another method of entirely preventing smut in oats is 
by the hot-water treatment : — 


Dip the bags of seed oats into a vessel of water kept constantly 
at a temperature of about 133° F. and always between 130° and 
135° Keep the seed in this hot water for ten minutes. It 
may then be cooled by being dipped in cold water, or it may be 
spread out to dry. The temperature of the hot water is most 
conveniently kept at a constant point by the addition of cold 


OATS 25 


or hot water as required, and by 
first heating the oats for a few 
minutes in warm water at about 
120° F.; for if the cold seed were 
dipped into water at 133°, they would 
too rapidly lower its temperature. 
This method requires the use of an 
accurate thermometer. 


31. Insect pests. — Insects are 
the same as those of wheat, ex- 
cept that the oat is not attacked 
by the Hessian fly, and that 
granary insects do. less harm to | 
the oat grain, protected as it is L-——~ pt i 
by its enveloping hull. A-serious Fi¢. 9.—Gremy-nuc (Tos- 
pest of the oat plant in the West ee ee nee 
and Southwest is the green-bug Greatly enlarged. (After 
(Toxoptera graminum, Fig. 9). 8. J. Hunter.) 


The green-bug is a plant-louse of green color and very small 
size, that sucks the juices from the young plant. It has many 
natural enemies which, after the 
early cool part of the season, 
usually keep it in subjection. 
One of these enemies, a lady-bug 
beetle (Fig. 10), has sometimes 
been artificially bred and dis- 
tributed as a means of com- 
bating the green-bug, especially 
before the weather has become 
warm enough to bring forth 
naturally many of the enemies 


Fic. 10.— Two Sraces or a Lapy- 


BUG WHICH DESTROYS ‘‘ GREEN- 2 
Bucs.” of this pest. 


Right, adult beetle; left, larva. Another parasite on this plant- 
Enlarged. (After S. J. Hunter.) louse is a tiny four-winged insect 


se 


26 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


which lays its eggs in the body of the green-bug, where they hatch 
and kill the host. 

32. Harvesting and marketing. — Oat grains mature 
from the.top of the panicle downward. Most of the grains 
should change color and be in the late dough stage, or riper, 
before being harvested for grain. The harvesting of oats 
is done with the self-binder or the mowing machine, or on 
small areas of rough land with the grain cradle. 

It is an advantage in threshing if the grain is tied in bundles, as 
is done by the self-binder or by laborers following the cradler. 

Oats are marketed without any special preparation beyond 
that of sacking. 

It is customary in some communities for oats to be bound into 
bundles and shocked, left for a week or more in the shocks, 
and then stored for several weeks in a stack or barn before being 
threshed; however, oats are often handled directly from the 
shock to the threshing machine. Damp or rainy weather during 
threshing renders this operation slower and more incomplete. 


33. Yields. — For the first few years in the twentieth 
century the world’s oat crop averaged approximately 
3,500,000,000 bushels, of which more than one fourth was 
produced in the United States, on about 28,000,000 acres. 
The average for the United States is usually between 30 
and 35 bushels per acre. This yield is much below that 
in Germany and Great Britain. 

For oats sown in the fall in the cotton-belt a yield of 
less than 20 bushels may be regarded as poor; of 20 to 30 
bushels as fair; and a good yield is one exceeding 40 
bushels per acre. 

A medium yield of oat hay is about one ton per acre, 
which may be greatly increased by the liberal use of nitrate 
of soda or by sowing seed of hairy vetch or crimson 


27 


OATS 


GRAINS GROWN WITH CRIMSON CLOVER FOR FORAGE AT 


Fie. 11.— 


ALABAMA EXPERIMENT STATION. 
On left, oats; on right, wheat. 


28 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


clover with the seed oats in September or October 
(Fig. 11). 


For oats sown after Christmas in the Gulf States the yields may 
be taken as not quite two thirds of the figures for fall-sown oats 
on the same land. 

In several instances yields of more than 100 bushels per acre 
have been reported in the Southern States. 

At the Alabama Experiment Station on poor, sandy loam soil 
the yield averaged about one and one half times as many bushels 
of fall-sown oats as of corn similarly fertilized. Considering that 
oats weigh 32 pounds per bushel, as compared with 56 pounds per 
bushel of corn, there was nearly an equal weight of grain produced 
whether the crop was corn or oats. 

In the case of a medium yield of Red Rust-proof oats there is 
about one pound of straw for each pound of threshed grain. 
That is, a yield of 32 bushels of oats, weighing 960 pounds, is 
usually accompanied by a yield of about half a ton of straw. 


34. Teams and labor for oat culture. — The oat crop 
requires little expenditure for. hand labor. Machinery 
and horse tools perform most of the work. By sowing 
oats in the fall, the farm teams are kept employed at a 
time when, on cotton-farms, there is usually no large 
amount of other work for them. However, the date of 
harvesting occurs during the busy season when teams and 
laborers are needed in the early tilling of cotton and the 
tillage of corn. Therefore any farm on which a consider- 
able proportion of the acreage is devoted to oats should be 
well stocked with teams and so situated that additional 
laborers can be hired for a few days during harvest. 

When additional day labor cannot be hired to shock a 
large area of oats in a brief time, the harvest season can 
be spread out over a longer period by sowing a part‘of the 


OATS 29 


area in Red Rust-proof oats and a part in some variety 
ripening either earlier or later. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


Young plants in the field. 


(1) From a number of plants of wheat, oats, rye, and barley, 
pulled and mixed together, separate all the oat plants by the ab- 
sence of clasps (auricles) on the leaves. Repeat until young oat 
plants are readily recognized. 

(2) With specimens used in (1) or growing in the field, write 
out other means of distinguishing leaves of oats from those of each 
of the other small grains. 

(8) Compare several varieties of oats, if available, as to differ- 
ences in appearance of the young plants. 

(4) Dig four young plants sprung from seed buried deeply 
and four others from seed lightly covered; record for each plant 
of each class the length of that section of root between the parent 
grain and the crown, or place where most stems originate. 


Examination of bloom. 


(5) Pinch off the smaller flower in a spikelet, and treat the 
larger as follows: With pin or small forceps open the incurved 
transparent inner hull, or palet, before the pollen has been shed, 
and make a drawing, showing the number and position of stamens 
and stigmas. 


Crossing oat flowers. / 


(6) If practicable to execute No. (5) at 8 to 10 a.m., practice 
opening several flowers in such a way as to give least injury to the 
transparent inner covering or palet; when successful, remove 
with a pin the three unopened anthers; carefully replace the 
palet; cover with a very small paper bag; about 5 in the after- 
noon of the same day reopen the same flower and insert on the 
stigmas an anther that shows loose grains of pollen; replace the 
palet, and a week later note whether a crossed grain has formed. 
Repeat this exercise several times. 


30 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Smut. 


(7) Insert a barrel hoop, or sides of a bottomless box, over a 
number of oat plants in the field; count the number of smutted 
and healthy heads; calculate the percentage of smutted heads, 
and the apparent loss per acre from smut if the yield of the field 
would have been thirty bushels per acre had there been no 
smut. 


The oat panicle and stems. 


(8) Compare the form of panicle of Red Rust-proof oats with 
that of Burt or Turf oats. 

(9) Record thé number of whorls (sets of branches) and the 
number of spikelets in each of five heads of oats. 

(10) Record the total number of stems of ten plants with abun- 
dant room and of ten plants in a part of the field where the plants 
are thick. 


Samples of threshed seed. 


(11) Carry out directions for prevention of smut by the for- 
malin treatment (paragraph 30). 

(12) Practice the hot-water treatment for smut. 

(13) Save some seed in both treatments above and make a ger- 
mination test, in soil or in germinating box, of 100 seeds treated 
with formalin, 100 with hot water, and 100 not treated. 

(14) Make a germination test of 100 small seeds from upper 
grains of spikelets and of 100 large grains, each of the latter 
being the lower grain of its spikelet; notice results in 7 or 14 
days as to percentage of germinated seed. and character of 
sprouts or young plants. (In a good sample, 97 per cent should 
germinate. ) 

(15) Note all differences between seeds of Red Rust-proof, 
Burt, and Turf types of oats. 

(16) Make drawings of a spikelet of Red Rust-proof freed of 
chaff, showing number and position of beards. Do likewise for 
some other variety. 

(17) Determine the weight of a measured bushel of several 
samples of oats, by weighing a gallon or peck. 


OATS 31 


Scoring. 


(18) Score as many samples of threshed oats as practicable, 
by the following score-card : — 


1. Trueness to type . others: ve tae ee ES 
2. Uniformity of kernel in size and shape #8 ee ee 10 
3. Purity of color . « « Ia 
4, Cleanliness, or freedom from weed seeds, trash, “ete. : . 10 
5. Seed condition, or Beruiianing aa ee ee a ee. LES 
6. Proportion of hull . . oy Soe ee, Se 1G 
7. Weight per bushel . . . . 2. 1 ww ee ee 288 

Total poimts . . ...... 6. © «© «+ ~~ 100 

LiTERATURE 


Cultural Methods. 

Doucear, J. F. Ala. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 137. 

Reppine, R. J. Ga. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 44 and 72. 

Tren Eycx, A. M., and SHoresmire, V. M. Kan. Expr. Sta., 
Bul. No. 144. 


Composition. 

Prermer, A. M. Ky. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 99. 

Srorser, F. H. Agriculture in its Relation to Chemistry, Vol. 
II, p. 400. 


Breeding. 
Norton, J. B. Am. Breeders’ Assen., Vol. III, pp. 280-285. 


Score-card. ; 
Lyon and Monrcomery. Examining and Grading Grains. 
Lincoln, Neb. 
Tren Eycx, A. M. Kan. Agr. Col., 1907. Rules for Judging 
and Grading Small Grains. 


Enemies: Green-bug. 


Honrsr, S. J., in Kan. Bd. Agr., 1907. 
U.S. Bur. Entomology, Bul. No. 38, and Cires. 81, 85, and 93. 


CHAPTER II 


WHEAT — TRITICUM SATIVUM 


WueEar belongs to the grass family, and is thus closely 
related to all the other cereal grains and to the forage 
grasses. All the various wheats are included in the genus 
Triticum, which term thus forms the first word in the bo- 
tanical name of wheat. All kinds of wheat are annuals. 

Wheat is chiefly used for the manufacture of flour. 
From the wheat grain are also made breakfast foods, mac- 
aroni, and other articles for human nourishment. When 
the price of wheat is low, the grain is sometimes fed to all 
classes of live-stock. It is especially prized as a food for 
poultry. 

The wheat plant affords valuable winter pasturage, and 
when cut before ripening, it makes hay of good quality. 
For use as hay a variety having no beards is, of course, 
preferable. In the southern parts of the Gulf States, 
wheat is more valued for forage than for grain. 


STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION 


35. Roots. — The wheat has fibrous roots, and in this 
respect it is entirely unlike such plants as the legumes, cow- 
peas, clovers and cotton, which have tap-roots. The roots 
of wheat do not extend so widely as do those of corn and 


cotton. The roots originate at the crown, which is usually 
32 


WHEAT 33 


within an inch of the surface of the ground, whatever may 
have been the depth of planting. 

However, before the crown and the main or permanent 
system of roots are formed, three short temporary roots 
develop from the sprouted grain; thus the depth of these 
temporary roots depends upon the depth of planting. 
They serve no further use after the development of the 
numerous permanent roots originating chiefly at the crown. 
Hence, the depth at which the wheat roots and feeds is 
independent of the depth at which the seed is sown. 

36. Stems. — The stems or culms of wheat are hollow, 
with closed or solid joints. The usual height is three to 
five feet. When the straw grows to great length, there is 
danger that the plant may “ lodge ” (fall), thus interfering 
with the perfect development of the grain and making har- 
vesting difficult and incomplete. As a rule, wheat grows 
taller than barley and not so tall as rye. The weight of 
straw is usually nearly twice the weight of grain, but it may 
vary widely from this. 

A single wheat grain may give rise directly to a single 
culm and indirectly to a score or more of stems, as explained 
below. The buds at the lower nodes (joints) of each culm 
may themselves develop into additional culms, and from 
the lower nodes of these still other stems may spring. This 
formation of culms from lower buds at the underground 
nodes of each stem explains how and why wheat and other 
small grains tiller; that is, they produce a number of 
stems from a single seed. The greater the space between 
plants and the greater the rainfall and supply of plant- 
food, the greater is the number of culms from a single 


crown. 
D 


34 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


37. Leaves. — The leaves of wheat vary in width, and 
even in the shade of green. As a rule, they are narrower 
than the leaves of barley and 
oats. Young wheat plants of 
the species usually cultivated in 
the United States (Triticum 
sativum) may be distinguished 
easily from those of the other 
small grains by the two small 
clasps (auricles) that partly en- 
circle the stem where the blade, 
or free part of each leaf, unites 
with the sheath (Fig. 12). In 
Fic. 12.—Panr or a Youna the young wheat plant these 

Wueat Prant. clasps bear on their margins a 

Showing clasps bordered with few very inconspicuous hairs. 
a No hairs occur on the larger 
clasps of barley nor on the smaller auricles of rye. Oats 
have no auricles. 


Young plants of the four small grains, therefore, may be dis- 
tinguished by the following leaf characters, as well as by others; — 

Oats have no auricles or clasps (Fig. 1). 

Rye has very small auricles (Fig. 23). 

Barley leaves are provided with large auricles (Fig. 28). 

Wheat has auricles intermediate in size between those of rye 
and barley, and on the outer margin of each auricle on American 
wheats are a few hairs (Fig. 12). 


38. Pollination.— Although wanting in showy colors, the 
part from which each wheat grain develops is a true flower. 
On carefully opening the husk-like inclosing parts in a newly 
formed head of wheat, within each flower are found three 


WHEAT 85 


stamens, which soon afford the yellow powder or pollen. 
There is also a pair of small glistening plumes (Fig. 13), 
corresponding to the silks in corn. 4, 
These are the stigmas or divisions 4. 
of the pistil, and in these delicate 
plumes the pollen must lodge and 
grow before a seed can form. 

The plume-like stigmas are 
snugly inclosed by the chaff, thus 
preventing the access of any pollen 
except that which develops within 
the same flower. Hence wheat is a 


Fig. 13.— FLorer or 
WHEAT. 
self-pollinated plant. Therefore, Showing two stigmas and 


lagu . two of the three anthers. 
two varieties of wheat sown side 


by side do not cross or mix, unless the seed be mechanically 
mixed by careless handling. 

Two varieties of wheat can be crossed or hybridized by 
removing the pollen-cases (anthers) before they burst, and 
then, a little later, by applying to the stigmas pollen 
from a plant on which the anthers have just set free 
the pollen. The best time for hybridizing wheat is before 
daybreak. 

39. The spike and the spikelets. — “Spike” is the name 
given to the entire head of wheat, and spikelet is the name 
of a group of flowers or grains springing from the same 
place on the stem. The head or spike is borne at the top 
of each completely developed stem or straw. In wheat 
-there is only one spikelet, or flower-cluster, at each node or 
joint. Thespikelets are arranged alternately on the zigzag 
stem (or rachis). The spikelets are arranged flatwise to the 
stem. 


36 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The shape of the spike differs in certain species and va- 


rieties of wheat and may be 


(1) tapering, or (2) nearly 


uniform in size, or (3) club-shaped (that is, decidedly 


Fic. 14.—A Heap, SpPrKecet, aND 
GRAIN OF BEARDED WHEAT. 


largest at the extreme 
upper end) (Fig. 17). The 
shape of the spike or head 
depends largely on the size 
to which the spikelets in 
different parts of the spike 
develop. 

Comprising each spikelet 
are usually three or more 
flowers (Fig. 14). From 
them, when all conditions 
are favorable, may develop 
three grains. More fre- 
quently, only two flowers 
develop, and the spikelet 
yields only two grains, 
sometimes only one. A 
crop with “three grains 
to the mesh,’ as some 
farmers express it, should 
make a large yield. 

In some varieties, beards 
project from the tips of 
certain of the chaff-like 
parts which inclose the seed. 
It has not been proved 
that bearded varieties. of 
wheat are any hardier or 


: WHEAT 387 


any more productive in the South than beardless varieties 
(which are also known as “ smooth” or “ bald ” wheats) 
(Fig. 15). On farms where it is some- : 
times desirable to utilize at least a part 
of the. wheat crop for hay, beardless 
varieties are decidedly preferable, and 
also probably just as good when the 
sole aim is the production of grain. 

40. The grain. — When wheat is 
threshed, the grain is freed from the 
chaff that has enfolded it. The same 
is true of rye. On the other hand, 
the hull of oats continues to enfold 
the grain after threshing, and in barley 
the hull grows fast to the grain. 

A single grain of wheat is usually 
about a quarter of an inch long. A 
deep furrow or crease extends nearly 
the length of the grain on the side 
opposite the germ or embryo. The 
greater depth of this furrow, together 
with the shorter, plumper grain (Fig. 
16), readily distinguish a wheat kernel 
from a grain of rye.. | 

In color wheat grains vary from a wg. 15.—A Typrcan 
light, almost creamy yellow (called Hap orBmarpuuss 
white) through an amber tint to dark ii 
red. Red and amber-colored wheats are more com- 
monly grown in the South than those of the lighter 
shades, and probably the former are hardier under South- 
ern conditions. 


38 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The kernel of wheat is divided into three principal parts: 
(1) the germ, or embryo; (2) the starchy part, or endosperm ; 
(3) the several outer layers cnstituting the bran. The germ, 
which may be located by a tiny scar, constitutes only a very 


Fic. 16.—A Goop SamreLe or WHEAT. 


small proportion of the 
grain, occupying only 
about one thirteenth 
as much space as the 
endosperm. The 
starchy portion, or 
endosperm, is the part 
from which flour is 
made. This is a re- 
serve supply of food 
material stored by the 
maturing plant for the 
nourishment of the 
young seedling be- 
fore the roots of the 
latter are able to fur- 
nish a full supply of 
plant-food. The bran 
consists of several 
coats, the outer of 
which corresponds 
botanically to the pod 
that covers a pea or 
bean. 

Wheat grains are of 
such size that usually 
from 500,000 to 1,000,- 
000 are contained in a 
bushel, though the 


number is occasionally below and sometimes above these limits. 
The legal weight of a bushel of wheat is 60 pounds, but a measured 
bushel often weighs several pounds less, and sometimes a few 


pounds more than the standard. 


WHEAT 39 


41. Composition. — In round numbers, the entire wheat 
grain has the following average composition: — 


: Per Cent 

Water - . 10.5 
Gluten and other nitrogenous ¢ constituents (protein) . . 12.0 
Fats,ete. . . . . . . alittle more than 2.0 
Crude fiber. . . . . . . . . . alittleless than 2.0 
Ash . . . alittleless than 2.0 
Starch and other ‘nitrogen-free extract . more than 71.5 

Mota! ae ele a es Oe eS) A Hae ee 1000 


The higher the percentage of protein in normally ma- 
tured wheat grains the higher, as a rule, are the quality and 
breadmaking value of the wheat. The protein is often as 
much as 2 per cent either above or below the average 
just given, and still greater extremes in composition some- 
times occur. Any climatic or other condition that prevents 
the complete maturity of the wheat into plump grains 
tends to reduce the proportion of starch, which is the ma- 
terial last to be added to the grain; this reduction in the 
percentage of starch naturally raises the percentage of ni- 
trogen. It has been found at the Tennessee Experiment 
Station (Bul., Vol. XVI, No. 4) that wheat grown in the 
South contains a high percentage of protein. Hard grains, 
which present a horny appearance, are usually richer in 
protein than those which have a less flinty appearance. 

Gluten, the principal nitrogenous constituent in wheat, 
is not only prized for its high nutritive value, but also 
because to its presence is due the “ rising power ”’ possessed 
by wheat flour as compared with flour or meal from Indian 
corn. Gluten is the sticky residue left in the mouth when 
one chews unground wheat grains. The favorable action 
of this sticky gluten in making flour bread to rise, or to 


40 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


become “‘ light,” is due to the fact that the gluten entangles 
and holds in the dough the bubbles of carbonic acid gas 
formed by fermentation when yeast is added to dough. 


SPECIES AND VARIETIES 


42. Species and subspecies.—The genus Triticum, to 
which all forms of wheat belong, includes eight species or 
subspecies. Only one of these is generally cultivated in 
the South, namely, the winter-growing form of common 
wheat (Triticum sativum vulgare). Spring wheat is un- 
suited to the South. 


Macaroni wheat (Triticum durum) is adapted to a semiarid 
climate. At least one of its varieties, under the name of Nica- 
ragua wheat, has been successfully grown in the drier portions 
of Texas. Macaroni wheat in that climate makes a large 
yield of grain, which is suitable either for the manufacture of 
macaroni or vermicelli, or for stock food. Macaroni wheat is 
bearded. In its early growth it is more erect, and the plant is 
less inclined to stool or tiller than common wheat. 

Other forms of wheat, not grown in the South, are the follow- 
ing :— 

Club wheat is the favorite kind in Oregon and Washington 
(Fig. 17). 

Spelt is one form in which the chaff clings to the grains after 
threshing. 

Emmer is useful for its resistance to drought and to rust, and is 
especially promising as a forage plant in the semiarid Northwest. 
It seems to be unpromising for the South because most of the 
varieties require sowing after winter has passed. 

Poulard wheat is closely related to macaroni wheat. 

Branching wheat is so named because the head is branched. 
In this class belongs the variety recently advertised under the 
name of Alaska wheat, which has generally proved an inferior 
kind. 


Polish wheat is 
characterized by 
very large kernels. 
It is not suitable 
for breadmaking, 
but for the manu- 
facture of maca- 
roni. 


One-grained 


wheat (einkorn) 
is another un- 
promising kind. 


43. Varieties 
of winter wheat. 
— Although 
more than a 
thousand vari- 
eties of wheat 
are known, 
those exten- 
sively grown in 
the cotton-belt 
are probably 
less than a 
score in num- 
ber. Among 
the most pop- 
ular and pro- 


WHEAT “AL 


Fic. 17.— Heaps or WHEAT. 


On left, Golden Chaff; in center, -Currell ; on 
right, Club. 


ductive varieties are the following :— 
Blue Stem or Purple Straw. — This is so named 
because of the purplish tint on the upper part of the 


ripened straw. 


It is beardless, and hence suitable for 


42 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


hay as well as for grain. When the seeds are continu- 
ously grown in the South, it is one of the earliest varie- 


* Fig. 18.— Hraps oF WHEAT. 


On left, Fultz, then Blue Stem; on extreme right, Fulcaster, next to 
which is Club. 


WHEAT 43 


ties. The grain is amber-colored or reddish, and of 
medium size. 

Fultz (Fig. 18).— This variety is widely grown in the 
South. It is practically beardless, though very short beards 
are found in the upper part of the head on a few of the 
glumes, or chaffy parts. It may be used for hay as well as 
for grain. 

Red May. — An early beardless variety. 

Fulcaster (Fig. 18).— A bearded variety widely grown 
in the South, and generally found to be comparatively 
hardy and productive. 

44. Most productive varieties of wheat. _. There 4 is no 
one variety of wheat that is best for all seasons and for 
all localities in the South. This explains why variety tests 
present such different results in different years. 

In experiments made at the Test Farms in North Caro- 
lina, during several years, Golden Chaff, Bearded Fulcaster, 
and Improved Amber were among the most productive 
varieties. 

At the Alabama Experiment Station, a local strain of 
Blue Stem has been the earliest and one of the most pro- 
ductive varieties tested. Fulcaster has also made good 
yields of grain. 

At the Oklahoma Station, Sibley’s New Golden was one 
of the best varieties. This is a bearded variety with soft 
grains. At the same station good yields were also made by 
Blue Stem and Fulcaster, and by some of the hard wheats, 
including among others, Turkey Red. (Okla. Expr. Sta., 
An. Rpt., 1908-1909.) 

45. Means of distinguishing varieties.— Varieties are 
distinguished by the presence or absence of beards; by the 


44 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


color of grain; by the color of chaff; by the presence or 
absence of hairs (“‘ velvet ’’) on the chaff; by the height 
of straw; by the time of maturity; and by other char- 
acters. Hence, it is evident that a variety cannot be iden- 
tified merely by an inspection of the grain itself. Indeed, 
positive identification of the variety is almost impossible, 
even when the mature plants are examined in the field. 
Yet it is important that growers keep each variety pure, to 
insure uniformity in ripening and in quality of grain, and 
in order to propagate only the best varieties. 

46. Qualities desired in varieties for the South. — The 
qualities chiefly desired in varieties of wheat for the South 
are the following : — 

(1) High yield. 

(2) Rust-resistance, and earliness, as a means of mini- 
mizing the injury from rust. 

(3) Resistance to drought, though marked differences 
in this respect among American varieties have not been 
demonstrated. | 

(4) More than the average percentage of protein, and 
good quality of the flour produced. 

47. Improvement of varieties. — Wheat can readily be 
improved by selecting for seed the best individual plants ; 
for example, those affording a larger yield than other plants 
having an equal amount of space and fertilizer, or those 
most resistant to rust, or the earliest productive plants. 
Improvement will be more rapid if farmers specially in- 
terested in breeding up their wheat would set apart small 
areas, for use as breeding nurseries, where the seed from 
each selected plant could be sown in a separate row. The 
seed from the best of these rows should be planted the next 


WHEAT 45 


year on a larger area. By the third year, there should be 
enough seed to plant a small field. 

In selecting for rapid improvement, it is much more 
important to choose the best plants than to pick out the 
largest grains or the best single heads, 

Hand selection of the best plants, even without separate 
breeding rows, will improve the variety and increase the 
yield. Hunt expresses the belief that the most promising 
means of increasing the yield is by selecting to increase the 
number of spikelets on a spike. Breeding should also be 
directed towards increasing the size of grain and the re- 
sistance to rust. (See 58.) 


Sorts, RoratTIon, AND FERTILIZERS 


48. Soils. — Wheat thrives better on a clay or loam 
soil’than on one that is sandy. Most suitable of all is a 
lime soil, if it also contains considerable clay. 


Wheat does not thrive on acid soils. Hence, the acid areas so 
often found among the sandy soils of the Gulf States should be 
avoided for this crop, or else limed with from 1000 to 1500 pounds 
of slacked lime per acre as a preparation for wheat. Liming 
is best done through the grain drill; several weeks before the seed 
are planted. When applied on the surface, lime should be well 
harrowed in. 

In choosing a field for wheat, wet, undrained spots should be 
avoided. The crop is less likely to suffer severely from rust if 
grown on upland than if sown on lowland completely surrounded 
by higher land and from which field there is consequently no air 
drainage. Yet, bottom lands of suitable character in favorable 
years afford large yields of wheat. 

In the northern part of most of the Gulf States are found many 
soils suitable for wheat, after they have been somewhat improved 


46 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


by the addition of vegetable matter. Among such soils may be 
especially noted the limestone valleys, and also the reddish clay 
or clay-loam soils of the Piedmont region or foothills, the latter 
being designated in the soil survey reports as belonging to the 
Cecil series of soils. 

Likewise, the waxy lime lands of central Alabama, north- 
eastern Mississippi, and of Texas, offer suitable conditions for the 
growth of wheat when sufficient vegetable matter is incorporated 
with the soil. On all of these and on many Southern soils, now 
seldom or never utilized for wheat, this crop should become 
an important one when the presence of the boll weevil or other 
incentive shall make imperative a more diversified agriculture. 

Wheat needs a rich or fairly rich soil. More economical than 
the use of most forms of commercial fertilizer is the improvement 
of the soil for wheat by a preceding crop of cowpeas or of other 
legumes. This is the cheapest means of adding nitrogen, the 
most expensive plant-food purchased in commercial fertilizers. 
The preceding crop of legumes should be fertilized with acid 
phosphate, so as to enable the lezumes to make a more luxuriant 
growth and thus to add to the soil a larger amount of nitrogen 
than would be possible if this crop had been grown without 
fertilizer. If the preceding ‘crop of cowpeas is luxuriant, it 
will often suffice to plow under merely the stubble as a fertilizer 
for wheat, utilizing the tops of the legume for hay. 

Among the legumes that may be used to fit the land for a 
profitable crop of wheat are the following : cowpeas and soybeans, 
as summer growing legumes, on any soils; red clover on lime soils ; 
sweet clover (Melilotus alba) on the waxy lime soils; and crimson 
clover, a winter-growing annual that is adapted to almost any 
soil suitable for wheat. 


49. Place in the rotation. —In the cotton-belt, the 
crop preceding wheat is usually “cowpeas, either grown 
alone or as a catch-crop between rows of corn. It is not 
unusual for a growth of cowpeas to add 4 to 10 bushels of 
wheat per acre to the yield of the following wheat crop. 


WHEAT 47 


In those parts of the South where red clover is grown, 
a good three-year rotation is : — 

First year: wheat, with red clover seed. 

Second year: red clover. 

Third year: corn. 

Wheat is again grown the fourth year. 

Where neither red clover nor cotton succeeds, crimson 
clover may be used instead of red clover, as follows : — 

First year: late corn, cultivated late, and the middles 
seeded to crimson clover in September. 

Second year: tobacco, late corn, or other summer crop 
not requiring early planting. 

Third year: wheat, followed by cowpeas. 

In those parts of the cotton-belt where. red clover does 
not thrive, the following four-year rotation is often desir- 
able: — 

First year: cotton, with crimson clover seeded in 
September between the rows. 

Second year: cotton. 

Third year: corn, with cowpeas between the rows. 

Fourth year: wheat, followed by cowpeas. 

50. Fertilization. — A crop of 25 bushels of wheat, with 
its accompaniment of say 2500 pounds of straw, removes 
from the land approximately the following amounts of 
plant-food : — 


In Gratin | In Straw] In Grain anp Straw 


Nitrogen . . . .. 25.9 10.8 26.7 
Phosphoric acid . . . 14.4 3.3 17.7 
Potash. . .... 5.3 18.5 23.8 


48 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


These figures indicate that the grain depletes the land of 
considerable quantities of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, 
while the straw removes a large quantity of potash and also 
considerable nitrogen. The straw, after being used as 
food or bedding, should be restored to the farm in the form 
of manure. This, however, will usually not be applied to 
the field from which the straw was taken. 

Phosphoric acid is very generally deficient in Southern 
soils. Phosphate is the fertilizer usually applied to wheat. 
Two hundred to four hundred pounds per acre may well 
be employed. The time to apply acid phosphate to 
wheat is at the time of sowing the grain. It may be sown 
through the fertilizer attachment of the grain drill and 
while the seed is being sown. The germination is not in- 
jured by phosphate in contact with the seed. 

Since wheat makes most of its growth during the cooler 
part of the year, while decay and nitrification are least ac- 
tive, this plant responds profitably to applications of nitrog- 
enous fertilizers. For the reason just indicated the most 
readily soluble form of nitrogen, namely, nitrate of soda, 
is usually the most effective form in which to convey at 
least a part of the supply of nitrogen to the wheat plant 
(Fig. 19). On account of its ready solubility, nitrate of 
soda should not be applied until winter is past and the 
plants have a well-developed root system ready to appropri- 
ate the soluble nitrates. It is well to apply nitrate of soda 
at least two months before the date of anticipated harvest. 


This usually means that in the Gulf States nitrate of soda 
should be used by or before the twentieth of March, or in higher 
latitudes at proportionately later dates; 80 pounds per acre is the 
amount most generally advisable, — though profitable use can 


WHEAT 49 


often be made of amounts smaller or larger by 50 per cent. Ni- 
trate of soda should be very uniformly sown, after all lumps 
have been pulverized. No covering is required, but when harrow- 
ing can be done without serious injury to the stand of plants, it 


Fic. 19. SHocxs or WHEAT FROM Equal AREAS. 


On left, fertilized with nitrate of soda; on right, no nitrogen in the 
fertilizer. 


will often be helpful, both as a means of hastening the absorption 
of the nitrate of soda and also for its effects as a cultivation. 

It should always be borne in mind that the application of very 
large amounts of nitrogen in any form, even in barnyard manure, 
may cause the straw to grow so tall and weak that it may fall, 
or lodge. The application of phosphate and kainit is believed 
to have a tendency to strengthen the straw and to reduce the 
danger of lodging. 


Formerly when cotton-seed was worth less than twelve 
dollars per ton, it was largely used as a fertilizer for wheat. 
Cotton-seed was plowed in when the wheat was sown, and 
its use, especially when combined with acid phosphate, 
was effective. Cotton-seed is now in most localities too 

E 


50 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


high-priced to be used as a fertilizer for wheat in competi- 
tion with cotton-seed meal or nitrate of soda. 

Cotton-seed meal is a common ingredient of a fertilizer 
mixture for wheat. It is usually less effective and eco- 
nomical for wheat.than an equal value of nitrate of soda. 
When cotton-seed meal is used, it should be applied before 
the wheat is sown, and the seed should not be permitted to 
come in contact with it, since the meal, in its decay, has an 
unfavorable effect on the germinating seed. Hence, to 
avoid injuring the stand, no considerable amount of cotton- 
seed meal should be applied while the seed are being drilled 
in. The meal may be first drilled in, or sown broadcast 
and harrowed in, and then the seed sown. The same cau- 
tion may well be exercised when the fertilizer contains any 
considerable amount of kainit, or muriate of potash, dried 
blood, or tankage. 

Most fertilizer tests show smaller gains from the use of potash 
as a fertilizer for wheat than from the use of nitrogen or phos- 


phoric acid. For soils not in the best condition for wheat the 
following formula will often prove profitable :— 


200 pounds acid phosphate per acre and 
25 pounds of muriate of potash (when the seed are sown). 
100 pounds nitrate of soda (early in March). 


In case the preceding crop is cowpeas, the nitrate of soda may 
be reduced or omitted. 

The cowpea plants, which usually follow wheat, may utilize 
some of the phosphate not used by the grain crop. 


CutturAL Mertuops 


51. Preparation of land. — Wheat requires a carefully 
prepared seed-bed, moderately compact in the lower layers 
and loose and fine near the surface. In order to permit the 


WHEAT 51 


soil to settle or become moderately compacted by rain, 
plowing for wheat should be done, if practicable, at least 
several weeks before the anticipated date of sowing the 
seed. In Oklahoma it has been found advantageous 
to plow for wheat as early as midsummer. Plowing 
three to six weeks before seeding is often advisable; 
but when wheat follows catch-crops of cowpeas, it is 
often necessary to sow it soon after plowing under the 
cowpea stubble and to rely upon harrowing and rolling 
to compact the soil. Immediately after plowing and 
before the upturned soil has dried into clods, the field 
should be harrowed. Harrowing should be repeated 
at such intervals between the dates of plowing and 
sowing as to prevent the formation of a crust or the 
growth of vegetation. 


If no rain falls near the time of plowing, it will be advisable 
to employ the roller or plank drag in addition to the harrow, in 
compacting and pulverizing the seed-bed for wheat. In case the 
soil is excessively dry, it may be necessary to use the roller after 
sowing the seed, to enable moisture from the subsoil to be con- 
veyed more easily by capillary attraction through the rolled soil 
to the seeds, which, by means of ‘the roller, are pressed into close 
contact with the particles of soil. 

However, the same compactness that makes it easier for the 
moisture in the rolled soil to rise from the subsoil to the seed also 
makes it easier for this moisture to continue to rise to the sur- 
face, where it would be lost by evaporation. Hence, evaporation 
must be decreased by forming a mulch, or layer of loose soil on 
the surface, which is most easily done by using a harrow or 
weeder after the roller. 

The sowing of wheat on land which has not been plowed, but 
merely disked, is sometimes practiced on clean mellow soil in 
higher latitudes. This procedure has been found insufficient in 
the South. 


52 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


52. When to sow wheat. — The kind of wheat grown in 
the South should be sown in the fall. In the Gulf States 
some wheat is sown as late as the first part of December. 
This is too late for the maximum yield, even in the central 
or southern parts of the Gulf States. 

The best date for sowing wheat depends on the following 
considerations : — 

(1) The average date when killing frost occurs in each 
locality. 

(2) The latitude and altitude. 

(3) The fertility of the soil. 

58. The date as determined by killing frost. — In 
North Carolina and the other parts of the cotton-belt in 
which the Hessian fly, or “ wheat-fly ” occurs, sowing is 
postponed, if practicable, as late as necessary to insure that 
the young wheat plants do not come up until after a killing 
frost has occurred. This is because a killing frost stops 
the laying of eggs by the Hessian fly, and because if young 
wheat plants should appear above the ground before that 
time, the eggs would be deposited on them and the crop 
subsequently injured by the insects developing from the 
eggs. It was found that in the northern part of Georgia 
(Ga. Bd. Entomology, Circ. 7), wheat sown during the last 
10 days in October practically escaped injury. 


Average dates of first killing frost.— The average dates of first 
killing frosts for typical southern localities, as determined by the 
Weather Bureau, are as follows :— 


Blacksburg, Virginia, Sept.30. Asheville, North Carolina, 
Lynchburg, Virginia, Nov. 1. Oct. 20. 
Knoxville, Tennessee, Oct. 27. Charlotte, North Carolina, 
Nashville, Tennessee, Oct. 24. Nov. 4. 


WHEAT 53 


Greenville, South Carolina, Montgomery, Alabama, Nov. 8. 


Nov. 6. Columbia, South Carolina, 
Atlanta, Georgia, Nov. 7. Nov. 8. 
Decatur, Alabama, Oct. 15. Shreveport, Louisiana, Nov. 11. 


Memphis, Tennessee, Oct. 28. Dallas, Texas, Nov. 15. 
Opelika, Alabama, Nov. 9. 


The average date of killing frost will usually prove a satisfac- 
tory date for sowing wheat in the northern and central parts of 
the cotton-belt. North of the cotton-belt, a date slightly ahead 
of the average date of killing frost may afford a larger yield. 
South of the area where the Hessian fly occurs, the sowing of 
wheat may be several weeks earlier than the average date of 
first killing frost. 


54. Climate and soil as related to the best date for 
sowing wheat. — The cooler the climate, — that is, the 
higher the latitude and the greater the altitude, — the 
earlier must wheat be sown ‘to afford the maximum yield. 
Early sowing usually affords the largest yield, since it pro- 
vides a longer time for the plant to develop a strong root 
system, to tiller or thicken more completely, and to collect 
plant-food. However, extremely early sowing is inad- 
visable, even in regions where the Hessian fly is not 
present, since this causes the plants to enter the boot 
stage — that is, to form stems— before all freezing weather 
is past. In this stage plants of all of the small grains 
are especially liable to injury by a degree of cold that 
would not prove harmful to plants that had not begun 
to form stems. 

The poorer the land the more urgent the need for a rather 
early date of sowing, so that the early sowing may encour- 
age tillering, which is not favored by poor soil. 

For the central part of the cotton-belt, the first half 


54 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


of November may be regarded as a generally satisfactory 
date for sowing wheat. 

55. Drilling versus broadcast sowing. — Experiments in 
the principal wheat-growing states show a larger yield from 


Fic. 20.— DovusLe-pisk Grain DRILL. 


drilling wheat by the use of a grain drill (Fig. 20), sowing 
the seed in rows, 6, 7, or 8 inches apart, than from sowing 
broadcast. The advantages of drilling are the following :— 

(1) Usually a somewhat larger yield. 

(2) Planting at a more uniform depth and hence greater 
uniformity in the ripening of the plants. 

(8) Slightly increased protection from winter-killing 
through heaving, that is, the lifting of the young plants 
above the surface by the expansion of the moisture in the 
soil when it freezes; the plants growing in the slight de- 
pression left by the drill are in the position where there is 


WHEAT 55 


least tendency for the soil ‘and the plant to be pressed 
upward. 


(4) A saving of 1 to 2 pecks of seed wheat per acre when 
the seed is drilled. 


The increased yield from drilling at the Kentucky Experiment 
Station averaged 4 bushels per acre. 

The slight ridges left by the grain drill are advantageous 
in the colder parts of Virginia and Kentucky, and still more so 
further north, since they hold the snow and thus keep the plants 
warmer than they would be if exposed to very severe cold, with- 
out the covering of snow. This consideration does not apply to 
most Southern States, in which snow normally lies on the ground 
for only a small portion of the winter. 


56. Seeding machines. — Of the several types of 
grain drills, the disk drills (Fig. 20) are preferable, 
especially where there is much litter, stone, or other 
obstruction. For land that is clean and in excellent 
condition, the hoe drill and the shoe drill are also satis- 
factory. Most drills are provided with fertilizer attach- 
ments, and attachments for sowing grass or clover seed 
can also be purchased. 

Broadcast sowing is usually done by hand. Yet 
there are cheap and efficient broadcast seeders that 
may be hung from the sower’s shoulders; there are 
also broadcast seeders that may be attached to the rear 
end of a wagon and driven by the revolution of the 
wagon wheels. 

57. Quantity of seed. — In the wheat-growing states, 
great numbers of experiments have been made on this 
point. The results have been variable from year to year, 
with different soils and climates, and with different varie- 


56 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


ties. In general the highest yields have seldom been made 
with less than 5 pecks of seed, and usually 6 pecks or more 
per acre have afforded larger yields than have smaller 
quantities of seed. 


The earlier the sowing and the better prepared the land, the 
smaller may be the quantity of seed. Varieties with large seed 
require a greater number of pecks per acre. The richer the soil 
the greater the number of plants that an acre will provide with 
food and moisture, and also the greater, with early sowing, will 
be the amount of tillering. While no general rule is universally 
applicable, a safe average amount is 5 pecks per acre for drilling 
and 6 pecks for broadcast sowing. ; 


58. Large versus medium and small seed. — (See 47.) 
In numerous experiments in Europe and America com- 
parisons have been made between the large and the small 
seed of wheat, as separated by sieves, and ordinary seed. 
The results have been variable. Apparently it pays to 
select the largest grains by means of sieves or other devices 
connected with fanning machines, — provided a larger 
volume of the larger seed be sown, so as to afford the same 
number of plants as a smaller weight of lighter seed. Sep- 
aration of seed by this means is especially important in the 
South, where small and shrunken grains frequently occur, 
often as the result of injury by rust. 

However, to improve a variety one must not rely ex- 
clusively on sowing the larger grains. Not all of these 
occur on the best plants, and it is the entire parent 
plant, rather than an individual seed, that determines 
the character of the offspring. Fanning and _ screen- 
ing should be practiced with the general “crop, but to 
improve wheat rapidly there is also needed a special 


WHEAT 57 


seed patch, the seeds for which are all from plants 
selected as the best. ‘ 

59. Change of seed,— As a general rule, there is no 
advantage, and often a decided loss in yield, in bringing 
seed wheat from a different latitude, instead of sowing 
grain grown in thesameclimate. Southern seed wheat for 
Southern fields should be the rule, except where the home- 
grown crop has been a failure, resulting in small, shrunken 
grains. There is no inherent advantage in change of seed. 
Acclimatized seed is more productive and, in the case of 
wheat, earlier. 

60. Tillage. — Since wheat is usually sown either broad- 
cast or else in rows 6 to 8 inches apart, it usually receives 
no tillage after the plants come up. Yet occasionally 
farmers have drilled wheat in rows far enough apart and 
have cultivated the crop, with resulting large yields. Such 
tillage, if given at all, should be extremely shallow, espe- 
cially in the latter part of the growing season, since many 
of the roots of wheat are near the surface. It is practicable 
‘to till wheat by the use of a light spike-tooth adjustable 
harrow, or weeder. 

The stiffer the soil and the smaller its supply of vege- 
table matter the greater is the benefit from harrowing wheat 
before the booting stage. Wheat sown by a grain drill is 
more satisfactorily harrowed than broadcast wheat. But 
in neither case is the stand materially thinned by the use of 
a weeder or harrow when conditions are favorable; for 
example, — stones and litter absent and plants several 
months old, but not with stems of any considerable length. 

61. Pasturing wheat. — Since wheat makes an excellent 
winter pasture for practically all kinds of live-stock, it is 


58 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


sometimes grazed in winter, and later used for grain pro- 
duction. Experiments for three years at the Oklahoma 
Experiment Station resulted in little or no reduction in the 
yield of grain from judicious pasturing of wheat in winter, 
when pasturing was not continued beyond March 1. 
(Okla. Expr. Sta., Rpt., 1906, p. 31.) 

When stock was kept on wheat as late as April 15, the 
grain yield was notably reduced. 

In pasturing wheat in winter care should be taken to 
exclude the stock while the ground is wet: In the case of 
wheat that is too forward, or in danger of forming culms 
before freezing weather is past, moderate pasturing is 
usually advantageous, since it delays growth. Pasturing 
early in the winter is thought to increase the number of 
stems to the plant and thus to thicken the stand. 


HARVESTING 


62. Time to harvest wheat.— The proper time for 
harvesting wheat is indicated both by the color of the straw 
and by the degree of hardness of the grain. Wheat should 
be cut when the individual grains are soft enough to be 
indented by the finger-nail, but too hard to be easily 
crushed between the thumb and finger. At this stage of 
maturity, the straw of most plants will have turned yellow- 
ish. However, when rust is prevalent and increasing, 
earlier harvesting of the grain crop is advisable. Indeed, 
should rust become very serious before the grain reaches 
the milk stage, it will often be advisable to mow the crop 
promptly for hay. In the Gulf States wheat harvest occurs 
late in May and early in June, or a little earlier than the 
harvest of fall-sown red oats. 


WHEAT 59 


Wheat is best cut and tied by the self-binder. It should 
be promptly shocked and capped. Some farmers thresh 
from the shock a few weeks after harvest, but it is safer to 
place the sheaf-wheat in stack or barn until ready to 
thresh. Threshing is usually done by threshing crews 
that travel from farm to farm. 

63. When to cut wheat for hay. — Wheat for hay is 
probably best cut when in the “ late milk stage,” but if 
rust is absent, mowing may be deferred until the grain is in 
the “ early dough ”’ stage. If rust promises to be severe, 
wheat may be mown while still in bloom. 

64, Yields and prices. — The legal weight of a bushel 
of wheat is 60 pounds. A measured bushel may weigh a 
few pounds above or below this weight. The heavier a 
bushel of wheat, the better is the quality. The average 
yield of wheat in the entire United States for the ten-year 
period ending in 1906 was 13.8 bushels per acre. The 
ayerage of the cotton states is considerably below this 
figure; but individual farmers in the cotton states some- 
times produce an average of more than 20 bushels per acre. 
The usual price of wheat is from 80 cents to $1.20 per 
bushel. 


ENEMIES 


65. Weeds. — Numerous weeds grow in wheat fields, 
either because the seeds were sown as impurities in the 
seed wheat, or because the weed seeds were already in the 
ground. Among the most important of these are the fol- 
lowing : — 

Cheat or chess. — A winter-growing annual grass liable 
to be troublesome in all kinds of grain. It is most abun- 


60 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


dant and injurious when unfavorable conditions result in a 
thin stand of wheat. There is no foundation for the belief 
that wheat may turn to cheat. The cheat comes only from 
cheat seeds, which are much smaller and lighter than wheat 
grains. Hence, cheat seed can be separated from wheat 
by the fanning machine, or by immersing the seed in water, 
when the sound wheat grains sink, while the cheat seeds 
float and may be skimmed off. 

Cockle is an annual plant with large pink flowers and 
black seeds. The latter are so nearly of the same diameter 
as grains of wheat that their separation is not easy, and 
their retention results in very inferior flour. Avoid sowing 
wheat with these black seed in it. If occasional plants of 
cockle appear, they should be pulled. 

Wild garlic (wild onion) and peppergrass are among the 
other weeds often found in wheat fields. The fanning and 
screening of the seed wheat is the usual means of avoiding 
peppergrass and other weeds. Recent experiments have 
shown that millers can separate onion bulblets from wheat 
by artificially drying the wheat and then passing it through 
the ordinary cleaning machinery of the mills. (U.S. Dept. 
Agr., Bur. Plant Ind., Bul. No. 100, Part III.) 

66. Diseases.— Rusts are the most injurious diseases 
of wheat. The rusts are caused by certain microscopic 
organisms (fungi). Both the leaves and stems may be af- 
fected and changed from a green color by a series of small 
reddish or black spots from which may arise clouds of pow- 
dery spores, or propagating bodies. The destruction of the 
green coloring matter in the leaf prevents the formation of 
starch, and results in poor yields of small, shriveled grains. 
Dampness and heat favor rust. Varieties ripening early 


WHEAT 61 


will usually suffer less than late varieties. On low damp 
land rust is most destructive. Attempts have often been 
made, with but little success, to breed a rust-resistant 
variety, that should also be productive and otherwise 
desirable. Such efforts should be continued. No effec- 
tive treatment for wheat rust is known. 

Stinking or concealed smut. — This disease changes the 
grain into a mass of powdery black spores, with offensive 
smell. It ruins the flour. As the chaff is not changed, the 
diseased grains may not be noticed. The spores of this 
fungus are conveyed by the seed wheat, hence the disease 
may readily be prevented by either of the following treat- 
ments of the seed wheat : — 

(1) Immerse the seed or thoroughly dampen them with 
a mixture of one ounce of liquid formalin in each three 
gallons of water; keep the seed grains damp and the pile 
covered with cloth for at least a few hours; then dry and 
plant the grain. 

(2) Or immerse the seed grain for ten minutes in a solu- 
tion of one pound of bluestone (copper sulfate) in five 
gallons of water. 

(3) Or immerse the seed wheat for ten minutes in water 
kept at about 133° F., then cool the seed promptly by 
stirring or by dipping the hot grain into cold water. 

Loose smut of wheat (Fig. 21).—This disease is known 
by the occasional heads that contain no semblance of grains, 
but only small black masses of powder, consisting of spores, 
which are microscopic bodies serving the purpose of seed 
for the fungus that causes this disease. It is rarer than 
concealed smut, and like it, is conveyed by the seed wheat. 
The fungus causing loose smut of wheat is much less easily 


62 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fig. 21.— Loose Smut oF 
WHEAT. 


destroyed than the organism 
causing concealed smut of wheat 
or the loose smut of oats. Treat- 
ment is not recommended unless 
the disease has been injuriously 
present in the crop from which 
seed is taken. When treatment 
is necessary, it kills many of the 
seed, so that 50 per cent addi- 
tional seed should be sown. 

The treatment when necessary 
is as follows: Soak the seed 
wheat for 4 hours in cold water ; 
then scald for 5 minutes at a 
temperature of 133° F. 

In treating seed wheat or other 
seed grain by any of the above- 
named methods, the grain after 
treatment should not be allowed 
to come in contact with floors or 
sacks that have not been dis- 
infected; such contact would 
again infect the treated grain 
with spores, which would cause 
the disease. 

67. Insect pests of wheat. — 
The Hessian fly is the most seri- 
ous of insect pests and is widely 
spread. From the egg, laid on 
the leaf blades of the young 
plants, hatch tiny insects which 


WHEAT 63 


find their way to a point within the leaf-sheath, where © 
their injuries cause many of the stems in spring to break 

and fall over. The name “ flaxseed ”’ is applied to the 

pupal or transforming stage of the insect because of the 

resemblance of the pupa in color and shape to a flaxseed. 

This pest spends the summer on the wheat stubble. 

Hence the usual means of combating the insect is to burn 

the stubble, or to plow it in thoroughly. Postponement 

of sowing until a severe frost occurs greatly decreases the 

number of eggs deposited in the fall. Rotation of crops 

is an important 
means of decreas- 
ing the injury. 

Chinch bugs. — 
Small insects that 
undergo a number 
of changes in size 
and color; are 
sometimes injuri- 
ous to wheat. 
When warfare is 
madeagainst them, 
it is usually after 
they have emerged 
from the wheat 
field and are invad- 
ing corn fields. 

The wheat plant- 
louse or ‘ green- 
bug” (Fig. 9).— This small greenish plant-louse has in 
some years proved very injurious to wheat in the south- 


Fic. 22.—Tue ANncoumois GRAIN-MOTH. 
Enlarged 6 times. (W. E. Hinds.) 


64 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


western part of the wheat-growing region. Its injury is 
done by sucking the juices from the plant. Its natural 
‘enemies among insects are relied on to keep the green-bug 
in subjection. One of these, a lady-bug beetle (Fig. 10), 
has sometimes been propagated by entomologists and sent 
into the infested regions. 

In the shock, stack, or bin the wheat grain is attacked 
by weevils and by the larva, or worm stage, of the small, 
gray grain-moth (Galechia cerealella) (Fig. 22). The reme- 
dies consist in prompt threshing of the grain and in placing 
near the top of the tight bin of threshed grain one pound 
of carbon-disulfide for each 30 bushels of grain. This 
liquid promptly vaporizes. The vapors are destructive 
to insect life. They are also quite inflammable, so that no 
fire, or light, or smoking is permissible about the granary 
while grain is being thus fumigated. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


The young plants. 

(1) Repeated tests should be made of the student’s ability to 
distinguish the young plants of wheat, oats, barley, and rye by the 
auricles (Figs. 1,12, 23, and 28). Ifno young plants are available, 
leaves of mature plants may be used for the same purpose, after 
dampening them. 

(2) Select five young wheat plants, each having abundant 
space around it, and record (a) total number of stems and (b) 
average number of stems per plant. 

(3) Repeat exercise (2) with five plants closely crowded by 
other plants. Compare figures for (2) with those for (8). 

(4) Plant 25 kernels of wheat at each of the following depths : 
4 inch, 1 inch, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 inches. Keep the soil moderately 
moist; at intervals of a week record the number of plants that 
have come up from each depth of planting. 


WHEAT 65 


(5) After the plants from the deeper depths have been up for 
two or more weeks, and again at a much later date, carefully dig 
several plants from plantings made at each depth, and record the 
distances below the surface at which the principal roots are grow- 
ing, or depths at which the crown is forming. 


The mature plants. 

(6) If drilled and broadcast wheat are both available, ascertain 
(by digging the plants) the average number of plants and of stems 
per square foot of ground surface with each of these two methods 
of sowing. 

(7) From wheat heading in the field or from dried specimens, 
record the following data for as many varieties of wheat as are 
commonly grown in the locality :— 


(a) Average height of plant. 

(b) Average number of stems bearing heads. 

(c) Bearded, beardless, or partly bearded. 

(d) Estimated percentage of upper leaf surface covered byrust. 

(e) Has rust attacked the stems slightly, considerably, or not 
at all? 


(8) From dried mature plants in the laboratory, after being 
moistened, or from nearly mature specimens from the field, 
describe in writing each of the varieties indicated by the instruc- 
tor, as to the following points : — 


(a) Bearded, beardless, or partly bearded. 

(b) Average length of head. 

(c) Average number of spikelets per head. 

(d) Difference, if any, in usual number of grains per spikelet 
in tip, middle, and base of head. 

(e) Difference, if any, in size of grains in tip, middle, and 
base of head. 

(f) Difference in size of middle grain in a mesh compared 
with the two outer grains. 


Character of grain. 
(9) For varieties commonly grown in the locality record a 
description as to each of the following points : — 
F 


66 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(a) Prevailing color, — whitish, amber, or reddish. 
(bo) Hard, medium, or soft, in crushing. 

(c) Plump, shriveled, or medium-plump. 

(d) Size of grain, — large, medium, or small. 

(e) Crease, — deep, medium, or shallow. 


(10) Standards for wheat grown in the South have not been 
agreed on. Until this is done, the following standard for Fultz 
wheat used in Kansas may prove a useful basis for the formu- 
lation of Southern standards.- 


Fultz. Type: red, soft, winter. 
Length of berry : inclies, y5 to +. 
Thickness of berry: inches, #, to x. 
Shape and plumpness: very plump, rounded sides; 
shallow groove. 
Moisture content: per cent, 10. 
Weight per bushel: pounds, 60. 
Percentage of soft grains, 90. 


Practice scoring wheat grain by the following score-card, or 
such modification of it as the instructor may direct :— 


Pr: Depucr 
-RFECT |FOR EACH 
Score | % UNDE-| 1 2 3 4 5 
SIRABLE 
1. Trueness to variety 10 wo 
2. Uniformity in size and 
shape of kernel 10 dy 
3. Color of grain 10 ay 
4. Freedom from mixture 
with other grain 15 $ 
5. Size of kernel 10 P 
6. Per cent and nature of 
weed seed, dirt, etc. 15 1 
7. Per cent of damaged, 
smutty, or musty kernels : 5 1 
8. Weight of grain per bu. 10 1 
9. Germination 15 1 
Total 100 


WHEAT 6T 


LITERATURE 


Bessey, C. E. The Structure of the Wheat Grain. Neb. Expr. 
Sta., Bul. No. 32. 

Kiteorz, B. W., and others. Culture and Variety Tests of 
Wheat. N.C. Dept. Agr. Bul., Vol. 30, No. 8, Aug. 1909. 

Hunt, Tuomas F. The Cereals in America. New York, 1908. 

Enuiort, E. E., and Lyon, T. L. Wheat. Bailey’s Cyclo. Am. 
Agr., Vol. II, pp. 660-670. 

Carueton, M.A. The Basis for the Improvement of American 
Wheats. U.S. Dept. Agr., Div. Veg. Phys. and Path., Bul. 
No. 24. 

Carueton, M. A., and others. Field Methods in Breeding 
Wheat. Am. Breeders’ Assen., Vol. V, pp. 185-207. 

ScoFIELD, Cart 8. The Description of Wheat Varieties. U. 8S. 
Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Ind., Bul. No. 27. : 

Hays, Wittett M. Plant Breeding. U.S. Dept. Agr., Div. of 
Veg. Phys. and Path., Bul. No. 29. 

Sounn, A. M., and Vanatter, P. O. Tenn. Expr. Sta. Bul., 
Vol. 14, No. 3, and Vol. 16, No. 4. 

Lyon, T. L. Improving the Quality of Wheat. U. S. Dept. 
Agr.,, Bur. Plant Ind., Bul. No. 78. 

Lyon and Montgomery. Examining and Grading Grains. 
Lineoln, Neb. 

DonpiincEr, P. T. Book of Wheat. New York, 1908. 


CHAPTER III 


RYE AND BARLEY 


Rye and barley are not more closely related than the 
other small grains treated in this book, but they are 
thrown together in one chapter because they are relatively 
unimportant in the South. Rye is a cool-season crop, 
whereas north of the cotton-belt barley is a warm-season 
crop. Both are members of the grass family (Graminee). 


I. RYE-—-SECALE CEREALE 


Rye is an annual winter-growing grain. The acreage in 
the South is very small compared with that of oats or wheat. 
The chief use of rye in the South is for pasturage and for 
soiling (that is, to be used as cut green food). 

Other uses of various parts of the plant are the following: 
The grain is used in the manufacture of alcoholic liquors; 
it is utilized to a small extent in this country for human food 
agd as a food for live-stock. The straw commands a higher 
price than that of any of the other small grains. Its prin- 
cipal use is for bedding; for the manufacture of horse 
collars; and as packing material. Most of the rye grain 
threshed in the Southern States is used as seed for the 
succeeding crop. The rye plant makes hay of very poor 
quality. 

68. Description. — The grain of rye, like that of wheat, has 


no adhering hull after it has passed through the thresher. 
68 


x 


RYE AND BARLEY 69 


It may be distinguished 


from a wheat grain by 
the longer, slenderer, 
more wrinkled appear- 
ance, and by the fact 
that the crease is more 
shallow. 

The head of rye (Fig. 


* 23) is longer than that 


of wheat or barley, and 
long beards are borne 
on the tips of the 
glumes. The heads are 
usually slightly flat- 
tened, the beards being 
arranged loosely in two 
rows and not spreading 
so widely as in bearded 
wheat and barley. 

The young plant of 
rye may be distinguished 
from young wheat and 
barley by the very small 
auricles at the points 
where leaf-blade and 
leaf-sheath join (Fig. 
24), 

Young rye plants usu- 
ally show considerable 
reddish color in the 
stem, and the foliage 


Fic. 23.— Heaps or SourHern Rye. 


70 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


is commonly of a grayer green than that of the other 
small grains. 

69. Varieties. — There is but a limited number of vari- 
eties of rye, even in European countries. Practically only 
one kind or variety is successfully and 
generally grown in the warmer portion, 
of the South, which is known simply 
as Southern rye. 

The rye flower, unlike that of 
wheat, oats, and barley, is cross-pol- 
linated, so that it would not be desir- 
able to sow two different varieties 
near together. 

70. Climate. — The rye plant is 
is adapted to a wide range of climate. 
Fic. 24.—Parr or a It is hardier towards cold than any of 

Younc Rye Prant, the other small grains and is practi- 

SHOWING THE SMALL ae Cs . 

Cuases or rar cally never injured in the South by 

Lzaves. winter-killing. Rye can be sown suc- 
cessfully in a latitude too far south for general success with 
wheat. However, in growing rye in the South it is very 
important to use seed grown, as far south as practicable. 
It is thought that seed from the central and lower parts 
of the Gulf States is better for sowing in the South than 
that from the extreme northern parts of the same states, 
and far better than that from still higher latitudes. North- 
ern rye spreads out so closely on the ground that it does 
not afford the best early winter pasturage, and seed from 
higher latitudes produces a smaller plant that is more 
subject to rust than Southern rye. 

71. Soils and fertilizers. — Rye can be grown on almost 


RYE AND BARLEY 71 


any soil, provided it be fairly well drained. It has been 
found to endure a greater amount of acidity in the soil than 
oats, wheat, or barley plants. (R. I. Expr. Sta., Rpt. 1907, 
p. 359.) , 

While rye will grow on poor soils, it is possible to make 
large yields of forage only on rich or highly fertilized land. 
With rye intended for soiling, a liberal use of stable manure 
constitutes the best fertilization. If commercial fertilizers 
alone must be used, it is usually advisable to apply acid 
phosphate; in addition cotton-seed meal may be applied at 
the time of planting and not in contact with the seed, or else 
nitrate of soda may be employed as a top dressing before 
the stems have formed. On very sandy soils there may 
be need for a small amount of potash. 

72. Preparation and sowing. — Rye may be sown 
either (1) broadcast, or (2) in drills 6 or 8 inches apart by the 
use of a grain drill, or (3) it may be sown by hand or planter 
in drills 18 to 24 inches apart. For soiling purposes it is 
preferable to sow in drills, but for grazing, broadcast sowing 
is the most common. Rye may be sown through a longer 
period than any of the other small grains. September 1 is 
not too early for a sowing on rich land with the purpose of 
furnishing soiling food in December, January, and February. 
Sowings may be made at intervals throughout the fall and 
even up to December 15, the later sowing making a smaller 
yield. When sown broadcast, the amount of seed needed 
for grain production is 4 to 5 pecks per acre, and for pas- 
turage 6 to 8 pecks. In planting rye in 18-inch drills, one 
bushel per acre is usually sufficient. For pasturage, rye 
may be sown with crimson clover (Fig. 25) or with other 
winter-growing legumes. 


72 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fic. 25.— A Mixture or Rye anp Crimson CLOVER. 
Showing the height to which rye grows. 


73. Utilization. — On rich land rye sown early in the 
fall may be cut three or even four times as a soiling crop, 
the first cutting being made in December or January. In 
order to secure several cuttings, the plant must be cut just 


RYE AND BARLEY 73 


before the heads appear. The later the sowing and the 
poorer the land the later the date at which rye can first be 
used as a soiling crop. Under average conditions this is 
from February 15, to March 15 in the central part of the 
Gulf States. Southern rye is somewhat earlier in matur- 
ing than most varieties of wheat or oats. 

Rye for pasturage must be kept rather closely grazed in 
the spring or else some of the plants will develop tall stems, 
and in this condition these plants will not 
be readily eaten by live-stock. 

Rye for grain may be harvested with a 
self-binder, or if too long for this, with a 
self-rake reaper. There is usually about 
twice the weight of straw as of grain. Good 
yields in the South are from 10 to 18 bushels 
per acre. 

If rye straw is to be sold at the highest 
price in the Northern cities, it should be 
threshed on a special machine or rye beater. 
This does not tangle the straw, which is 
subsequently bound into bundles and baled 
in a special press, for which doubtless an 
ordinary cotton press could be substituted. 

74. Enemies. — Rye, like wheat, is in- 
jured by the Hessian fly, but has a smaller py6.96.—Ercor 
number of insect enemies than most grains. IN 4 Huap or 
Among its fungous diseases is ergot (Fig. Ene 
26), which causes the affected grains to enlarge and project 
conspicuously from the head, such grain constituting a poi- 
sonous food. Preventive measures consist in avoiding the 
use of seed rye containing such diseased grains and in sowing 


74 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


rye on a field where there has not before been ergot on rye, 
nor on any of the related wild grasses. Fortunately, ergot 
is not very common in the South. 


II. BARLEY ——- HORDEUM SATIVUM 


Barley is an annual grain of comparatively slight im- 
portance in the cotton-belt. In regions where it is grown 
for seed production, the grain is utilized chiefly in the pro- 
duction of beer, and great pains is taken to produce a 
grain of the highest quality and free 
from weather stain or other injury. 

The chief use of barley in the South 
is for pasturage and as a soiling plant. 
It is sown in the same way as rye. 
Green barley is considered to be more 
palatable than pastures of any of the 
other small grains, but the amount of 
pasturage per acre is usually smaller 
than that from rye. 

75. Description. — Barley has the 
shortest straw of any of the small 
grains. The heads are usually armed 
with strong, long, spreading beards, 
that grow from the tips of the glumes 
(Fig. 27). In spite of this objection, 
barley is used in California as a hay 
plant, but its use necessitates the 
frequent removal of the beards from 

: the gums of the horses consuming it. 
sik Mince eer The clasps at the junction of leaf- 

BaRLey. sheath and leaf-blade are larger on 


RYE AND BARLEY TE 


the barley plant than on any other of 
the small grains (Fig. 28). 

The hull of the barley grain grows tight », 
to the kernel, and the grain, instead of .% 
being roundish, as in oats, has a dis- 
tinctly ribbed or angular appearance. 

The weight of barley is 48 pounds per 
bushel. 

76. Composition. — The following 
figures are quoted from H. R. Smith’s 
“Profitable Stock Feeding” to show the 
relative composition of the seed or grain p,¢.08 Tax Lance 


of barley, rye, wheat, oats, and Indian  Cuasrs or Bartey 
corn :— Lear. 


Crupe | Carso- 


Prorein| Far | Fiper | wypRates 


Barley, grain. . . .... .| 124 11.8) 2.7 69.8 
Rye, gran. . ...... .{ 10.6 | 1.7] 1.7 72.5 
Wheat, grain. . . . . . .{ 12.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 71.5 
Oats,grain . ...... .| 11.8 150] 9.5 59.7 
Corn,dent. ....... 10.3 | 5.0) 2.2 70.4 


These figures show that barley is a nutritious grain. In cooler 
countries where its yield is greater than in the South it is prized 
as a food for hogs, since it produces a firm and excellent quality 
of pork. 


77. Species and varieties. — Some authorities divide 
barley into several species, depending on whether the 
grains are arranged in 2, 4, or 6 rows, thus giving the name 
of 2-rowed, 4-rowed, and 6-rowed barley. There is also 


76 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


a form of naked barley in which the hulls do not adhere 
to the kernels; unfortunately, the yield of this kind is 
small, 

Beardless barley has excited some interest. Its chief ad- 
vantage is its earliness and the absence of beards (Fig. 29). 
Its disadvantages are small yield of grain, 
weak straw, small number of stems produced, 
and extreme tenderness, or susceptibility to 
winter-killing. Even in the central part of 
the Gulf States this variety requires sowing 
after Christmas. It is the earliest of any of 
the small grains tested at the Alabama Ex- 
periment Station, but is scarcely practicable 
except on a small scale and on rich land. 

78. Soils and fertilizers. — Barley requires 
a richer soil than any of the other small 
grains. It prefers a limestone soil, and on 
acid lands the use of lime is usually advan- 
tageous. The fertilizer should be either 
stable manure or a mixture of commercial 
fertilizers containing nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid, and potash. 

79. Sowing. —In the central 
part of the cotton-belt, barley 
may be sown at any date between 
September 1 and December 1. 
For sowing broadcast-to afford 
pasturage it is advisable to use 
23 bushels of seed per acre. For 
grain production, or for sowing in drills as a soiling crop, 
14 to 2 bushels per acre is sufficient. 


Fic. 29. Heap anv SPIKE- 
LET OF BEARDLESS BARLEY. 


RYE AND BARLEY TT 


80. Enemies. — Since barley is the first of the small 
grains to ripen, it is devoured by birds. It is subject to 
two kinds of smut. For the prevention of the loose smut 
of barley, evidenced by conspicuous black heads, without 
grain, the Wisconsin Experiment Station recommends the 
following treatment of the seed: “ Soak for 12 hours in 
cold water; then scald the seed at 130° F., for not over 
6 minutes. Sow the seed the same day.” 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


(1) Make a drawing of a spikelet of rye. 

(2) Make a drawing of a spikelet of barley. 

(8) Practice the separation of a mixture of grains of barley, 
rye, wheat, and oats. 

(4) Write out the two most conspicuous differences between 
a head of rye and one of barley ; the one most conspicuous dif- 
ference between a head of bearded wheat and of bearded barley. 


‘LITERATURE 
Rye. 
Kiucors, B. W., and others. N.C. Dept. Agr., Bul. Vol. 30, No. 8. 
Van Waceman, J., JR. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 559-563. 
Sarcent, F. L. Corn Plants. Boston. 


Barley. 
Sarcent, F. L. Corn Plants. Boston. 
Moors, R. A. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 202-206. 


CHAPTER IV 
CORN OR MAIZE (Zea Mays) — STRUCTURE 


Corn belongs to the great family of grasses, which also 
includes, besides the ordinary grasses, sorghum, sugar-cane, 
and the small grains. It is a large annual plant, making its 
growth in the warmer part of the year and is easily killed 
by freezing temperatures. 

The word “‘ corn” in Europe means any kind of grain. In 
the United States, the word applies only to Indian corn or 
maize. Most authorities think that this plant originated 
in the southern part of Mexico. It has few near relatives 
among either wild or cultivated plants. Its nearest cul- 
tivated relative is tedsinte, a tropical forage plant which 
is of: some value in the southern part of the United States. 

Corn is the largest and most valuable single crop grown 
in the United States, occupying more than twice the acre- 
age devoted to wheat and three times that occupied by 
cotton. Its most important use is as a food for live-stock, 
for which both the grain and all parts of the vegetative 
portion of the plant are employed. 

Corn also constitutes an important article of human 
food. In the South corn-bread is largely consumed, and 
in all parts of the United States numerous other articles 
for human consumption are made from the corn grain, 
such as breakfast foods and cornstarch. The oil extracted 

78 


“SNILNVIG IGAGT YSLIV SAVG LF NOD AO SLOOY —'OE “OL, 


80 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


from the grain is used as a lubricant and for the manufac- 
ture of a substitute for rubber. The pith from the stalk is 
employed as a packing material in the construction of 
warships. Corn.and its by-products are also used in 
many other ways. 


STRUCTURE 


81. Roots. — The root system of the corn plant con- 
sists of a number of long, slender, branched, fibrous roots. 
There is no tap-root. A whorl of roots develops near the 
germinating grain, but the main system springs from the 
crown of the plant, which usually develops about 1 inch 
below the surface. Therefore, the depth of rooting of 
corn is largely independent of the depth at which the 
grain is planted. 

As a rule, most of the main feeding roots originate 
in the stratum comprised between 2 inches and 4 inches 
below the surface of the ground (Figs. 30 and 31). These 
usually grow out almost horizontally for some distance, 
and then, if the soil permits, many of them bend down- 
ward, while some of the smaller, secondary roots occupy 
the surface layer of soil. Corn roots do not penetrate so 
deeply in most Southern soils as in other parts of the 
country. The depth at which roots feed seems to depend 
chiefly on the supply of moisture and air in the soil. 

The roots of corn are frequently as long as the plant is 
tall. Indeed, the roots may lap across the rows before the 
plant is 1 foot high, so that deep cultivation, even at this 
early stage, may break many roots. 

Besides the feeding roots just mentioned, the corn plant 
usually develops, at the first few nodes or joints just above 


"‘SMOUNOT dead NI ONILNVId YALAV SAV Lp NXOD AO SLOOY ONIMOHS — ‘TE ‘old 


82 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


\ 


the surface, a series of brace-roots (Fig. 32). These slope 
downward and outward, and on reaching the soil they serve 
the purpose of bracing the plant. On enter- 
ing the soil, the brace- roots become smaller 
and helpto supply the plant with food and water. 

82. Stem. — The stem of the corn plant is 
solid or filled with pith, and tapers to the top. 
The usual height is 5 to 15 feet. <A height 
above 10 feet is probably an indication of wasted 


Fig. 32.— BRAcE-ROOTS ON THE CORN PLANT. 


On the paper at the bottom of the picture are two detached brace-roots, 
showing how they branch in the soil. 


energy, the proportion of stem being larger than necessary 
to the production of the maximum amount of grain. 


Since the corn plant must stand much strain from wind, it 
is so constructed as to resist or escape or withstand wind pressure. 
For example, devices for this purpose are found in the tapering 
stem, the presence of brace-roots, the strength of the outer layer 
or rind, the solid partitions at the nodes, and the peculiar form of 
the leaf. 


CORN STRUCTURE 83 


The stem consists of internodes of variable length, separated 
by solid partitions at the nodes or joints. The internodes on 
certain parts of the plant are grooved, which seems to be a pro- 
vision for accommodating the shank, or ear branch. When shoots 
or ears arise, they spring from a bud at the base of this groove. 
This bud is completely enwrapped by the leaf-sheath, which 
serves to protect it. 

Under some conditions, partly dependent on variety, character 
of season, and distance between plants, ‘‘suckers’’ or basal 
branches spring from the buds on the main stem near the crown. 
These suckers afterwards develop independent root systems. 
Removal of such suckers is an important cultural operation in the 
South, since they take up water and plant-food needed by the 
parent plant. Their removal from Northern corn-fields is less im- 
portant, for there several plants may be safely grown in each hill. 

The tendency of individual corn plants to sucker is hereditary ; 
thus Hartley found that when both the male and female parents 
produced suckers, 14} per cent of the offspring developed 
suckers; while only 2} per cent of the plants bore suckers in the 
case of those stalks neither of whose parents had produced suckers. 
Therefore, in selecting corn plants for seed, preference should be 
given in the South to those free from suckers. 


83. Leaves. — The corn plant is supplied with a con- 
siderable number of long, broad, tapering leaves. The 
number is most frequently twelve to eighteen; and a leafy 
plant is probably desirable. The main uses or functions of 
leaves are (1) to take up from the air its carbon dioxid 
for use in building up the tissues of the plant, and (2) to 
throw off the surplus water into the air, thus helping to 
lift other supplies of soil moisture to the leaves with the 
contained plant-food. For these two purposes, the leaf 
is provided with immense numbers of minute openings or 
pores (stomata). These stomata are especially numer- 
ous on the under sides of leaves; each pore or stomate is 


84. SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


provided with an arrangement by which, in dry weather, 
the size of the opening is reduced, thus decreasing the 
amount of water thrown off by the leaf. 


The corn leaf has also another means of economizing in the 
transpiration of moisture. This is seen in the rolling together of 
leaves in the middle of a hot dry day. This curling, or rolling, 
of the leaves is due to the presence of special cells, which, on 
parting with a portion of their moisture in dry weather, cause the 
leaf to fold inward. 

In the South, the corn plant is especially liable to lose pre- 
maturely the use of its leaves through their drying, or ‘‘ firing.” 
This may be due to dry weather, to inadequate preparation of the 
soil, to lack of proper cultivation, to root pruning, or to other 
causes. 

The leaf consists of two principal parts: the sheath, or that 
part which is clasped around a portion of the stem, and the blade, 


Fic. 33.— Part oF A Corn Lear, sHowinc Wavy Marcins. 


or free part of the leaf. The outer margin of the blade is wavy 
or scalloped (Fig. 33). This permits the leaf to turn from the 
wind like a windmill thrown out of gear, and thus to avoid 
throwing too great a strain on the stem. 


84, Ear-branch and shucks. — The shank on which the 
ear is borne represents a branch. That this is a branch is 
apparent (1) from its position in the angle between the 
stem and the leaf-sheath; (2) by the fact that the shank 
has nodes similar to those of the main stem; and (8) by 


CORN STRUCTURE 85 


the fact that most of these nodes bear a shuck or husk, 
which is only a modified leaf, as will readily be seen by 
noting that many shucks are tipped with a small leaf-blade 
(Fig. 34). 

It is supposed that the shank which now bears the ear was once 
a long branch, and that shortening of the branches occurred both 


Fie. 34.— An Ear or Corn ON wHicH LEAF-BLADES ARE BORNE ON 
THE TIPS OF MANY OF THE SHUCKS. 


by man’s selection and by natural selection. For example, 
those plants with shortest branches would be the ones most likely 
to propagate their kind in nature, because these branches would 
less frequently break off before maturing the seed. For the 
same reason, selection by man would also tend to preserve the 
- plants with shortest branches. 


86 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


85. Number of ears. — The number of ears to a plant 
varies greatly, according to the race of corn, the variety, 
the soil and fertilization, and the character of the season. 
In the ordinary or dent varieties, the number seldom ex- 
ceeds seven and is more frequently one or two ears for each 
plant. 

Many experiments at the Alabama and North Carolina 
Experiment Stations have indicated that in the South 
those varieties of dent corn are most productive of grain 
that ordinarily bear two ears to the plant. 

86. Position of the ear. — Large yields of corn are made 
from varieties bearing ears at a medium height from the 
ground, while equally large yields are made from other 
varieties, the ears of which are borne at a greater distance 
above the ground. Other things being equal, a moderate 
height of ear is preferable, say, four feet above the ground 
in the case of a tall plant, or even less in the case of a low 
plant (Fig. 35). The chief advantages of a low or medium 
position of ear are the following: (1) a decreased tend- 
ency for the ear to pull the plant down, and (2) greater 
ease in harvesting the ear in the lower position. A low 
ear is also apt to accompany a stalk of only medium size, 
which is desirable. A low ear, also, usually implies earlier 
maturity. 

The shank of the ear should be of such size and length 
as to let the ear droop, or bend straight down, so as to 
protect the tip of the ear from rain and to avoid the tend- 
ency exerted by an outward-pointing ear to pull down the 
stalk. This means that the shank should be of medium 
diameter. It should not be very long. 

87. Tassel. — The tassel consists of a panicle, or spread- 


Fie. 35.— DIFFERENCES IN HericutT AND Position or EAR IN THE 
SaME VARIETY. 


On right, ears low and hanging down; next, ears too high; next, ear- 


shanks too long; on extreme left, the shank is too short and stocky, 
causing the mature ears to point upward. 


87 


88 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


ing flower-cluster, usually borne at the extreme top of the 
plant. This panicle carries the male or pollen-bearing 
flowers, which are usually in groups of two flowers in a 
spikelet. Each flower, on maturing, pushes forth three 
anthers, or pollen cases, from which, on maturing, the fine 
particles of pollen are set free, to be borne by the wind to 
the silks of other corn plants. It has been estimated. that 
a single tassel may bear more than 40,000,000 pollen- 
grains. 

The tassel usually appears two to four days before the 
first silks are visible on the same plant; this is a device to 
prevent the pollination of the silk by the pollen from the 
same plant. 

Numerous experiments have shown that the removal 
of the tassels on half of the plants in a field does not ma- 
terially influence the yield. 

88. Silks. — Each silk originates where a grain should 
be borne on the cob, from which position it grows until its 
outer part reaches the air, beyond the tip of the shuck. 
This free part of the silk is supplied with very minute 
hairs; the purpose of which is to entangle and hold the 
grains of pollen. (See Fig. 36, A.) In case a silk fails to 
receive pollen, it may continue to grow to unusual length. 
In case no pollen lodges on any particular silk, no grain 
is formed at the point on the cob where that silk is 
attached. 

89. Pollination. — Pollination is the transfer of pollen 
to the sticky surface of the stigma, which in this case is 
the silk. Along the entire length of the silk grows the 
pollen-tube (Fig. 36), thrown out by the pollen-grain 
after lodgment on the silk. 


CORN STRUCTURE 89 


a ‘ / 
i 
LX —— wee e 
POLLEN ~~ ee — { ac sade 
" ovrgp if Q) ee 
IMMER INTROUMENT. h 
INTEGUMENT— ~ ——___ ens N 


Nie 


PERICARP— —— \\ 
a ATTACHONT 
0 CoB 


x 
ENDOSPERi 2 


\ B 
Fie. 36.— DIAGRAM SHOWING COURSE OF THE POLLEN-TUBE THROUGH 


Sitk To Ovary. 


A, section near outer end of silk, showing pollen-grain and pollen-tube j 
B, section through base of silk and through young grain. (Drawing by 


C. 8S. Ridgway.) 


aR 


The pollination of corn is effected almost entirely by 
the wind, which may carry the pollen great distances. 


90 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Hence, fields of two different varieties of corn, which 
the farmer desires to keep unmixed, should not be planted 
at about the same date, within less than half a mile of 
each other, unless there be intervening woods or other 
obstacles to the blowing of the pollen. 

90. Impregnation or fertilization of the grain. — The 
word “ fertilization,’ as used in this paragraph, does not 


and. 


Fie. 37.— Tur Empryo- 
SAC IN CORN AT THE 
TIME OF FERTILIZATION, 


pt., pollen-tube which 
has just discharged 2 male 
nuclei, g; 9, egg-cell 
which, after union with 
one of the male elements, 
forms the germ ; end., nu- 
cleus of the endosperm, 
with which the second 
male nucleus may unite. 
(Drawing by F. E. Lloyd.) 


refer to the supplying of food or 
fertilizing material to the plant. 
Fertilization of the flower consists 
in the growing of the pollen-tube 
along the entire length of the 
silk and into the embryo-sac (Fig. 
36), and its union there with the 
egg-cell of the mother plant to 
produce the seed (Fig. 37). With- 
out such a union, no seed is 
formed. 

After the pollen-grain has lodged 
on the sticky surface of the protrud- 
ing end of the silk, it grows into that 
silk and through its entire length to 
the point where the silk originates. 
There the pollen-tube enters the 
embryo-sac and sets free two male 
nuclei. One of these unites with the 
egg-cell, effecting true fertilization 
and producing the germ of the grain; 
the other male nucleus unites with 


the nucleus of the endosperm (Fig. 37). When this second 
union occurs, the result is an endosperm that derives 


CORN STRUCTURE 


91 


its qualities from the pallen-besring parent as well as from 


the mother plant. 

It is this second union of double fer- 
tilization, which occurs in some plants, 
that enables the pollen of a yellow variety 
of dent corn to produce yellow kernels a 
few weeks after fertilizing the silks of a 
white variety. This is because the yellow 
quality has been given by the male par- 
ent to the endosperm, or main part of 
the grain, which color shows as yellow 


through the transparent. hull or bran- 


that covers the grain. 

91. The ear. — The ear varies greatly 
in length, diameter, and number of rows 
of grain. Among ordinary or dent varie- 
~ ties, the usual number of rows ranges 
between twelve and twenty-four, four- 
teen to eighteen being most common in 
productive varieties. A good ear of corn 
should bear about a thousand grains. 
The number of rows is always even, a 
fact which has a satisfactory explanation 
in the structure and evolution of the cob 
and pistils. (See Hunt’s “Cereals in 
America,” p. 148.) 

_ The best ear is one having a cob not 
extremely small, since this would not 


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Fic. 38.— A WELL- 
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Ear or a Harp 
YELLOW VARIETY. 


allow a sufficient number of rows. Neither should the 
cob be very large, since this tends to late maturity and 


to the rotting of the ear in a wet fall. 


92 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 2 


Many corn-breeders in the Northern States prefer that 
the circumference of the ear at one third the distance from 
the butt be three fourths the length of the ear. However, 
the best proportions of an ear'cannot be regarded as having 
been determined for Southern varieties (Fig. 38). 


Tue Corn GRAIN OR KERNEL 


92. Shape. — The kernel of corn varies greatly in shape 
and size with the different races of corn. There are even 
great differences within the same variety and on the 
different parts of the same ear. In the dent varieties, 
practically all of the grains are flattened and somewhat 
wedge-shaped, their smallest diameter being the one 
parallel to the cob. Sturtevant found that in each of the 
races of corn there are grains of three different subtypes :— 


Subtype A, grain broader than deep ; 
Subtype B, grain as broad as deep; 
Subtype C, grain much deeper than broad. 


The typical grain in the most popular dent varieties has 
the last shape; that is, it is much deeper or longer than 
broad. 

93. The structure of the grain. — The grain is made up 
of a number of parts having distinct functions and separate 
origins. As a means of simplification, these are here 
grouped into three parts :— 


(1) the chit, germ, or embryo; 
(2) the endosperm, or main bulk of the grain; 
(3) the seed coats or bran. 


The embryo, or germ, is situated at the cob end of the 


CORN STRUCTURE 93 


grain, under the depression or groove, which faces the tip 
of the ear. It comprises about one eighth of the weight of 
the grain. It is especially rich in fat. 

The endosperm (from endon, around, and sperma, a seed) 
is that large portion of the seed lying around and between 
the embryo and the several outer layers or coats of the ker- 
nel. The endosperm constitutes about 73 per cent of the 
weight of the entire grain and is that part of the grain 
which gives to corn its value as a starchy food. The endo- 
sperm consists chiefly of starch, but contains also some 
protein, ash, and other materials. 

This starch of the endosperm is arranged in two different 
ways, giving two very different appearances to the different 
parts of the same endosperm. When this starch is loosely 
arranged, the color of that part is a pure snow-white, of an 
opaque floury appearance. On the other hand, when it is 
arranged in compact form, the appearance is that of a horny 
or nearly translucent substance, which is called the horny, 
or corneous layer. 

The coats of the kernel, which are usually together re- 
moved in the form of bran, are several in number, each 
having separate function and origin. 

94. Judging the composition of the kernel by its cross- 
section. — The investigations of Hopkins and of Willard 
have shown that by cutting transversely through a grain 
of corn, one may judge of its probable richness in fat, in 
starch, or in protein, by the thickness of the several layers 
constituting the germ, the loose floury starch, and the 
compact horny starch (Fig. 39). A large germ indicates 
a high percentage of fat, which is important when the corn 
is used for the manufacture of corn oil. A thick layer of the 


94 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


loose floury material indicates a high percentage of starch. 
Unusual thickness of the horny layer implies a relatively 
high percentage of protein; this is because this compact 
layer, though composed chiefly of starch, is also rich in 
protein. In the selection of seed corn practical use can 

be made of the facts just mentioned. 
In spite of these differences in appearance, accompanied 
by differences in com- 


Z » EZ position, in the differ- 
ent grains of the same 
Fie. 39.—Transversr Section raroves Variety, analysis shows 

Corn Grain; Lance Germs in2Ker- little difference be- 

nnia on ras Lar sao S4at-GEM® tween different varie 

ties, even when they 
differ considerably in the appearance of cross-sections of 
their grains. 

There is probably no necessity for the Southern farmer 
to select corn with special reference to increasing the yield 
of protein or of fat. For it is easy for him to grow 
legumes for feeding with corn to counteract its deficiency 
in protein. The manufacture of corn oil is not important 
in the South. 

95. Location of the color in the corn kernel. — It is im- 
portant to learn in what layer the color is located in the 
different classes of corn, so that one may understand that 
part of corn breeding which relates to the heredity of the 
color of the grain. 

The hull, or bran, of the grain of white and yellow 
varieties of dent corn is colorless or translucent; hence 
the color of white or yellow grains lies deeper, namely, 
in the endosperm. The pollen from a yellow variety may 


CORN OR MAIZE 95 


promptly, or in the current cross, give a yellow color to the 
endosperm of the cross-pollinated grains of a white variety 
(see Par. 90). Since the hull in this case is transparent, 
the yellow endosperm Shows through and the grain appears 
yellow. 5 

On the other hand, the red color sometimes appearing 
in dent varieties is due, not to a colored endosperm, but to 
red color in the hull. Hence the red in the hull obscures 
whatever color there might be in the endosperm (for ex- 
ample, yellow), and determines the color of thegrain. But 
the pollen does not in the current cross affect the hull, 
so that impregnation of white grains by pollen from red 
varieties does not, like the use of yellow pollen, show a few 
months after fertilization, but must wait to show the red 
color of the male parent in the next generation. 

The color that is responsible for the blue, purple, or lead- 
colored appearance of certain kinds of sweet and soft 
corns, which are different races from ordinary or dent corn, 
is located in the outer part of the endosperm, or just be- 
neath the hull. The color, being in the endosperm, is sub- 
ject to double fertilization, and hence to the immediate 
display of the color of the pollen-bearing parent. A lead- 
colored corn planted near a white may immediately cause 
colored grains to appear on white ears all over the field. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 

Roots. 

(1) Plant 10 grains of corn 1 inch deep and other similar lots at 
depths of 1, 2, 4, and 5 inches below the surface, either in a box 
of soil or in the garden or field : — 

(a) Record the number of days after planting before each 
plant appears. 


96 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(b) In about 4 weeks dig some plants resulting from each 
depth of planting, making drawings showing the 
position of the principal roots developed from each 
depth of planting. 

(2) Carefully dig well-grown or even mature corn plants, 
washing the earth from around the roots. 

(a) At what distance below the surface do most of the. 

roots originate ? 

(b) Count and record the number of main roots. 

(c) From how many of the joints or nodes do the true 

roots and brace-roots spring ? 
(3) Make two sketches, one showing 

(a) location of main roots where corn was planted in a 
furrow and earth subsequently thrown to it, and 

(b) location of main roots on a plant which has not been 
planted in a trench nor had earth thrown to it. 


Brace-roots. 
(4) On well-grown corn plants or on old corn stalks, examine 
the brace-roots, noting 
(a) their number ; 
(b) number of nodes from which they spring ; 
(c) diameter just above the ground, and 
(d) diameter 1 or 2 inches below the surface. 


Stems. 

(5) Examine the bent portion of a number of well-grown corn 
plants or old corn stalks which have been blown down, and sub- 
sequently straightened, to discover how the plant effected this 
bending by growing more rapidly on one side than on the other. 
Make a sketch of one such uneven node. 

(6) Strip the leaves and leaf-sheaths from a corn stalk and 
record the length of : 

(a) the lowest internode ; 
(b) the internode just below the shank of the lower ear, 


(c) the length of the internode next to the tassel. 


CORN STRUCTURE 97 


(7) Record the total number of internodes and their average 
length on 


(a) a tall plant and on 
(b) a low plant in the same field. 


Leaves. 


(8) (a) Record the number of leaves on an average corn plant. 

(b) In how many vertical ranks are these arranged ? 

(9) (a) Measure the midrib of an average full-grown leaf 
and the margin of the same, to determine how 
much longer the margin is. 

(b) By moving the leaves about, try to ascertain how the 
margin helps the leaves to avoid the pressure of the 
wind. 

(c) Measure the approximate surface in square inches on 
the two surfaces of a grown corn leaf of average size. 

(d) From (8a) and (9c) calculate the probable number of 
square feet of leaf surface on 4000 corn plants borne 
on an acre. 


Ear-shanks. 


(10) (a2) Record the number of nodes between main stem 
and cob on a long ear-shank. 

(b) Record the average length of five short ear-shanks 
bearing mature ears, and note whether most of the 
ears point up or down. 

Grains. 
(11) (a) Soak grains of corn and separate the coats, the germ, 
and the endosperm. 

(b) Cut cross-wise through a number of kernels of dry 
corn and compare them as to thickness of the 
horny layer and as to size of germ. 


LiTERATURE 


Sarcent, F. L. Corn Plants. Boston. 
HarsHBercEr, J. W. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 398-402. 
Hunt, T. F. Cereals in America. New York. 1904. 
Hopkins, ©. G. Ill. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 87. 
H 


CHAPTER V 


CORN —COMPOSITION AND JUDGING 


THE composition of dent and of flint corn, and of yellow 
and white varieties of dent, is practically the same. The 
corn grain contains a large proportion of carbohydrates, 
or starchy material, which constitutes its chief value as 
food. The percentage of protein is so low that for 
some classes of live-stock corn should be fed in connection 
with some food rich in protein. This is specially true for 
growing pigs, for working teams, and for poultry. Useful 
foods for feeding with corn are the following : — 

To growing pigs: skim milk, soybeans, cowpeas, dried 
blood, tankage, and pasturage -consisting largely of the 
clovers and related plants. 

To horses: hay of the clovers, alfalfa, cowpea, vetches. 

To poultry: beef scrap, cowpeas, and fresh bone. 

96. Composition of corn and its products. — The follow- 
ing figures represent the average of American analyses : — 


Water | Asa | Protein oe Bs tated see Fat 
Grain, dent varie- ‘ 
ties . . .- | 106/15] 10.3 2.2 70.4 5.0 
Grain, flint varie- 
ties. . . . . | 10.38/1.4} 10.5 1.7 70.1 5.0 
Corn blades . .| 30.0] 5.5 6.0 21.4 35.7 1.4 
Corn stover . .| 40.1) 3.4 3.8 19.7 31.9 1.1 
Corn fodder . .| 42.2] 2.7 4.5 14.3 34.7 1.6 
Corn silage . .| 79.1) 1.4 1.7 6.0 11.1 0.8 
Corn bran. . . 9.1/1.3 9.0 12.7 62.2 5.8 
Husks (Shucks) . | 17.2 | 3.2 4.3 29.5 44.9 1.0 


98 


CORN COMPOSITION 99 


97. Parts of the corn plant. — Corn stover is the residue 
of stalk, leaf, and shuck after the removal of the ear. Corn 
fodder is the entire plant when grown thickly and cured for 
forage. Corn blades, very generally known in the South 
simply as “ fodder,’’ are the leaves stripped from the plant 
just before the ears mature. The blades make a very 
palatable and -nutritious food, but the yield is small, the 
labor of harvesting considerable, and the stripping of the 
blades reduces the yield of grain. 

Corn stover, when shredded, has somewhat the same 
value as cotton-seed hulls, the composition of the stover 
being superior but the hulls mixing better with concentrated 
foods and being eaten with much less waste. Stover 
should be fed in connection with cotton-seed meal or other 
food rich in protein. 

Corn silage consists of the entire plant cut, while still 
green but after the roasting-ear stage, into short lengths 
and stored in an air-tight compartment, called asilo. Here 
it keeps with but slight loss and in green, succulent condi- 
tion until winter. This is the best way to utilize the corn 
crop for dairy cattle, and often for fattening cattle. 


Silage is the material that is stored ; silo is the receptacle in 
which it is stored ; ensilage is the verb, as ‘“‘to ensilage corn,” 
with the accent on the middle syllable. The terms are variously 
used and confused in current speech and writing, however. 

98. Proportion of parts in the corn plant. — The Georgia 
Experiment Station (Bul. No. 30) found that in every 
100 pounds of the above-ground part of the corn plant, 
after being thoroughly air-dried, 
the grain constituted . 38.8 per cent, the shucks. 11.1 per cent, 


the stalks . . . .29.3 percent, the tassels . 1.3 per cent, 
the blades . . . . 9.8 percent, and the cobs 9.7 per cent. 


100 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


99. Corn products. — From the corn plant are made 
great numbers of products. Among those made from the 
grain are corn meal, grits, hominy, and corn flakes, — all 
for human food; also whisky, corn oil, glucose, starch, and 
many others; and for stock food, gluten meal, corn hearts, 
corn bran, and others. 

The pith of the stalk is used as a packing material in 
the construction of warships. From the stalk cellulose is 
manufactured. All parts of the plant are used as food for 
live-stock. 

100. Draft on soil fertility. — A crop of 40 bushels of 
corn and 2500 pounds of stover removes approximately 
the following amounts of plant-food : — 


Nirrocen | PoospHoric Acip | Potash 


40 bu. grain. ... .{ 87.0 15.9 12.8 
3000 lb. stover. . . . .| 18.3 11.4 32.7 
Total in grain and stover .| 55.3 27.3 45.5 


From the above table it may be seen that every bushel of 
grain removes about one pound of nitrogen, two fifths 
of a pound of phosphoric acid, and about one third of a 
pound of potash. 

These figures impress the need of the corn plant for nitro- 
gen, which is most economically supplied in a preceding soil- 
improving or leguminous crop (as cowpeas), or in manure. 

It should be noticed that the stover removes about three 
times as much potash as does the grain; and also practi- 
cally half as much nitrogen. Hence the removal of the 
stover greatly increases the need for nitrogen and potash 
in the fertilizer for succeeding crops. 


CORN JUDGING 101 


JUDGING CORN 


101. Score-card. — The object in judging ears of corn is 
to select the best seed corn. Various score-cards have 
been devised as helps in selecting the best ears by applying 
a scale of points to the different features. 


The score-cards in use in different states vary somewhat. 
Their purpose is to direct attention in turn to each of the points 
of merit or demerit of each ear. A perfect ear, if such an ear 
existed, would score 100 points. Deductions, or cuts, are made 
according to the amount of deficiency in any quality. 

In the following table are printed for reference score-cards 
used in several Southern and Western States :— 


a| Fadel | 
2/8/21] 2|2/8| 3 
4/a/e/e/al/si4]3 
1. Uniformity of exhibit. . ... . lo} 15] 5) 5) 5) 10 
2. Maturity and market condition. . | 10} 5] 10) 10] 10 5 
3. Purity as shown by color of kernel . 5; 10} 5] 5) 10) 10] 10) 10 
4. Purity as shown by color of cob . 4 r 6] 5] 5 
5. Shape of ear ae @ . {| 10} 5) 10) 10) 10) 10) 5/ 10 
6. Proportion, length to circumference 10 5 
7. Butts P 3} 5) 5) 5] 5) 5] 5] 65 
8. Tips. . . . 2... .) .] 8 10) 5} 5} 5) so} 10) 5 
9. Space between rows. . . .. . 5} 10} 5) 5 _ 5} 5} 10 
10. Per cent graintoear . . . . . | 10) 20) 10] 10} 15) 10) 20] 10 
11. Trueness to type. . . . . . .{.10 10} 5) 10 10 
12. Space between kernelsatcob. . . 5 5} 6 5 10 
13. Grain — (a) shape . . . . .:.{ 10) 5] 5] 10) 5] 5] 5] 5 
(b) uniformity . . . . 5} 5) 5) 5) 5) 5) 5] 5 
(c) germ jo RO 10 5) 10 20 
14. Length of ear . re 10) 5} 5; 10) 10) 10; 5 
Weight of ear . .| 20 
15. Circumferénce ed iy! Se. 4b 5 5 5} 5] 65 
'100/100}100]100|100/100|100)100 


102 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


Practice in scoring ears of corn. 


Each ear, or each exhibit of 10 ears, should be scored by the 
score-card above used in the state nearest the reader’s home, or by 


ook taDe 
| peste 8 


petcrenes ore 


Ep 
6 


bhdbcih 


“SC RRMASOR ES 
3) 


Fia. 40. Fie. 41. Fic. 42. 


any other score-card that may be preferred. Let each student, 
after noting the excellencies and defects of all ears shown in this 


CORN JUDGING - 108 


chapter, score a number of ears of corn, entering the figures rep- 
resenting his estimate of each quality in the proper space in a table 
ruled or printed like the table on page 101. Figs. 40-45 show 
defective ears of, Henry Grady corn to be criticized by the pupil. 


Fia. 43. Fie. 44. Fia. 45. 


The following paragraphs indicate some of the most important 
considerations in scoring each character : — 

(1) Unrrormity. — The ear examined should be like other ears 
of the same variety, and all ears of one exhibit should be uniform 
in size and appearance. Criticize Figs. 40-45 as to uniformity. 


fr 


104 - SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(2) ViTaLITyY AND MARKET coNDITION.— Good germinating | 
power and market condition is shown by the soundness of the 
grain and freedom of the tip of the grains from dark spots, adhering 
particles of husk, shriveled appearance, or undue slenderness 
at the tip near the cob. Germination tests may be made. 


Fic. 46.— A Goop Ear, Fic. 47.— Too Fic. 48.— DEFEcTIVE 
BUT NOT FREE FROM SHort. In SHAPE, TIP, AND 
Suicut Derects. Bort. 


(8) All grains on an ear should be of the same color. 
(4) Cotor or cos. — A white cob is preferred for white va- 
rieties. Most score-cards prescribe that a yellow variety shall 


105 


CORN JUDGING 


How- 


have a red cob, which, however, is merely a fancy point. 


ever, the color of cob should be uniform for every ear in an 


exhibit. 


(5) Soars or EAR. — It is generally assumed that a nearly 


eazereee OMOTUrCC TUN 
nr os 


Fie. 51.—Ear wita 
Bare Tip anpD WIDE 


Ear WITH 


49.— Too Fie. 50.— 
ENLARGED BuTT AND 


SMALL. 


Fic. 


Furrows. 


Wivt Furrows BE- 
TWEEN Rows. 


106 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS . 


cylindrical shape is best; but at the Ohio Experiment Station 
tapering ears were quite as productive as cylindrical ears. The 


i 
€ 
& 
€ 
t 

@ 

© 
® 
2 


Che a 


% 
eed 


Fic. 52.— An Ear Too 
Lona AND SLENDER, 
WITH AN _ INSUFFI- 
cienT NUMBER OF 
Rows. 


Fic. 53. — A Too 
SLENDER Ear, 
WitH SHORT 
Grains, BARE 
Tip, anD WIDE 
Furrows. 


2 sg 
Fa 
oP ay 


Prre ry 
298 @ 
e 


LA ed 
Ae ee 


¥ esa S 


rere ty 
O0atsag 


Weeugub bones 
LEAAAGTAMHA AM ASO Se 


Heecuusseusge 


2, 
= «, 
2 
— 
2. 
=. 
e.« 
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< 
> 
= 
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oe 
7” 
o 
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= 
= 
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2 
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aad bts 


> 
= 
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= 
= 
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ad 
2 
3 
° 
a 
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2 
J 
= 
a 


is 


Fic. 54.—An Ear oF 
ONLY MEDIUM QuUAL- 
ITy, BUT WELL-cov- 
ERED TIP. 


ear should be straight and even, without undue swelling at the 
butt, and the rows should be straight. 


107 


CORN JUDGING 


(6) The preferred length at present is about 1} times the cir- 
cumference, taken one third the distance from the butt. 


Yet 


R&SSE 


IES 


PP eS Sok iehelee A thee de a ol 


BRRaNE 


wi y eS 


Aree et 


57.— An Ear WITH 


56.—An Ear Fic. 
WwitH FLINTY 
Grains or Ex- 


—Ear with Fic. 


55. 


Fie. 


vERY Harp SuHort?T 
GRaINS AND A DBFI- 


CurvEpD Rows, Bare 


AND OTHER 


_Trp, 
Fav.ts. 


cient NUMBER OF 


Rows. 


PERIMENT STATION 
YELLOW Corn. 


Compare Fig. 46 with Figs. 


different varieties. 


th 


i 


is varies w: 


th 


47, 52, and 53. 


108 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(7) Burts or zars. — The grains on the butts should project 
slightly and evenly beyond the cob, forming an even, well-rounded 
butt, with grains not very variable in shape and size. The place 


Fic. 58.— Ear wits Lone, Wett- Fic. 59.— Ear witH SHORT 
FORMED GRAINS. GRAINS. 


of attachment of the ear shank should be of moderate diameter. 
Compare Fig. 46 with Fig. 50. 

(8) Trips or Ears. — The grains should as nearly as possible 
hide the cob at the tip of the ear and should there be of fair size. 


rec 


Fic. 60.— An Ear Havine Too Fic. 61.— AN Ear IN WHICH THERE 
MucH SPACE BETWEEN GRAINS IS NO LOST SPACE BETWEEN GRAINS 
NEAR THE Cos. NEAR THE Cos. 


Some authorities regard a well-covered tip as rather a fancy 
point, while others consider it as closely related to a high yield. 
Compare Fig. 54 with Figs. 51, 52, 58, and 55. 

(9) SpacE BETWEEN ROWS. — The spaces, furrows, or sulci are the 
depressions between adjacent rows of grain near the crown of the 
kernel. The deeper and wider are these spaces, the more defective 


CORN JUDGING 109 


is the ear in this respect (Figs. 51, 52, 53, and 54), since deep 
furrows imply rounded grains with a low percentage of grain 
to cob. 

(10) ProporTION OF CORN ON EAR. — Medium to small cobs and 
long grains indicate a high percentage of corn and are desirable. 
Compare Figs. 58 and 59. A cut or deduction may be made 
where the shelled grain constitutes less than 
86 per cent of the husked ear. 

(11) TruUENEss To TyPE. — Every ear should 
possess the qualities common to that variety. 

(12) SpacE BETWEEN KERNELS NEAR COB. 
— This is judged by removing several rows of 
grains and viewing the remaining rows from a 
position showing the edges of the kernels (Figs. 
60 and 61). Much space between the grains 
near the cob indicates grains of poor shape and 
an ear of low percentage of grain, and some- 
times this also indicates immaturity. 

(13) Kerne ts (Figs. 62,63). — The bestshape 
is a cut-off wedge, the edges of the grain touch- 
ing the adjacent row throughout nearly its 
whole length. The shoulders near the tip 
should be broad and plump. The kernels Fic. 62.— Suow- 
should be long and free from an excessive ING VARIATIONS 
amount of beak or shriveled portion at the ae Genx 
crown. Excepting those at the extreme butt . oe 

F F z i Those in the 
and tip, the grains should be of uniform size HenEr” piedupe! sale 
and shape and of nearly uniform denting. The well-shaped: in the 
color of all grains on one ear should be identi- middle group, ill- 
eal. Yellow varieties should have grains free shaped; the lower 
from white caps and grains on white varieties 2'°UP Shows one 

3 very large and one 
should be free from a yellowish or amber ery small germ. 
tint. 

(14) and (15) LENGTH AND CIRCUMFERENCE OR WEIGHT OF EAR. 
—This refers to the weight of grain and cob after thorough air 
drying. In most score-cards this is covered by measurements of 
the length and circumference of each ear. The standard or ideal 


110 , SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


should be a larger ear in the case of one-eared than in the case 
of two-eared varieties. 


Fic. 63.— Various SHAPES oF CorN KERNELS. 
Upper kernels have good and all others poor shapes. 


Composition of grains. 
(1) From a crib of corn select 


(a) 2 ears having a high percentage of protein, as shown by 
thickness of horny layer (see Par. 94) in grains near the center 
of the ear ; 

(b) 2 having a low percentage of protein, and 

(c) 2 having a high percentage of fat. 


(2) Make drawings of a cross-section of 3 grains representing 
the ears selected under (a), (b), and (c). 


CORN JUDGING 11 


LITERATURE ON JUDGING OF CoRN 


Iowa Expr. Sta. Bul. No. 77. 

Indiana Expr. Sta. Bul. No. 110. 

Missouri Expr. Sta. Cire. No. 19. 

Publications of a number of other experiment stations and agricul 
tural colleges. 

SHorsmirH, V. M. The Study of Corn. New York, 1910. 

Lyon and Montgomery. Examining and Grading Grains, 
Lincoln, Neb. . 


CHAPTER VI 
CORN— RACES AND VARIETIES 


Maze has varied into almost numberless forms, ranging 
from the tall corn of the Southern States to the dwarf of 
high latitudes, and has given rise to many shapes and sizes 
and colors of kernel and ear: Some corn is very early, 
some late; some kinds have flinty kernels and others 
have very soft grains. 

102. Races of corn. — Corn is divided into at least six 
great divisions, or races, which cross freely with each 

other. These races are 


CD CD em SCZ (1) dent, (2) Aint, 


Fic. 64.—Szcrions across Grains or (8) sweet, (4) pop, 
Corn, SHOWING ARRANGEMENT OF (5) soft, and (6) pod 
Horny (SHADED) AND FLoury (DoTTED) 

TAvGn tm Rica. corn. These races are 

From left to right, dent, flint, pop, sweet, distinguished by differ- 
and soft corn. ences in the structure 
of the grains (Figs. 64 and 65), as well as by other dis- 
tinctive characters. 

Dent corn comprises all the varieties commonly grown in 
the fields in the Southern States. Indeed, the bulk of the 
American corn crop belongs to this race. 

(1) In dent corn a cross-section of the grain shows that the 
floury or soft part, consisting chiefly of loosely arranged 
starch grains, comes quite to the top of the grain. The 


shrinkage of this soft loose starch during ripening causes the 
112 


CORN VARIETIES 113 


depression, or dent, which gives the name to the dent race. 
The grains of dent corn are usually much flattened and 
wedge-shaped, and longer or deeper than broad. The 
plant may be small, medium, or very large, Southern 
varieties being almost invariably large. 

(2) In flint corn the layer of soft loose starch ce not 
come to the top of the kernel but is surrounded, over the 


Fic. 65.—SHow1ne, From Lert to Ricut, SecTIONS THROUGH GRAINS 
_oF Dent, Furnt, Por, Swert, anp Sort Corn. 


The shaded area represents the horny layer; the dotted portion shows 
the floury starch. 


top as well as on the sides, by a horny layer, which is also 
made up chiefly of starch, compacted into a dense, almost 
translucent mass. The difference between the horny and 
the loose starch has been likened to that between ice 
and snow. The complete arch of horny starch over the 
top of the grain insures the ripening of the kernel without 
-uneven shrinking or denting. The grains of flint corn are 
usually less flattened, shorter, and more rounded and 
smooth over the top and broader than dent corn. The 
stalks are usually small and the ears are borne near the 
‘ground. The flint corns mature quickly and are best 
adapted to regions near the northern limits of corn pro- 
duction. In the South they are little grown and com- 


paratively unproductive. 
I 


114 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(3) Sweet corn may be known by its wrinkled, horny 
grain, due to the presence of sugar in the endosperm, 
and by the absence of floury white starch. The plant 
is very small and bears many small ears, which mature early. 
Sweet corn is generally grown in Southern gardens, but is 
less productive here than in higher latitudes. 

(4) Pop corn may be recognized by the entire absence of 
floury starch, the whole endosperm being compact and 
horny. This compactness explains why the grain swells 
or pops so completely. The plant is extremely small, the 
ears numerous and of diminutive size, maturing early. 

(5) Soft corn bears a grain in which all of the endosperm 
is soft and white. This is the original kind cultivated by 
the Indians. It suited their needs by reason of the ease 
with which it could be ground. It is not now cultivated to 
any extent in the United States. The ears are small and 
the grains usually small and rounded, without dents. 

(6) Pod corn is rather a curiosity than a race of any 
value. Each single grain is inclosed m a small shuck, 
while the whole ear or collection of grains is wrapped in an 
outer shuck. This is probably nearer to the original form 
of the plant than are any of the other races. 

103: Characters needed in Southern varieties. — Varie- 
ties of field corn in the South must be chosen within the 
dent race. The primary consideration is a large yield of 
grain per acre. Among the other desirable qualities of a 
variety for the South are the following : — 

(1) Medium or late maturity, in order that there may 
be a maximum yield and to escape the great injury done 
by grain weevils to the early varieties. 

(2) At least a medium degree of hardness of kernel to 


CORN VARIETIES ° 115 


‘ ig '] 
Fia. 66. — SHow1nc an Ear WITH Fic. 67.— SHowine an Ear Tie 
Tip WELL COVERED BY SHUCKS. NOT WELL COVERED BY SHUCKS. 


A condition unfavorable to A condition favorable to injury 
injury by weevils. by weevil. 


116 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


avoid the excessive injury inflicted by weevils on varieties 
with very soft grains. 

(3) Tight and complete covering of shuck around the 
tip of the ear, to retard the entrance of weevils and to 
prevent injury from wet weather (Figs. 66 and 67). 

(4) Ears falling or bending down, so as to escape severe 
injury from wet weather. 

(5) Ears at medium height from the ground, so that the 
stalk may not be so easily blown or pulled down as if the 
ears were high. 

(6) Small or medium-sized cobs, to decrease the danger 
from rotting in the field or in the crib. 

(7) Ear-shank of only moderate length and size. 

(8) Uniformity in character of plant and ear, this being 
usually an indication of purity and of careful breeding. 

104. Qualities accompanying high yield. — The follow- 
ing characteristics usually accompany large yields of grain 
in varieties adapted to the South : — 

(1) A tendency to produce two ears per stalk; 

(2) A small or medium-sized cob, long grains of a wedge 
shape, and a rather high. percentage of grain; 

(3) Medium or late maturity. 

105. General considerations regarding varieties. — 
The color of the grain is not of importance in the case 
of a variety intended for stock-food. However, for the 
making of corn meal, the Southern markets prefer white 
corn. Among white corns, there is a slight preference 
among millers for the varieties having white cobs. The 
reason for this is the experience of some millers that in 
the case of varieties with red cobs, the reddish scales from 
the tip of the grain are not all removed by cleaning machin- 


CORN VARIETIES 117 


ery, and that those remaining make discolorations in the 
meal, which are undesirable. 

The color of the grain does not affect the composition, 
in spite of the preference of some feeders for yellow corn as 
stock-food. Color probably has no relation to yield; 
yet a summary made by the Mississippi Experiment Sta- 
tion, relative to 490 varieties tested at 7 experiment sta- 
tions, showed that white varieties averaged 2.5 bushels 
more per acre than the yellow varieties. 

Regarding the best degree of hardness or softness of the 
grain, there is a wide difference of opinion. Soft grains are 
more readily eaten by horses, but are subject to greater 
injury from weevils. Hard grains, while more resistant to 
weevils, are not weevil-proof. There is a tendency for 
hard grains to be of a shorter, more rounded form than 
soft grains. Soft grains of the long shoe-peg type have 
an undesirable amount of roughness on the top of the 
grain. 

106. Shapes of grains. — Sturtevant (U. S. Dept. Agr., 
Office Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 57) has divided varieties of 
dent corn into three classes, according to the width of 
the grain compared with its length. In his first class, A, 
having grains broader than long, there is not mentioned 
a single variety that has been productive in the South. 

In his second class, B, having grains as broad as long, the 
only two varieties that have generally proved in the 
South even near the first rank in productiveness-are Cocke 
Prolific and Blount Prolific. 

His third class, C, having grains longer than broad, in- 
cludes three times as many varieties as are listed in classes 
A and B combined. In this long-grained group, we find 


118 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


the names of a number of varieties that have ranked 
high in tests at Southern Experiment Stations. 

Yet it must be added that in tests made in the South 
since 1899, the year of the publication of Dr. Sturtevant’s 
descriptions, the most productive kinds have included a 
number of varieties not mentioned in his list. Many of 
these new, so-called varieties probably represent merely 
new names for old kinds; others are the result of such an 
amount of selection and improvement as to deserve their 
new and separate names. Unfortunately, in the renaming 
of varieties of either cotton or corn, there has too often 
been a failure to regard the rights of the originators and of 
the public, and an unjustifiable duplication of names for 
the same variety. 

More than 1000 names of varieties have been listed. 
Many of these are merely names for the same variety; yet 
there are enough possible combinations of qualities to 
justify the naming of several hundred varieties, each differ- 
ing from every other in at least one easily recognizable 
character. 

107. Yields of varieties. An examination of the 
yields of corn made in variety tests at the Southern Experi- 
ment Stations shows that there is no one best variety of 
corn for all conditions of soil and climate, even within the 
limits of the cotton-belt. However, it appears that in 
the greater number of experiments, but by no means in all, 
the most productive varieties belong to the class of prolific 
corn; that is, having a tendency to produce from 160 to 
more than 200 ears for each 100 plants. 


For example, in four years’ tests at the Alabama Experiment 


Station, the prolific varieties averaged 33.8 bushels per acre; 
i 


CORN VARIETIES 119 


the varieties of medium prolificacy averaged 27.7 bushels; and 
the non-prolific varieties averaged only 27 bushels per acre. 
Ii we should exclude from the two latter classes all the early 
Northern. varieties, which have proved decidedly unproductive 
in this climate, the yields of the three classes would come closer 
together, but the average would still favor the prolific kinds. 

In North Carolina, a prolific variety, Cocke, at all distances 
yielded more grain than one of the best of the one-eared, large- 
eared kinds, Holt Strawberry. This superiority ranged from 
9.6 to 14 bushels when the single plants stood 30 inches apart 
or nearer, and between 3 and 9.9 bushels when the distance 
between plants was 35 or 40 inches. 

In the following catalogue are brought together the names of 
the varieties which have most frequently stood at or near the head 
of the list in yield of grain at the various Southern Experiment 
Stations : 1 — 


State or StaTION VARIETY 


Alabama (Auburn) Sanders 
Mosby 
Marlboro 
Henry Grady 
Experiment Station Yel- 
low 
Cocke Prolific 
MeMackin 
Bradbury 


Arkansas (main and branch stations) Johnson County White 
White Wonder 
Boone County White 
Southern Beauty 
Marlboro 
Williams Prolific 


1 Data obtained chiefly from correspondence, and partly from publica: 
tions of the Experiment Stations. 


120 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Stave or STATION 
Georgia 


Louisiana 


Mississippi (Agricultural College Sta- 
tion) 


Mississippi (Delta Branch Station) 


Mississippi (Coast Region, McNeill 
Branch Station) 


° 


North Carolina (Piedmont Section) 


VARIETY 
Marlboro 
Sanders 
Cocke Prolific 
Boone County White 
Mosby 
MeMackin 
Bradbury 
Stone 


Mosby 

Hasting Prolific 
Shaw 

Calhoun Red Cob 
Laguna 

Georgia Gourd Seed 
Heard 


Mosby 
Cocke 
Marlboro 


Mosby 
Cocke 
Sanders 


Cocke 

Eureka 

Early Breadfield 
Holt Strawberry 
Blount 

Mosby 


Biggs Seven-ear 
Sanders 

Weekly 

Cocke 
Marlboro 


CORN VARIETIES 121 


STATE OR STATION VARIETY 
North Carolina (eastern North Caro- 
lina) Cocke Prolific 
Biggs Seven-ear 
Weekly 
Sanders 
Hickory King 
North Carolina (above 2800 feet) Flint varieties 


Oklahoma (eastern and central parts) Mammoth White 
Boone County White 
Hildreth Yellow Dent 
Golden Eagle 


Oklahoma (western part, with defi- 
cient rainfall) Dwarf Mexican June 
Hickory King 


South Carolina (Piedmont Section) McGregor 
Hayes 
Marlboro 

Tennessee 

Knoxville (poor upland) Hickory King 

Leaming 
Iowa Silver Mine 
Reid Yellow Dent 


Knoxville (fertile land) Webb Improved Watson 
Hickory King 
Huffman 
Boone County White 
Albemarle 
Cocke 


Knoxville (rich bottoms) Huffman 
Webb Improved Watson 
Cocke ; 
Albemarle 
Hickory King. 
Boone County White 


122 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


SratTe or STATION VARIETY 
Texas (College Station) McGaillard Yellow Dent 
White Superior 
Munson 
Virginia (Mountain Section) Boone County White 
Leaming 


Collier Excelsior 
Virginia (Tidewater Region, bottom 
land) Cocke 
Virginia (poor uplands) Hickory King 


108. Southern varieties by classes (Figs. 68 and 69). — 
Among the productive varieties mentioned in the preced- 
ing list and belonging to the prolific type are the follow- 
ing : — 


Mosby Sanders Blount 
Albemarle Cocke Marlboro 
Weekly 


All the above varieties usually bear between 160 and 200 
ears for each hundred plants. The cobs are small, the ears 
small, and the grains usually rather long and slender, 
but somewhat shorter in Albemarle and Blount. 

Among the large-eared varieties with red cobs are 


Henry Grady Tennessee Red Cob 
Arnold St. Charles White 


Among the large-eared or medium-eared varieties with white 
grains and white cobs are the following : — 


Shaw MeMackin Boone County White 
Renfro Bradbury 


Among the large or medium-eared varieties with yellow grains 
are the following :— 

Experiment Station Yellow, having a short, flinty grain, and 
usually a white cob; and Evans. 


CORN VARIETIES ‘ 123 


f, Henry 


? 


e, Local White 


d, McMakin 
j, Cocke. 


Fig. 68.— Varieties or Corn. 


; c, Sanders 


7, Marlboro 


é 


Yellow 


a 
t Station 
; 9, Mosby 


rimen 
Grady 


b, h, Expe: 


a, Riley’s Favorite 


124 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


De 
Le) 


SUAS VO Net EAES 


Tic. 69.— VARIETIES OF CoRN. 


r, No. 77 


id Yellow Dent 


ei 


ion Yellow ; g, Ri 


t Stat 


p, Experimen 
; t, Hickory King. 


’ 


ming 
s, lowa Silver Mine 


o, Leai 


k, l, m, n, Boone County White 


CORN VARIETIES 125 


Among the early-maturing varieties, but not extremely early 
and better suited to the South than most early varieties, are 
the following : — 


Hickory King St. Charles 
Blount Prolific Cocke (some strains) 


Mexican June corn is in a class by itself. It is chiefly 
valuable because of its strong root and leaf systems and its 
notable endurance of the heat and drought of late summer. 
The stalk grows to immense size, usually 11 to 15 feet. 
The stem is of large diameter and rich in sugar. The 
strain of Mexican June most commonly grown east of 
Texas has a small, white ear with soft grains, loosely ar- 
ranged on the cob. It is not very productive of grain, but 
when the ears are in the hard dough stage, the entire plant 
makes a good green food for hogs or horses. This variety is 
recommended only for late planting; that is, in May or 
June, usually on land where small grain has been harvested. 

There are other forms of Mexican June corn, among 
them a dwarf variety. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 
Races. 
Make drawings from nature of the cross-sections of the grains 
of as many races as can be found, especially of dent, flint, pop, and 
sweet corn. 


Main characteristics of varieties. 


Study and write descriptions of as many as practicable of the 
most important Southern varieties, recording especially, — 


(a) habit of bearing one, or two, or more ears ; 
(6) form of ear ; 

(c) shape and size of grain ; 

(d) size and color of cob. 


126 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


LITERATURE 


Dueear, J. F. Ala. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 111 and 134. 

Wiuurams, C. B. N.C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 204. 

Kixeors, J. B., and others. N.C. Board Agr., Bul. Vol. 29, No. 
2, and later. 

Sturtevant, E.L. U.S. Dept. Agr., Office Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 
59. 


CHAPTER VII 
CORN — BREEDING OR IMPROVEMENT 


Corn breeding is concerned with determining (1) what 
qualities of grain, ear, or plant are hereditary; (2) the 
best method of finding hereditary qualities; and (3) the 
means of improv- 
ing or modifying 
hereditary qualities. 

In other words, 
the plant-breeder’s 
task is to maintain 
desirable qualities 
now in existence, 
and to add to them 
or so to combine 
them as to make 
subsequent crops 


more productive, : 
. Fie. 70.—SHowine THE IMMEDIATE EFrrects 
or othe se bet- (IN THE CURRENT CROSS) OF CROSSING A 


ter suited to the | Wurre Pop Corn (on Lert) wits PoLten 
farmer’s needs FROM 2 YELLOW Dent Corn (on RiaHrt).. 


The resulting hybrid ear with both white and 
109. Im Prove- yellow grains is shown in the center. 


ment of varieties. 

—Corn is so easily cross-pollinated and mixed with 

inferior kinds (Fig. 70), that few of the so-called varieties 

are strictly pure or uniform. Indeed, until within the 
127 


a 


128 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


past few years but few attempts have been made in the 
South to improve varieties by breeding or even to keep 
pure the best existing varieties. Almost any local kind, 
now found to be productive and otherwise valuable in its 
special locality, is worthy of being improved by careful 
and scientific methods of breeding. 

The first effort of the breeder should be directed towards 
increased yield, to secure which he should select chiefly 
those plants which carry the greatest weight of grain. 
Next he should aim at uniformity, and at the other quali- 
ties usually considered desirable. Rather than to attempt 
to create an entirely new variety by crossing two existing 
kinds, he should start with one existing variety that is 
nearest to his ideal, or that best suits his local needs. 

110. Selection and crossing. — The plant-breeder im- 
proves plants by two means: (1) by selection and (2) by 
crossing. Selection is generally more important for the 
breeder, and this is the only means of improvement that the 
average farmer can advantageously practice. Crossing oc- 
casionally serves a useful purpose in the hands of a skilled 
breeder; but it usually destroys uniformity and must 
always be followed by years of selection before its results 
become of practical value. 

Selection of seed corn should be practiced by every 
farmer, and it gives results even in the first crop. 

111. Qualities needing improvement.— Among the 
qualities for which selection should be made in developing 
varieties of corn for the Southern States are the following: — 

(1) Increased yield. 

(2) Production of two ears per plant. 

(3) Improvement in the shape of ear and kernels. 


CORN BREEDING 129 


(4) More uniformity among kernels, ears, and plants. 
(5) Increased closeness and firmness of grains on the cob. 
(6) Strength, or power of the plant to stand up. 

(7) Lower position of ear on the plant. 

(8) More complete covering of the tip by shucks. 

(9) Tendency for the mature ear to turn downward. 

(10) A decrease in the size of the plant in some varieties. 

112. Hereditary qualities. Among the stalk charac- 
ters which have been found to be hereditary are the fol- 
lowing : — 

Height of plant; height of ear; length of shank; direc- 
tion in which the mature ear points; number and width 
of blades; tendency to bear more than one ear; tendency 
to produce suckers; and ability of the mature plant to 
stand erect instead of being blown down. Practically 
all the peculiarities of ear and grain are hereditary. 

113. Height of ear. —It is desirable that the ear or 
ears be borne at a medium height above the ground (Fig. 
35). It has been found in breeding experiments (Ill. 
Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 132) that the height can be raised or 
lowered by selection with this definite end in view. In the 
fourth generation the average position of the ears was 
twice as high where selection had been made for high ears 
as in the strain selected for low ears, the difference in 
height of ears being about three feet. 

Accompanying the lower position of the ears was earlier 
maturity, a decreased number of internodes and leaves, 
a decrease in the length of the internodes, and a decided 
diminution in the height of the plant. 

114. Angle of the mature ear.— The [Illinois Experi- 


ment Station has determined (Bul. 132) that the tendency 
K 


130 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


for the mature ears to remain erect or to bend downward 
is an hereditary quality, and that this tendency can be 
intensified by selection. The drooped ear, which is prefer- 
able because of its increased protection against rain, was 
found to accompany along shank. One strain had shanks 
averaging 12 inches in length, the other 7 inches. The 
diameter of the shank did not, in this case, determine the 
direction in which the mature ear pointed. 

115. Barren plants. — Barrenness, or the tendency for 
a considerable proportion of the plants to bear no ear, 
is usually regarded as hereditary. 

Hartley (U. S. Dept. Agr. Year Book, 1902, p. 549) 
found that the removal of barren stalks from the field 
where seed was saved reduced the percentage of barren 
stalks in the next crop from 8.11 to 3.43. Since barren- 
ness is difficult to detect before tasseling, it is advisable to 
remove the tassels from all poor stalks before they shed 
any pollen, whether these plants are entirely barren or 
merely weak and poor. The remaining tassels will fur- 
nish an abundance of pollen. 

116. Influence of size of ears. — At the Virginia Ex- 
periment Station (Bul. 165, p. 170), the crop from large 
ears averaged 5 bushels more per acre than that from 
small ears of the same strain of corn. Likewise greater 
yields were obtained from large ears at the Ohio Station; 
the percentage of germination was higher for the grains 
on the larger ears, and the young plants from the larger 
ears grew more rapidly. 

117. Selection in the field better than in the crib, — 
Selection of seed ears can better be made in the field than 
in the crib, especially in the case of two-eared or prolific 


CORN BREEDING 131 


varieties. Selection in the crib tends to reduce the pro- 
portion of plants bearing two ears, and thus it may even 
be the means of reducing the yield. This is because in 
the crib, the largest ears are chosen, and these are most 
frequently from plants that produced only one ear. Selec- 
tion in the crib is of more value when only one ear per 
plant is desired. But even in this case, crib-selection may 
serve to perpetuate plants with ears borne too high on the 
stalk or having other serious faults. 

118. Selection without an ear-to-row test. —- Those 
who cannot take the pains and time needed to plant an 
ear-to-row seed patch (see Par. 120) will profit by paying 
to some one else even a high price for corn thus improved. 
Such seed corn should be bought on the ear, so that all the 
qualities of the ear may be known. 

It may be possible to maintain the excellence of a variety, 
but scarcely to effect rapid improvement, by simply select- 
ing in the entire field ears from the best and most produc- 
tive plants. To do this, the farmer should himself go 
through his field before harvest time and in a bag or basket 
gather as many ears as will be needed for seed. In making 
these selections, harvest the ears from the most produc- 
tive plants, but not from those the productiveness of which 
is due to richer soil, to unusual distance from the next 
plant, or to other temporary advantage. Excellence due 
to these accidental causes is not transmitted to the next 
generation. 

119. Accidental versus inherited excellence. — Great 
improvement in the yield of corn may be effected through 
the process of selection with a view to identifying and 
propagating those individual plants that have strong 


182 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fig. 71.— RELATIVE YIELDS OF THE SAME VARIETY OF CORN FROM 2 BREEDING Rows oF SAME LENGTH. 


hereditary qualities. The 
separation of such worthy 
individuals is by no means 
as easy as it may seem, 
for individual excellence 
may be due merely to 
favorable surroundings, as 
extra space or heavy fer- 
tilization, in which case 


the superiority is not 


transmitted to the off- 
spring. On the other 
hand, it may be due to 
inherent power in the 
plant itself, independent 
of environment; such 
inherent excellence is 
hereditary. 

The breeder’s first task, 
then, is to devise a system 
by which he can determine 
which plants are acci- 
dentally productive and 
which are in themselves 
superior. In other words, 
he must find which good 
plants are able to transmit 
their good qualities. This 
is best done by means of 
the ‘‘ear-to-row”’ system 
of field testing. 


CORN BREEDING 133 


120. Ear-to-row system.— This method consists in 
planting in one row only the seed from a single ear or from 
part of a single ear. At harvest time the yield of each 
row is determined separately. The best rows indicate 
which parent ear was best able to transmit its good quali- 
ties (Fig. 71). By selecting for seed the best plants on these 
best rows, and again planting each ear on a separate row, im- 
provement is rapid, — provided the breeder, year after 
year, aims at the selection and perpetuation of the same 
good qualities. 

Moreover, since self-fertilization year after year causes 
corn to deteriorate, it is advisable to prevent this by re- 
moving, as soon as they appear, the tassels from the rows 
on which seed-ears are to be selected. 

In a breeding-patch in which this system is pursued 
proceed as follows : — 

121. Details of ear-to-row system of corn breeding. — 
Select about 100 of the best ears obtainable from the given 
variety. From these discard all except 48, or other 
larger number, of the heaviest, best, and most uniform. 
Secure very uniform land and lay off as many rows as 
there are ears to be planted, say 48, noting that the two 
ends of all the rows are of apparently uniform fertility. 

On each row, plant the greater part of a single ear, plac- 
ing the best ears near the center of the plot (Fig. 72). The 
rows should be of uniform width and of such length as to 
contain at least 150 hills, the hills being in checks at a uni- 
form distance apart. If practicable, preserve until after 
harvest time the unplanted grains on each ear, as the best 
of these remnants may be needed for planting the next 
year. 


134 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Around the edges of this breeding-plot, plant the' best 
ears not used in the breeding-plot, these “ general-crop 
rows ” serving partially to exclude pollen of inferior plants 
and of other varieties. If practicable, let this breeding-plot 


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Fie. 72.— D1aGRaM SHOWING ARRANGEMENT OF Rows IN Corn 
BREEDING-PLoT. 


K] 


Ss 


Dotted lines represent detasseled parts of each row, from which seed 
corn is selected ; continuous lines represent parts of each row not detas- 
seled ; the best ears (1, 2, 3, etc.) are planted near the center of the plot. 


be at least a quarter or half of a mile from any other field 
of corn, and preferably separated from any other corn by 
woodland. 


CORN BREEDING .185 


If necessary, fertilize each half of each row with uniform 
weighed amounts of fertilizer. 

As soon as the tassels show, and before they have dis- 
charged any pollen, remove the tassels on one half of every 
odd-numbered row (let us say the north half) and on the 
other (or south) half of every even-numbered row (Fig. 72). 
Seed is to be saved only from the detasseled plants, 
thereby insuring cross-fertilization. ; 

From time to time as the crop grows, make note of and 
reject. those rows on which the plants show undesirable 
qualities, as excessive growth of suckers, tendency to fall 
down, excessive height of ears above ground, and the like. 
At harvest, weigh the husked ears of each row separately 
and on each of the best ten rows place a label or tag on 
a number of ears from the best plants. On this tag should 
be entered the peculiar excellence, if any, of each selected 
plant. 

For planting the breeding-patch of the second year, save 
the ears from the best plants on the 8 or 10 best rows. Use 
the remaining good ears from these best rows to plant larger 
fields next year. These steps are usually all that are neces- 
sary in the improvement of corn by most farmers. 


The method of conducting the ear-to-row breeding-plot is the 
same year after year, obtaining seed each year from the best 
plants of the 8 to 10 best rows. All other good ears from de- 
tasseled plants of the most productive rows may be used as seed 
for a seed patch of several acres or for the general crop. 

The limits of this book preclude an explanation of systems of 
numbering the ears and their offspring, for which the reader 
is referred to Illinois Experiment Station Bulletin, No. 100; 
Connecticut Experiment Station Bulletin, No. 152; and Bailey’s 
Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, Vol. II, p. 424. 


136 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The multiplication-plot.— The ears from the most productive 
rows inherit productiveness on the side of the female or pistillate 
parent; but the pollen that fertilized these ears may have come 
from one of the most inferior rows. In order to insure the best 
pollen, careful plant-breeders sometimes take the additional step 
of planting each year a special multiplication-plot, or mating 
area of corn. 

In this they plant the remnants of the best original ears saved 
from the planting of the preceding spring. These original 
ears in the intervening year have shown their ability to transmit 
productiveness to their offspring. These remnants of ears are 
pure ; that is, free from admixture of pollen from inferior strains. 

Hence, most rapid progress in corn breeding is made by having 
in the second year an isolated multiplication or mating-plot, 
in which are planted in alternate rows two or more of the best 
remnants of ears, as judged by the yields of the offspring of parts 
of the same ears in the ear-to-row test. 

Half of the rows in the multiplication-plot should be detasseled. 
Thus self-fertilization is avoided and the union by cross-fertiliza- 
tion of two productive strains is insured. 

When it is feasible to plant such a mating-patch, the ears 
from its detasseled rows constitute the seed for aseed patch of the 
third year, the product of which will plant the entire general crop 
of the farm, or be sold for seed. Since special equipment of venti- 
lated, insect-proof jars or cases is needed in the South to preserve 
the remnants of the original ears for one year, most breeders omit 
the mating-plot, planted with such remnants of ears. 


122. Breeding for. composition. —- Hopkins and Smith, 
at the Illinois Experiment Station (Bul. Nos. 119 and 128), 
have proved that the composition of corn can be varied 
by selection of seed-ears. They selected for many years 
in succession kernels rich in the chemical constituent 
desired, as fat, protein, or starch. After continuing this 
work for a number of years, great variations were found in 
the resulting strains. For example, after ten years of 


CORN BREEDING 187 


breeding, the strain continuously selected for its high 
percentage of oil contained 7.37 per cent of fat, or nearly 
three times as much as the strain selected for a low per- 
centage of oil. The increase in oil makes this high-oil 
strain more valuable for the manufacturers who produce 
from it corn oil, and also gives to the grain a higher feeding 
value, but a tendency to produce softer, less desirable 
pork. 

In ten years, the average percentage of protein in the grain 
was raised from 10.92 per cent at the beginning, to 14.26 at the 
end of the decade. The high-protein strain was then nearly 
twice as rich in this constituent as was the strain continuously 
selected for a low percentage of protein. The high percentage 
of protein gives to corn a higher feeding value, of a kind specially 
desirable when corn must be fed without being combined 
with other foods richer than itself in protein. Apparently, this 
strain was less able to resist drought, making a lower yield in a 
dry year than did the low-protein strain. It is highly probable 
that the high-protein strain more rapidly exhausts the soil. 

In breeding for a high percentage of protein, the breeder should 
not be deceived if the percentage of this constituent should run 
abnormally high in a very dry season, a result which Hopkins and 
Smith found to be due to the failure of the grain, under these 
conditions, to assimilate its usual quantity of starch. 

123. Other effects of breeding for composition. — The 
strain continuously selected in Illinois for low protein 
made larger ears and a larger yield of grain per acre than 
the higher protein strain; likewise, the strain poor in fat 
generally yielded more grain per acre than the strain rich 
in fat, and had larger ears than any other strain whatso- 
ever. Its grains were broader, due to the larger proportion 
of starch, and consequently there was a smaller number 
of rows of kernels than on the ears of other strains. 


138 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


124, “How to select grains according to composition. — 
Those kernels, which, in cross-section, show a large pro- 
portion of germ, are rich in fat; those with an abundance 
of horny material are rich in protein; while those with 
the greatest proportionate development of loose floury 
material are richest in starch. It has been found that the 
composition of the kernels of the entire ear is about the 
same as that of any row of grains on the ear. 

125. Germination test. — Care should be taken to select 
for planting only those ears on which nearly every grain 
will germinate. In a good sample, 97 per cent of the 
grains should sprout. A germination test of the ears 
planted is important, even when a larger number of grains 
is planted in each hill than will be left to grow there. This 
test becomes doubly important when thinning is to be 
avoided by planting in each hill only the number of grains 
expected to grow and to remain. 

Many ears, apparently sound, afford but a low percent- 
age of germination. Among the signs of poor germination 
are a dark area near the tip of the grain, or a shriveled tip; 
but many grains that appear to be sound fail to sprout. 


Some farmers have found it profitable to test for germination. 
every ear planted. The method used is the following : — 

The seed-ears are spread out on the floor in order and a number 
attached to each by means of a small nail driven through a small 
pasteboard label and into the butt end of the cob. Each ear 
is given a number, and from each ear six or tengrains are removed, 
these being taken from different parts of the ear. : 

A germination-box is made by taking any shallow box of proper 
size, placing in it one or more inches of damp sand or damp 
sawdust (Fig. 73). The sand is covered with a white cloth, which is 
marked off with a pencil into squares about two inches each way, 


CORN BREEDING 139 


each square bearing a number corresponding to the number on one 
of the ears. Six or ten grains taken from different parts of each 
ear are placed on the square bearing the same number as the ear. 
Another cloth (or cloth bag containing damp sawdust) is laid over 
the squares containing the grains to be tested, and over this second 


Fic. 73. -GERMINATOR MADE FROM A Soap Box, AND READY TO 
RECEIVE THE SEED. 


cloth is spread about an inch of moist sand or damp sawdust. 
The box is placed in a warm room, and in seven to ten days 
a count is made to determine which ears sprout properly. Donot 
use for planting any ear which bore a grain that failed to sprout. 


126. Crossing versus selection. — Crossing two dis- 
tinct varieties results in variation (or a lack of uniformity) 
in the plants; uniformity may not again be completely 
established even after five or ten years of subsequent 
selection. Hence it is usually better for the farmer to 
improve his corn by sélections among the individual plants 
of a single variety than to attempt to cross two dissimilar 
varieties. 

However, since crossing in certain rare cases is advisable, 
and since it often takes place accidentally, a few of the 
simpler effects of crossing are briefly discussed. 

127. Definitions of degrees of relationship between 
corn plants. — Self-pollination or in-breeding consists in 
placing the pollen of one plant on the pistil (silks) of the 


140 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


same plant. This relationship is too close for best yields, 
especially if the process be continued for several years. 

Close-breeding consists in crosses made among the silks 
and tassels of plants all of which sprang from grains borne 
in the next preceding generation on one ear. This rela- 
tionship is so close as to incur the danger of reducing the 
yield of grain. 

Cross-breeding consists in crosses made between plants 
that are not related. This may be 

(a) Between unrelated plants of the same variety; or 

(b) Between different varieties of the same race, as 
yellow and white dent corns; or 

(c) Between different races, as sweet and dent corn. 
As a rule, the most desirable relationship is cross-breeding 
between unrelated plants of the same variety. 

128. Effects of in-breeding and of cross-breeding on 
yield. — Experiments have shown that continued self- 
fertilization of the corn plant reduces the yield; and when 
self-fertilization is practiced for several successive genera- 
tions, it may dwarf the stalk and finally result in some 
measure of sterility (Figs. 75, 76). Halsted (N. J. Expr. 
Sta., Bul. "No. 170) found that self-pollination in sweet 
corn tended to increase the percentage of albino plants; 
that is, those with white foliage — an undesirable quality. 

Cross-breeding, on the other hand, invigorates the strain, 
and some recent experiments show that it may greatly 
increase the yield in the first generation of cross-bred 
plants. But it should be remembered that cross-breeding 
of dissimilar types has the serious disadvantage of destroy- 
ing uniformity. It should be confined chiefly to plants 
of the same variety, or to very closely related varieties. 


CORN BREEDING 141 


Fic. 74.—SuHowine Bap Errects or Continuous IN-BREEDING. 
Compare with Fig. 75. 


Fic. 75.—SHowine LarGer YIELD AND BretTEeR Ears 
FROM CoRN NoT IN-BRED. 


Compare with Fig. 74. 


129. Inheritance of color. — Any part of the ear or grain 
that develops when pollen is excluded is obviously merely 
the outgrowth of tissue from the mother plant. By in- 


142 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


closing the young ear-shoot in a paper bag, it is found 
that among the parts that develop in the absence of 
pollen are the cob and the hull (or seed-coats) of 
the grain. These parts (cob and seed-coats) cannot be 
changed in the current cross (that is, in the generation 
in which the cross is made) by pollen from a plant having 
a different character in these parts (see Pars. 90 and 95). 


Now whenever grains of corn are red, the red color is located in 
the hull. Proof of this is shown by the fact that meal from red 
corn is white, after the bran has been carefully sifted out. Hence 
if the female parent has red grains, the grains maturing soon after 
a cross is made will be red, no matter whether the pollen used 
be from a plant with yellow, with white, or with bluish grains. 

In the same way if pollen from a red variety be placed on the 
silks of a white or yellow variety, the grains of the current cross 
will all be of the same color as that of the silk-bearing parent. 

Very different is the way the yellow color of the corn grain 
is transmitted. The yellow color resides, not in the hull, but 
deeper in the structure of the grain; that is,in the endosperm. 
Proof of this is shown in the fact that meal from yellow corn is 
always yellow, even after the most complete removal of the bran. 

Those parts of the kernel inclosed inside of the hull, that is, 
the germ and the endosperm (including the aleurone layer), may 
be visibly influenced by the pollen used in the current cross, that 
is, by ‘‘double fertilization”; these inner portions of the grain 
may display in a few weeks after the cross is made the color 
derived from the sire or pollen-bearing plant. Now the yellow 
color is located in the endosperm. The purple color is located in 
the thin aleurone layer just under the seed-coats. Both the en- 
dosperm and its aleurone layer are subject to double fertilization 
by pollen, and thus they are at once influenced in color by the 
male parent. Hence pollen from a pure yellow variety, falling on 
silks of a white kind, promptly makes the grains thus fertilized 
yellow. Likewise pollen from a lead-colored corn, falling on silks 
of a white variety, promptly makes the hybrid grains lead-colored. 


CORN BREEDING 143 


This is because both the yellow and the lead colors, being in the 
endosperm, which may be influenced by the male parent, display 
their color through the transparent hull or bran of the white 
mother plant. 

But in the next generation, these hybrid seeds produce grains of 
various colors or shades. 


130. Dominance of certain qualities in hybrids. — Ac- 
cording to Mendel’s law, certain pairs of opposite quali- 
ties are not inherited in mixtures or blends, but separately, 
every individual descendant showing one or the other of 
these opposing qualities. The quality that shows in the 
greater number of the descendants is called dominant, 
while the quality showing forth in the smaller number of 
descendants of the cross is called recessive. 


Experiments have shown, according to East (Conn. State Agr. 
Expr. Sta. Rept. 1907-1908, Part VII, p. 41), that in corn the 
following characters are dominant over their opposites :— 


Yellow is dominant over white color of kernels. 

Red is dominant over white color of kernels. 

Purple is dominant over white color of kernels. 

Flint quality of grains is dominant over dent. ' 
Flint quality of grains is dominant over sweet. 

Dent quality of grains is dominant over sweet. 


Certain dominant qualities show in the current cross; among 
these are yellow or purple color of grains (when crossed on 
white varieties), and flintiness of grains, whether crossed on dent 
oronsweet corn. Asarule, the recessive grains, or those showing 
no effect of the cross in the second hybrid generation, are practi- 
eally pure as to that quality, and these pure white or pure dent 
grains of the second hybrid generation subsequently come ‘‘true to 
seed.” But the grains showing the dominant quality, yellow 
color or flint structure, cannot thus be selected as pure, because 
many of them have been influenced, though imperceptibly, by the 
recessive character (white color or dent structure). In other 


144 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


words, of the seed showing dominant qualities some are pure 
dominants and some are mixed, though having the same appear- 
ance as the pure dominants. 


131. Practical results. — Practical application may be 
made of the somewhat technical statements in the last few 
paragraphs in the following way, and in other operations 
in plant breeding : — 

(1) After crossing pollen of a pure yellow variety on 
silks of a pure white variety, say in 1910, practically all 
of the grains of the current cross in 1910 may be expected 
to be yellow or yellowish; all the pure white grains found 
in the second generation among the descendants of this 
cross may be considered as pure-bred so far as concerns 
color, and these white grains may be expected in all future 
years to produce only white grains. 

(2) After crossing pollen of a pure white variety on 
silks of a pure red variety, all the grains of that current 
cross will be red (because the hull of the grain is furnished 
by the mother parent, uninfluenced by the pollen used in 
the current cross) ; when these red grains are subsequently 
planted, the crop will contain a majority of red grains, 
most of which will be impure, as shown by their descend- 
ants, bearing both red and white grains. 

On the other hand, the white grains, found in the second 
generation in smaller number among the red grains, are 
pure; and when these white kernels are planted, their 
offspring will consist entirely of white kernels. 

132. Relative value of top and bottom ears for planting. 
— When there is any considerable inequality in size be- 
tween two ears growing on one plant, the upper ear is 
generally the larger. 


CORN BREEDING 145 


Using plants of identical parentage, Hartley: found that the 
yield of grain per plant grown from lower ears was equally as great 
as the yield from plants grown from upper ears. He found the 
plants grown from middle ears (on three-eared plants) to average 
0.65 of a pound of ear corn per plant, as compared with 0.70 of a 
pound from the offspring of both upper and lower ears borne by 
the same parent plants. 

Redding (Georgia Experiment Station, Bul. No. 55) obtained a 
slightly larger yield of grain from the offspring of bottom ears 
than from those of upper ears. The Alabama Experiment Station 
(Bul. No. 134) obtained in 1903 with St. Charles White a greater 
yield from upper ears, but in 1905, in a more extensive test with 
the Experiment Station Yellow variety, there was practically no 
difference in the grain yield of plants tracing to upper and to 
lower ears. At the Rhode Island Station (Bul. 116) Card found in 
sweet corn a tendency for the seed from upper ears to produce 
a greater number of ears per plant than seed from lower ears. 
This he assumed to be due to the more complete maturity and 
greater size of the upper ears of sweet corn. 


On the whole, available evidence is not sufficient to show 
any material difference between top and bottom ears for 
planting; and on theoretical grounds we should expect top 
and bottom ears, if equally developed in size and matur- 
ity, to be equally valuable for planting. 

133. Seed from different parts of the ear. — It is cus- 
tomary in the South to remove the grain for about an 
inch both at the tip and at the butt of the ear. Numeroys 
experiments show little or no difference in yield of corn 
produced by planting grain from the tip, butt, and middle 
portions of the ear. Even when the experiment extended 
through a number of successive generations, there were 
no notable differences in the yields. 


1 American Breeders’ Association, Vol. II, p. 124. 
L 


146 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Hartley found that the small kernels, usually on the tip, gave 
a higher percentage of weak and unproductive plants than larger 
kernels. Jeffrey (Mich. Exp. Sta., Cire. 3) found that in most, 
but not in all varieties, the butt kernels germinated more slowly 
and the tip kernels more promptly than those from the middle of 
the ear (Fig. 76). 

The Illinois Experiment Station has shown (Bul. 55, and Bul. 
128, p. 460) that the tip kernels contain a slightly lower percentage 


Fic. 76.— Youne Corn PLAnts. 


On left, from tip kernels; in center, from middle grains; and on 
right, from butt kernels. 


of protein than the middle or butt kernels, and that the butt 
kernels are slightly the richest in this constituent. The tip 
kernels contained a slightly larger proportion of starch than 
the others. Kernels from the tip, middle, and butt were prac- 
tically alike in percentage of oil and ash. 


On the whole, it seems advisable to remove the tip 
grains of the seed-ears: (1) so as to secure seed of more 
uniform size, an important consideration where a constant 
number of grains must be dropped by the planter in each 


CORN BREEDING 147 


hill; and (2) so as to avoid injured and very small grains, 
which would either fail to germinate or else cause the 
young plants produced from them to grow off slowly. 

134. Grading the seed grains. — When extreme care is 
taken to get all kernels of as nearly a uniform size as pos- 
sible, in preparation for machine planting, each ear, after 
being ‘ nubbed” and “ tipped,’”’ may be shelled sepa- 
rately into a pan, and the resulting grain grouped into 
kernels of three different sizes or shapes. This is more 
conveniently done by shelling all nubbed and tipped ears 
together and then separating the grains into three sizes by 
passing them through a series of sieves with meshes of 
different sizes. 

135. Effects of change of climate.— Corn brought 
into the South from a cooler climate acquires year by year 
in its new home greater height of stalk and later maturity. 
With many highly improved varieties the grains apparently 
become shorter and the number of rows may be reduced. 

As a rule, varieties from the corn-belt are not adapted to 
the cotton-belt. They mature too early, make a smaller 
yield of grain and stover than native varieties, and the 
grain is often unmarketable, being weevil-eaten and 
chaffy. 


Among the relatively few varieties from the corn-belt which 
have in a few experiments shown fair yields of grain are Boone 
County White and St. Charles White. Even these afford a better 
grade of grain when the date of planting is rather late. 

In the region just north of the cotton-belt, the Western varieties 
are nearer an equality with the native kinds. 

As a general rule, the best seed corn is that produced in nearly 
the same latitude where it is to be grown. Usually corn of 
Southern varieties produced south of the Ohio and Potomac 


148 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


rivers succeeds anywhere in the cotton-belt. Corn growers 
just north of the cotton-belt are able to use seed from a still higher 
latitude, but here, too, native improved varieties and locally 
grown seed are usually more satisfactory than seed corn from a 
widely different climate. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


Comparison of ears. 

(1) Select 5 or 10 plants with ears high above the ground and 
record the average height above ground of the node bearing the 
upper ear. 

(2) Make the same record for 5 or 10 plants in the same field 
with ears low on the stalk. 

(3) If practicable, compare the maturity and weights of the 
shucked ears on the two types of plants just mentioned. 


Upper and lower ears. 


(4) Select ten plants, each bearing two well-developed ears. 
Shuck and compare the weights of 


(a) the ten upper ears and 
(b) the ten lower ears. 
(c) Does the upper or the lower ear develop and mature first? 


(5) Tip, BUTT, AND MIDDLE GRAINS. Make germination tests 
of 100 tip grains, 100 butt grains, and 100 from the middle of 
the ear. 

(6) Variation. Record for two plants of the same variety as 
many points of difference as you can discover. 

What does this suggest as to the advantages of seed selecting 
and breeding ? 


Color of grains. 

(7) Soak kernels of red and yellow corn, separate the coats, and 
determine in what part of the grain each color is located. 

Barren plants. 

(8) Determine in any field the percentage of barren stalks. 


CORN BREEDING 149 


Silks. 
(9) Provided any corn in silking stage is available. 


(a) With a magnifying glass examine the fresh silk sticking 
out beyond the shuck for hair-like branches and for 
pollen grains that have lodged on the silk. 

(b) Tie large, strong paper bags over several young ear- 
shoots before any silks appear. 

(c) A few days after the silks appear under the bags, note 
how much longer they are than silks which have re- 
ceived pollen. 

(d) While the silks under one bag are still fresh, and before 
any pollen has reached them, cut all the silks on one 
side of the ear, just inside the shuck; apply corn 
pollen on theremaining silks. In three weeks note the 
number of grains of corn developed on each sideof the 
injured ear. 


LITERATURE 


East, E.M. ‘Conn. (State) Expr. Sta. , Rpt. 1907-1908, Part VII, 
p. 41, and Conn. (State) Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 158. 

Smrrx, L. H. M1. Expr. Sta., Bul. Nos. 128 and 182. 

Wiuiams, C.G. Ohio Expr. Sta., Cire. No. 71. 

Hartiey, C. P. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. No. 229. 

Souusz, A. M., and Vanarrer, P.O. Va. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 
165. 

Davenport, E. The Principles of Breeding. New York, 1907. 

Davenport, E. Ill. Expr. Sta., Bul. No 119 and Cire. No 101. 

Wesser, H. J. Plant Breeding. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, 
pp. 538-69; and Xenia (double fertilization), U. S. Dept. 
Agr., Div. Veg. Phys. and Path., Bul. No. 22. 


CHAPTER VIII 
CORN — SOILS, ROTATIONS, AND FERTILIZERS 


WHILE corn will grow on an extremely wide range of 
soils, yet good yields can be expected only on rich or highly 
manured land. The corn plant, with its abundant foli- 
age, actively engaged in transpiring moisture, needs large 
supplies of water. Therefore, the best soil for corn is one 
which can furnish a large and regular supply of water during 
periods of dry weather. Such a soil is usually a deep, 
rather rich loam, well supplied with vegetable matter. As 
a rule, bottom lands afford larger yields of corn than up- 
lands. 

136. Bottom lands and uplands for maize. — Bottom 
lands on which corn makes its best yields should be well 
drained, since the corn roots need a constant supply of 
oxygen from the air, and air cannot penetrate saturated 
soil. Neither can the roots range to sufficient depth when 
the line of saturation is near the surface. The more poorly 
the land is drained, the later must the corn be planted and 
the greater the risk of failure, should the subsequent season 
be unfavorable. Uplands can be fitted for a maximum 
development of corn by gradually increasing the depth of 
plowing and by constantly adding vegetable matter, by 
judicious rotation of crops, or by the application of barn- 
yard manure. 

150 


CORN SOILS 151 


137. Poor and acid soils. — It is doubtful whether land 
so poor as to produce without fertilizers only 10 bushels of 
corn per acre is in condition to produce a profitable crop 
of corn, even when fertilized. It will usually be more 
profitable in such cases to grow first a crop of cowpeas or of 
some other soil-improving plant before planting the land 
in corn. 

Corn makes a fair yield even on land that is slightly 
acid; but on such soils, the yield is usually improved by an 
application of about half a ton of slacked lime per acre. 
Corn is more intolerant of dryness in the soil than of any 
other condition. A dry or thirsty soil may cause the 
leaves to “ fire’ and the plant to be undersized,. with only 
one ear or nubbin per plant. Moreover, on thirsty land, 
the distance between plants must be wide, resulting in a 
small yield per acre. 

138. Other corn soils.——In selecting land for corn, 
deep sand beds should be avoided, as being too poor and 
dry. The stiffest clays are also not desirable, since they 
are often too compact for sufficient penetration by the 
roots and for thorough preparation, cultivation, and drain- 
age. Corn is a favorite crop on new ground or land from 
which the timber has just been cleared. 


RoratTion 


139. The place of corn in a rotation. — On cotton farms 
there is too frequently no effort to practice rotation or sys- 
tematic change of crop from field to field. Especially is 
there a failure to alternate any other crop with corn, for the 
reason that in the sandy and hilly country corn is generally 
planted on the narrow bottoms, which constitute the best 


152 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


corn land of these regions. In these cases (on the richer 
bottoms), so long as the yield is satisfactory, and no undue 
amount of disease appears, it is probably better to violate 
the usual rules of rotation and to grow corn continuously 
than to change it to the shallow, dry soils of the hills. 
However, tracts that must for this reason be cropped an- 
nually with corn should be carefully supplied with vege- 
table matter by one of the following methods: (1) Either 
by sowing cowpeas thickly each summer among the grow- 
ing corn plants, or else (2) by growing each winter a crop 
of crimson clover, bur clover, hairy vetch, or other winter- 
growing legumes, to be plowed under in April or May as 
fertilizer for the corn crop of the same year. 

140. A three-year rotation. — When possible, corn 
should enter into the regular farm rotation. In the rota- 
tions best suited to the average cotton plantation corn 
usually follows cotton, and is followed by fall-sown oats 
or by wheat. This position is given to corn, not for its own 
advantage, but because corn can easily be removed in time 
for the fall sowing of the small grains, while cotton is not 
generally removed at so early a date. 

Incidentally, corn -grown after cotton gets the advan- 
tage of the clean and late cultivation given the latter, and 
this starts the young corn plants promptly into growth. 
Corn, following cotton on a field comparatively free from 
the seeds of weeds and grasses, can be produced with less 
labor than corn after corn. A good three-year rotation 
is the following : — 

First year: cotton; 

Second year: corn, with cowpeas between the rows; 

Third year: oats or wheat, followed by cowpeas. 


CORN FERTILIZERS 153 


This places corn on one third of the cultivated area 
each year. When this rotation is repeated through the 
fourth, fifth, and sixth years, it is plain that cowpeas or 
cowpea stubble, following the small grains, is plowed under 
just a full year before corn occupies the land. 

141. A four-year rotation. — The above scheme may 
readily be changed into a four-year rotation by growing 
two successive crops of cotton, the first of which may well 
be followed by a catch crop of crimson clover, plowed under 
about April 1, as fertilizer. This places corn on one fourth 
of the cultivated land and on fields where cowpeas were 
plowed under two years before and where, perhaps, crimson 
clover was plowed under one year before the corn was 
planted. 


FERTILIZERS 


142. Need for a fertilizer rich in nitrogen. — Corn must 
make a rapid development of stalk, leaf, and ear, and for 
this purpose there must be present in soil or fertilizer a 
large amount of plant-food. The rapid growth seems to 
make especially necessary largesupplies of nitrogen. Those 
soils richest in nitrogen almost invariably produce the 
largest yields of corn. 


In unpublished experiments made on a wide variety of poor 
soils in Alabama, nitrogenous fertilizers have increased the crop to 
a much greater extent than any other kinds. In these tests, 
potash was usually of far less value than when applied to the 
cotton plant. Acid phosphate was intermediate in value be- 
tween the nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers. However, 
the results of fertilizer experiments vary greatly according to the 
nature and previous history of the soil. 


154 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


143. Leguminous plants an economical source of ni- 
trogen. — Recognizing the great need for nitrogen, the wise 
farmer will provide it in the most economical and effective 
manner. This is best effected by the use of cowpeas or 
other leguminous crops, grown on the land, and either 
plowed under as fertilizer or used as fertilizer after having 
been consumed by animals. When nitrogen is supplied 
in these bulky forms, the plant-food is accompanied by a 
large mass of vegetable matter, which has the effect of 
making the land more retentive of moisture in periods of 
drought. Thus fertilization with nitrogen, through rota- 
tion with leguminous plants, supplies the two greatest 
needs of the corn plant, namely, nitrogen and moisture. 

144. Suggestive fertilizer formulas. — Proper fertiliza- 
tion is governed by soil, kind of tillage, previous treat- 
ment of the land, and other considerations. No one fertil- 
izer formula therefore fits all conditions, but the following 
are suggested : — 


(1) By the Georgia Experiment Station (Bul. 74). For corn 
on worn uplands, — 


Acid phosphate, 1000 Ib. 
Cotton-seed meal, 1218 Ib. 
Muriate of potash, 32 Ib. 

Total, 2250 lb. (for several acres). 


This fertilizer analyzes about 10 per cent available phosphoric 
acid, 5 per cent nitrogen, and 2 per cent muriate of potash. 

The author suggests the following as often applicable for loam 
and clay soils, — 


(2) 100 to 200 lb. acid phosphate per acre ; 
100 lb. nitrate of soda, the latter applied when the plants 
are 2 to 4 feet high, on one side of each row; or, 


CORN FERTILIZERS 155 


(3) 100 to 200 lb. acid phosphate, 
200 Ib. cotton-seed meal. 


(4) For very sandy soils, — 
100 to 200 Ib. acid phosphate, 
100 lb. nitrate of soda (or 200 lb. cotton-seed meal), 
50 to 100 lb. kainit. 


For land that has been enriched in nitrogen by the plowing 
under of cowpeas or similar growth, it will usually suffice to 
fertilize with 200 lb. per acre of acid phosphate or of an ordi- 
nary cotton guano. But even here, it will often be profitable to 
add 50 or 100 Ib. of nitrate of soda when the plants are 2 to 4 feet 
high. : 

When corn is grown in rotation on fairly good loamy or clay 
soil, it appears to be better policy in most cases to withhold potash 
from the corn, which is often unresponsive to it, and to apply if 
necessary an additional amount to the cotton crop grown in the 
same rotation, — thus getting the benefit of its specific effect in 
restraining cotton rust on soils subject to this malady. 


145. Time to apply fertilizers. — When ordinary amounts 
of commercial fertilizer, say 200 to 400 pounds per acre, 
have been used, most experiments have shown at least as 
large yields from applying the whole before planting as 
from applying a part before planting and a part during the 
cultivation of the crop. This conclusion is summed up in 
a quotation from Bulletin No. 74, Georgia Experiment 
Station, by Redding: ‘‘ The experiments conducted on 
this station long since proved that . . . (inter-cultural 
fertilization) is not profitable asa rule. On the other hand 
it is often advisable to withhold a part of the fertilizer 
for inter-cultural application, when the total amount to be 
applied is large; for example, 500 to 1000 pounds per 
acre.” 


156 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


In the Williamson method of corn culture (see Par. 175), 
all of the fertilizer is applied comparatively late in the life 
of the plant. 

Whenever nitrate of soda is the nitrogenous fertilizer, 
it should be applied wholly or in part after the plants have 
begun growth and before they shoot, preparatory to tas- 
seling. It is believed that nitrate of soda is more effective 
if applied when the plants are between 1 and 4 feet high 
than if placed in the soil at a later stage of maturity. 

146. Methods of applying fertilizers. — When com- 
mercial fertilizer is applied to corn, it is usually drilled in. 
The Georgia Experiment Station found that about the 
same results were obtained from half a pound of fertilizer 
in the drill as from one pound sown broadcast. The 
method of distribution in the drill before the planting of 
the seed is by hand application or by the use of a fertilizer 
distributor, or by the use of a combined fertilizer dis- 
tributor and planter, which performs both operations at 
one time. 

When fertilizer is applied to corn after planting, it is usually 
placed in a furrow 2 to 4 inches deep and a few inches from the 
line of plants. With most fertilizers, it is desirable that this 
later application, when made at all, be at a depth of 2 to 4 inches, 
so that this layer of fertilizer and the roots congregating around it 
may not be disturbed by subsequent shallow cultivation. 

When nitrate of soda is applied after the corn is 1 to 4 feet high, 
it is drilled 6 to 8 inches from the plant, the depth being of little 
consequence. Indeed, nitrate of soda requires no covering when 
applied on damp soil. However, it is generally advisable for it 
to be covered slightly by the next cultivating furrow, so that if a 
sudden heavy rain should occur, this fertilizer would not be so 
completely washed away as if it were caught by rain while still 
on the surface. 


CORN FERTILIZERS 157 


147. Quantity of fertilizer. — Until the recent agitation 
about the Williamson method of corn culture, it was the 
general opinion that it was ordinarily not advisable to 
use very large amounts of commercial fertilizer for corn, 
400 pounds per acre being then considered a'rather heavy 
application for this crop. 

Experience shows that corn does not, as surely as cotton, 
pay a large profit’ on a large quantity of commercial fer- 
tilizer. There is more risk with the corn crop because its 
bearing season, from silking to hardening of the kernels, is 
shorter than the fruiting season of cotton; and drought 
at this critical time in the life of the corn plant is apt to 
ruin the crop, regardless of the amount of fertilizer em- 
ployed. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


(1) Compare 10 corn plants grown on a rich bottom soil 
with 10 others of the same variety grown on a dry upland, 
recording :— 


(a) average height of plant ; 

(b) average height of upper ear above ground ; 

(c) average number of square feet of ground occupied by 
each plant, and 

(d) average weight of shucked ear or ears per plant. 


(2) Apply a teaspoonful of nitrate of soda to each corn plant 
on one row and each week afterwards compare the size and 
color of plants on this row with those that received no nitrate 
of soda. 


LitTeERATURE 
Dvuaear, J. F. (Rotation.) Ala. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 134. 
Dopson, W. R. (Rotation.) La. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 111. 


Wuutney, Mitton. (Fertilizers.) U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Soils, 
Bul. No. 64. 


CHAPTER IX 
CORN —THE TILLAGE OR CULTIVATION 


SouTueERn lands are usually in extreme need of vegetable 
matter. Too often the stalks of corn or cotton are burned 
in preparation for the next crop. Whenever possible, 


Fie. 77.— A STaLK-cuTTER. 


the stalks and weeds, instead of being burned, should be 

plowed under. To do this properly, it is often necessary 

to use a stalk-cutter (Fig. 77), which is usually drawn 
158 


CORN TILLAGE 159 


by two horses. At each trip it cuts into bits, about a foot 
long, the stalks on one row. In the absence of the stalk- 
cutter, corn stalks are cut into two or three sections with 
the hoe, and large cotton stalks are chopped with a 
stalk-cutter or broken by beating them with a heavy 
stick, preferably on some frosty morning in winter. 

In plowing under weeds or other litter, the work can be 
much better done by dragging the loop of a heavy chain, 
one end attached to the beam and the other end to the outer 
end of the single-tree on the same side as the moldboard. 
The loop of this heavy chain runs just in front of and above 
the share of the plow and bends the weeds down so that 
they can be completely covered by the inverted soil. 

148. Time of plowing.— The time must vary with 
conditions. The stiffer the soil and the larger the amount 
of vegetation to be plowed under, the earlier should plow- 
ing be done. On stiff soil plowing may well begin in 
November and be completed before Christmas. While 
land plowed at this time will have become compacted on 
the surface by planting time, this surface crust can easily 
be lightened by the use of a disk-harrow just before planting. 

There is considerable leaching, or waste of fertility, from 
plowed soils left bare during the winter, especially from 
sandy soils. This loss is greater the earlier in the fall the 
plowing is done. Hence the preparation of sandy soil 
may be postponed until the stiffer soils have been prepared, 
but even sandy soils should be prepared for corn before the 
teams are monopolized in the preparation of land for.cotton. 

149. Ridging versus flush plowing. — The main systems 
of preparing land for corn may be classified as follows : — 

(1) Ridging, or forming beds on which the rows of corn 


160 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


are to be planted; (2) plowing land on the level, which is 
called flush or broadcast plowing; (3) preparing the land 
so that corn may be planted in the water-furrow or de- 
pression between the beds. 

Ridging, or bedding, is confined to a few regions where 
the drainage is deficient ; for example, the prairie or stiff, 
waxy lime lands of Alabama and Mississippi. Even 
here, while bedding is perhaps generally necessary for corn 
‘planted early on poorly drained soil, it can often be dis- 
pensed with, or the height of the beds can be reduced. The 
disadvantages of planting on elevated ridges are great, 
among them being the following : — 

(1) More surface is exposed to evaporation and the row 
dries out more rapidly ; 

(2) The depth of soil left in the water furrow is insuffi- 
cient to support plant roots, thus confining them largely 
to the limited area immediately under the ridge. 

The one purpose and advantage of ridging is to secure 
increased drainage and warmth. Hence, even in the re- 
gions where usually regarded as necessary, the ridging of 
corn that is planted late is usually undesirable. 

150. A modified ridging system. — A system that has 
not come into general use but that has been recommended 
for stiff, poorly drained soil, is the following, which affords 
drainage on one side of each row, and on the other side 
all the advantages of level planting. 

Prepare the field by back-furrowing so as to make eight- 
foot lands, or lands of double the width desired for a single 
row. Plant two rows 4 feet apart on this eight-foot land. 
This places each row 2 feet from a water-furrow on one 
side. The other side of the same row can be tilled level. 


CORN TILLAGE 161 


151. Level preparation and planting.— There are 
numerous advantages in plowing the land level rather than 
into ridges. As a rule, the soil is thus more completely 
turned and a greater variety of improved implements 
can be used, — for example, the disk-plow, the row marker, 
and the check-rower, or two-horse corn planter. More- 
over, except on very wet soils, the yield of corn is usually 
greater from level planting than from ridging. This is 
due to the greater ability of the level land to retain mois- 
ture during periods of drought and to the wider range of 
the roots, and to their more uniform covering with moist 
soil. Level planting is preferable for corn tilled in checks 
and for many loamy soils, whether the crop be checked 
or drilled. 

152. Planting in the water-furrow. — On sandy upland 
soils in most parts of the Gulf States, it is the custom of 
many farmers to plant corn in the water-furrow formed by 
first bedding the land, thus placing the seed in a deep 
depression. It is asserted for this method that by placing 
the plants deeper it brings their roots into a moist layer 
‘of soil and increases resistance to drought. It also makes 
tillage easier, saving part of the work with the hoe, for 
the reason that the filling of the furrow by the cultivating 
implement readily covers and smothers young grass. 

In a comparison of this method with that of planting 
on beds (doubtless low beds), the Georgia Station found 
no advantage from planting in a water-furrow on reddish 
clay-loam — a soil which is somewhat stiffer than in the 
regions where planting in the water-furrow is most cus- 
tomary. 

At the Alabama Experiment Station (Bul. No. 111), on 


M 


‘ 


162 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


permeable gray sandy soil (Norfolk sandy loam), the 
yield was one year favorable and one year unfavorable 
to this method as compared with level planting. 

Planting corn in water-furrows is not to be commended 
for stiff soils; but for permeable sandy soils, this course 
seems to be advisable. 

153. Preparation for planting in the water-furrow. — 
This system is the most popular one on sandy uplands and 
other dry soils. When the preparation is to be thorough, 
ridges are made by back-furrowing in such a way as to 
leave the water-furrows about 5 feet apart. The bed is not 
quite completed, but a narrow strip or balk, 6 to 8 inches 
wide, where the water-furrow. will be, is left unplowed 
until the farmer is nearly ready to plant corn. Then with 
a shove! plow, he throws out this balk and plants the seed 
in the freshly broken furrow, often by means of a com- 
bined fertilizer distributor and planter, which places both 
fertilizer and seed at the bottom of the newly made water- 
furrow and 5 to 8 inches below the level of the highest part 
of the ridge. 

During tillage, the soil of the ridge is worked toward 
the plants in the water-furrow, so that, when the crop is 
laid by, the field is practically level. 

“Listing” is a special method of planting in a deep 
furrow; it is common in the dry regions of the Southwest. 

154. Depth of plowing. — Naturally this should vary 
with the character of the soil and the depth of the pre- 
vious plowing. In general, it may be said that most 
Southern corn fields are not plowed deep enough. The 
increase in depth is best made gradually, plowing each 
year one inch deeper than the preceding, until the desired 


CORN TILLAGE 163 


depth is attained. The earlier in the season the land 
is plowed, the greater is the increase in depth that can 
properly be made. Hence, fall plowing or early winter 
plowing may be deeper, sometimes an inch deeper, than 
plowing done in February or March. Usually the yield is 
decreased by bringing to the surface, especially near 
the time of planting, any very large amount of clay from 
the subsoil. But while this may reduce the first crop, 
the increased depth is apt to increase the yields of sub- 
sequent crops. 

155. Subsoiling. —A method of suddenly increasing 
the depth of plowing consists in running a special subsoil 


Fie. 78.—A Sussom Piow. 


plow in the bottom of every furrow made by an ordinary 
turn-plow. This may double the depth of soil stirred. 
As a rule, subsoiling is best done in November or Decem- 
ber, or before the beginning of the rainy season of winter. 
After the winter rains begin, the subsoil of most fields 
is usually too moist for the advantageous use of a sub- 
soil plow. If subsoiling is done when the subsoil is too 
wet (and this may be the case while the surface soil is 


Pd 


164 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


abundantly dry for plowing), more harm than good will 
result. 

Since the subsoil is compact, much power is needed to pull 
a subsoil plow (Fig. 78), making this a rather expensive 
operation. While there are many exceptions, the majority 
of experiments in subsoiling land subsequent to January 1 
have shown no immediate increase, or not enough to pay 
for the extra cost of subsoiling. Subsoiling, when needed 


Fic. 79.—A TuRN-pLow. 


at all, should not be done more frequently than once in 
two or three years. It is usually more practicable to in- 
crease the depth of ordinary plowing than to practice sub- 
soiling. . 
Implements used in preparation for corn. — Besides the stalk 
cutter, the implements for preparation are usually either the turn- 
plow (Fig. 79), which may be of various sizes and patterns, or the 
disk-plow (Fig. 80). The latter is suited only to level plowing but 
does its work more completely than the turn-plow, though appar- 
ently at greater expenditure of horse power. Use is sometimes 


CORN TILLAGE 165 


Fie. 80.—A Disx-PLow: 
The disk which turns the soil shows only dimly beyond the frame. 
i 38 
made of a double moldboard plow or ** middle burster,” and, in the 
semi-arid Southwest, of a somewhat similar “‘lister.” Doubtless 
some of the labor-saving implements of the latter region, such as 
‘listers’ and ‘‘combined listers and planters’ (Fig. 81) could be 
effectively used on sandy soils in the South. Various forms of 


Fig. 81.— ComsBinep ListeR AND CoRN PLANTER. 


166 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


harrows (Fig. 85) are used by the best farmers to pulverize the 
clods after plowing. 

Partial preparation. — Two methods of preparation deserve 
notice here, both involving the performing of only a part of the 
work before planting. Much of the corn in the limestone prairie 
region of Alabama and Mississippi is planted by making a list, 
or slight ridge, with two turn-plow furrows thrown on the seed 
dropped in the old water-furrow. Then theridge is completed by 
throwing two or more additional furrows of a turn-plow against 
this ‘‘list.’”’ This method places the seed deeper in the ground 
than is probably advisable in such stiff soils but gives opportunity 
for a practice not yet in common use in that region, namely, the 
partial pulling down of the ridges and the cultivation of the field 
by using the spike-tooth harrow before the corn comes up. 

Another system of partial or deferred preparation is practiced 
to some extent in the sandy or hilly region. A deep furrow is 
opened, in which the seed and fertilizer are placed; then a fur- 
row on each side is thrown toward the seed, the greater part of the 
land remaining unbroken until cultivation begins. The combined 
breaking and cultivation is done gradually with a small, deep- 
running plow or shovel. This is obviously a laborious method, 
requiring the use of small, unsatisfactory implements. Its chief 
excuse is the occasional occurrence of continued wet weather at a 
time when land for corn should be prepared. 


156. Planting. — Much corn is still dropped by hand, 
and in this case it may be covered by any kind of a plow. 
Much is planted by one-horse or single-row planters 
(Fig. 82), with which fertilizer distributors are often com- 
bined. The use of check-rowers (two-row planters) is 
restricted in the South to a rather limited number of 
localities where the land is comparatively level. Planters 
save labor, usually afford a more even and prompt 
germination, and leave the young plants in straighter 
lines, thus making tillage easier. 


CORN TILLAGE 167 


157. Depth of planting. — Corn may be planted and 
come up well at almost any depth between 1 and 4 inches. 
The general rule is to plant it just deep enough to insure 
a continuous supply of moisture. Hence, planting late 
in the season on a dry, loose seed-bed may require the seed 
to be covered with 3 or even 4 inches of soil. In the 


Fic. 82.— A ONnE-Row CorN PLANTER. 


earlier part of the season 14 to 3 inches may be considered 
the best depth for most conditions. 

The depth of rooting is not strictly governed by the 
depth of planting, since the few roots thrown out near the 
sprouting kernel are not the ones from which the plant draws 
most of its water and food (Fig. 83). Most of the perma- 
nent roots originate at the crown, which is usually about 1 
inch below the surface of the soil, regardless of the depth 
of planting. 


168 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


158. Date of planting. —In the southern part of the 
Gulf States, east of Texas, corn planting becomes general 
about the first of March; and in the central part of the 
Gulf States it is in full progress about the middle of March. 


Fic. 83.— DiacramM or YounG Corn PLants. 


Showing that the depth of the crown, where most roots originate, is 
nearly the same with shallow, medium, and deep planting. 


In the northern part of the same states most of the planting 
is done in April. The corn planting season in all states 
of the cotton-belt practically extends from about the first 
of March to nearly the first of July. Bottom lands are 
frequently not planted until May or later, while in the same 
locality the preferred date for planting the uplands may 
be some time in March. Plantings made in June, even 
on bottom lands, are usually less productive than those 
made in May or earlier. A part of the corn is sometimes 
planted late, in order to distribute the labor of cultivation 
through a longer period. 

Only the seasons can determine whether in any given 


CORN TILLAGE 169 


year it is better to plant uplands very early or at a medium 
date. The general belief inclines to the advantage of 
the very early planting of uplands, or as soon as danger 
of killing frost is past. However, success is sometimes 
made by planting at almost any date between the last 
killing frost and the first of June. 


Incidental considerations sometimes govern the date of planting. 
For example, on land that is especially 
liable to the injury of young corn plants 
by the small budworm (see Par. 189), it is 
regarded as advantageous either to plant 
very early, or still better, to postpone 
planting until about the first of May. 
_The common idea in postponing plant- 
ing is that the soil becomes so warm as 
to discourage the insects. Probably a 
truer explanation is found in the more 
rapid growth of the late-planted corn, 
which sooner grows beyond the stage in 
which it is attacked by the budworm. 

Early planting has a tendency to pro- 
duce a smaller stalk than late planting, a 
desirable result. Corn planted early re- 
quires a greater number of cultivations. 

Late planting, while making a very 
tall stalk, reduces the injury from weevil 
by reason of the late date of maturity. 
Late-planted corn, if harvested before : 
becoming thoroughly dry, requires more pig, 34. Hann Corn 
ventilation of the cribs than is generally PianreR, ror Re- 
necessary with early-planted corn. PLANTING. 


159. Replanting. — This is generally done by dropping 
the seed by hand and covering with a hoe. This involves 
many unnecessary motions and much waste of time. An 


170 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


improvement consists in using the rotary or other hand 
planter (Fig. 84), which, when thrust into the soil, leaves 
several grains covered at the proper depth. 

The yield from hills that have been replanted is often 
unsatisfactory, probably because of their being crowded 
by the older plants and partly, perhaps; because of an in- 
adequate supply of pollen for the few plants which produce 
their silks after most corn has ceased to tassel. Hence if 
the stand of corn is poor, it often pays better to plow up 
the remnant and plant again, rather than to replant the 
vacant spaces. 

160. Harrowing before and after planting. — In the 
preparation of land for corn in the South, the harrow is 
not so generally used as it should be. 

The disk-harrow can be advantageously used to slice 
large clods left by the plow. Another use to which it is 
seldom put, but which it serves admirably, consists in 
running it over crusted land to break the surface crust 
so that when plowed, large clods do not form. A large 
part of the tillage should be given to corn land before the 
seed is planted, and this is readily done by employing some 
form of harrow after plowing. 1 

The best time to use any kind of harrow is within a few 
hours after plowing, so that there may still be enough 
moisture in the clods to cause them to pulverize readily. 
Harrowing not only breaks the clods, but also makes the 
land retain moisture better. 

The spike-tooth harrow (Fig. 85) may often be used 
advantageously to pull down or flatten ridges or beds 
which have been thrown up higher than necessary, as is 
the custom in the prairie region of the South and on bottom 


[ 


CORN TILLAGE 171 


lands. The use of the harrow several weeks after plowing, 
and either just before planting corn or soon afterwards, 
kills young weeds and grass and thus reduces the subse- 
quent cost of tillage. The principal change needed in 
the tillage of corn in the South is the more general use of 
the weeder or harrow. Its use should be begun about the 


Fie. 85.— A Spixe-rootu Harrow. 


time of planting and be continued as long as possible. The 
harrow may be used until the corn plants are 4 to 6 inches 
high and the weeder (Fig. 86) until they are 8 to 12 inches 
high. The broadcast tillage with these implements is 
the cheapest method of cultivating young corn, since with 
either a harrow or a weeder 10 to 12 acres of corn can be 
cultivated in a day. This economical broadcast har- 
rowing permits delay in beginning cultivation with other 
implements. : 

It is usually best to run the harrow or weeder diagonally 


172 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


across the rows, though the direction is not always im- 
portant. 

161. Usual tilling or cultivating implements. — The 
implements most generally used in corn tillage in the South 
are such as can be drawn by one horse or mule. Among 
these are the following: heel scrapes, sweeps, cultivators 


Fic. 86.—A WesxEper. 


with many small points, and one-horse spring-tooth culti- 
vators (Fig. 87). Too often the cultivating implement is a 
scooter, shovel or other implement tilling or cultivating but 
a narrow strip of ground and running so deep as to cut 
many of the corn roots. 

The general rule should be to till corn shallow, that is, 
to a depth of 14 to 24 inches, unless there are special 
reasons for deeper tillage. Sometimes comparatively deep 
tillage may be justifiable while the corn is less than one 
foot high, especially on land that contains much clay and 


CORN TILLAGE 178 
that has been baked or run together by heavy rains, or 
that was imperfectly plowed in the beginning. 


When ‘‘scrapes’’ or similar implements are used, it is custom- 
ary for the first working to be made with scrapes of the smaller 


Fic. 87.— A ONE-HORSE, SPRING-rooTH HARROW, WITH FENDERS. 


sizes, usually 10 to 12 inches in width, gradually increasing the 
size up to 30 inches or wider. The first tilling of corn can be much 
more rapidly done if the cultivating implement is supplied with 
fenders (Fig. 87), which are usually strips of metal attached to the 
plow beam and trailing along the ground between the implement 


174 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


and the young plant to protect the latter from being covered by 
the upturned soil. 

It is usually cheaper to kill young grass along the line of the 
drill by smothering it with earth thrown on it than by the use of 
the hoe; yet this working of the soil towards the plants should 
not be carried to such an extent as to form high ridges along the 
line of the row. a 

As a general rule, tillage implements with small points answer 
well for the destruction of very young grass and weeds and for 
forming a surface mulch. But, if crab grass or other tough 
vegetation attains considerable size, it is usually necessary to 
destroy it with some form of cutting implement, such as a scrape 
or Sweep. 

162. Two-horse cultivators.— These implements are 
used to a considerable extent by the most progressive 
farmers. They are of two general types: first, disk cul- 
tivators, and second, cultivators armed with shovels, 
scrapes, or small points. The former are more apt to 
leave the land in high ridges and to cut rather deep. 
When two-horse cultivators constitute the main reliance, 
it is often advisable to give the last working with some 

_form of one-horse cultivator, after the plants are too large 
to be straddled by the double cultivator. 

163. Use of the turn-plow.—In the early years of 
Southern agriculture, the turn-plow was an ordinary im- 
plement of cultivation. As methods of farming have im- 
proved, farmers have largely discarded the use of the 
turn-plow as a cultivating implement. There are excep- 
tional cases when its use is justifiable, for example, (1) 
where grass is too large to be uprooted by ordinary tillage 
and where it needs to be thrown away from the plants, and 
to be killed by smothering with earth; (2) when the land 
is cold and when budworms are injuring the young plants, 


CORN TILLAGE 175 


under which conditions the use of the turn-plow to. “ bar 
off ” the corn rows, that is, to throw the earth away from 
the row, is justifiable. In such cases, the soil should be 
returned to its original position as soon as the grass has 
been killed. 

164. Checking corn. — Checking consists in planting 
corn in such a way that it can be worked or plowed in two 


Fic. 88.— CHEcK-row Corn PLANTER, wiTtH DovuBLE Disks TO OPEN 
A Deep FurRow. 


directions. Most of the corn in the cotton-belt is not 
checked, because the land is too rolling to be cultivated in 
more than one direction. However, checking is in common 


176 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


use on the less rolling lands, especially on the northern 
edge of the cotton-belt; and its use on level and gently 
rolling land should become more general throughout the 
South. 

The chief advantage of checking consists in the saving 
of hand labor or -hoeing. In order to practice checking, 
the land should be nearly level or very gently rolling and 
well drained, since checking cannot well be practiced where 
it is necessary to plant on ridges, as is done on poorly 
drained land. The yield of checked corn is nearly the 
same as that from drilling, provided the number of plants 
per acre be the same in each case. 

Corn can be checked either by using a check-row planter, 
(Fig. 88), or by carefully marking off rows at uniform dis- 
tances and opening the planting furrows at regular inter- 
vals and perpendicular to the first marking. The seed corn 
may be carefully dropped by hand in the furrows where 
they are intersected by the cross marks. In using a check- 
row corn planter, two rows are planted at once at uniform 
distances. This is done either by means of a wire at- 
tached to the planter and stretching across the field, or by 
having a second man to ride on the machine and regulate 
the distance for dropping the seed. 

165. Number of kernels to plant in a hill. — It is cus- 
tomary throughout the cotton-belt to plant about three 
grains in each hill, even though only one plant is to be 
allowed to live. This thick planting is chiefly due to the 
fear of the budworms, which kill many young plants when 
3 to 10 inches high. It is also partly due to the use of seed 
that germinates poorly and to insufficient preparation of 
the land. Attention to these points will often make it 


CORN TILLAGE 177 


practicable to plant only one or two kernels in a place, 
thus reducing the labor of thinning. 

166. Thinning corn.— Since an excessive number of 
grains is planted, subsequent thinning becomes necessary. 
This should usually be postponed until after the plants are 
10 to 12 inches high, by which time the young plants will 
have ceased to die from injuries inflicted by budworms. 

Thinning is usually done when the ground is too wet for 
other work, by pulling the young plants, with the assistance 
of a long paddle to uproot any that may break. Some 
soils are injured if the thinning be done while the land is 
very wet. Thinning is also done with a hoe, in which case 
care must be taken to cut the young plant below the crown, 
else it will again grow out. 

167. Number of plants’ per hill.— Throughout the 
greater part of the cotton-belt, except in its northern edge 
and occasionally on rich bottom lands elsewhere, it is cus- 
tomary to leave but a single corn plant in a hill, while in 
the North and West it is usual for from 2 to 4 plants to 
grow in one hill. 

The Southern practice of leaving only one plant in a hill is 
due to the following conditions usually found in the South :— 

(1) A thirsty soil; 

(2) Comparatively shallow range of roots ; 

(3) The large size of Southern corn plants and their consequent 
greater need for moisture; and 

(4) The fact that but little corn is planted in checks. 

Under ordinary conditions and on land producing not more 
than 25 bushels of corn per acre it is doubtless best to leave only 
one'stalk in a hill. However, where the land is capable of produc- 
ing 35 or more bushels per acre and of being planted in checks, 
it will sometimes be advisable, in checking corn, to leave two 
plants in a, hill. 

N 


178 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


168. Distances between rows and between plants. — 
With corn, the general rule as to distance between rows 
is the following: the poorer the land, the farther apart 
must be the rows and the individual plants; while the 
richer the land, the more closely may both rows and plants 
be crowded together. This rule is exactly the opposite of 
that for spacing cotton. 

Varieties with small or medium-sized stalks may be 
planted more thickly than those with large stalks. On 
poor upland, where the yield is expected to be about 25 
bushels per acre, it is best to allow not less than 15 square 
feet for each plant. This is equivalent to rows 5 feet apart 
and plants 3 feet, or to rows 6 feet apart and plants 23 
feet apart. On richer uplands, fairly retentive of moisture 
and where the yield is ordinarily from 25 to 40 bushels per 
acre, the Georgia Experiment Station found advantageous 
distances to be 44 feet by 32 inches, which gives 3630 
plants per acre in a perfect stand. Other distances that 
give practically the same number of plants per acre are 4 
feet between rows and 3 feet between plants, or checks 
34 feet apart both ways. 


Experiments at the Georgia and Alabama Stations indicate 
a slight advantage from so dividing the space allotted to each 
plant as to give practically the same distance between plants 
as between rows, that is, making the plants form a square. 
However, economy of cultivation requires that this slight increase 
be sacrificed in order that the rows may be made as wide as practi- 
cable. Wide rows and closer planting in the drills save hoeing. 
For example, one laborer can hoe 5 acres of corn planted in, 
5-foot rows in about the same time that he can hoe four acres 
if the rows are 4 feet wide. Horse cultivation is also econo- 
mized by wider rows. Wide rows also permit the sowing and 


CORN TILLAGE 179 


cultivation of a row of cowpeas halfway between each pair of 
corn rows. 

While the spacing best for any particular field must be 
decided by the farmer’s judgment, the following distances 
are widely applicable in the cotton-belt : (1) for poor land, 
rows 5 feet apart and plants 23 to 3 feet; (2) for good 
upland, rows 4 to 5 and plants 2 feet apart, or checks 34 
feet apart each way; (38) for good bottom land, rows 4 
feet apart and plants at intervals of 1 to 2 feet. With 
improvement in preparation and in fertilization and in 
prize patches, corn may be planted considerably closer. 

168a. ‘Laying by”’ the corn crop. — “‘ Laying by”’ is the 
name given to the last cultivation or tilling. Most farmers 
cease tilling corn just before the first tassels appear. Ex- 
periments indicate that a later tilling, if quite shallow, is 
often profitable. On the other hand, if the last cultivation 
must be deep, or even moderately deep, it should not be 
late. Deep tillage doubtless explains the prejudice against 
late tillage. 

In giving the final cultivation, care should be taken to 
leave the surface as nearly level as practicable. In this 
condition, there is a larger and more equally distributed 
supply of moisture for the plant roots than would be the 
case if the earth were heaped in ridges along the line of 
plants. Among suitable implements for the last cultiva- 
tion of corn are scrapes and one-horse spring-tooth cul- 
tivators (Fig. 87). 

169. Planting other crops with corn. — In the southern 
parts of Alabama and Georgia and elsewhere, corn and 
peanuts are often grown together by the following 
method : — , 


180 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Two corn rows are planted early at distances of 3 or 34 
feet; an interval of 6 or 7 feet is left, and then two more 
corn rows are planted. In this interval is planted a row 
of peanuts. 


The Allison method of growing corn and cotton together consists 
in the planting of two rows of corn and two rows of cotton, 
the rows all being narrow, that is, of the usual distance for cotton 
rows. Corn is planted more thickly in the drills than usual, the 
rule being, in this method, to grow on each half acre occupied by 
the corn rows as many hundred stalks as the number of bushels 
of corn that one acre of this soil would be expected to yield in 
solid corn, planted as usual. This alternation of the two crops is 
advantageous to the corn, which receives additional light, and 
probably more than its share of moisture and plant-food. There 
are corresponding losses to the cotton crop. Moreover, should the 
corn be blown down, the late cultivation of cotton would be pre- 
vented. 

The same criticisms apply, but to a less extent, to the occasional 
practice of planting two adjacent rows of corn and then either six, 
eight, or ten rows of cotton, repeating this indefinitely. 

“Crossed corn” is a method that seems to be localized in the 
waxy lime lands of Alabama and Mississippi. It consists in the 
planting in fields of cotton of a row of corn across or perpendicu- 
lar to the cotton rows, at intervals of 16 to 30 feet, leaving 3 to 4 
corn plants in each hill. This usually insures a crop of 4 to 10 
bushels of corn per acre, in addition to the cotton crop. However, 
the presence of the corn greatly reduces the yield of cotton. Ina 
test at the Georgia Station, ‘“‘crossed corn’ in a cotton field 
resulted in a financial loss, as compared with cotton grown 
alone. 

Another objection to ‘‘ crossed corn”’ is its interference with 
late cultivation of the cotton, should the corn be blown down. 
The principal justification of this practice lies in the fact that 
many careless renters fail to cultivate their corn properly when 
planted alone, but are more careful of the cultivation of cotton, 
and hence of the corn grown in the cotton field. 


CORN TILLAGE 181 


170. Sowing cowpeas in corn fields. — It is customary 
among the best farmers throughout the cotton-belt to sow 
cowpeas during the cultivation of corn. The objects 
aimed at are : — 

(1) Soil improvement, or an increase in the next year’s 
crop on the same land; 

(2) The production of cowpeas for seed or for pasturage; 
and 

(8) The making of cowpea hay, which is rarely the main 
object and which usually requires that the corn rows be 
about 6 feet apart. 

There is need of investigation to determine whether 
there are any disadvantages resulting from the planting of 
cowpeas between the corn rows. In at least one experi- 
ment in a very dry year, the yield of corn was materially 
reduced by the presence of broadcast cowpeas. This in- 
dicates the possibility of cowpeas making undue demands 
for moisture in a year of scant rainfall. With ample rain- 
fall cowpeas in the corn apparently do not reduce the yield 
of the latter. As a rule cowpeas should be sown in the 
corn field, using one of the customary methods. 

171. Broadcast planting versus drilling of cowpeas in 
corn. — Both broadcasting and drilling are extensively 
used, but drilling is much more prevalent. The advantages 
of drilling are the following : — 

(1) It permits earlier sowing of the cowpeas; 

(2) It permits later cultivation of the corn; 

(3) It economizes seed, 1 to 2 pecks sufficing for an acre, 
or less than half the seed necessary for broadcast sowing ; and 

(4) The cowpeas are more certain to produce a crop of 
seed. 


182 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fic. 89.— CowPEAS GROWING BETWEEN Rows or Corn. 
182 


CORN TILLAGE 188 


The disadvantages of drilling are noted below: — 

(1) The smaller amount of hay or pasturage pro- 
duced and the smaller amount of vegetable matter and 
nitrogen left on the soil for the next year’s crop; 

(2) Drilling cowpeas between corn rows may interfere 
with the use of certain cultivating implements. 

The advantages of broadcast sowing (Fig. 89) are the 
larger amount of hay or pasturage and the greater amount 
of fertility left on the soil. Broadcast sowing has the follow- 
ing disadvantages : — 

(1) Corn must be “laid by ” early, sometimes too early ; 

(2) The cowpeas must be sown rather late; 

(3) A much larger amount of seed is required, about 1 
bushel of cowpeas per acre being customary ; 

(4) The stand of cowpeas may be poor, due to the en- 
forced shallow covering and to the lateness of planting. 

A good general rule is to give preference to broadcast 
sowing when cowpea seed are cheap and abundant, and to 
practice drilling this legume when a large yield of seed is 
desired. 

172. Method of sowing broadcast cowpeas in corn. — In 
broadcast sowing, the work is usually done by hand, or with 
a broadcast seed-sower slung over the shoulder. Covering 
is effected by giving the usual last cultivation to the corn, 
which sometimes covers the cowpeas to an insufficient 
depth. It is not customary to fertilize the cowpeas grown 
in corn fields, whether sown broadcast or in drills. This 
is probaby because there is no easy method of applying 
fertilizer in this case, unless it be found practicable to use 
between the corn rows a one-horse grain drill with fertil- 
izer attachment. However, fertilizers are usually helpful 


184 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


and they can be sown broadcast by hand, though the dis- 
tribution is irregular and inconvenient. 

173. Methods of planting cowpeas in drills between 
corn. — The methods employed in drilling cowpeas are 
numerous. Among them are the following : — 

(1) Dropping a hill of cowpeas between each pair of 
corn hills, covering the seed either with a hoe or with the 
earth thrown toward the corn in cultivation. The use of 
a hand planter should supplant this method. 

(2) Drilling cowpeas by hand in one of the siding fur- 
rows near the corn row, covering the seed with soil thrown 
by the next outer cultivating furrow. The chief, incon- 
venience of this method is the inability in later tillings 
to run the cultivator close to that side of the corn row. 

(8) Drilling by hand or planter a row of cowpeas in the 
water-furrow exactly halfway between the two adjacent 
rows of corn. 

Of all drilling methods, the last mentioned is apparently 
the most common and practicable. It is usually done at 
the next to the last or even at the third from the last cul- 
tivation. The subsequent tillage of corn serves also to 
cultivate the cowpeas. 

(4) A combination may be made of plan 3 with either 
1 or 2, or with both, thus giving several rows of the legume 
between the two adjacent corn rows. 


By using a combined planter and fertilizer distributor for 
sowing cowpeas, the crop can be fertilized at the same time. It 
will probably be profitable in most cases thus to fertilize cowpeas 
in the corn fields wherever they would profit by fertilization if 
sown alone; 100 to 200 pounds of acid phosphate per acre will 
usually be sufficient. 


CORN TILLAGE 185 


In the third method mentioned above, the rows should be at 
least 4% feet apart. The first and second methods permit nar- 
rower corn rows. 

174. The Williamson method of corn culture. — Recently 
a system of corn culture bearing the name of its originator, 
Melver Williamson, of South Carolina, has come into 
prominence on account of some of the large yields that have 
been produced by it or by modifications of it. The. dis- 
tinctive feature of this method consists in:the stunting or 
dwarfing of the young corn plant (1) by withholding a part 
of the usual cultivation in the early period of the plant’s 
life, (2) by postponing the application of any fertilizer until 
the plants are thoroughly stunted, and (3) by the root 
pruning of the young plants by means of deep cultivation. 

While the intentional stunting belongs exclusively to 
this method, the Williamson system of corn culture in- 
cludes many good features that form a part of the practice 
of the best farmers employing various methods. Among 
the strong points of this method, and of other methods as 
well, are the following : — 

(1) Deep and thorough ene 

(2) Frequent use in the rotation of cowpeas sown broad- 
cast in the corn field, the effect of which is to enrich the 
land ; 

(3) The use of large amounts of fertilizers ; 

(4) Thick planting along the line of the row, which is 
rendered especially practicable in the case of the William- 
son method by the small size of the plants, the abundance 
of the fertilizer, and the thoroughness of preparation. 


The following condensed directions are quoted from an article 
by the originator of this method : — 


186 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


“« Lay off the land in rows six feet apart, and bed on these furrows 
with turn-plow until only a five-inch balk is left between these 
beds. When ready to plant, break out this balk with six-inch 
shovel or scooter, and follow deep in furrow with narrow plow. 
Ridge on this furrow with one round of same narrow plow. 
Plant in this ridge twice as thick as corn is to be left, one grain in 
a hill, and cover shallow. Plant as early as your seasons and the 
nature of the land will permit. 

“‘When your corn first needs work, run on both sides with har- 
row or small plow (Fig. 90) ; when it is about eight inches high, give 
second working by running 
around it on both sides, if 
on sandy land, with ten- 
inch serape, or sweep, set on 


Showi Anat is ea point, and if on stiff land 
owing condition of the ground after . 

the first cultivation. (After sketch by bao Seay Ee hin pues 
Mclver Williamson.) eave ese furrows 


open and do not work corn 
again until it is so stunted as to prevent its ever growing larger 
than is necessary to make what corn the land is able to produce. 
On poor or cold land from ten to twelve days may be enough, 
while rich soil may take twice as long. When you think that it 
has stood long enough apply one half of mixed fertilizer in the 
open furrows next to corn, of every other middle, and cover by 
breaking out this middle with turn-plow. And side the corn at 
once in this middle with fifteen-inch scrape, pushing dirt around 
it, and covering any grass that turn-plow has left. Corn should 
now be about knee high. 

“Within a week give other middle same treatment, then go 
back to first middle as soon as possible, and sow half of nitrate of 
soda in serape furrows next corn, and cover as fast as sown with 
one round of turn-plow, shallow. Then sow peas broadcast 
in this middle at rate of a bushel per acre, unless very scarce, 
when they may be dropped, and cover by breaking out middle 
shallow. 

“A few days later treat the other middle same way, which 
lays by corn on slight bed with dirt around the feed roots, before 


Fic. 90.— THe WiLLIAMSON METHOD 
oF CorN CULTURE. 


CORN TILLAGE 187 


bunching for tassel. Lay by early ... (Fig. 91). No hoeing 
should be necessary. 

“On sandy soils I would use for a 25-40 bushel yield, 100 
pounds acid phosphate, 100 pounds cotton-seed meal and 200 
pounds kainit per acre, mixed, and 75 pounds nitrate of soda at 
last plowing, leaving corn 16-20 inches in drill, rows 6 feet apart. 


ING TO THE WILLIAMSON PLAN. 


(Redrawn after Mr. Williamson’s diagram.) 


For 40-60 bushel yield, I would double the amount of mixed 
fertilizer, and also use 125 pounds of nitrate of soda, leaving corn 
14-16 inches in drill, rows 6 feet apart. Clay land is said to 
require more phosphoric acid and less potash.” 


In the majority of experiments published prior to 1910, 
and made at the South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia 
Experiment Stations, the yield of corn was less under the 
Williamson method than with the best of the methods with 
which it was compared and in which equal amounts of 
similar fertilizers were employed. However, when various 
modifications of the Williamson method have been applied 
by farmers, frequently without notably stunting the corn, 
large yields have often resulted, — as has likewise been 
the case when farmers have employed any other system 


188 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


of corn culture involving the use of higher fertilization than 
usual. 


Apparently the best lessons impressed by the Williamson 
method are (1) the special value of nitrate of soda as a fertilizer 
for corn and (2) the possibility, under favorable conditions, of 
planting corn much thicker than is the custom in the cotton- 
belt. 

It also possesses whatever advantages belong to the common 
system of planting corn in the water-furrow on well-drained sandy 
land. As before pointed out, the tendency is for most varieties of 
Southern corn to grow a larger stalk than is necessary for the 
production of the maximum amount of grain. A slight diminu- 
tion is size in doubtless desirable, so as to reduce the demand on 
the soil for water and to increase the number of plants that may 
be grown advantageously on an acre; but whether this decrease in 
size of stalk should be brought about gradually by selection or 
suddenly effected by moderate checking of growth is yet to be 
determined by accurate investigation. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


(1) If corn plants are available for this purpose, study the 
effects of root pruning on four sets of plants, by running a knife or 
hatchet or axe three inches on each side of the row and to depths 
of 2, 3, 4, and 5 inches respectively. This may be repeated with 
plants of different heights between 6 inches and 6 feet. 

(2) Most of the practice to accompany this chapter should 
consist of observations and note-taking on such experiments as 
may be at hand, or on methods in local use by farmers. 


LITERATURE 


Myrick, H. The Book of Corn. New York. 

Hunt. The Cereals in America, pp. 218-242. New York, 1904. 
Ducear, J. F. Ala. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 111 and 134. 
Wittiams, C. B., and others. N.C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 204 
Reppine, R. J. Ga. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 55, 58, and 62. 


~ 


CHAPTER X 
CORN — HARVESTING 


In the Southern States the usual methods of harvesting 
corn and corn forage are the following : — 

(1), Pulling or jerking the ears, afterwards stripping the 
blades ; 

(2) Pulling the ears, leaving the blades to be grazed by 
live-stock ; » 

(3) Pulling the ears, and cutting the tops for forage ; 

(4) Cutting and shocking the stalks with ears and leaves. 

175. Pulling the ears. —- The first three methods of 
harvesting require the pulling of the ears from the standing 
plant, after they are thoroughly mature. It is customary 
in the cotton-belt to pull the ears with the greater part of 
the shuck attached. Here corn is usually placed in the 
crib without being shucked or husked. However, in some 
communities, the unshucked corn is thrown under a shel- 
ter adjoining the crib, and when other work permits, it 
is husked and thrown into the crib. 

176. Handling the ears.—In the South, the most 
usual method is for each laborer to pull two rows of corn 
as he advances across the field, and to throw the ears into 
flattish heaps or piles on every sixth or eighth row; the 
ears are picked up later and thrown into a wagon driven 


between two heap rows. This is a laborious method. 
189 


190 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fie. 92.—SHowine ‘‘ THROwW-BOARD” ON WAGON-BODY USED IN HARVESTING CORN. 


CORN HARVESTING 191 


An improvement consists in throwing the corn directly 
into the wagon as it is pulled. This is more readily done 
if a “ throw-board,” or side-board, 2 to 3 feet high, is placed 
on top of the side of the wagon-body farthest from the men. 
This necessitates loading the wagon from but one side 
and keeps the ears from being thrown beyond the wagon 
(Fig. 92). 

The wagon should also have a hind-gate that is readily 
removable so as to permit the use of a grain shovel in 
unloading the ears. 

When it is advisable to husk the corn as it is pulled from 
the stalk, a husking-pin, buckled to the hand, is helpful. 
The shucking of the corn before storing it is probably 
useful in reducing the number of weevil introduced into 
the crib. 

177. Stripping the blades. — In order that the forage 
or “ fodder,’”’ for which the blades are sometimes used, 
may be of good quality, the blades are usually stripped 
while most of the leaves are still green. The effect is to 
reduce the yield of grain. The loss, as shown in many 
tests, averaged nearly three bushels per acre. This reduc- 
tion in yield of corn is due to the fact that some of the 
material in the green leaf, if it had been left on the plant, 
would have been carried in the circulation of the plant to 
the ear, which is not mature at the time of “ fodder pull- 
ing.” 

Another objection to the common custom of pulling fod- 
der is the cost of the labor. The usual yield of cured leaves 
ranges between 300 and 600 pounds per acre, or about 
one fourth as many pounds of dry leaves as of shelled grain. 
Fodder pulling is slow and extremely disagreeable work. 


192 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Usually it pays much better to employ the same labor in 
curing hay, in which operation a day’s work will provide 
several times as much forage as one day spent in fodder 
pulling.! 

178. Topping corn. — Occasionally corn stalks are cut 
just above the ears. The yield of tops is but little more 
than the yield of blades or “ fodder ’’ would be, and the 
quality of tops is poorer, while the labor is about the same. 
Topping does not greatly reduce the yield of grain, if post- 
poned until quite late. On the whole, it is a very un- 
profitable operation. 

179. Cutting and shocking corn. — When performed 
at the proper time, this does not materially reduce the 
yield of grain. The time to cut corn is when practically 
all outer shucks have turned straw-color, at which time 
the grains have hardened. This is usually about ten days 
later than the stage at which ‘“ fodder ”’ is ordinarily pulled. 
The advantages of this method of harvesting corn are the 
following: (1) all the forage is saved; (2) the use of the 
land for the next crop, except a small space occupied by 
the shock, can be had at an earlier date; (3) it frees the 
land from corn stalks and hence puts it in better condition 
for seeding to small grain ; and (4) it permits the harvesting 
of the corn crop by machinery. 

180. The extent of the saving by cutting and shocking 
corn. —It is often stated that the stover (that is, the 
leaves, shucks, and stalks) are nearly equal in feeding 
value to the ears produced on the same area. This is not 
true for ordinary Southern corn, so large a proportion of 


1¥or a financial statement relative to fodder pulling, see Georgia 
Experiment Station Bul. No. 74, page 278. 


CORN HARVESTING 193 


which consists of a coarse stalk having but little nutritive 
value. It would probably be a high estimate to say that 
30 per cent of the total feeding value of the entire plant 
of large Southern corn is found in the stover. Yet corn 
stover is a source of forage well worth saving, especially 
where hay is scarce or expensive. 


There is usually about one ton of stover for every 25 or 30 
bushels of grain produced by large Southern varieties. If this 
stover is shredded, it may have a higher feeding value than 
an equal weight of cotton-seed hulls. In composition, corn stover 
is superior to cotton-seed hulls, but the former is less convenient 
for feeding in connection with cotton-seed meal. 

In one experiment in South Carolina, the cost of cutting and 
shocking corn was no greater than the cost of pulling the ears from 
an equal area of standing plants. However, the usual experience 
is that the former operation generally requires somewhat more 
labor than merely pulling the ears. 

Whether it is advisable to cut and shock corn or merely to pull 
the ears, leaving the blades to be grazed by cattle, depends upon 
(1) the abundance and cheapness of hay, and (2) the cost of 
shredding, including labor, cost of power, interest and depreciation 
on shredder, etc. 

Cutting corn and subsequently shredding it will generally be 
profitable where the cost of shredding is less than $2.50 per ton of 
stover in regions of cheap hay; or where it is less than $4.00 per 
ton in regions of scarce and high-priced hay. To this rule 
there will obviously be many exceptions. : 

When no shredder is available, it is doubtful whether there is 
any advantage in cutting and shocking corn as compared with 
merely pulling the ears and grazing the field. The basis for this 
statement is the fact that it requires more labor to pull the ears 
by hand from the shocked corn than from the standing plants, and 
the further fact that quite a large proportion of the stover of 
large Southern corn, if fed without shredding, is not eaten by 
live-stock. 

oO 


194 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


181. Methods of cutting corn. —Corn may be cut 
(1) by hand implements, as with a hoe or corn knife, 
(2) by a sled cutter, or (3) by a corn binder or harvester. 
The choice between these is chiefly determined by the cost 
of each method and by the acreage to be cut. Even when 
the cost of cutting by hand and by machinery is identical, 
the harvester has the advantage of making the owner less 
dependent upon hired labor, and of enabling him to do 
the work promptly and with less exertion. 

182. Cutting corn by hand. — The usual implement for 
cutting corn is a heavy corn or cane knife. Sometimes 


Fic. 93.—Suocxine Horse. 


b is a broom handle or gas pipe; the stalks of corn are leaned in the 
four angles where it passes through the long board; after the shock is 
tied the broom handle is pulled out and the ‘‘ shocking horse’ withdrawn. 


a sharp hoe is used. To form the shocks, one may either 
use a shocking horse (Fig. 93), or he may form a support 
for the shock by tying together the tops of plants on four 
hills, which plants are not cut. The row on which shocks 
are to be located is usually every tenth or twelfth row. 


CORN HARVESTING 195. 


As each armful of plants is cut, it is carefully placed on 
the shock in a nearly upright position. Some farmers 
prefer to cut first the rows adjoining the shock row, so 
that after placing the plants from these rows on the 
shock, a few minutes are allowed for these to dry slightly 
before the layers of plants from rows farther out are 
added to the shock. 

In the South shocks should not be very large, but should 
usually contain between 150 and 200 plants. One that 
is too large is liable to fall and to result in the molding 
of some of the immature ears in the center of the mass. 
A very small shock, on the other hand, exposes too 
large a proportion of its forage to injury from sun and 
rain. 

The shock (Fig. 94), when completed, should be tied 
tightly with binder twine, about two feet from the top. 
The shock can be drawn together by a short rope, in one 
end of which is a hook. The other end of the rope is 
passed through this hook and by means of a slip-knot 
the shock is tightened while the string is being tied. About 
ten days later, after the plants have settled together, the 
tie should again be tightened in the same way. In making 
shocks, great care must be taken so to construct them that 
they will not later fall. This is best done by care in placing 
the plants against the shock, an equal number on all sides, 
and in a nearly upright position, and by keeping the top 
of the shock from twisting, when pulled together by a 
rope. 

The corn should stand in the shocks or in a rick at 
least one month before it will be dry enough to be 
shredded. 


196 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fig. 94.—Corn wet Sxocxup. (Oklahoma Experiment Station.) 


CORN HARVESTING 197 


183. The sled cutter (Fig. 95).— This implement consists 
essentially of a sled on wheels; on one edge of this sled or 
low platform is attached a long, sharp knife, sloping 
backward at an oblique angle to the row of corn. 


The sled is driven 
near enough to 


the row for the g 
slanting knife to \\ 


cut the corn with 
a sliding cut. 


A man, standing 
on the platform, 
catches the cut corn 
in his arms; when 
he has an armful, 
he stops the team 
and places the corn 
on the nearest 
shock. The cost of 


Zz 


Fic. 96.—A Homa-mann Suep Corn CUTTER. 


198 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


this cutter made at home from a long scythe blade may be as 
low as $10.00 (Fig. 96), while the cutters on wheels, with every 
facility for better work, cost about twice as much. 

The sled cutter is drawn by one animal or by two, hitched 
tandem. If it be equipped with a blade on.each side, so as to cut 
two.rows at once, two men catch and shock the cut corn. For 
the convenient use of such two-row cutters, corn rows should be 
of a uniform width, suited to the width of the cutter. This is 
one of the cheapest methods of cutting corn. 


184. The corn binder or harvester (Fig. 97). — This ma- 
chine cuts the corn and binds it into large bundles. It is 
usually drawn by three horses or mules. The ordinary 
cost is about $125. This limits its use to those farmers 
or groups of codperating farmers who can use it each year 
to cut a considerable acreage, say 30 acres or more. It 
cuts a single row at a time and may cut 6 or 8 acres in a 
day. If a charge is made for the team, the cost of cutting 
and shocking and of twine is often about equal to the cost 
of cutting by hand and shocking. But the machine per- 
mits prompt work and economizes human labor. Where 
the height of the corn is excessive or the rows short, hand 
cutting is preferable. 


The bundles from the machine must usually be stacked by hand. 
Some binders have a bundle-carrying attachment, which reduces 
the labor of shocking. In any case, it is easier and more satisfac- 
tory to shock bundles than to shock unbound corn eut by hand. 
The corn binder usually breaks off a sufficient number of ears to 
require that these be picked up by hand. 

A shocker is a machine more complicated and costly than the 
corn binder. It carries on a platform all of the unbound corn 
plants, until it gathers enough for a shock, when the team is 
stopped and the driver, by means of a hoisting device or frame, 
transfers the corn from the machine to the ground, where it forms 


CORN HARVESTING 199 


Fic. 97.— A Corn HaRvESTER. 


200 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


a complete shock. This stopping of the machine greatly reduces 
the area of corn harvested. For this reason, and because of the 
greater cost and complexity of the machinery, the shocker cannot 
yet be generally recomménded to Southern farmers. The latter 
criticism applies also to the recently invented machine for pulling 
the ears of corn from the standing plants. 


185. Shredding corn. — A shredder is a machine that 
tears the stover into small fragments and which, at the 


Fic. 98.— Corn Husker AnD SHREDDER AT WoRK. 


same time, removes the ear and takes from-it nearly all 
of the shuck (Fig. 98). To drive a shredder requires con- 
siderable power. 

The following are among the advantages of shredding 
stover as compared with feeding it whole: — 

(1) The removal of the ears from the stalks and the 
partial shucking of the ears ; 


CORN HARVESTING 201 


(2) The larger proportion of shredded stover that is 
eaten ; 

(3) The greater economy in handling shredded stover, 
which can either be baled at once or blown by the shredder 
into the barn; 

(4) The finer condition and greater value of the manure 
that is free from long corn stalks, and the cleaner condition 
of the field from which corn stalks have been removed. 

Against these advantages must be placed the cost of 
shredding, including cost of power, labor, and interest, 
depreciation, and repairs on the shredder. These several 
charges have sometimes been found to range between 
$1.50 and $3 per ton of stover. 

186. Corn cribs. — In cribs, or buildings intended for 
the storage of corn, three aims should be kept in mind: 
(1) ventilation, (2) prevention of injury by rats and mice, 
and (3) minimizing the injury from attacks of weevil and 
other grain insects. In most Southern cribs, the only care 
is usually to provide ventilation. This is done by making 
the sides of slats, or narrow planks nailed on the inside of 
the framing, in a horizontal position. Such a slatted con- 
struction is probably best for the storage of large amounts 
of unhusked corn, where there is the chance that some of 
it. may be wet or immature when harvested. Even the 
slatted cribs can be made rat-proof by lining them through- 
out, on sleepers, studding, and joists, with strong wire 
netting, usually with meshes about one fourth inch in size. 
The additional expense is considerable, but in the end this 
expenditure -is profitable. 

Sometimes a small, detached crib is rendered rat-proof 
and mouse-proof’ by placing it on tall pillars, the upper 


202 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


portion of each pillar being wrapped with new tin, or else 
each pillar being topped with an inverted tin pan, having 
no rim. An objection to this form of construction is the 
greater height to which the corn must be thrown in un- 
loading the wagons. 

187. Prevention of injury by weevils in cribs. — Weevils 
cause a greater loss than do either defective ventilation 
or rats and mice. The remedy for weevils is the vapor of 
carbon ‘disulfide (Par. 194), which can only be applied 
in a tight crib. Yet the double provision for ventilation 
and for prevention of weevil injury cannot well be pro- 
vided in a single erib of any of the ordinary kinds. 

Probably the need for an extreme amount of ventila- 
tion has been overestimated. For many years the Ala- 
bama Experiment Station has stored annually several 
hundred bushels of unshucked corn in a tight crib made 
of 12-inch boards, with as small cracks between them as 
possible. In this crib it is practicable to destroy most of 
the weevil in unshucked corn by the use of carbon disul- 
fide. In using such a tight crib, it would be necessary 
to store elsewhere, in some slatted crib, that part of the 
crop that is not thoroughly mature, or that is put into 
the crib when very wet. 


It would probably also be advantageous, when practicable, to 
shuck the corn before storing it in such a tight crib, for the 
following reasons: (1) The crib would hold about twice as many 
bushels of shucked as of unshucked corn; (2) The weevils could 
be killed with a smaller amount of carbon disulfide. 

In the case of a farmer putting part of his corn in a slatted crib 
and part in a tight crib, that from the slatted crib should be used 
first, since the corn in the tight crib could be kept sound through 
the next summer by the occasional use of carbon disulfide, while 


CORN HARVESTING 2038 


the corn in the slatted crib would be severely attacked by weevils 
on the approach of warm weather, or earlier. 

Single loads of corn, whether shucked or unshucked, that can 
be left in the wagon for three hours or longer, for example over 


Fic. 99.—A Fietp or Corn IN ALABAMA THAT YIELDED 103¢ BusHELs 
PER ACRE. 


night, may be rendered weevil-free by the following plan, which 
is recommended by Dr. W. E. Hinds: Make the wagon-body 


204 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


tight, preferably reénforcing it by folding a large grain sheet of 
osnaburgs over the bottom, sides, and top. Place about three 
pounds of carbon disulfide in shallow cans near the top of a 
large load of unshucked corn, or a smaller amount in each load 
of shucked corn. Such loads of fumigated corn should be placed 
in separate and detached cribs to be kept as the last corn used 
the next spring or summer. 

Keep lighted pipes and all lights away from carbon disulfide, 
since the fumes are highly combustible. 

188. Yields of maize. — The average corn crop of most 
Southern States is below 20 bushels per acre. Yet indi- 
vidual farms in the South sometimes average more than 
50 bushels per acre. There are a number of authentic 
records of yields of more than 100 bushels of corn per 
acre made by Southern farmers on upland soil (Fig. 99). 

Two of the largest yields on record were made in the 
South. These were 254 bushels and 49 pounds of shelled 
corn (or “239 bushels of crib-cured corn ’’) per acre, made 
by Z. J. Drake in South Carolina (Kan. Board Agr., Dec., 
1905, p. 208), and 2262 bushels per acre obtained by 
J. F. Batts in North Carolina in 1909. 

In the first case the manure, cotton-seed, and other 
fertilizers cost about as much as the value of the corn at 
the prices then prevailing. In the latter case also, very 
large amounts of manure and fertilizer were employed. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


When practicable, students should spend several laboratory 
periods in the field comparing different methods of harvesting, for 
example : — 

(1) Determine the proportion of the weight of the shucked ear 
to the aggregate weight of shuck, leaves, and stalk, all thoroughly 
air-dried. i 


CORN HARVESTING 205 


(2) Practice cutting and shocking corn; or if the crop is al- 
ready in shocks, open and remake several of them. 

(8) Examine a number of mature ears to ascertain whether 
the completeness of the coveririg by the shuck has any relation 
to the amount of injury by weevils. 


LIvERATURE 


Ducear, J. F. Ala. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 134. 

Reppine, R. J. Ga. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 74. 

Hays, W. M., Parker, E. C., and others. Minn. Expr. Sta., 
Buls. Nos. 97 and 117. 

MoorsHovuse, L.A. Okla. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 87. 

Hartiey,C.P. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. No. 313. 

ZintHEO, C.J. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. No. 203. 

Bowman, M.L., and Crossury, B. W. Corn, pp. 202-211 ; 370- 
381. Ames, Ia., 1908. 

Scuutte, J. I., and others. Rpt. Office Expr. Stas., 1904, pp. 
523-533; and Kan. Board Agr., Dec., 1905, pp. 105-113 
and 218-238. 


CHAPTER XI 
CORN — ENEMIES 


Maize suffers from a number of insects and fungous 
diseases, although farmers usually do not find it necessary 
to treat the crop in the field. The most important corn 
enemies in the South are described in this chapter. 


INSECTS 


189. Budworms. — This is the larval or grub stage of a 
small beetle, the twelve-spotted lady-bug (Diabrotica 
12-punctata). The beetle 
or mature insect feeds on 
almost any form of green 
vegetation and may spe- 
cially be noticed early 

/ in the season on alfalfa, 
clover, and early vege- 
tables. It is only about 
one fourth of an inch 
in length; its color is a 
greenish yellow, and on 
its wing-cases, or back, 

(Diabrotica 12-punctata). are twelve black spots 
On right, adult beetle ; in center, grub (Fig. 100). The egg is 


which bores into young plants; and on laid on or near the young 


left, base of a young corn plant showing 
holes made by budworms. (Beetle and eter plant soon after 


grub magnified.) germination, at a point 
: 206 


CORN INSECTS | 207 


just under the surface of the ground. The egg develops 
into a small white grub, with a darker head, which bores 
into the central part of the young stem. As a result, the 
bud, or group of central leaves of the plant, wilts and 
usually dies. The injury is practically confined to the 
young plants between the heights of 2 and 12 inches. 

No direct remedies have thus far been found for the 
budworm. The injury is worse in low wet land and in 
fields where weeds, corn, or certain other crops have grown. 
Rotation may be of some value, but the main reliance is 
in very late planting. Corn planted very early is also 
less apt to be seriously injured than when planting is done 
in mid-season. There seems to be an advantage in caus- 
ing the plant to pass as rapidly as possible through the 
earlier stages of growth, during which it is subject to this 
injury. To this end, small amounts of nitrate of soda, 
applied at time of planting near each hill, are believed to 
be helpful. Fields where injury from budworm are ex- 
pected are usually planted quite thickly. When many 
of the young plants are being injured by budworms it is 
sometimes considered advantageous to “ bar off” the corn 
rows and thus warm the soil. : 

190. Cutworms.— There are many species of cut- 
worms, all of which cut the young corn plant. They are 
worse where clover, weeds, or other rank vegetation has 
grown the preceding year. It is sometimes recommended 
that cutworms be poisoned just before the time of planting 
corn by scattering over the field the following preparation : 
1 pound Paris green, 1 bushel wheat bran, thoroughly 
mixed and moistened with sufficient water to which has 
been added one quart of molasses. 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


208 


WORM ON CORN SILKS. 


Fic. 101.— Eces or Corn Ear- 


CORN INSECTS 209 


191. Grasshoppers. — The usual means of combating 
these consist in driving special catching devices, called 
“‘ hopper-dozers,”’ through surrounding areas of meadow 
or weeds, where the grasshoppers congregate. 


Fig. 102.— Tue Corn Esr-worm at Work IN THE Tip oF AN EAR 
Pp oF GREEN CoRN. 


210 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


192. Corn ear-worm, or cotton boll worm (Heliothis 
obsoleta). — This is the same insect as the cotton boll worm 


Fic. 103.— Tue Corn Ear-worm 
PREYING ON THE TENDER LEAvES 
oF CorRN. 


(see Par. 359). The eggs 
are laid by a large grayish 
brown moth, which, es- 
pecially towards evening, 


* may be found hovering 


over fields of corn, cotton, 
and cowpeas. The eggs 
are placed on the silks 
(Fig. 101), leaves, or 
other parts of the corn 
plant. After these hatch, 
the young worms, or lar- 
ve, find their way into the 
tip of the ear and destroy 
the tip grains. Their in- 
jury consists, not only in 
the grains destroyed (Fig. 
102), but in admitting 
rain to the ear and possi- 
bly in giving easier access 
to weevils. The remedy 
usually recommended is 
plowing the land in the 
late fall or winter. The 
object in this is to break 
up the burrows under- 
ground in which this in- 
sect, in the chrysalis, or 
pupal condition, spends 


CORN INSECTS 211 


the winter (see Par. 360). This insect sometimes seriously 
injures the ‘‘ bud’ or upper leaves of corn plants several’ 
feet high (Fig. 103). 

193. Chinch bugs (Blissus leucopterus). Fortunately 
this pest, which is serious in the corn belt and sometimes 
in the Southwest, seldom occurs in the southeastern part 
of the United States. When present, chinch bugs crawl 
in hordes from the wheat fields toward the growing corn. 
The corn field may be pro- 
tected by surrounding it by 
a narrow strip of plowed 
land, kept constantly culti- 
vated, so as to form a deep 
layer of dust; or by sur- 
rounding the corn field with 
a deep furrow; the bottom 
of which is kept dusty by 
frequently dragging through 
it a heavy log. At ’inter- 
vals in the bottom of this 
furrow deeper holes may be 
made. When the small in- 
sects accumulate in these 
holes, they are killed by the 
use of kerosene. 


: Fia. 104. — Tue Rick WEEvIL, MosT 
194. Weevils (Callandra DESTRUCTIVE IN STORED Corn. 


oryza (Fig. 104), and ‘grain Greatly enlarged. (Photo by W. E. 
moths. — The rice weevil Hinds.) 

attacks the matured corn grain in the fields and con- 
tinues its depredations in the crib, during almost every 
month in the year. Some eggs are laid while the ears 


212 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


are still in the field; and later 
generations develop in the crib. 
Early varieties and those with soft 
grains are most susceptible to in- 
jury (Fig. 105). Late planting of 
medium or late varieties escapes 
injury, or reduces the number of 
weevils finding access to the ears 
in the field. Doubtless much can 
be done to lessen the weevil injury 
by selecting corn with a view to 
weevil resistance. The qualities 
tending to decrease the number of 
weevil, but not entirely to avoid 
them, are (1) a shuck that fits 
tightly over the end of the ear and 
(2) a grain that is quite hard. Any 
means that decrease the number 
of corn ear-worms would indirectly 
reduce the injury from weevils, 
which often enter the ear through 
the openings made by the former. 
However, the chief reliance must 
be on fumigating the stored grain 
with the vapors made by carbon 
disulfide. This liquid readily 
evaporates, or changes from a 
liquid to a gaseous form. This 
: implies the necessity for tight 
a pean as cribs, or for other means of treat- 
(W. E. Hinds.) ing the grain in tight compart- 


CORN INSECTS 2138 


ments. A larger amount of carbon disulfide is needed 
for the treatment of unshucked corn than in treating an 
equal volume of shucked or shelled corn. The amount of 
liquid to use for each thousand cubic feet of space in a bin 
of shelled corn is from 10 to 20 pounds if the crib is very 
tight and the weather warm. 
Since these fumes are heavier 
than air, the liquid may be 
placed in shallow vessels near 
the top of the pile of grain; 
or it may be poured directly 
on the top of the pile of corn. 
It is best to cover the pile 
while under treatment with 
grain sheets or other heavy 
cloth, leaving it thus tightly 
covered for twenty-four hours. 

The vapors of carbon di- 
sulfide are very inflamma- 
ble, so that it is dangerous 
for a lighted pipe, cigarette, ee 
or lantern to be brought into Fic. 106.— Larva or ANcoumors 
the barn or crib while the _ Mors tn 4 Grain or Corn. 
odor of carbon disulfide is Enlarged five times. (W. E. Hinds.) 
present. This liquid should be handled as carefully as 
gasolene. The fumes should not be inhaled for many 
minutes, but a few breaths of this gas do not injure 
men or domestic animals. 

The larvee of several tiny grain-moths, among them the 
Indian meal moth (Fig. 107), injure stored corn. The rem- 
edy.for all of these consists in the use of carbon disulfide. 


214 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Funeous Diskases | 


While the corn plant is subject to a few diseases, these 
are not known to cause much injury in the South, with 
the exception of those mentioned 
below, which injure chiefly the ear. 

195. Corn smut (Ustilago may- 
dis). — The presence of this disease 
is first shown by a large swelling 
on the ear, the stem, the tassel, or 
the leaf (Fig. 108). At first, this 
protruding mass is covered with a 
whitish skin, which later bursts, 
setting free clouds of black powder. 
These powdery particles are the 

spores, or bodies answering the 
Fic. 107.—Tue Inpran purpose of seed, and serving to 
a nena spread the disease to the next year’s 
e larve injure corn. : 

Enlarged. (Photo by W.. crop. These spores gain entrance 
BE. Hinds.) to the young plant after it has 
appeared above ground. The spread of this disease is 
due to smut masses left in the soil by a preceding corn 
crop, or blown in by the wind from surrounding corn’ 

fields. No treatment of the seed is effective. 

The method of spread of the disease suggests the means 
of decreasing it in subsequent crops, by gathering -and 
burning the smut masses before the whitish skin breaks 
and sets free the spores. On the same principle, rotation 
of crops is advisable, especially if this results in growing 
corn on land where no surrounding fields in the preceding 
year matured smut spores. 


CORN INSECTS 215 


196. Ear rots of corn.— These have been found to be 
due to minute organisms, most of them belonging to two 
groups of fungi 
(Diplodia: and 
Fusarium), and in 
rarer cases to un- 
identified bacteria. 


In some of the ear 
rots, the shuck, as 
well as the grain and 
cob, is discolored, 
while in others only 
the grains and cobs 
are reduced to a 
shriveled mass cov- 
ered with white, ° 
pink, or reddish 
mold-like threads. 

The Illinois Ex- 
periment Station 
(Bul. 133) has found 
these fungous rots 
to be spread by 
spores left on the 
shanks of the corn 
crop of the two pre- 
ceding years. Hence, 
the remedy is plant- 
ing of corn on a field 
on or near which no corn, injured by these diseases, has been 
grown for the last two years. Doubtless the burning of the dis- 
eased stalks promptly after harvest would tend to prevent the 
spread of ear rots to subsequent crops. 


Fic. 108.— Corn Smut. 


216 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


(1) Examine the tips of a number of ears of corn and make an 
estimate of the percentage of ears injured in that field by the corn 
ear-worm. 

(2) Make germination tests, preferably in the open ground, 
of 100 weevil-eaten and of 100 sound kernels; determine 

(a) the percentage of each that germinates, and 
(b) the difference, if any, in the size of the young plants 
when a few weeks old. 


LITERATURE 


Burrew., T.J., and Barrett, T.J. (Ear rots.) Ill. Expr. Sta., 
Bul. No. 133. 

Stevens, F. L. (Ear rots.) N. C. Expr. Sta., Rpt. 1907-’8, 
pp. 37-39. 

Bisgop, F. C., and others. (Corn ear-worm.) U.S. Dept. Agr., 
Farmer’s Buls. Nos. 212 and 290. 

Bowman, M. L., and Crossutey, B. W. Corn (Diseases and 
insects), pp. 229-260. Ames, Ia., 1908. 

CHITTENDEN, F. H., and others. U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent., 
Cire. No. 59; and Kan. Board Agr., Dec., 1905, pp. 258-264. 


CHAPTER XII 
RICE — Oryza SATIVA 


Rice is one of the grains included in the great family 
of the grasses. Its seeds are borne in loose heads or 
panicles at the top of each stem somewhat as in oats 
(Fig. 109). The root system is shallow and fibrous. Rice 
is grown along coasts, from the Carolinas south, and also 
in certain irrigable, low, inland regions. It is grown only 
in tropical and -subtropical regions and in the southern 
part of the temperate zone. It is cultivated in practically 
all countries having such climates. 

Rice serves as the principal food for a larger number 
of human beings than any other crop. In the densely 
populated countries of Asia, especially in China, India, 
and Japan, it is the principal article of human food. 

Rice was introduced into South Carolina near the close 
of the seventeenth century. Until quite recently rice pro- 
duction in the United States was centered in South Caro- 
lina and in the adjacent coastal regions of North Carolina, 
Georgia, and Florida. After the civil war, rice culture 
developed in the Mississippi bottoms in Louisiana, where 
a small amount had been grown before the war. In the 
eighties, the rice industry was established in the south- 
western part of Louisiana. At the present time, this latter 
region, with the adjacent portion of Texas, produces the 


greater part of the American crop, which, in recent years, 
217 


Fie. 109.— BunpiEes or Two Varieties oF Rick, 


218 


RICE 219 


has been about 600,000,000 pounds of rough rice annually. 
In the early years of the twentieth century, a third rice- 
growing area has been developed in the prairies in the 
‘southeastern part of Arkansas. In the United States the 
‘area devoted to rice increased threefold in the sixteen 
‘years ending in 1905, the area reported that year being 
‘nearly half a million acres, and the yield more than 
13,600,000 bushels. 

197. Composition. — Rice is a very starchy grain. A 
human diet made up largely of this cereal should also 
include foods rich in nitrogen, such as seeds of cowpeas 
and other legumes, fish, lean meat, eggs, or milk. The 
composition of rice and its products is shown below : ! — 


Nirro- 
WatTER AsH PROTEIN Gaope nae Far 
Extract 
% % % % % % 
Prepared rice | 12.79 0.40 7.38 0.33 | 78.84 0.24 
Rice polish . 9.73 5.50 | 12.73 2.20 | 59.40 | 10.44 
Rice bran . .| 10.05 | 11.17 | 11.85 | 16.10 | 39.76 | 11.57 
Rice hulls . ./} 10.11 | 14.95 | 1.88 | 39.11 | 33.62 0.33 
Rough rice. 5.73 5.89 7.75 8.25 | 70.13 2.31 
Rice straw. . 6.76 | 12.88 3.00 | 38.98 | 42.11 1.27 


McDonnell’s analyses? indicate that a rice crop of 35 
bushels (nearly 9 bags) and 1800 pounds of ripe straw 
removes from the soil, in round numbers, 

12 pounds of phosphoric acid, 
29 pounds of nitrogen, 
35 pounds of potash. 


1La. Expr. Sta., Feed Stuffs Report, 1908-1909. 
2§. C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 59. 


220 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


198. Uses. — The chief use of rice is to feed mankind, 
for which purpose it is specially prepared by the removal of 
the hull and by other manufacturing processes. However, 
the polishing of the grains results in removing some of the 
most nutritious part. 

Rice polish, one of the flourlike by-products of the rice 
mill, is a nutritious and palatable food for any class of 
live-stock. Rice hulls have but 
little food value and even when 
ground, their use is undesirable. 
Rice bran usually consists of the 
seed coats to which adheres much 
Fi wis 110 anp 111.—Two Of the nutritious layers of the 

Types or Rice. grain, mixed with some ground 
The Honduras on the left rice hulls and polish. It is inferior 
and the Japanese on the in feeding value to rice polish. 


right. The short kernels of si : 
Japanese rice do not break 199. Varieties. —In_ oriental 


ie polishing so readily asthe countries there are hundreds of 
ong grains of Honduras. nae P ‘ 

varieties of rice, but few kinds are 
grown in the United States. Chief among the latter are 
types known as Honduras, Japan, and Gold Seed (Figs. 
110 and 111). 

The types generally grown in our southwestern rice 
fields are Japan and Honduras, which are described as 
follows: ‘The Japan has a short, thick kernel, a thick 
hull, and heavy grain. It is not so tall as the Honduras, 
and the straw is smaller and green when the grain is ripe. 
The percentage of bran in the Japan is small. Since the 
grains do not break so badly, it will mill more head rice 
(high-grade unbroken grains) than the Honduras. The 
market price for Japan, however, is a little less than for 


RICE 221 


Honduras, but the yield is greater. The Honduras has a 
large grain, a tall, stiff stalk, and is not so easily blown 
down.” (S.A. Knapp, in Farmer’s Bul. No. 110, U. 8. 
Dept. Agr.) . 

200. Soils and fertilizers. — Since rice is usually grown 
on land subjected to irrigation and thereby enriched, 
fertilizers are seldom employed in the United States on 
this crop. Hence relatively little is known of the fertilizer 
requirements of rice. In oriental countries, rice is highly 
manured. 

Experiments in Louisiana indicate that phosphate in-' 
creases the yield and that potash probably helps to harden 
the grain and straw. 

201. Sowing. — While broadcast sowing is not unusual, 
the best and most common method consists in planting rice 
with a grain drill. This causes the seeds to be covered to 
a more uniform depth than is possible by broadcast sowing. 
The quantity of seed generally employed is one to two 
bushels or one fourth to one half barrel per acre. Usually 
the grain drill should be preceded, and not followed, by the 
roller. , 

Occasionally in sowing rice that is to be irrigated im- 
mediately, South Carolina farmers mix the seed with clay 
and water, so that when water is admitted to the land, the 
seed will not float. 

202. Implements and labor. — Only where preparation 
has been made for draining the land, can labor-saving 
implements be used in preparing for and sowing the crop 
and in harvesting. Plowing is usually done in spring, but 
a preliminary plowing is often desirable in the early part of 
the preceding fall. The depth of plowing must be governed 


222 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


by local conditions. While deep plowing might otherwise 
be desirable, it risks inconvenience in harvesting, since in 
fields deeply plowed the wheels of the binder sink too deep 
if much rain falls just before harvest time. The land must 
be further prepared by harrowing (Fig. 112). 

In the rice fields of South Carolina, which are very small 
and poorly drained, planting is done chiefly by hand labor. 


Fic. 112.— Preparine ror Rick 1n Louisiana. 


The employment of hand labor in this region for planting 
and harvesting the crop has caused the decline of the rice 
industry here, where the cost of production is necessarily 
much higher than on the prairies of Louisiana, Texas, and 
Arkansas, where machinery is used for all of these opera- 
tions. 


wey 


RICE 223 


203. Irrigation. — No extensive rice industry has de- 
veloped in the United States except where irrigation was 
possible. Irrigation is necessary to large yields and to 
the most economical production. Lands must be chosen 
that. can easily be irrigated. For this purpose the main 
qualities desired are slight, if any, slope of the surface, and 
a retentive subsoil. The latter is important so that irriga- 
‘tion water may not be lost too rapidly through the soil, and 
also because such soils, after being drained, best permit the 
use of heavy machinery in the planting and harvesting of 
the crop. 

Water for irrigation is supplied in the Louisiana and 
Texas rice districts by pumping, the source being either 
adjacent bayous and rivers or an underground supply, 
found in southwest Louisiana at no great depth. In the 
new Arkansas rice-growing region, water is secured from 
bored wells. In South Carolina, irrigation is accomplished 
by admitting the water of the rivers when the fresh water 
is raised by the high tide, while the drainage of rice fields 
is accomplished at periods of low tide. 

After a supply of water has been provided and brought 
to the highest part of the fields by a system of canals, low 
levees must be constructed, chiefly with the plow, so as to 
maintain the water at almost a uniform depth through- 
out a given section of the field. This should range 
between 3 and 6 inches on any one section of the field 
(Fig. 113). Variations in the depth of irrigation water 
cause unevenness in the time of maturing and hence injury 
to the quality of the product. 

204. Irrigation practice. —In Louisiana, the drained 
fields having been sown by the use of a grain drill, the 


‘WI ‘AGIMOUD LV FO 10 aigig IVINGWIYGd Xo Ny— ‘Sit “UL 


RICE 225 


young plants are allowed to grow, if practicable, without 
irrigation’ until the rice is 8 inches high, since the very 
young plants are liable to scalding in shallow water. How- 
ever, it is sometimes necessary to irrigate in order to cause 
the seed to germinate. When the plants have reached a 
height of 8 inches, the field is covered with water to a 
depth of 3 to 6 inches. Care should be taken that the 
water does not become stagnant, which is prevented by 
providing for a continuous inflow into the high part of the 
section and for a continuous outflow from the lower part of 
each section of the field. 

Irrigation in rice culture largely takes the place of cul- 
tivation, since it prevents the growth of many weeds 
and encourages the growth of the rice plant. 

Near the time of harvest, the water is drawn off so that 
the fields may become firm enough for the teams and 
machinery engaged in harvesting. 

The practice in South Carolina differs from the above. 
The water is admitted as soon as the seed is sown, and it is 
kept on the land 4 to 6 days to sprout the grain. The field 
is then drained. When the plants are a few inches high, 
another brief watering is given and the land again drained. 
Soon afterwards, irrigation is repeated, the water being 
kept on the land 20 to 30 days. ‘It is then drawn off and 
the field hoed. No more water is admitted until jointing 
of the plants begins, when they are hoed and the water 
again turned on, to remain until about 8 days before the 
harvest, when it is withdrawn. Care is taken to secure 
a constant change of water so as to avoid stagnation. 

205. Upland rice. — There are upland strains of rice 
that have become accustomed to being grown without 

Q 


226 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


irrigation, but which cannot be distinguished from lowland 
rice. This so-called upland rice succeeds better when 
irrigated. For the culture of rice without irrigation, the 
best soils are drained ponds or moist bottom lands. 

Since the crop must be kept free from grass and weeds by 
tillage, upland rice should be sown in drills, as close to- 
gether as practicable without preventing the use of culti- 
vating implements. The usual distance between rows is 
two and one half to three feet. Custom varies as to the 
thickness of planting in the drill. It is most convenient for 
the seeds to be dropped, a number in a place at distances of 
seven to twelve inches apart. 

Several cultivations and one or two hoeings are usually 
given. The yields are generally much less than on irri- 
gated land, and the expense of tillage is greater than that 
of irrigation. However, on soils especially suited to this 
crop and where labor is not expensive, it may be advisable 
to introduce the culture of rice, especially for use in the im- 
mediate neighborhood. 

The quality of upland rice is regarded as somewhat in- 
ferior to that of irrigated rice, probably because of imper- 
fect filling of some of the grains, and differences in the time 
of maturity among the different plants. Moreover, the 
small rice hullers which are usually employed (in connec- 
tion with a gin or grist mill), in localities where only small 
areas of rice are grown, do not turn out a product as highly 
polished as that obtained in the large and well-equipped 
rice mills. However, the dark and unpolished rice of the 
small mills is more nutritious than the pearly-white article 
of commerce, for the reason that the former contains more 
of the outer layers, which are the richest in protein. 


RICE 227 


Upland rice should usually be fertilized with acid phos- 
_ phate, and, if thought best, with potash and nitrogen. 
206. Harvesting. — The nature of the soil in Louisiana 
and Askansas permits the drainage of the fields, so that the 
rice crop is there harvested by the use of self-binders. 


After the grain has been somewhat further cured, it is carefully 
shocked (Fig. 114). ‘‘ First, shock on dry ground ; second, brace the 


Fic. 114. — A Rice Fietp arrer Harvest. 


bundles carefully against each other, so as to resist wind or storms ; 
third, let the shock be . . . capped carefully with bundles. ... Slow 


228 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


curing in the shade produces the toughness of kernel necessary to 
withstand the milling processes. In the shock every head should 
be shaded and sheltered from storm as much as possible. The 
rice should be left in the shock until the straw is cured and the 
rice is hard.” (S. A. Knapp, in Farmer’s Bul. No. 110, U. 8. 
Dept. of Agr.) 

Threshing is done in the same way as with other grains, 
usually in Louisiana, directly from the shock. The rough rice, 
usually in bags or barrels of 162 pounds, is sold to the rice 
mills. 

Rough rice weighs 45 pounds per bushel and yields about half 
its weight of marketable rice, besides cracked rice, polish, and 
other by-products. 

A fair yield in irrigated regions is 10 to 18 barrels or bags per 
acre. 


207. Weeds. — The rice planter encounters his great- 
est difficulties through the invasion of the field by a mul- 
titude of troublesome weeds. The general methods of 
control are plowing at opportune times and flooding. The 
most troublesome weed is red rice. 


Red rice is frequently accidentally sown with seed rice. Itisa 
strain different from the types of rice cultivated in the United 
States and comes only from red rice seed ; but this plant is capable 
of crossing with cultivated rice. A method recommended for 
ridding the land of this and of other weeds is to plow the field 
soon after harvest, so as to cause the seed of red rice and of 
other weeds to germinate. The young weeds are then killed by 
frost, or, in some cases, mowed and burned. 

Another method of fighting true weeds, other than red rice and 
other members of the grass family, consists in mowing the mass of 
young rice and weeds in the late spring or early summer, with the 
expectation that the rice will then develop a central shoot while 
the weeds will not make further growth. 

Early spring plowing is sometimes practiced to induce the weed 
seeds to germinate; the young plants are then killed by culti- 


RICE 929 


vation before the rice is sown. But this may result in making 
the date of planting too late for best yields of rice. 

Another method of fighting weeds consists in applying no water 
for a year or more, meantime not using the land for rice or even 
for any crop. In this way, the dry-land weeds crowd out the 
water-loving weeds, which latter are the most serious enemies of 
the Louisiana rice grower. 

Insect enemies. — Rice is not greatly injured by many insects. 
Among insect pests is the larva or grub of a small gray beetle, 
the water weevil (Lissorhoptrus simplex). The grubs in summer 
feed on the roots of the plants, giving to the clumps of plants 
affected a yellowish appearance. The remedy consists in pre- 
venting the stagnation of the water and, if practicable, in the 
temporary withdrawal of the water and the drying out of the land. 

Fungous diseases. — Rice blast, also called “‘ rotten neck,” is 
thought to be caused by afungus (Piricularia oryze). The sheath 
node is attacked, that is the node in which the head is forming, and 
the head may fail to fill out or may break off. Experts are not 
agreed as to any practicable treatment for this disease. 

Rice rust causes the leaves to die and the grain to be light. The 
cause is not definitely known. This trouble has been prevented 
by using 400 pounds of kainit per acre. 

Rice smut ( Tilletia horrida) occasionally occurs, filling the kernel 
with a mass of black spores. According to Anderson, it can be 
prevented either by (1) scalding the seed for 10 minutes in water 
kept at a temperature of 133° F., or (2) by moistening the seed 
for about 2 hours in a solution of one ounce of formalin to 3 
gallons of water. 

Rice birds or bobolinks (Dolichonyzx oryzivorus).— These birds 
prey on the ripening grain. Men and boys armed with shot 
guns are employed in some localities to frighten these birds from 
the rice fields. 


LABORATORY EXERCISE 


If seed heads or rough (unhulled) rice can be obtained, write a 
description of the seed and its covering, and of the arrangement 
of seeds on the branches. 


e 
230 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


LItBRATURE 


Knapp, S. A. Rice Culture in the United States. U.S. Dept. 
Agr., Farmer’s Buls. Nos. 110 and 417. 

Kwaprp, 8. A. Rice Culture in the United States. U.S. Dept. 
Agr., Div. Bot., Bul. No. 22. 

Knapp, 8S. A. Rice. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 5384-539. 

Srusss, W. C. La. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 24. 

Dopson, W. R. La. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 50, 61, and 77. 

Dovson, W. R. Red Rice, La. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 50. 

Anperson, A. P. Rice Blast and Rice Smut. S.C. Expr. Sta., 
Bul. No. 41. 

Mercatr, H. Blast of Rice. 8S. C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 121. 

McDonnell, C. C. A Chemical Investigation of the Rice Plant. 
S. C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 59. 

Netson, R. J. Rice Culture. Ark. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 94. 

VINCENHELLER, W. G. Rice Growing in Arkansas. Ark. Expr. 
Sta., Bul. No. 89. 

Beat, H. W. Extension of Rice Culture. U.S. Dept. Agr., 
Farmer’s Bul. No. 305. 

Austin, A. Rice. U.S. Dept. Agr., Div. Sta., Rpt. No. 6. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE SORGHUMS— ANpDROPOGON sORGHUM (OR SorR- 


7 GHUM VULGARE) 


THE sorghums comprise a very interesting group of 
diverse sub-species grown over a wide range and used fora 
variety of purposes. Some kinds or races are used for the 
making of sirup, and are sometimes erroneously known as 
“ sugar-millet’”’ ; some are grown for the grain in the top or 
head; one provides the material from which brooms are 
made; they all yield forage, of different degrees of excel- 
lence. The group belongs to the Graminee, or grass family. 


THE SORGHUMS IN GENERAL 


208. Groups of sorghum.— The sorghums may ‘be 
divided into three groups, all of the same botanical species. 
These classes are: (1) saccharine or sweet sorghums, grown 
for forage and sirup; (2) nonsaccharine or grain sorghums, 
including kafir and milo, which latter are important grain 
and forage crops in the dry climate of the southwestern part 
of the United States; (3) broom-corn, from which brooms 
and brushes are made. There are a number of varieties of 
each class, only the most important of which can be men- 


'’ tioned hete. 


209. General description. — The sorghums are giant 
grasses with stout, solid, pithy stems. The leaves are long 
and broad, but smaller than those of corn. The heads are 
of considerable size and varying shape and are borne at the 
top of the stems. The sorghums have strong root systems, 


made up of numerous fibrous parts. 
231 


232 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


All kinds grow slowly during the first few weeks of life, 
at which time they are easily overrun by weeds; therefore 
they make their best growth on clean land. 

210. Effects on the soil. — The sorghums are generally 
regarded as the most exhaustive among the ordinary crops 
of the farm. They leave the land in an unfavorable 
mechanical condition, which is due chiefly to the following 
causes : — 

(1) The presence of clods held together by the matted 
roots of the stubble ; 

(2) The slowness with which the stubble and other re- 
mains of the crop decay ; 

(3) The dry condition in which the soil is left, due to the 
large amount of leaf surface engaged, up to the time of har- 
vest, in throwing off moisture derived from the soil. 

211. Composition. — In all classes of sorghum, the stems 
and leaves, which are the parts used for green or cured forage, 
are rich in carbohydrates (starch and sugar), and poor in 
protein. Likewise, the seeds of all sorghums are rich in 
carbohydrates and slightly richer than corn in protein. 


Composition of Forage and Seed of Various Sorghums 


oe 
o1g 
Water | PROTEIN sa & Bs Fy 2 Finer | As 
al: 
Saccharine sorghum, 
cured plant. . . | 28.0 4.0 3.0 | 37.0 | 240) 4.0 
Kafir, cured stover . | 13.3 5.5 1.7 | 42.0] 27.9 | 9.3 
Kafir grain . . .{ 9.9 | 11.0 3.1 | 71.2 2.8) 1.6 
Milo grain . 9.7 | 10.7 2.8 72.2 3.1 | 2.3 
Saccharine sorghum 
seed. . . .. 12.8 9.1 3.6 | 69.8 2.6 | 2.1 


THE SORGHUMS 233 


212. Origin and crossing. — All three classes of sor- 
ghums are thought to trace back to the same ancestor and 
to be natives of tropical Africa. In some eastern countries, 
the seeds of some of the sorghums are important human 
foods. 

The various sorghums were introduced into the United 
States in 1853, and at intervals throughout the next few 
decades. 

Sorghums of all kinds freely cross with each other, the 
light pollen being spread by the wind. Therefore, varieties 
from which seed is to be saved should not be planted 
near any other variety or allowed to bloom at the same 
time. 

213. Enemies. —In the Southern States, especially 
from Louisiana eastward, the yield of seed from any class 
of sorghum is quite uncertain, and complete failures to 
mature seed are not infrequent. The usual cause of such 
failures is the attack on the flowers and kernels by a minute 
insect, the sorghum midge (Diplosis sorghicola). For this 
no effective treatment is known. Probably some advan- 
tage would result by planting this crop in fields remote 
from where sorghum was grown the previous year. 

Sorghum kernel smut (Sphacelotheca .sorght) is a disease 
caused by a fungus which destroys the individual grains. 
It is easily prevented by either of the following methods: 
(1) by soaking the seed for planting for one hour in a solu- 
tion of 1 ounce of formalin for each 2 gallons of water; or 
(2) by scalding the planting seed for 10 to 12 minutes 
in water kept at a temperature between 134° and 140°F. 
Either of these treatments kills the germs of the disease 
without injuring the seed. 


234 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


SACCHARINE OR SWEET SORGHUMS 


214. Description and uses. — The sweet sorghums are 
8 to 12 feet high, and are distinguished from other classes of 
sorghum by the great abundance of sweet juice in the stem. 
“Sugar millet’ is a local name sometimes given to the 
sweet sorghums, although this plant is not a millet. When 
the word “sorghum ” is used alone, it usually refers to the 
sweet sorghum. 

This group is used for the production of sirup as well as 
for green and cured forage. It is treated in this book 


Fic. 115.—On Lert, Toree Heaps or AMBER SorGHUM; ON RIGHT, 
Two Heaps oF Rep Karir. 


only as a sirup crop, its cultivation and curing for feeding 
purposes belonging to books on forage plants. Sorghum 
has been used to a very limited extent as a source of sugar, 


THE SORGHUMS 235 


but in this respect it cannot compete with sugar-cane and 
sugar-beets. 

As a sirup plant, sorghum is most extensively grown in 
the northern part of the cotton-belt and in the regions a 
little farther north. Even in the region where sugar-cane 
succeeds, some sorghum sirup is made, for two reasons: 
(1) that sorghum grows on poorer land than does sugar- 
cane, and (2) that it affords sirup 1 to 2 months earlier in 
the fall than does sugar-cane. The sirup 
from the latter is superior both in yield 
-and quality. 

215. Varieties. — There are many vari- 
eties, which may be divided into four 
sub-groups differing chiefly in the form 
of head and the color and covering of 
the seed :— 

(1) Amber sub-group, having large loose 
heads with seeds borne on long, slender, 
flexible branches; seeds almost completely 
covered by black chaff (glumes), making | 
seeds and head appear black (Fig. 115); ht 
one variety has red chaff. Fie. 116.— Or- 

(2) Orange sub-group, having heads NOR SOS N: 
neither very open nor very compact; seeds yellowish, pro- 
jecting beyond the dark chaff (Fig. 116) ; 

(3) Sumac, or Red-top, sub-group, having short, very 
compact heads; seeds small, brownish red, projecting con- 
siderably beyond the very small glumes. 

(4) Goose-neck sub-group, so called because the top 
of the stem curves, permitting the head to hang down 
(Fig. 117). The stalks of this variety near the ground 


236 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


sometimes attain a diameter of 1} inches. Where known, 
this is a favorite variety for the production of sirup, by 
reason of the large size of stalk, the large 
yield of cane, and the smaller amount of 
labor required in stripping it. 

The Amber varieties are early, requir- 
ing only about three months to reach 
maturity. The Orange is two or three 
weeks later, the stems larger and the 
yield somewhat greater than in the 
Amber varieties. 

Sumac, or Red-top, sorghum is about 
as late as Orange. 

The richness in sugar of any variety 
may be greatly increased by selecting 

SEES seed a few years from those plants which, 
Re ie heed by chemical tests, show the highest per- 

NECK Sorcuum. centages of sugar. The usual amount of 

sugar in the juice is 12 to 16 per cent. 

216. Soils and fertilizers. — Sweet sorghum may be 
grown on soils of almost any character. Because of its 
drought resistance, it is often assigned to poorer soil than 
that given to any other crop outside of the class of legumes 
or soil-improving plants. 

Sorghum is often grown without fertilizer; but on soils 
where it is necessary to fertilize other crops, this responds 
profitably to moderate applications of manure and to 
any commercial fertilizer suitable for corn on the same 
soil. Nitrogen seems to be the most important con- 
stituent in a fertilizer for sorghum, but it is often advis- 
able to add moderate amounts of phosphoric acid and 


THE SORGHUMS 237 


potash. Fertilizer should be applied in the same way as 
to corn. 

217. Preparation and planting. — Because of the slow 
growth of the young plants, preparation of the land should 
be thorough, to promote as rapid growth as possible of the 
young plant and to free the soil from all growing weeds and 
grass. On well-drained land, planting is usually practiced 
without ridging, which, however, may be necessary on poorly 
drained bottoms. In the dry climate of the Southwest, 
sorghum is sometimes “ listed’’; that is, planted in an un- 
filled furrow, considerably below the level of the field. 

A customary distance between rows is 33 feet, and 
between single plants grown for sirup, 3 to 8 inches. Seed- 
ing is performed with a planter, a few quarts sufficing for 
an acre. 

When practicable, tillage should be given with a weeder 
or harrow before the plants appear and again when they are 
large enough to escape injury. Several cultivations or till- 
ings with one- or two-horse cultivators, and in the Gulf 
States one or more hoeings, are usually given. 

Sorghum should be planted several weeks later than the 
earliest corn. The greater part of the crop is planted in 
May. However, in the cotton-belt sorghum for forage 
may be planted as late as July, monen such late planting 
reduces the yield. 

218. Harvesting. — When the iaat is thoroughly ma- 
ture, as shown by the sweetness of the juice and the ripening 
of the grain, the heads are cut for seed, the leaves stripped 
from the stem and utilized for forage, and the stalks cut and 
made into sirup in practically the same way in which sugar- 
cane is handled. 


38 


A Frevp or Buack-HuLLED WuiTe Karir. 
2 


Fie. 118.— 


THE SORGHUMS 239 


Karir 


219. Description and uses. — Kafir, also called “kafir 
corn,” has shorter stems, 5 to 8 feet in height, and more 
compact heads than have the saccharine sorghums (Fig. 
118). The heads are always erect and the grain projects 
well beyond the chaff. There are red and white varieties; 


Fic. 119.—On Lert, Two Heaps or Mito; anp on Ricut, Two oF 
Buack-HULLED WHITE Karin. 

the one most extensively grown is Black-hulled White kafir 

(Fig. 119). 

The most valuable quality of this plant is its drought 
resistance, which makes it an important grain and forage 
crop in the dry climate of the western part of Kansas, Okla- 
homa, and Texas, where it is largely grown as a substitute for 
corn, which it exceeds in yield of grain in regions where the 
rainfall is scant. East of Texas the crop of grain, though 


240 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


sometimes large, is uncertain, as a result of attacks by 
insects. 

In feeding value, kafir grain is nearly equal to a corre- 
sponding weight of corn. It is fed to all classes of live-stock 
and is especially prized for poultry. There is more need to 
grind kafir than to grind corn. The forage remains green 
up to the time of the ripening of the grain. 

Kafir requires about four to four and a half months to 
reach maturity. 

220. Soils and planting. — The kafir plant.thrives on a 
variety of soils. It succeeds especially well on sod land 
never before cultivated. Its cultivation is nearly the same 
as that of sorghum grown for sirup. In the Southwest, 
kafir is often listed, which is considered to be advantageous 
in a dry season. There it is sometimes planted with a 
two-row corn planter. The plants are left 3 to 5 inches 
apart in the row and the rows are ordinarily 3} feet 
apart. 

221, Harvesting. — This is usually done with a corn- 
binder, but sometimes with a header or device attached to a 
wagon and intended to cut and lift into the wagon body 
only the heads. Heads thus cut must be kept in thin layers 
to prevent heating. The seeds are threshed from the stalk 
by the use of an ordinary grain thresher. 


MILo 


222. This crop is also called “milo maize.” The stems 
resemble those of kafir; the heads are shorter and more 
rounded and the seeds are more flattened than those of 
kafir (Fig. 119). Milois even more drought resistant than 


THE SORGHUMS 241 


kafir and may make a crop where the rainfall is only 10 
to 14 inches. 


Other advantages over kafir are its earlier maturity and its 
- freedom from attack by kernel smut. The disadvantages of milo 
as compared with kafir are: (1) the leaves are fewer and the 
stems more pithy; (2) the fact that the leaves of milo do not 
keep perfectly green up to the time of the ripening of seed, 
making its forage less palatable. 

The methods of planting, cultivating, and harvesting milo are 
the same as for kafir. In experiments made in the northwestern 
part of Texas,’a distance of 6 inches between plants in the row 
afforded the largest yield of seed. 

Selection has resulted in a dwarf variety and also in strains 
having erect heads, thus making harvesting easier than with the 
pendant heads, usual in the plants of milo. 


BROOM-CORN 


223. Description. — Broom-corn is a tall, nonsaccharine 
sorghum. It is distinguished from other sorghums by the 
great length and toughness of the branches that make up 
the panicle (Fig. 120). The valuable part of broom-corn 
consists of these long heads after the removal of the im- 
mature seed; this useful part is called the ‘ brush,” and 
from it brooms and various kinds of brushes are made. 


‘A fair yield of cured and prepared brush of the standard varie- 
ties is about one third of a ton per acre. The dwarf varieties 
ordinarily yield about one fifth of a ton of brush per acre, but 
this dwarf brush commands a higher price. The price of broom- 
corn is subject to violent fluctuations; eighty dollars per ton of 
brush may be taken as an average, but the price sometimes sinks 
below this and sometimes rises to about double this figure. The 
fluctuations in price are largely due to the fact that only a rela- 
tively small area (usually less than 40,000 acres and some years 
less than 20,000 acres) is required to furnish the entire American 

R 


242 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


crop of broom-corn. Therefore an increase of a few thousand 
acres greatly depresses prices. The chief centers of production 
. are certain districts in Illinois, 
Kansas, and Oklahoma. 
Nashville, Tennessee, is proba- 
bly the most important southern 
market for broom-corn brush. 
Wf, If the erop is grown on farms 
in the South Atlantic and Gulf 
States, growers should aim rather 
to supply local broom factories 
than to compete on the larger 
markets with localities in which 
broom-corn culture is a long- 
established industry. 


224. Types of broom-corn. 
— The varieties of broom- 
corn may be divided into two 
types or classes — standard 
and dwarf varieties. Stand- 
ard broom-corn is a tall plant 
with brush 18 to 24 inches 
long. Dwarf broom-corn usu- 
ally stands only 4 to 6 feet 
high and bears brush that is 
Fic. 120.—Broom-corn Bruss. 10 to 18 inches long. From 

On left, before removal of seed; the latter are made whisk 
and enaiehh. alien suanpine: brooms, hearth brooms, and 
brushes. The Dwarf varieties are considered to be espe- 
cially suited to Oklahoma and Kansas. 

225. Climate, soils, and fertilizers. — While the broom- 
corn plant can be grown under a wide range of climatic 
and soil conditions, yet it is most profitable in a climate 


THE SORGHUMS 243 


where there is but little rain at the time of harvest. Harvest 
occurs about the same time as with other kinds of sorghum; 
that is, in August and September. In the southeastern 
part of the United States the weather is more apt to be dry 
in September and October than in August ; hence it is well 
to postpone. the date of planting late enough into May or 
June to bring the harvesting season in September, rather 
than earlier. 

Rain just before or at harvest time is likely to cause plant- 
lice to attack the plants and to discolor the brush, which, 
in order to command the highest price, should be of a green 
color. 

Any land on which a good yield of corn is ordinarily 
made is suitable for broom-corn. 

The same fertilization as for corn, or for sorghum grown 
for sirup, is advisable. The soil should be fertile enough 
and the fertilizer rich enough in nitrogen to insure a tall and 
rapid growth, which is favorable to length of brush. 

226. Culture. — If seed is to be saved, broom-corn should 
be planted in a field remote from any other kind of sorghum, 
as all kinds of sorghum readily hybridize, or mix. For this 
and for other reasons, one should plant seed only from se- 
lected plants, grown in a seed patch where no mixing could 
have occurred and from which all poor heads were removed 
before the pollen was ready to be shed. 

Planting in Oklahoma is done chiefly in May. Broom- 
corn may be planted earlier in the southern portion of the 
cotton-belt ; but here it is probably well to delay planting 
late into May or even later, so as to bring the harvest season 
in September when there is a greater probability of dry 
weather than there is in August. 


244 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The seed should be planted in well-prepared land in 
rows about 33 feet apart, one plant standing every 3 or 4 
inches on rich land or at double this distance on poor land. 
Cultivation is somewhat more conveniently performed if 
the plants are left, 3 to 6 in a hill, at distances of about 
16 inches apart for standard kinds, or at shorter intervals 
for dwarf varieties. 

For planting on a seed-bed in perfect condition with the 
expectation of not thinning the plants, 2 quarts of good 
seed is sufficient for an acre. With land less perfectly pre- 
pared or where thinning is necessary, at least double this 
amount of seed is sometimes used. 

Tillage is similar to that given to corn, or to sorghum 
grown for sirup. 

227. Harvesting and preparation for market. — Har- 
vesting of the brush occurs before the seeds form; that 
is, when the anthers are falling. The heads of the dwarf 
plants are pulled instead of being cut. Standard vari- 
eties must first be bent down or “tabled.” This is 
done by bending down, about 3 feet above the ground, 
the stalks on two rows. These bent plants are brought 
together diagonally in a horizontal position, the brush 
of one row extending beyond the upright portion of 
the stalks on the adjacent row. The brush is then 
cut with a sharp knife at a distance of about 8 inches 
below the head. It is laid, for partial drying, on 
the tables made by the bending together of two rows 
of stalks. 

After sorting the heads to separate all crooked and un- 
marketable brush, the immature seeds are removed by 
scraping or threshing on a special kind of thresher, the 


THE SORGHUMS 245 


brush not passing through the machine, but being held 
against the revolving cylinders. 

Drying is done rapidly in the shade of special sheds and 
away from strong light, so as to retain the green color. In 
a shed for curing broom-corn, the layers of threshed brush 
are only 2 or 3 inches thick on flat supports, so as to insure 
ample ventilation and quick curing. 

After curing, the brush is packed into bales weighing 
from 300 to 400 pounds. 

228. Enemies. — The principal insect enemies are plant- 
lice and chinch-bugs. Sorghum smut is the most serious 
fungous disease. This is carried through the seed and can 
be prevented by soaking the seed for fifteen minutes in 
water kept at a temperature of 135° F. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


(1) Write a description of each class and variety of sorghum 
of which specimens can be obtained, noting especially the follow- 
ing : — 


(a) Color of naked seed ; 

(6) Color and size of chaff ; 

(c) Whether seed is almost completely covered by chaff, 
or projects slightly, or is largely uncovered. 


(2) Write a description of the heads of each class and variety of 
sorghum of which specimens can be obtained, noting especially 
the following : — 


(a) Compactness of head ; 

(b) Shape of head, — oval, cylindrical, roundish, fan- 
shaped, or irregular, — illustrating the shape by 
drawing the outlines of each head ; 

(c) Length of head in inches. 


246 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(8) If a field of any class or variety of sorghum can be in- 
spected, make record of the following : — 


(a) The apparent impurity, or percentage of plants which 
seem to belong in a different class or variety ; 

(b) Effects on the size of heads and size of stalk due to wide 
or close spacing of plants. 


(4) If a field of kafir or milo can be inspected, note whether 
there is uniformity in the height of plants and time of ripening. If 
not, does this diversity interfere with the local method of harvest- 
ing the seed ? 

(5) If fields of saccharine sorghum are available, cut short 
sections of the same row when the plants are at different heights, 
or stages of maturity; record the weights and condition when 
cut, and a month or two after each cutting, note the effects of 
cutting at different stages on the height of the second growth. 


LITERATURE 
Saccharine sorghums. 


Bau, C. R. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. No. 246; Cire. 
50. 

Newman, J. S., and others. Sorghum as a Sirup Plant. S.C. 
Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 88. 


Nonsaccharine sorghums — kafir and milo. 


Warsurton, C. W. The Nonsaccharine Sorghums. U. 8S. 
Dept. Agr., Farmer’s-Bul. No. 288. 

Conner, A. B. Forage Crops in Northwest Texas. Tex. 
Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 103. 

Bau, C. R., and Lerpien, A. H. Milo as a Dry-land Grain 
Crop. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. No. 322. 

Freeman, E. M., and Umspercer, H. J. C. The Smuts of 
Sorghum. U. 8. Dept. Agr., Bureau Plant Ind., Cire. 
No. 8. 

Roserts, H. F., and Freeman, C. F. Prevention of Sorghum 
and Kafir Corn Smut. Kan. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 149. 


THE SORGHUMS 247 


Cosurn, F. D. The Sorghums. Kan. Bd. Agr., Rpt. Ist. 
Quarter, 1896. 

Hunt, T.F. The Cereals in America, pp. 383-399. 1904, New 
York. 

Batt, C. R., and Warsurton, C. 8. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., 
Vol. II, pp. 574-582. 


Broom-corn. 


Hartiey, C. P. Broom-corn. U.S. Dept.:Agr., Farmer’s Bul. 
No. 174. 

Newman, C. L. Broom-corn. Ark. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 83. 

Dopson, W. R. Broom-corn. La. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 67. 

Warsurton, C. W. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 216- 
217. 


CHAPTER XIV 


COTTON — STRUCTURE AND GENERAL 
«CHARACTERISTICS 


Cortron is the world’s most important fiber plant. The 
cotton plant as generally grown in the United States is 
of erect or bushy form and usually three to seven feet tall. 
In this country it is an annual, being killed by frost in the 
fall. In its native home in the tropics the cotton plant is 
a perennial, living for many years. Suggestions of this 
perennial habit are afforded after a mild winter in, the 
southern part of the cotton-belt by the sprouting of plants 
from the old root or stem. 

229. Stems and branches. — The cotton plant consists 
of an erect central stem, usually three to six feet long, from 
the nodes of which branches arise. Stems and branches 
are woody and solid. The length and arrangement of 
branches are important as means of distinguishing varieties 
and as indications of productiveness and earliness. 

The longest limbs of cotton are usually near the base of 
the plant, the length decreasing towards the top of the 
main stem. This gives to cotton plants of most varieties 
a cone-shaped, pyramidal, or sugar-loaf form. However, 
in varieties, known as “ cluster cottons,’”’ there are a few 
long limbs near the base of the plant; all branches above 
these basal limbs are only a few inches long, thus giving a 


slender or “ erect” appearance to the upper two thirds of 
248 


Mee 


COTTON STRUCTURE 249 


Fie. 121.— A Vecerative Branco 
FROM NEAR THE BASE or Aa Corron 
PLANT. 


Showing that the boll-stems are not 
borne directly on the vegetative branch, 
but on secondary branches springing 
from it. 


the plant. Between cluster cotton and wide-spreading, 
long-limb kinds there are all gradations in length of 


branches. 
Each branch arises from the main stem in the angle be- 


250 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


tween a leaf and the mainstem. Usually this leaf on the 
main stem falls before the branch attains much size, but 
its position is shown by the leaf-scar. 

The plant has: two classes of branches or limbs. The 
longer, ascending ones (Fig. 121) are sometimes called 
vegetative or primary branches, while slenderer or shorter 
branches on which bolls are attached directly by their 
flower stalks or boll-stems (peduncles) are called “ fruiting 
limbs” (Fig. 122). The primary branches have also been 


Fic. 122.— A Froitinc Brancu. 
Showing that the boll-stems are borne directly on the branch. 


called sterile limls; this is because no boll-stem or boll is 
borne directly on these vegetative limbs, though boll-stems, 
with attached bolls, spring from the subdivisions of these 
main branches. 

In general, a primary branch supports numerous leaves, 
and, on its sub-branches, some bolls; while a fruiting 
limb usually bears several bolls and but few leaves. 

Normally, two branches arise from the axil of a leaf on 
the main stem (Fig. 123). One of these twin branches, 
arising from the same node of the main stem, is a fruiting 


COTTON STRUCTURE 251 


Fic. 123.— A Cotton Prant. 


Showing the growth of two branches from each of certain nodes on 
the mair stem. 


252. SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fic. 124.—Cotrron PLANT ON WHICH THE VEGETATIVE BRANCH IS 
SUPPRESSED AT EVERY NODE EXCEPT WHERE THE Two Lowest 
(VEGETATIVE) BRANCHES ORIGINATE. 


branch, and the other a vegetative or so-called sterile 
branch. At many of the nodes one or the other of these 
branches fails to develop conspicuously, and is represented 
merely by a tiny shoot or bud (Fig. 124.) If a vegeta- 


COTTON STRUCTURE 253 


Fic. 125.— A Corron PLANT HAVING ONLY FrRuitTinG Limes. 


tive limb develops at nearly every node, the plant presents 
a very bushy, round-topped, leafy appearance, and the 
bolls may be relatively few and too much shaded. 

It is probable that the yield will be increased by selecting 
seed from plants on which a large proportion of the fruit 
limbs develop fully, and on which there are relatively few 
fully developed vegetative branches (Fig. 125). 


254 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


On the main stem of some plants the fruit limb is invari- 
ably on the left side of the sterile limb, while on other plants, 
the fruit limb is uniformly on the right side of its twin 
vegetative branch. 

230. Maturity or earliness. —It has been found by 
Bennett that those cotton plants are earliest in maturity 
(as judged by the time when their bolls are formed) that 
are short-jointed and that throw out their lowest limbs 
from nodes very near the ground. For earliness and pro- 
ductiveness there should be numerous nodes on the main 
stem, — that is, points from which branches spring, — and 
these should be close together. Likewise on the limbs, the 
distance between bolls or secondary branches should be 
short, especially where earliness is important. 

231. Bark and stem. — The bark of the cotton plant is 
fairly strong and tough. To a limited extent cotton bark 
has been used as a coarse fiber, once proposed as a cover- 
ing for cotton bales, and in the making of paper. 


The woody stem inside the bark is weak and brittle, so that 
after the plants are killed by frost the stalks can readily be broken 
or cut, and after being plowed under, they rot more rapidly than 
do corn-stalks similarly treated. 

The color of the bark of the nearly mature plant is usually 
reddish brown, but the shade varies on different sides of the same 
stem and in different varieties and individuals. Some plants 
have a dark greenish bark. Such plants tend to drop their leaves 
early and to mature early. 


232. Roots. — The cotton plant is supplied with a 
tap-root, or continuation of the stem, from which the lateral 
roots branch. In deep, well-drained soil, the tap-root may 
go deep into the ground, but on shallow soil or on that in- 


COTTON STRUCTURE 255 


sufficiently drained, the tap-root often turns and grows 
in a horizontal direction on coming into contact with a 
dense or undrained subsoil. 

Most of the lateral roots arise at points two to four 
inches below the surface of the ground. Hence, deep 
cultivation after the plant is several inches high results i in 
the destruction of many of the lateral roots. 

233. Leaves. — The leaves of cotton are alternate in 
position on the stem or branch. They vary somewhat in 
size and shape, even on the same plant. In American 
varieties, both of the short-staple and long-staple upland 
classes, the leaves are usually 
three-lobed, sometimes  five- 
lobed. In these classes the 
spaces between lobes are usually 
shallow. Certain groups of vari- 
eties, chiefly the big-boll kinds, ""* 126 Corton Lnavas. 

‘ ‘ a, upland ; b, Sea Island. 

have large leaves with quite 

shallow indentation, and short, broad lobes. Other groups, 
notably those of the King and Peterkin types, have smaller 
leaves with slenderer, more sharply pointed lobes. Between 
these groups are all gradations in size and shape of leaves. 
In Sea Island cotton the lobes are very slender and the 
indentations very deep (Fig. 126). 

There are usually three (sometimes more) prominent 
veins or ribs in each leaf. On one or more of these on the 
under side of the leaf are glands that may easily be seen. 
The leaves of upland cotton are covered, especially on the 
lower side, with numerous short, inconspicuous hairs. 

234. Boll stems, or peduncles. — Connecting the flower 
or boll with the branch is a short flower-stem (Figs. 121 and 


256 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


122), ranging in American upland and long-staple upland 
varieties from one half an inch to about two inches in 
length. This varies somewhat with the variety, but varies 
still more in different parts of the same plant. 


The boll stem should be of such length and diameter as will 
prevent its bending abruptly, thus preventing the most complete 
development of the boll. 

It would probably be an advantage if the boll-stem should 
be of sufficient length and strength to cause the boll to hang with 
its tip downward, so that the leafy bracts might act against rain as 
a roof, thus increasing the ‘‘ storm resistance”’ of the seed cotton. 
This, however, has not been proved; for increased length may 
lead to a greater amount of breaking of boll-stems, rather than to 
a normal drooping of the boll. It should be added that. the 
abrupt bending of the boll-stem is often due to a specific disease, 
“black arm.” 


235. Flowers. — The three green parts, which together 
make the ‘ square,” are bracts or flower leaves, and serve 
to protect the flower bud. The blooms are large and pretty, 
their size and color varying in different species. 

In American upland and long-staple upland, the bloom 
is a pale cream color on the morning that it opens. On the 
second day it changes to a pink or red and later falls. The 
flowers open early in the morning and close late in the same 
day. In Sea Island cotton, the young bloom has a more 
yellowish tint than the flower of upland cotton. 

The pollen is heavy and waxy, and apparently it is 
carried almost entirely by insects. However, cotton is 
capable of self-fertilization, as shown by the fact that if a 
hundred flower buds be inclosed by paper bags, bolls con- 
taining seed will develop in most cases. It is probable that 
cross-fertilization tends to increased vigor. At least the 


COTTON STRUCTURE 257 


seed from artificial hybrids between upland American vari- 
eties have been found to be larger than the average of the 
seeds of the parent varieties. (Ala. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 56.) 

There are five conspicuous petals and five inconspicuous 
sepals, the latter united into a shallow cup around the base 
of the flower and boll. The pistil, or central part of the 
flower, is divided into from 3 to 6 divisions or stigmas. 
Three is the prevailing number of stigmas in Sea Island 
cotton and four or five in American upland varieties. The 
number is the same as the number of locks of seed cotton 
that will develop in that particular boll. The stamens are. 
numerous and are grouped closely around the pistil just 
below the stigmas. 

The pollen is released from the pollen-cases (anthers) 
several hours after sunrise, or about the same time that the 
stigma is in condition to receive it. 

Two varieties of cotton readily cross by the carrying of 
pollen by insects from one flower to another. Webber has 
estimated that only about 5 to 10 per cent of the seed from 
two varieties grown near together produce hybrid, or 
crossed, plants. 


Glands. —- Glands, or minute organs secreting a sweetish sub- 
stance, are found both on the flowers and leaves of cotton. In 
the flowers of American cottons there are glands at the base of 
the bracts and also at the base of the petals. On the under side of 
the leaves the glands occur on one or more of the mid-ribs or veins. 
The glands are probably means of attracting insect visitors and 
thus of increasing the amount of crossing between varieties or 
between individual plants of cotton. 


236. Bolls (Fig. 127).— The pod containing the seed 
and lint is called the boll. In short-staple cotton, there 
s 


“00}}00 WeIPUT 4YURU wo pus | pues] vag ‘xayUe0 UL ! puBldn UeoLOUTY 439] TO 
‘sTI0G NOLLOO —"LZ1 ‘OLT 


COTTON STRUCTURE 259 


are usually four or five divisions of each boll; the content 
of each division is called a lock. While upland American 
cottons, both long- and short-staple, have usually four or 
five locks, a boll of Sea Island cotton contains only three 
or four. 

In tests made at the Alabama Experiment Station, 
bolls with five locks afforded a larger yield of seed cotton 
to the boll than did bolls having only four locks. 

The number of bolls varies somewhat. with different 
varieties, but is chiefly dependent upon conditions of fer- 
tility, rainfall, and climate. The number may vary be- 
tween a few and several hundred on a single plant. A 
field averaging 50 mature bolls per plant usually makes 
considerably more than a bale of cotton (500 pounds of 
lint) per acre. Cotton plants of medium size, 3 to 5 feet 
high, are apt to be more heavily fruited in proportion to 
size than very large plants. Short internodes, or spaces 
between branches, are favorable to productiveness. An 
ideal cotton plant should have a number of nearly hori- 
zontal fruiting limbs, beginning near the ground, and 
continuing to arise at each node until considerably above 
the middle of the plant. Each fruiting limb on the lower 
part of productive plants should mature at least four 
bolls. 

_ Cotton bolls of the Sea Island varieties are usually less than 
one inch in diameter, and of slender, tapering shape. Bolls of 
American upland cotton vary greatly in size and shape according 


to variety, and the character of soil and season. The diameter 
usually varies between 1} and 2 inches, and in most cases the 


_bolls are considerably longer than thick. Rich land and high 


fertilization, together with abundance of moisture, tend to in- 
erease the size of bolls. 


260 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fic. 128.—A Corron Puant Dericient 1n StoRM RESISTANCE. 


Bolls of upland cotton are usually of such size that from 40 to 
110 are required to make a pound of seed cotton. 

When the boll ripens, it splits usually into four or five divisions, 
exposing the seed cotton. The parts of the pod, or bur, separate 
more or less completely. If they open wide and the outer walls 
of the burs curl backward, the seed cotton may be held so 


slightly that it is easily blown out by wind or beaten out by rain 
(Fig. 128). 


COTTON STRUCTURE 


237. Storm resist- 
ance. — The  struc- 
ture of boll most 
favorable to “ storm 
- resistance,” or per- 
sistence of the seed 
cotton in the bur, is 
the following : — 

(1) A firm stiff wall, 
which on drying does 
not curl backward, 
but serves to support 
and protect the seed 
cotton (Fig. 129). 

(2) Sufficient sepa- 
ration of the parts of 
the bur to make pick- 
ing easy, but not 
enough to permit 
each lock to hang 
separately. 


Fie. 129. — StoRM-RESIST- 
ant Bott anp Burs 
ABOVE; BELOW, BOLLS 
AND Burs _ LACKING 
Storm ResIsTANCE. 


Below, thewallsof thebur 
are rolled back, permitting 
the locks of seed cotton to 
separate and fall back- 
ward ; above, the walls of 
the bur do not curve back- 
ward, but support the seed 
cotton in a compact mass. 


261 


262 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(3) A drooping position of the boll, which is partly de- 
pendent upon the weight of the boll, partly on the length 
-and stifiness of the boll-stem, and partly on the position of 
the cotton plant; that is, whether standing erect or bent 
down by the weight of bolls. 

(4) The presence of large bracts, or leafy parts of the 
square, which may serve to shed some of the water and 
thus to prevent the complete saturation of bolls, and 
dropping of seed cotton from bolls borne in a drooping 
position. 

238. Lint. — Each cotton fiber consists of a single 
elongated cell. The fiber.may be thought of as a tube, 
which, while immature, is cylindrical throughout more than 
three fourths of its length; thence it tapers to the end 
farthest from the seed. But as the fiber matures, the tube 
collapses and becomes twisted, somewhat like a collapsed 
and twisted fire-hose. This twisting, which is most com- 
plete when the fiber is thoroughly matured, is highly de- 
sirable because it adds strength to the cotton thread or yarn 
by causing the fibers to cling together when twisted. The 
advantage of the twisting in preventing the slipping of 
fibers in a thread or cloth may be understood by considering 
how much more difficult it would be for two chains twisted 
together to slip past each other than it would be for two 
pieces of smooth wire. 

Based chiefly on the amount of twisting, there are in 
every lot of cotton three kinds of fibers: (1) ripe, (2) partly 
ripe, and (3) immature. In immature fibers there is little 
twist; consequently these make weak thread or cloth. 
Moreover immature fibers do not uniformly and satisfac- 
torily absorb the dyes used in the manufacture of colored 


COTTON STRUCTURE 263 


cloth: Therefore, to secure the best grade and price, bolls 
of cotton should not be picked until well opened, thus 
giving an opportunity for sun and air to mature the fiber.. 

The value of cotton fiber is determined by (1) length, (2) 
strength, (3) maturity, (4) fineness, and (5) uniformity. 
The longest fiber is usually the finest, and such fibers may 
be used in the manufacture of the finest, thinnest, and most 
expensive cotton fabrics. 


The following are approximately average lengths of the fibers 
of the principal kinds of cotton :— 


Sea Island, 1.61 inches ; 
Egyptian, 1.41 inches ; 
American upland, 0.93 inches ; 
American long-staple, 1.3 inches. 


The fiber is longest on the larger or upper end of the seed. 

The average diameter of American upland short-staple cotton 
‘is geo t0 qryp inch. The cotton fiber attains its maximum length 
before reaching its maximum diameter and strength. 

Williams (N. C. Bd. Agr., Bul. Sept., 1906) found that in 12 
varieties of cotton, the average weight required to break a single 
fiber was 6.83 grams. Hilgard found the extremes of breaking 
strength of cotton to be 4 and 14 grams. Cotton is about three 
times as strong as wool in proportion to the size of fiber. In a 
pound of Russell cotton there were calculated to be more than 
15,000,000 fibers, which, if placed end to end, would make a line 
about 2000 miles long. Cotton fiber is prevented from readily 
absorbing moisture by an oily covering of each fiber, which is 
said by Monil to make up about.2 per cent of the weight of the 
fiber. Absorbent cotton represents cotton from which this oily 
protection has been removed by treatment with chemicals. The 
oily covering must be removed before the yarn can be dyed. 

It is thought by farmers that if seed cotton be stored for some 
time before ginning, the proportion of lint will increase and that 
it will then make a better-looking sample. If this be true, there 


264 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


is need for investigators to determine whether there is an increase 
in the weight of this oily covering during storage. 


239. Seed. — There are usually 6 to 12 seeds in each 
lock of seed cotton, or from 28 to 50 seeds in a boll. In 
varieties with small seed, the number per boll is usually 
greater than in varieties having large seed. 

The legal weight of a bushel of seed is usually either 32 
or 334 pounds. A bushel may be regarded as containing 
about 135,000 seeds of average size. 


A bushel of Sea Island cotton seed is usually assumed to weigh 
about 44 pounds. In the author’s classification, upland cotton 
seed, averaging 13 grams per 100 seed, are considered as large; 
those weighing 10 to 13 grams per 100 seed as medium ; and those 
weighing less than 10 grams per 100 seed as small. 

The seed of most varieties of upland cotton are covered with 
a short, dense fuzz which may be white, greenish, or brownish. 
There are some exceptional varieties almost free from this fuzz or 
so thinly covered that the black seed-coat shows through. Sea 
Island cotton has naked black seeds, free from fuzz except on the 
tip end of some of them. Constant selection is necessary to pre- 
vent an increase in the fuzz on Sea Island cotton seed. 

Within the tough hull of the seed is the ‘‘meat,”’ which con- 
sists chiefly of two fleshy seed leaves (cotyledons) enfolding the 
embryo sprout and the embryo root. 

In the entire seed the following figures represent approximately 
the usual proportions of the different parts : — 


Linters, or short lint, removed at the oil mill. . . 10 per cent 
Hulls. . . . . . . ee eee.) «640 per cent 
IMIGStS.~ od Mie a wh a: eee Sd we ee 50 per cent 


Germination. — When planted in the field in the spring under 
favorable weather conditions, germination usually occurs in seven 
to twelve days. Cotton seeds retain their power to germinate for 
several years. The seed leaves, or first two thick leaves that 


COTTON STRUCTURE 265 


appear, serve to nourish the plant before the appearance of true 
leaves. 


240. Stages in the life of flower and fruit. — When the 
plant is about 40 days old, the first squares or flower buds 
may usually be seen. If planting is done in hot weather, 
the squares mature more quickly. Mercier reports that 
21 days is the time from the first appearance of the square 
to the opening of the bloom. From the open bloom to the 
open boll the time varies according to the season of: year 
and the variety. As arule in very hot weather, 42 days is 
sufficient; while in the cooler weather of the early fall, 50 or 
more days may be required. Therefore, blooms appearing 
50 days before the average date of frost in a given locality 
may be expected, under average weather conditions, to 
mature. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


(1) Tie a string to the lowest branch of a well-grown cotton 
plant and wind it spirally around the plant, in such a way as to 
touch the base of each branch. By repeating this on several 
plants determine the number of the branch from thé bottom that 
is directly above the lowest branch. 

(2) Make a record of how many times the string passes en- 
tirely around the stem in being wound spirally from the lowest 
branch to the one directly over it. 

(3) Compare, as to earliness of maturing, several plants with 
long internodes on main stem and branches with others of the 
same variety having short intervals between limbs or leaves. 

(4) Weigh the mass of seed cotton from 50 bolls each having 
5 locks, and that from 50 4-lock bolls; record and compare the 
weights. 

(5) Find 5 storm-resistant bolls or old burs, and write down the 
apparent reasons for the storm resistance of each. 

(6) Pull and break a small number of fibers of immature but 


266 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


dry lint and note how much less force is required to break these 
than to break fully matured cotton fibers. 


LITERATURE 


Met, P. H. Ala. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 13. 

Wiuurams, C.B. N.C. Bd. Agr., Bul. Sept., 1906. 

AuuarD, H. J. The Fibers of Long-staple Upland Cotton. U.S. 
Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant. Ind., Bul. No. 111, Pt. II. 

Wart,G. The Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of the World. 
London, 1907. 

Wesser, H. J., and Boykin, E. B. Cotton. Bailey’s Cyclo. 
Agr., Vol. II, pp. 247-257. 


CHAPTER XV 
COTTON — COMPOSITION AND PRINCIPAL USES 


OF course, the great usefulness of cotton lies in the lint 
or fiber. In fact, when one speaks of “‘ cotton,” he usually 
refers to the fiber rather than to the plant as a whole. 
There are other uses, however, that must be considered ; 
and it is important to know the chemical composition of 
the parts. i 

241. The lint. — Cotton lint consists mostly of woody 
fiber (cellulose), which is formed chiefly from the carbon 
dioxid of the air. A bale of cotton (500 pounds of lint) 
contains only 1.7 pounds of nitrogen, half a pound of phos- 
phoric acid, and 2.3 pounds of potash. , If these sub- 
stances be rated at their prices in commercial fertilizers, 
the plant-food removed in a bale of cotton would be worth 
only about 42 cents. 

In selling only the lint the farmer removes from the soil 
a smaller amount of fertility than in growing any other 
American crop. When cotton lands decline in fertility, 
it is not because of the lint removed, but chiefly on account 
of the failure to rotate crops and thus to replenish the 
supply of vegetable matter. 

242. The seed. — The seed of cotton, unlike the lint, 
is rich in nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. Hence 
the sale of cotton seed removes large quantities of these 


forms of plant-food. 
267 


268 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


For example, 1000 pounds of seed, which is approxi- 
mately the amount usually accompanying one 500-pound 
bale of lint, contains about 31 pounds of nitrogen, 13 
pounds of phosphoric acid, and 12 pounds of potash. 
To replace this quantity of precious plant-food would 
require commercial fertilizers costing about $6.25. The 
draft on the fertility of the land made by other parts of 
the plant are indicated in later paragraphs of this book. 

248. Composition of cotton products.— The most 
valuable products of the cotton plant, next to the lint, are 
those made from the seed. In round numbers there are 
produced annually in the United States half as many mil- 
lion tons of seed as million bales of cotton. More than 
two thirds of the seed is used by the oil mills and less than 
one tenth for planting; the remainder is either fed directly 
as seed to live-stock, or else employed as fertilizer. The 
oil in the seed has no fertilizing value; hence more wealth 
is created when the oil mills use the seed than when the 
seeds are employed as fertilizer, provided the farmer 
buys enough cotton-seed meal or other forms of commercial 
fertilizer to restore to his land the plant-food removed in 
the seed. At prices prevailing in recent years, a dollar 
buys a larger amount of plant-food in the form of cotton- 
seed meal than if invested in cotton seed. 


A ton of cotton seed ordinarily produces approximately the 
following results at the oil mills : — 


Pounps 
Oil (38 to 45 gallons), average about . . - . . « 3800 
Cotton-seed meal, average about . 3) Gy! Gl 2 ae ae, SO 
Cotton-seed hulls, average about .. . . » . . 800 
Linters, average about . . er: 30 
Waste, sand, trash, and evaporation, average about . . 120 


Total 2 ss > + e 2 oe & a « as 4 2000 


COTTON COMPOSITION 269 


The food and fertilizer constituents contained in one ton of 
cotton seed and of a similar amount of high-grade cotton-seed 
meal are as follows : — 


Pounds of Food and Fertilizer Constituents in One Ton 
of Cotton Seed and of high-grade Cotton-seed meal 


Foop ConsTITUENTS 
Corron Corron- 
Cotton-seed | p Srrep aber MEAL 
Ostton sag meal, 2000 ICHER BY ICHER BY 
Lb. Lb. % % 
Principal food constituents : 
Protein. 3 397 846 113 
PUSS rite extract . 469 472 1 
Fat: . hk : 398 204 95 
Fibr . .. 451 112 303 
Fertilizer Sonsimuents 
Nitrogen . . Lo tay 63 113 79 
Phosphoric acid . ee 25 54 116 
Potash. . . a 4 23 36 57 


244, Utilizing cotton-seed products. — From the above 
table it may be seen that, regarded as food, and overlooking 
slight differences in digestibility, cotton-seed meal is much 
more valuable than cotton seed, having more than twice 
as much protein, but less fat and fiber. 

In fertilizer constituents, high-grade cotton-seed meal 
is practically twice as rich in nitrogen and phosphoric 
acid, and more than 50 per cent richer in potash, than 
cotton seed. 

The farmer may act on the general statement that he is 
making a nearly even exchange in plant-food when he 
brings back to his farm half a ton of cotton-seed meal for 
each ton of seed sold. But in food constituents, cotton- 


270 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


seed meal is not twice as rich as cottonseed. The exchange 
values of these two foods will depend upon many condi- 
tions, especially the kind of roughage to be fed in connec- 
tion with either, the purpose in view, and other matters 
that find a place in textbooks on feeding animals. In 
tests at the Mississippi Experiment Station, a pound of 
cotton-seed meal was in one case equal as food to 1.6 pounds 
of cotton seed, and in another case to 1.7 pounds. 

In general, one may expect a ton of cotton seed to have 
the same feeding value as an amount of cotton-seed meal 
varying between 1250 and 1500 pounds. 

245. Composition of the different parts of the plant. — 
The stems contain nearly one fourth of the dry matter, 
the leaves and seeds each a little more than one fifth, and 
the lint only one ninth of the total dry matter in the 
mature plant. The seed and lint, which are usually the 
only portions of the plant removed from the land, together 
constitute one third of the total weight of dry matter. 
However, the proportion of seed and lint to other parts of 
the plant varies widely according to the luxuriance of 
growth and other conditions. Doubtless the seed and lint 
together often constitute less than one third of the total 
weight of the plant. 


The above statements are based on the following figures, 
giving the average results of a chemical study of the different 
parts of the cotton plant as made by B. B. Ross at the Alabama 
Experiment Station (Bulletin No. 107), and by J. B. McBryde 
at the South Carolina Experiment Station. (See Bul., Vol. IV, 
No. 5, Tenn. Expr. Sta.) 

These figures show the amounts, and proportions by weight, 
of the different parts of the mature dry cotton plants growing on 
an acre where the yield of lint is 300 pounds : — 


COTTON COMPOSITION 271 


Pounps Dry Marrer | Per Cent or Toray 
PER ACRE Weicut or Dry Puant 
Seed . ...... 580 21.77 
Lint. 48 ee & ¥ 300 11.35 
RROOt6 0. ai sar a gous 190 7.03 
Stems... .... 631 23.80 
Leaves ...... 571 21.58 
Burs’ ae LS 344 14.55 
Seed and lint combined . 33.12 


246. Amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash 
in the different parts of the cotton plant. — The following 
table shows that to produce a crop of 300 pounds of dry 
lint and the other parts associated with this amount of 
fiber there was required about 42 pounds of nitrogen, 13 
pounds of phosphoric acid, and 35 pounds of potash. The 
figures are reached by averaging the analyses made by Ross 
and McBryde, and are here given merely for reference: — 


Amounts of Fertilizer Constituents required to produce a Crop of 
800 Pounds of Lint 


P 

Poem Acne Sao “Ac aes 

Lint 2 ss 2 a 300 0.63 0.23 2.00 
Seed) 2. 2 « « = 580 19.01 6.88 6.68 
«BUTS 2 4 & ® 344 3.75 1.44 11.71 
Leaves . ... 571 13.25 2.64 6.35 
Roots. . .. . 190 1.21 0.36 1.96 
Stems. .... 631 4.52 1.25 6.44 
Total... . 2656 42.37 12.80 35.14 


247. Uses. — Cotton is used to a greater extent than 
any other vegetable fiber for clothing. Wool is the only 


272 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


other fiber that approaches cotton in the extent of use for 
this purpose. Cotton is adapted to the manufacture of a 
greater variety of textile fabrics than any other fiber. 
When it is treated with certain chemicals, or mercerized, 
the fabric takes on a glossy appearance and becomes a fair 
imitation of silk. 

One reason why cotton is so much more extensively 
used than linen, jute, and other vegetable fibers is found: 
(1) in the readiness with which cotton fibers absorb dyes, 
and (2) in the peculiar twisted structure of its fibers, so 
favorable to ease of spinning and strength of thread. 

The seed constitute a valuable food for cattle and sheep. 
They are usually fed raw, though sometimes boiled when 
fed to dairy cows. After the seed are ground in the oil 
mills, the hulls are separated and used as cattle food. 

From the ‘“ meats,’”’ or hulled and ground seed, cotton- 
seed oil is expressed by means of powerful hydraulic 
presses. This oil finds use as a human food, especially as 
a constituent of compound lard, oleomargarine, salad oils, 
etc., as a lubricant, as a constituent of paint, in the manu- 
facture of soap, and in almost all ways in which other oils 
are employed. After the extraction of the oil, the residue 
constitutes one of the most nutritious of foods for cattle 
and sheep. It is fed either in the form of cake (lumps), 
or more frequently this cake is first ground, thus forming 
cotton-seed meal, which is one of the most valuable foods 
for cattle. Large amounts of cotton-seed meal are also 
used as fertilizer. 

Cotton-seed meal as a foodstuff is chiefly used for cattle 
and sheep. It exerts a specific toxic effect on hogs when fed 
in quantity for a certain length of time. IIl effects are 


COTTON COMPOSITION 273 


seldom observed in less than four weeks, and they are 
usually shown in the periods between the thirtieth and 
fortieth day after the feeding of cotton-seed meal is begun. 
Fermenting the meal seems to decrease this danger, as 
probably does also the feeding of green or succulent food at 
the same time. Cotton-seed meal is injurious to young 
calves, and probably to most very young animals. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


From the tables on page 271 calculate for an acre producing 
500 pounds of lint what would be the probable weight of 

(a) dry stems, or stalks ; 

(b) the number of pounds of nitrogen lost if the stalks, roots, 
and burs of a ¢rop of this size be burned, assuming that these 
parts of the plant increase at the same rate as the yield of lint. 


LITERATURE 


Ross, B. B. Ala. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 107, pp. 369-402. 

Hurtcuinson, W. L., and Parrerson, L. G. Miss. Expr. Sta., 
Tech. Bul. No. 1. 

Surver, F.S. S.C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 47. 

McBryps, J.B. Tenn. Expr. Sta., Bul., Vol. IV, No. 5. 

Kincorz, B. W. U.S. Dept. Agr., Office Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 33. 


CHAPTER XVI 
COTTON — THE PRINCIPAL SPECIES 


Cotton may be annual or biennial, according to the 
particular species, and dependent upon the climate in 
which the plant grows. As cultivated in the principal 
cotton-producing countries, all the important species of 
cotton are annuals, maturing seed before -cold weather, 
and being killed by frost. In very warm countries, plants 
of some species live for a number of years. This tend- 
ency toward a perennial habit still exists in the cotton 
grown in the United States, as is evident from its throwing 
out, after a mild winter, shoots from ae roots or stem of 
the preceding year. 

248. Family and genus. — The cotton plant is one of 
the Mallow family (Malvacee). This family also in- 
cludes okra; a number of cultivated flowers, as, holly- 
hocks, hibiscus, and althea or ‘“‘ Rose of Sharon”; a 
considerable number of not very troublesome weeds; 
and certain plants the bark of which affords useful fiber. 
The Mallow family includes both herbs and shrubs or 
trees. All the plants within it have flowers with five 
petals and numerous stamens, the supports for the sta- 
mens forming a tube around the pistil; there are usually 
several leaf-like parts (bracts) just below and around 


the flower, three of these forming in cotton what is known 
274 


COTTON SPECIES 275 


as the square. The leaves are alternate, and the veining 
of the leaves begins at a common point near the base of 
the leaf blade; that is, the leaves are palmately veined. 

The genus, or subdivision of a family, to which the cotton 
plant belongs, is Gossypium. In this genus the stigmas, 
grown together, usually number three to five, according to 
the number of locks which will be contained in the mature 
fruit or boll. The leaves are lobed, the size and shape of 
the lobes varying in the different species. 

249. Principal species of cotton. — Botanists differ 
widely as to the number of species of Gossypium and as to 
the name that should be applied to certain species. More- 
over, some cultivated cottons are crosses or hybrids be- 
tween two species, thus increasing the difficulty of properly 
naming each kind. For example, until recent years it was 
customary to refer to the present commonly grown upland 
cotton of the United States as Gossypium herbaceum, a 
name now given to one of the Asiatic cottons. Watt 
(“Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of the World”) 
assumes that for a time the early colonists did grow this 
species in Virginia, but that before cotton became an 
important crop it was displaced by the present type of 
American upland cotton; the former, he thinks, still 
influences American upland cotton through its hybrids. 
The latest investigators favor the name Gossypium hir- 
sutum, to include both the ordinary or short-staple cotton 
. of the United States and also the long-staple upland cotton 
of this country. 

As many’ as fifty-four species of Gossypium have been 
described and named, but most botanists reduce the species 
to a much smaller number. 


276 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The following may be regarded as the species most im- 
portant to the world’s agriculture, commerce, and manu- 
facture. 


American group. 


(1) Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). This is the 
ordinary cotton of the southern part of the United States, 
including the long-staple class. 

(2) Sea Island cotton (Gossypium barbadense ; so named 
from the Barbadoes Islands). This affords the finest, 
longest, and most valuable of all cotton fibers. 

(3) Peruvian cotton (Gossypium peruvianum). Its im- 
portance is not due to its cultivation in its home in Peru, 
but to its having become the principal cotton of Egypt. 
Although transplanted to Asia, it retains a closer kinship 
to American than to true Asiatic cottons. 


Asiatic group. 

(4) Indian cotton (Gossypium obtusifolium; so named 
from the lobes or divisions of the leaves being rounded or 
obtuse) includes the best grades of Indian cotton, often 
called in commerce Broach or Surat cotton. 

(5) Bengal cotton (Gossypium arboreum) is another im- 
portant cotton of India. 

The members of the American group, including Sea 
Island, ordinary upland, and Egyptian, cross freely among 
themselves. Most Asiatic kinds also cross freely among 
themselves. However, Gammie! in his experiments found 
that the American cottons did not cross with those of the 
Asiatic group. While there is undoubtedly difficulty in 


1Gammie, “The Indian Cottons.”” Calcutta. 


COTTON SPECIES 277 


making most crosses between the American and Asiatic 
groups, Watt maintains that such crosses are possible. 

250. American upland cotton. — This constitutes all of 
the cotton crop of the United States except the small 
amount of Sea Island cotton grown near the South Atlantic 
and Gulf coasts. It forms the largest single item of ex- 
port, and brings into the United States more money than 
any other crop or single line of manufacture. 

American upland cotton may be divided into two prin- 
cipal classes: (1) short-staple varieties and (2) long-staple 
varieties. The chief distinction between these is in the 
length of lint, that of 
short-staple being usu- 
ally 2 to 14 inches, 
while long-staple, or 
“ staple cotton,” usu- 
ally has a length of 
14 to 12 inches. 

Between these two 
groups, which are 

: Fic. 130.— Various SHapes or Corron 
somewhat sharply dis- Beas. 
tinguished from each On left, Sea Island; in center, a typical 
other, lies an inter- long-staple; and on right, « typical short- 
naedinte: class. The staple of the big-boll class. 
cottons of this class are called commercially “‘ Benders’’ 
or “ Rivers.”” These names arise from the fact that this 
intermediate kind is grown chiefly on moist bottom land. 
Such soil has a tendency to lengthen the staple even of a 
short-staple variety. Moreover, there are varieties hav- 
ing intermediate lengths of lint, even when grown on up- 
land. 


278 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


There are usually other differences between long- and 
short-staple cotton, though these are by no means univer- 
sal distinctions. As a rule the long-staple cotton plant is 
late in maturing, tall, and supplied .with bolls that are 
slenderer and more sharply pointed than is the case with 
most short-staple varieties (Fig. 1380). Long-staple cotton 


Fig. 131.— A°Ssa Istanp Cotron PLant. 


invariably has a lower percentage of lint; the yield of lint 
is less, frequently below 80 per cent of that yielded by 
short-staple varieties on the same grade of land. 

The difference in price between long- and short-staple 
cotton varies greatly from year to year. Generally this 


COTTON SPECLES 279 


difference, or premium, for long staple is between 3 and 
5 cents per pound of lint. 

251. Sea Island cotton (Fig. 131). — This cotton is 
grown only in limited areas on or rather near the seacoast 
in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It is generally 


GOUTH CAROLINA 


Fig. 182.— Wuere Sea Istanp Cotron 1s Grown. 
Each dot stands for an annual yield of 500 bales. 


regarded as a profitable crop only within a distance of 
about 100 miles from the coast (Fig. 132). 

The Sea Island cotton plant is distinguished from upland 
cotton chiefly by the following characteristics : — 

(1) A taller plant, with longer, slenderer branches, and 
later maturity ; 


280 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(2) Leaves with much longer and slenderer lobes ; 

(3) The absence of hairs from leaves and stems ; 

(4) The yellowish color of the fresh blooms and the pres- 
ence of red spots near the base of each petal ; 

(5) The much smaller, slenderer boll, with usually only 
three, or sometimes four, locks ; 

(6) The longer, finer fiber and the naked black seed 
nearly or quite free from fuzz. 

The usual length of fiber is 14 to 2 inches. In quality 
Sea Island cotton is fine and silky. It is used in the manu- 
facture of the most expensive cotton fabrics, such as laces, 
fine hosiery, and lawns. 

In recent years some grades of Sea Island cotton have 
commanded a price above 35 cents per pound, and espe- 
cially fine strains a still higher figure. 

252. Peruvian and Egyptian cotton. — True Peruvian 
cotton, including the leading varieties now grown in 
Egypt, have a brownish lint. The fiber of Egyptian cotton 
is longer than that of American upland long staple but 
shorter and less valuable than that of the Sea Island. It is 
an interesting fact that, though the United States exports 
millions of bales of upland or short-staple cotton, American 
manufacturers find it necessary to import annually about 
150,000 bales of Egyptian cotton. This is because Egyp- 
tian cotton is needed for special purposes; for example, it is 
the kind best suited to the chemical treatment known as 
mercerization, by which a silky luster is imparted. Mer- 
cerization consists in treating the fiber with a solution of 
caustic soda, washing it, then treating the fiber with dilute 
sulphuric acid, and again washing it. 

Some varieties of Egyptian cotton have white lint and 


COTTON SPECIES 281 


seem to be hybrids decended in parts from the American 
Sea Island species. 

253. Asiatic cottons. — The cotton grown in India and 
elsewhere in Asia is less productive and has a shorter fiber 
than American short-staple cotton. The colors of the 
flowers are various, and the forms of plants and of the 
leaves differ from those of any of the American groups. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


1. Make a drawing showing the stamens and stigmas of a 
cotton flower, after removing the bracts and petals. 

2. If specimen plants of Sea Island cotton can be had, or if the 
seed and lint can be obtained, compare them with the corre- 
sponding parts of American upland cotton. 


LITERATURE 


Dewey, L.H. U.S. Dept. Agr., Yearbook, 1908, pp. 388-390. 

Evans, W.E. U.S. Dept. Agr., Office Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 33, 
pp. 67-76. 

Wart, G. The Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of the 
World. London, 1907. 

Gammigz, G. A. The Indian Cottons. Calcutta, 1905. 


CHAPTER XVII 
COTTON — VARIETIES OF AMERICAN UPLAND 


THERE are many hundred names to represent varieties 
of cotton. The Alabama Experiment Station has tested 
more than two hundred of these so-called varieties and has 
found that a large proportion of them are merely synonyms. 
However, it is probable that the number of distinct varie- 
ties, each differing from the other in one or more items of 
agricultural or botanical importance, exceeds one hundred. 

254. Reasons for variation. — Among the causes which 
have led to this multiplication of varieties are the follow- 
ing : — 

(1) Modifications of the plant resulting from continuous 
selection, or from special soil and climatic conditions ; 

(2) Artificial crosses intentionally made with a view to 
creating new varieties combining some of the qualities of 
both parents ; 

(3) Natural hybrids resulting chiefly from the carrying 
of pollen by insects from the flowers of one variety to the 
stigmas of another ; 

(4) Names have been needlessly multiplied, both inten- 
tionally and unintentionally, so that sqme varieties may be 
purchased under half a dozen different names. 

255. Varieties of cotton not easily recognized. — The 


differences between the numerous agricultural varieties 
282 


COTTON VARIETIES 283 


are so slight that even an expert is unable to identify with 
certainty any but those varieties having the most definite 
characteristics. Indeed, the description of any variety 
will not apply to all the plants in it, but is to be taken 
rather as a general or average portrayal. 

256. Classification of varieties. — The study of varie- 
ties may be much simplified by arranging them in a small 
number of groups, as is done in the subjoined scheme of 
classification. The American upland short-staple cottons 
may be divided into six classes; to this is added a seventh 
division to include short-staple varieties of a character 
intermediate between any other two groups. An eighth 
group differs from all the others because its members 
possess a long staple. 

Group 1. — Cluster type. 

Group 2. — Semicluster type. 

Group 3. — Rio Grande type, of which the Peterkin is 
an example. 

Group 4. — The early varieties of the King type. 

Group 5. — The Big-boll type. 

Group 6. — The Long-limbed type. 

Group 7. — Intermediate varieties. 

Group 8. — Long-staple Upland varieties. 

The lines of separation between these groups are not 
distinct ; one group gradually merges into another. 

257. Cluster group. — The varieties belonging here are 
easily distinguished, (1) by the extreme shortness of the 
fruit limbs in the middle and upper parts of the plant 
(Fig. 183), and (2) by the tendency of the bolls to grow in 
clusters of two or three (Fig. 134). The few base. limbs 
are usually long. The plant in general possesses an ap- 


284 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


- Fie. 188. —A Cotron Puant oF THE CLUSTER TYPE. 


Fs . 
COTTON VARIETIES 285 


pearance of slenderness or erectness. The bolls are usually 
small; the seeds are small to medium in size and thickly 
covered with fuzz. 

On account of the peculiar shape of plant, cluster va- 
rieties may be left thicker in the drill than most other kinds. 

This class of cotton is 
much less popular now than 
formerly. This is probably 
due to the deficiencies usu- 
ally found in cluster cotton; 
namely : — 

(1) A special tendency to 
shed or drop a large propor- 
tion of the fruit when con- 
ditions of soil and weather 
are unfavorable ; 


Fig. 134. — A Fruitine Lims or a 
: CuusteR Cotton Puant. 

(2) The small size of boll ; Showing four bolls; also a branch 
and terminated by a boll, and hence not 


(3) The large proportion capable of further growth. 


of trash which must usually be included with the seed 
. cotton when picking, — this trash consisting largely of the 
bracts, which at an earlier stage formed the square. 
-Examples of cluster varieties are Jackson and Dickson. 
258. Semicluster group. — The varieties of this class 
present somewhat the appearance of cluster cottons, but 
the fruiting limbs in the middle of the plant are of short to 
medium length (Fig. 135). The bolls, while close together, 
are not borne in clusters. This characteristic is sometimes 
united with the qualities found in other groups, in which 
case the variety is classed, not as a semicluster, but in 
accordance with its other striking characteristic. 


286 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fic. 135.— A Corron PLant oF THE SEMICLUSTER TYPE. 


COTTON VARIETIES 287 


There is much diversity among the semicluster varieties 
in size of boll, size of seed, and percentage of lint. 

Among semicluster varieties are Hawkins and Poulnot. 

259. Rio Grande group. — This is named for one of the 
earlier varieties, which had almost the same characteristics 


as the Peterkin, 
now so exten- 
sively grown. 
Among the dis- 
tinguishing 
marks of this 
group are (1) a 
large propor- 
tion of lint, 
usually 35 to 40 
per cent of the 
weight of the 
seed cotton,and 
. (2) small seeds, 
many of which 
are nearly 
naked ; that is, 
thinly covered 
with short fuzz, 


Fig. 1386. — Tue Perrerxin Tyre oF Cotron PLANT. 


so that the seeds appear dark or even black. 
The leaves are, as a rule, smaller and supplied with 


narrower, more 


sharply pointed lobes than in the case of 


many other varieties. The bolls are small to medium and 
the seed small to very small. The branches are usually 
slender and rather straight, and either medium- or long- 
jointed (Fig. 136). 


288 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


260. The Early King-like group (Fig. 137). — The plants 
are small to medium in size. The fruit limbs, even near 
the top of the plant, are 
long, slender, and often 
crooked. The vegetative 
branches at the base of. 
the plant are short or 
wanting. The bolls are 
A small. The leaves are 

Z| similar to those of the 
=< Rio Grande group. The: 
m3 seeds are usually small 
., and covered with fuzz of 
Pe raat aa hese ‘js various shades. A large 
Fic. 137.—A Corron Puanr or rae proportion of the blooms 
dose: Siem on varieties of this type 
are marked with red spots near the inner base of each petal. 
The King and its synonyms and related varieties consti- 
tute the earliest of the commonly grown American upland | 
cottons. 

The chief faults of these varieties are the small size of 
boll, the short fiber, and the tendency of the seed cotton 
to fall from the burs. 

261. The Big-boll group. — The one characteristic serv- 
ing to identify the varieties of this group is the large size 
of the boll. While the size of boll varies with many con- 
ditions, an arbitrary division must be made somewhere ; 
hence, in this scheme of classification, bolls are considered 
large if sixty-eight or fewer mature bolls yield one pound of 
seed cotton. This group may be further subdivided into 
the following overlapping subdivisions : — 


Fic. 138. —A Corron Puant or THE Bic-BoLt StorRM-PROOF TYPE. 
U 289 


290 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(1) Storm-proof big-boll cottons (Fig. 138); 

(2) Big-boll varieties having plants of the shape that 
characterizes the semicluster group; and 

(8) Ordinary big-boll varieties having neither marked 
storm resistance nor semicluster shape of plant. 

Examples of storm-proof big-boll cottons are Triumph, 
Rowden, and Texas Storm-proof. Among the semicluster 
big-boll varieties are some strains of Truitt, Bancroft, and 
individual plants of a number of big-boll varieties. © 

Among big-boll varieties of the third subdivision are 
the widely grown Truitt and Russell, the latter having 
green seed. Here, too, belong Cleveland and Cook, two 
very productive varieties, the bolls of which are sometimes 
scarcely large enough to admit these varieties into the big- 
boll class, where they usually belong. 

262. The Long-limbed group. — In this class the plants 
grow to large size and have long limbs with long internodes; 
that is, they are ‘long jointed.” Apparently this is a 
disappearing class, represented chiefly by unimproved 
cotton. No existing variety of notable productiveness is 
included in this group. 

263. The Intermediate group. — This group is provided 
merely as a matter of convenience to inélude varieties that 
are too nearly halfway between any other two groups to be 
assigned to one of them. 

264. The Long-staple Upland group (Fig. 139). — The 
superior length of staple is the distinguishing characteristic 
of this group. The lint usually measures 11 to 14 inches. 
The percentage of lint in the seed cotton is low, usually less 
than thirty-one. Examples of this group are Allen Long- 
staple, in which the plants are tall and usually of a semi- 


COTTON VARIETIES 291 


cluster shape. The bolls of Allen Long-staple are slender 
and small, and the ‘seed are densely covered with white 


Fie. 189.— A Corron Puant or THE Lone-staPLe UpLanp TyPE. 


fuzz (Fig. 140.) Other examples are Griffin, which has 
a very long but weak lint, and bolls that are above the 
average in size for long-staple varieties. 

On upland soils the long-staple varieties are usually less 
productive than short-staple cottons and afford a lint 
shorter than that produced on moist, rich, bottom land. 
However, the Blue Ribbon, a variety resulting from a cross 
between a long-staple upland and a short-staple kind, has 
proved well adapted to upland soils, especially in the Pied- 
mont Region of the northern part of South Carolina. The 
chief fault of the last-named variety is its special liability 
to injury from boll-rot (anthracnose, see Par. 386). 

265. Productiveness of varieties. — The most impor- 
tant fact brought out by a study of the numerous tests of 


‘SOTJOLIVA o[duys 
“Hloys pus -Suo] deemyoq priqAy @ SI ‘Mojeq ‘4YSLI 94} UO UeUTIeds ay} | 9dejs-duo] o18 MOI Jaddn oy} ul asoqy, 
‘NOLLOD dO SHILGINVA IVURAGG 410 SURAT — ‘OPT “Ol 


292 


COTTON VARIETIES 293 


varieties of cotton made at all of the Experiment Stations 
within the cotton-belt is that there is no one variety that . 
has proved most productive for all conditions of soil and 
climate. The reason for this is easily seen. A very early 
variety is usually the best for the extreme northern portion 
of the cotton-belt, because of the shortness of the season 
there; but this same variety, if carried farther south, is 
usually surpassed in yield by later varieties, which continue 
to make fruit through a longer season. Moreover, it is 
apparently true that varieties originating on one class of 
soil are placed at a disadvantage when tested on a widely 
different type of soil. 

At the Alabama Experiment Station, the varieties which 
in recent years have usually taken highest rank in yield of 
lint per acre are Cleveland, Cook Improved, Toole, Lay- 
ton, and Poulnot. It is notable that Cleveland, Cook, and 
Toole have also occupied high positions in tests made in 
Georgia and in several different parts of Mississippi. 
Cook has made a good record also in several localities in 
North Carolina. 


Leading varieties at Southern experiment stations. — The follow- 
ing table makes mention of those varieties which have, as a rule, 
taken high rank in yield of lint per acre at the experiment sta- 
tions in the cotton-belt : — 


List of Varieties making Largest Yields of Lint per Acre at Experi- 
ment Stations through a Number of Years 


Alabama (Auburn) Cook Improved 
Toole 
Cleveland 
Layton 
Poulnot 
Jackson 


294 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Alabama (Canebrake) Truitt 
Russell 
Peerless 
Peterkin 


Georgia Cook Improved 
Layton 
Cleveland 
Toole 
Jackson 
Jones Re-improved 
Peterkin 
King 

Louisiana (Baton Rouge and Calhoun) 

(Boll weevil present) 

Simpkins 
King 
Toole 
Triumph 
Rublee 


Mississippi (Agricultural College Station) 
Cleveland 
Cook 
Lewis Prize 
Hawkins 
Russell 
King 

Mississippi (McNeil Substation) Cook 
Toole 
Cleveland 

\ King 

Peterkin 

Mississippi (Delta Substation) Cleveland 
Lewis Prize 
Cook 
Triumph 


COTTON VARIETIES (295 


North Carolina (Edgecomb, in Coastal Plain) 
Cook 
Russell 
Culpepper 
Peterkin 


North Carolina (Piedmont Region) King 
are Cook 
Shine 

Edgeworth 


North Carolina (Red Springs) Culpepper 
‘ Excelsior 

King 
Russell 

South Carolina (Clemson College Station) 

; Toole 

Texas Oak 
Bates Improved 
Peerless 


South Carolina (Greenville, 3 years) Texas Wood 
Peterkin . 
Truitt 


South Carolina (Columbia, 1883-1888) Duncan Mammoth 
Jones Improved 
Dickson 


South Carolina (Darlington, in Coastal Plain) 
Peterkin 


Texas (College Station) Excelsior 
Triumph 
Beck Big-boll 
Bohemian 
Peterkin 
Texas Oak 
Sure Fruit 
Lowry 


-296 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Descriptions of Prominent and Typical Varieties 


Jackson. — The Jackson variety is one of the tallest and 
slenderest of the cluster group. It has also been known as 
African and Limbless, neither of which is correct; it did not 
originate in Africa, as once claimed, and only a small proportion 
of the plants lack the long base limbs. 

The bolls are small, closely clustered, and very difficult to pick. 
These constitute the chief objections to this variety, which is 
quite productive, especially when the plants are crowded rather 
closely, and this can be done with this erect variety to a greater 
extent than with long-limbed kinds. The percentage of lint is 
above medium. The seed is fuzzy, of medium to small size, and 
usually covered with a brownish gray fuzz. 

Hawkins. — This variety is typical of the semicluster group. 
It is rather early in maturity. The bolls are small to medium and 
the percentage of seed cotton medium. 

Peterkin. — This variety is a type of the Rio Grande group, 
having some seed that are nearly naked or slightly covered with 
fuzz, which is often of a brownish tint. The plants are of medium 

_size, abundantly supplied with branches. The percentage of lint 
is high, the size of bolls small, and the size of seed very small. 
This is one of the most widely grown varieties and is usually 
satisfactory in yield. As regards maturity, it is medium to 
late. 

Layton. — This variety is similar to Peterkin except in having 
a smaller proportion of naked seeds and a thicker covering of 
grayish fuzz on most of its seeds. In several recent tests at 
Experiment Stations it has afforded a larger yield of lint per acre 
than Peterkin. 

Toole. — This variety bears many points of resemblance to 
Peterkin and some resemblance to King. It is earlier and 
usually somewhat more productive of lint than Peterkin. The 
plant is of medium to small size and well suited to intensive fer- 
tilization (Fig. 141). It is one of the few varieties which gener- 
ally in recent years have stood near the top of the list in produc- 
tiveness in most of the Experiment Stations where it has been 


COTTON VARIETIES 297 
tested. Its chief weakness is the small size of the bolls. The 
percentage of lint is high and the size of seed small. 

King. — This variety, like all the others of the same group, 
is distinguished by its extreme earliness, by the small size of the 


Fie. 141.— A Propuctive Cotron Puant oF THE TOOLE VARIETY. 


plant, and by the occurrence in some blooms of red spots near 
the base of each petal. Near the northern edge of the cotton- 
belt this is one of the most prolific varieties, but elsewhere it is 
usually surpassed in yield of lint by later cottons. The chief 
objections to this variety are the readiness with which the seed 
cotton falls from the bur to the ground and the small size of bolls. 

Russell. — This is one of the most widely grown varieties in 


298 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 

the central and southern parts of the cotton-belt. It is a big- 
boll cotton with very large leaves. It is characterized by the 
green color of most of its seed. 

The bolls are large and do not readily drop the seed cotton. 
The seeds are large and the percentage of lint is low. The yield 
of lint per acre is usually satisfactory, but not exceptional. This 
variety is late and therefore, in the presence of the boll-weevil, 
likely to decline in popularity.. 

Truitt. — This is a typical big-boll variety with many of the 
plants assuming the semicluster form. The-seeds are large and 
usually covered with grayish fuzz. Truitt is widely grown. 

Triumph. — This variety was developed in the southern part 
of Texas from a cotton of the storm-proof group. Its special 
claim to prominence is its earliness combined with the large size 
of boll. This variety is very popular in Texas in the presence of 
the boll-weevil and has given general satisfaction to farmers east 
of the Mississippi River, where, however, its percentage of lint 
seems to be lower than nearer its place of origin. This variety 
combines a number of good qualities, namely relative earliness, 
large size of boll, and at least fair productiveness. 

Cleveland. — This is a big-boll variety, though scarcely typical 
of that group, nor are the plants entirely uniform. Its special 
points of merit are the very high rank in yield of lint per acre 
which it has taken in most of the Experiment Stations where it 
has been tested, and its earliness, which is greater than that of 
most big-boll varieties. Its worst fault is the tendency of the 
* seed cotton to fall from the bur. It appears to be promising for 
boll-weevil conditions. 

Cook Improved. — The bolls of this variety are barely large 
enough to place it in the big-boll class. The plants are somewhat 
variable in form and appearance. The special merits of this 
variety are its earliness, its high percentage of lint, and the 
very high rank in yield of lint per acre which it has taken in most 
tests at the Experiment Stations. Its greatest fault is its special 
tendency to be injured by cotton boll-rot (anthracnose). A less 
notable fault is its lack of storm-resistance. The seed are small 
and rather thinly covered with a grayish fuzz. 


COTTON VARIETIES 299 


Allen Long-staple. — The plant is tall with long, rather upright 
base limbs; the appearance is often that of a semicluster plant. 
The bolls are small, rather long and slender. The lint is long and 
fine, but the percentage islow. The seeds are covered with white 
fuzz. This is a standard variety in the Mississippi Delta. 

Griffin. — This long-staple variety differs from many others of 
the same class in having larger bolls and somewhat longer limbs. 
However, the lint is weak. 

Blue Ribbon. — This is a long-staple variety originated at the 
South Carolina Experiment Station and adapted to the northern 
and central portions of the cotton-belt. The length of staple 
is not equal to that in the Allen variety. The plant is of the 
semicluster shape. The percentage of lint is somewhat above 
that of most long-staple varieties. The greatest weakness of the 
Blue Ribbon is its susceptibility to boll-rot. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


1. Write descriptions of at least five varieties of cotton, if 
available, noting especially shape of plant, size and shape of 
bolls, relative earliness, and colors of seed. 

2. Ascertain the opinions of several farmers as to which varie- 
ties are thought to make the largest yields of lint in the locality 
of the school or near the pupil’s home, and report ‘in writing. 

3. Students in advanced classes should make a detailed study 
of an additional number of varieties; and of the records of va- 
rieties as tested at their State Experiment Station. 


LITERATURE 


Duaear, J. F. Ala. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 107 and 140. 

Harper, J.N. S.C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 123. 

MacNiper, G. M., and others. N. C. Dept. Agr., Bull. Feb., 
1909, pp. 37-63. 

Newman, C. L. S.C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 140. 

Tracy, 8. M. U.S. Dept. Agr., Office Expr. Sta., Bul. 33, pp. 
197-224. 

Ty.er, F. K. U.S. Dept. Agr.,/Bur. Plant Ind., Bul. No. 163. 


CHAPTER XVIII 
COTTON BREEDING 


AN important part of crop-growing is to maintain the 
excellence of types and varieties, and to improve the plants 
by constant attention to approved methods of breeding. 
Cotton is no exception to this rule. 

266. Deterioration of cotton is easy. — A large propor- 
tion of the farmers of the cotton-belt plant impure, mixed, 
and otherwise inferior cotton seed. Even where a start is 
made with a pure variety the cotton usually “ runs out,” 
or deteriorates, in a few years. This is not because soil or 
climate is unfavorable; the depreciation in productiveness 
and quality is generally due to one or more of the following 
reasons : —~ 

(1) Failure to select plants as carefully for seed as did 
the person who originated or improved the variety ; 

(2) Mixing of the seed at public gins with inferior seed ; 

(8) Cross-pollination by insects bringing pollen from 
inferior varieties or from unimproved (scrub) cotton ; 

(4) The planting of seed obtained in the last picking, 
many of which are immature, light and defective, or from 
late, poor plants. 

Nowhere in the cotton-belt is there any necessity for 
short-staple cotton to deteriorate. If it does become less 
valuable, the cause will be found in want of due care to 
secure good seed for planting. 

300 


COTTON BREEDING 301 


267. Improvement of cotton seed profitable. — A study 
of the results of any tests of varieties of cotton reveals a 
wide difference between the yields of the most productive 
‘varieties and of the least productive. The difference is even 
‘greater between common or unimproved cotton and the best 
varieties. It is probably safe to estimate that a suitable 
improved variety will, as a rule, yield at least 20 per cent 
more lint per acre than will unimproved or scrub cotton. 

268. Crossing vs. selection as a means of improving cot-° 
ton. — In improving cotton or any other plant, reliance 
is placed on selection or on hybridizing, or on a combina- 
tion of both of these processes. Selection attains the quick- 
est results, especially if a beginning be made with an es- 
tablished variety. Selection is the only process that farm- 
ers, as a rule, need to practice. 

Crossing of two widely different individuals or varieties 
is sometimes performed in the hope of uniting in the off- 
spring the good qualities of both. The chances are much 
against securing this desired combination in the majority 
of the plants of the progeny; even when the combination 
is secured in one plant, it is not inherited by the majority 
of its offspring. 

After a cross is made, the plazits grown from such crossed 
seed must be carefully selected for a number of years 
before there is much uniformity between the different 
plants. One need scarcely expect the type to become well 
fixed in less than five years after making the cross. There- 
fore, crossing is scarcely practicable for most farmers; 
but it can be used to a limited extent by a plant-breeder, 
that is, by one who devotes a large proportion of his time 
to the improvement of plants. 


302 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


269. Directions for crossing cotton. — Near sunset the 
pollen-cases (anthers) are removed from large flower-buds 
that would open the next morning. The removal of the 
anthers is most conveniently done by cutting away the 
greater part of every petal, and then carefully removing 
every anther, either with a small pair of pincers, a small 
pair of scissors, or with the blade of a pocket knife, taking 
care not to bruise the pistil around which the stamens 
grow. The anthers when removed are still closed; if 
any have begun to drop their pollen, the bud is too far 
advanced for crossing. As soon as the anthers are taken 
out, a small paper bag is pinned or tied over the mutilated 
flower to keep insects from bringing to the stigma the pollen 
from some unknown cotton plant. 

Next, choose the plant that is to furnish the pollen, and 
over its buds, nearly ready to open, tie a paper bag to ex- 
clude insect visitors. The next morning, usually about 
nine o’clock, the stigma on the mutilated flower will be 
ready to receive the pollen from the chosen sire plant. 
This readiness will be shown by the stickiness of the upper 
portion of the pistil, that is, the stigmas. At about the 
same time that the stigmas become receptive, the anthers 
in other flowers will have begun to burst, setting free their 
pollen. 

There are several methods of placing the pollen on the 
flower from which the anthers have been removed. One 
way consists in simply pulling the entire flower bearing 
the pollen, and rubbing its anthers lightly over the stigmas 
of the mutilated bloom, until some of the grains of pollen 
are seen to adhere to all sides of the pistil. Then the paper 
bag is again placed in position, to be left over the muti- 


lated flower for 
about five 
days, or until 
a young boll 
has developed. 
This boll must 
be carefully 
labeled by 
means of a 
small tag, so 
that at har- 
vest time the 
crossed boll 
may be distin- 
guished from 
others. 

270. Varia- 
tion and selec- 
tion.— The 

different indi- 
vidual plants 
within a single 
variety differ 
considerably 
(Figs. 142 and 
148). Still 
greater is the 


COTTON BREEDING 303 


Fic. 142.— A Propuctive Cotton PLAN?T. 


divergence between individual plants of unimproved 
cotton.. This tendency to vary makes constant improve- 


ment possible. 


For as long as a few plants are distinctly 


superior in any quality to the majority of plants, there 


304 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


is the possibility of bringing the average much nearer to 


the standard of the best plants. 


It is highly desirable that any pure variety of cotton 


Fic. 143.— AN Unpropuctive Corron Puant. 


should possess 
the maximum de- 
gree of uniform- 
ity among the in- 
dividual plants. 
This uniformity 
is much more 
quickly and com- 
pletely secured 
by beginning 
with a variety 
already consid- 
ered as pure. 
Hence any per- 
son desiring ‘to 
improve cotton 
should first of all 
become familiar 
with the best 
varieties, and 
among these he 
should choose 
for improvement 
that one which 
possesses. the 
greatest number 


of qualities desired and on which the fewest new qualities 


need to be engrafted. 


COTTON BREEDING 305 


271. The simplest: method of selection. — The follow- 
ing method of selection is recommended as practicable for 
most farmers who cannot afford to devote much attention 
to cotton breeding, but who desire to maintain or slowly 
improve the purity and excellence of any good variety : — 

At the first or second picking, let one of the most care- 
ful of the pickers precede the others and pick into one bag 
the seed cotton from the best plants. 

The plants chosen by this picker must be very productive, 
and they should possess in addition the other qualities 
desired ;— for example, earliness and a certain size of boll. 
Moreover, all plants chosen for seed should be uniform in 
the appearance of the plant and in the other qualities 
desired. Thus, in a big-boll variety, every plant having 
medium or small bolls should be rejected, no matter how 
numerous the bolls may be. Likewise in selecting seed of 
a semicluster variety, no bolls from a leng-limbed plant, 
howsoever productive, should be picked into the sack 
intended for seed. 

272. Principal qualities desired in the plant. — A care- 
ful person engaged in selecting cotton soon becomes so 
expert that, as he walks along the row, he can detect at a 
glance the most promising plants. Then he should make a 
hasty decision as to whether each productive plant com- 
bines the following important points : — 

(1) Desired size of bolls ; 

(2) A large number of bolls ; 

(3) The desired degree of earliness ; 

(4) The shape of plant characteristic of that variety ; and 

(5) Freedom from disease, such as boll-rot, rust, and 


cotton wilt. 
x 


306 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Each farmer should decide for himself whether it is 
practicable for him, in selecting cotton, to consider other 
qualities not so readily detected, such as length of lint 
and proportion of five-lock bolls. 

273. Defects in bolls. — In selecting seed for planting, 
either by the simple method now under discussion or by a 
more careful method to be described later, no boll should 
be picked for seed that has any of the following defects : — 

(1) Spots on the hull or bur, due to disease; 

(2) Any imperfectly developed lock, or any lock not 
fully open; and 

(3) Diminutive size of boll. 

A boll with disease spots or with a defective lock is apt 
to convey the germs of disease to the next crop. 

274. The seed-patch. — The cotton picked for seed 
from the best plants as directed above should be carefully 
ginned, taking care to avoid any mixing at the gin. The 
next season the selected seed thus obtained should be 
planted thinly in a seed-patch having uniform soil and 
separated, if possible, by a quarter of a mile from any other 
cotton. 

Each year a similar seed-patch should be planted with 
seed selected from the best plants of the preceding year’s 
seed-patch. The remaining seed, after the best plants have 
been picked over once, will usually suffice to plant the en- 
tire farm. 

The method of selection described in the last few para- 
graphs is practicable on almost any farm, whether large or 
small. ‘However, this method alone will serve rather to 
maintain established excellence than to afford any notable 
and rapid improvement in the variety, which must be 


COTTON BREEDING 307 


effected by the more painstaking method described in 
paragraph 278. 

275. Qualities needing improvement. — Selection or 
breeding is capable of improving the cotton plant in every 
desirable quality. Among those directions in which im- 
provement should be sought are the following : — 

(1) Increase in the yield of lint; 

(2) Increased earliness; 

(8) Increase in size of boll; 

(4) Greater length of lint; 

(5) More uniformity in the length of lint ; 

(6) Improvement in the form of plant or method of 
branching ; 

(7) Increase in the percentage of lint of some varieties ; 
and 

(8) Greater resistance to diseases. 

276. Some antagonistic qualities. — Some of the quali- 
ties just mentioned tend to exclude other desirable ones. 
The following pairs of qualities are generally antagonistic; 
that is, rarely, if ever, found in the same individual plant :— 

(1) Extreme earliness is opposed to extremely large 
bolls. 

(2) Extreme earliness is usually not associated with the 
highest yields of lint, except when the fruiting season is 
shortened by early frost or by the presence of the boll- 
weevil. 

(8) Great length of lint excludes the probability of a 
high percentage of lint. 

(4) A high percentage of lint is seldom found in varieties 
or strains having large seeds. 

Asarule, any progress inimproving one of these characters 


308 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


results in a decrease in its antagonistic quality. However, 
an occasional single plant may constitute an exception, 
and combine, to a certain extent, these opposing qualities. 
Such exceptional plants are exactly those that the plant- 
breeder is seeking to evolve or to discover, and then to 
perpetuate in their purity. 

Although certain pairs of desirable qualities are antago- 
nistic, yet the cotton plant has many useful characters that 
can readily be improved together without mutual injury. 

277. Breeding for a small number of qualities. — The 
most rapid improvement in any character is secured when 
plants are selected for seed with chief reference to a very 
small number of desirable qualities. For example, if an 
increased size of boll is the only point aimed at, any given 
field will contain more plants filling this requirement than 
plants answering the needs of a man who wishes a combina- 
tion in the same plant of three qualities, such as large 
size of boll, small seed, and long lint. 

Therefore, it is wise to make one quality the leading one, 
so that every plant selected shall possess this to a high 
degree; but there should also be in mind several secondary 
qualities, which the selected plants should possess, to at 
least a moderate degree. 

The important practical lesson from the above principle 
is to continue selection year after year with the same chief 
object in mind until that end is attained. Do not select 
one year chiefly for size of boll and the next year mainly 
for length of lint; but keep the same aim and desired 
quality in mind from year to year. After this character 
is fixed, it is time enough to take another one as the prin- 
cipal object through another series of years. 


COTTON BREEDING 809 


From all of the above it follows that it is important to 
start with a pure variety that already possesses most of the 
qualities desired. 

278. Plant-breeders’ methods of improving cotton. — 
In order to make very great or very rapid improvement in a 
variety or strain of cotton, it is necessary to practice a 
method requiring much more time and pains than can be 
spared by any except the few men who make a specialty 
of plant-breeding. This method is called the “ plant-to- 
row method.” It is based on the fact that plants may be 
excellent by reason of either : — 

(1) Favorable surroundings (environment), or by 

(2) Their inherent, or self-contained, excellence. 

Superiority due merely to favorable environment, such as an 
extra share of fertilizer, abundant space, and other advan- 
tages, is not hereditary; but inherent excellence is heredi- 
tary. It is usually difficult or impossible to determine 
whether the superiority of a selected plant is accidental 
(due to favorable environment) or inherent. This ques- 
tion remains unsettled whenever seed from a number of 
plants are planted together, as in the simplest method of 
selection before described. 

But by keeping the seed of each plant separate, and 
planting each on a separate row, the next year the parent 
plant of inherent or inheritable excellence is readily de- 
termined. For its offspring almost uniformly show the 
desired quality; while a row grown from a parent plant 
that was productive merely because of favorable envi- 
ronment does not show the good qualities of the parent. 
Hence, selection must be made thereafter only from 
those rows on which the plants exhibit the proof of having 


310 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


inherited the good quality of their parent plant, this fact 
creating the presumption that they also are prepotent, 
or able to transmit their good qualities to the next genera- 
tion. 


Details of the plant-to-row method of cotton breeding. — In the 
best field of the desired variety select each year 100 plants, or as 
many as can well be separately ginned and planted. Place a 
tag bearing a number on each selected plant before picking. On 
a large, strong, paper bag write a similar number. Whenever a 
picking is made place the seed cotton from Plant No. 1 in Bag 
No. 1, and so on for each selected plant. After weighing the seed 
cotton from each plant, reject those that are far below the average 
productiveness. For accurate work it is desirable to gin the seed 
cotton of each plant separately, which is best done in a specially 
constructed very small gin. 

If ginning is not practicable, selection must be made among the 
picked plants merely on the basis of the weight of seed cotton; 
in this case the unginned cotton may be planted in hills at uni- 
form distances apart, a lock or half a lock in a hill. When 
thus planted extreme care must be taken to pack the moist soil 
over each piece of seed cotton, otherwise the stand will be 
poor. 

In the fall, first select the best plants on what seem to be the 
best rows, and then weigh the remainder of the crop on each row 
separately, so as to determine which rows are really the best, as 
shown by the total yields. 

The second year, plant on very uniform land a similar plant- 
to-row patch, usually containing 20 to 100 rows, each planted with 
the seed of one of the best plants from the few best rows of the 
year before. Make all rows of uniform width and plant the field 
in checks, so that every plant may have exactly the same amount 
of space. The breeding-patch should always be on uniform land 
and removed as far as possible from any other kind of cotton, so 
as to avoid cross-fertilization. 

The following diagram (Fig. 144) shows the steps from year to 
year : — 


COTTON BREEDING 311 


PX -- Kh —-— HX, KR He He KR K- 


NAMI WO 


Fic. 144.— Diacram sHowine a BreEepinc-PLot or Twenty Rows 
or CorTTon. 


The best plants (x, x) are selected on the best rows (Nos. 5 and 16) for 
planting the next year’s breeding-plot of cotton. 


Each horizontal line represents a row in the plant-to-row test 
each year. An ‘‘X”’ represents a selected plant on one of the 
best rows. Each plant-to-row patch is planted with seed from 
these best individuals, the seed of each plant occupying a sepa- 
rate row. 

The next diagram (Fig. 145) shows the possibility of obtaining 
in three or four years from a single original plant enough seed to 
plant an entire farm. 


279. Plant-breeding a specialty. Most farmers can 
practice the simple method of selection first described, but 
few will be able to give the time and pains to careful work 
with the plant-to-row method. Yet so much superior 
to average seed of even the purest varieties are seed pro- 
duced by the plant-to-row method that farmers can better 
afford to pay a fancy price for small amounts of seed thus 
improved than to plant ordinary seed. Undoubtedly 
in the future the tendency will be for plant-breeding to 
become a business or a profession requiring the entire 


312 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


time of painstaking, trained men, from whom farmers will 
find it more profitable to buy pedigreed seed than to 


Ist YEAR 2p YEAR Sp YEAR 4tHYEAR Sts YEAR 


SELECT PLANT(]) =mme—=|,500  sacres | AGRES nes [fem ne 


Bea 
SELECT PLANT (1) >>| 7 pame—>1 5 ACRES |=-|GENERAL CROP 


SELECT PLANT — 5 sacees | 
SELECT ! 


SELECT PLANT 


Fie. 145.— DiacramM sHowinG METHOD oF SELECTING CoTToN. 


attempt elaborate plant-breeding in connection with ordi- 
nary farm work. 

280. Size of seed for planting. — Several experiments 
have shown that by separating and planting only the 
heavy seed, the percentage of germination is notably 
increased. A better stand results and a larger yield is 
sometimes obtained. 


It does not follow that because the largest seed within a given 
variety are superior to the smaller seed, that variety is best which 
has the largest seed. Indeed the opposite is often true; the 
high percentage of lint that is frequently found in varieties with 
small seed often makes them more productive of lint than varie- 
ties with large seed. 


COTTON BREEDING 313 


Methods of separating large and small or heavy and light seed. — 
As cotton seed come from the gin, covered with a coat of fuzz, 
they tend to cling together in masses. This renders it difficult, 
without previous treatment of the seed, to separate the largest 
from the others. 

Webber and Boykin recommend (U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s 
Bul. No. 285) the following treatment of the seed: A thin flour 
paste is poured on the seed, which are then stirred or otherwise 
agitated until every seed is covered. The fuzz is thus pasted 
down to the hull. After drying, the seed are in condition to be 
easily separated in a fanning machine especially constructed so as 
to blow out the lighter seed. Those which have been treated 
with paste can be planted more thinly than otherwise, which is an 
advantage in the subsequent thinning of the plant. 

The delinting of the seed, which consists in reginning them, as ° 
is commonly done by oil mills, also makes it somewhat easier to 
separate the individual seeds. 7 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


1. If practicable, make a number of crosses, preferably among 
varieties having easily recognizable features; pupils who are es- 
pecially interested may wish to plant the resulting seeds and to 
note the diversity among the plants. 

2. Students should copy the score-card below and by its aid 
score the plants, — preferably by pairs, — of several varieties. 
This exercise needs frequent repetition, not so much to familiarize 
the pupils with the score-card (which may be considerably 
modified for special objects), but for the purpose (1) of directing 
more careful attention to the characteristics of the different 
varieties or strains, and (2) to train the eye and the mind to the 
prompt recognition of the defects and valuable characteristics of 
any cotton plant observed. 


ScoRE-CARD FOR COTTON 


The following is the score-card devised for the use of 
students of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute : — 


314 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Form, short-jointed, well-branched, indicating fruitfulness . 15 
YuieLD (standard 1 bale or more per acre) : 
(a) Size of bolls (standard 40 per pound; 1 point de- 
ducted for each additional 5 bolls required per pound 
of seed cotton). . . 15 
(b) Per cent lint (standard 40 per aout for siiort-xtaple 
varieties ; 32 per cent for long-staple; 1 point cut 


for each 1 per cent below standard) . .. . . 10 
(c) Number of mature bollsperplant . .... . . 15 
(Standard, unfavorable conditions . . . . 20) 
(Standard, medium conditions ... . . 60) 
(Standard good conditions ee 7 ie . . . 100) 
Total yield (a and b and ¢); or weighed wield seed cotton 
times average per cent lint of that variety . . . 40 
Earuiness (standard being the earliest ae of roe . 10 
Harorness of plant towards disease . s « 8 
Storm REsIstaANcE 2 
CoMPLETENESS OF OPENING and: ease 0 pidking 2 


Lint 
Length of lint (standard, aaa 1 to 1% pies ee 
staple, 1% inches) . 
Uniformity in length of fibers on same deed 
Strength . 
Fineness 
Color 
Maturity . 
UNIFORMITY OF Suet 2 in size, alow: ate: 
Total 


e 
Siamese 


LITERATURE 


Wesser, H. J. Improvement of Cotton by Seed Selection. 
U.S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1902, pp. 365-389. 

Wepsser, H. J., and Borxin. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. 
No. 285. 

Bennett, R. L. Breeding an Early Cotton. Tex. Expr. Sta., 
Bul. No. 79. 

Proceedings American Breeders’ Association. 


CHAPTER XIX 
COTTON — SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


Corton is a most adaptable crop. Almost any land in 
the cotton-belt — from light sandy to stiff clay — will 
produce a crop, provided it be well drained, and, if poor, 
supplied with the necessary kind and amount of fertilizing 
materials. 

281. Soil range. — A large proportion of the American 
cotton crop grows on land too sandy, dry, and poor to be 
thoroughly satisfactory for corn. Indeed, a large area of 
cotton grows on land too poor to yield a profit even from 
cotton. These-unprofitable areas, these ‘“ robber acres,” 
are the source of much loss to cotton farmers. They 
could be more advantageously devoted to pasture or to 
leguminous plants. On sandy land the plant is much more 
subject to injury from cotton rust than on loamy or clay 
soils. 

‘On some very rich, moist, bottom land, cotton makes 
a stalk of excessive size without a corresponding develop- 
ment of fruit. Therefore, such lands are not favorable 
for cotton, but may be more advantageously devoted to 
the production of corn, hay, or pasturage. 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON FERTILIZING CoTTON 


282. Draft of cotton on soil fertility. — The table in para- 
graph 246 showed that in certain experiments the seed and 


lint together contained about half the total nitrogen and 
315 


816 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fie. 146.— Cotron PLants. 


Showing retention of leaves on the right, due to vegetable matter; 
and shedding of leaves on the left, where there was less vegetable matter 
in the soil. 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 317 


phosphoric acid but only a quarter of the potash found 
in the entire plant. The composition of a plant or of the 
part removed from the soil is not a guide-to the correct 
fertilization of that plant; yet it is well to know that the 
lint and seed together in a crop of 300 pounds of lint re- 
moved plant-food which at ordinary prices would be 
worth in commercial fertilizers about $3.75. Of this 
amount, the fertilizer constituents in the lint alone are 
worth only 25 to 30 cents. Indeed, no other ordinary 
crop makes such slight demands on fertility as does the 
cotton fiber. If the seed and all other parts of the plant 
except the lint were returned to the soil, there would be 
no reductions in fertility except those due to extraneous 
influences, such as surface washing, loss of vegetable 
matter (Fig. 146) through clean cultivation, and loss of 
nitrates from the soil in the drainage water. 

The seed and lint together, in the case of a crop of 300 
pounds of lint, make a draft on soil fertility that is about 
the same as would be removed by the grain alone in a crop 
of 25 bushels of corn or of 35 bushels of oats. 

283. Amounts of fertilizer required to take the place of 
plant-food removed by lint and seed. — Three hundred 
pounds of cotton-seed meal and twenty-seven pounds 
of kainit would furnish all the fertilizer constituents re- 
moved from the soil by a crop of 300 pounds of lint with 
its accompanying seed; this quantity of cotton-seed 
meal would supply not only the nitrogen, but all of the 
necessary phosphoric acid. If the nitrogen were drawn 
wholly from the decay of leguminous plants and no cotton- 
seed meal were applied, 51 pounds of acid phosphate, con- 
taining 14 per cent of available phosphoric acid, would 


318 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


supply all the phosphoric acid removed in a crop of seed 
and lint of the size indicated. 

In fact, such figures give no idea of the amounts and 
kinds of fertilizer actually found to be advantageous for 
the cotton plant. For example, in practice the usual 
amount of acid phosphate is at least 120 to 200 pounds per 
acre, which supplies several times the amount of phos- 
phoric acid removed by seed and lint in a crop yielding 300 
pounds of lint. The necessity for applying much larger 
amounts of phosphoric acid than apparently required by 
the composition of the cotton plant is largely due to the 
fact that a large proportion of the phosphoric acid is con- 
verted in the soil into compounds that are not promptly 
available. 

Means of determining the fertilizer required by cotton 
on different soils are discussed in succeeding paragraphs. 

284. Phosphoric acid. — There are no indications either 
from the appearance of the soil or from the appearance 
of the plant as to whether phosphoric acid is needed. 
However, in regions where the use of commercial fertilizers 
for cotton is general, experiments and experience have 
indicated that the need for the application of phosphates 
is almost universal. Usually a fertilizer for cotton should 
contain more acid phosphate than any other single chem- 
ical fertilizer. 

285. Potash. — In determining the probable require- 
ment of cotton for potash, note should be made of the 
proportion of clay or silt. compared with the proportion of 
sand. Clay and silt are frequently formed from materials 
rich in potash; hence the more clay or silt the soil con- 
tains, the less, as a rule, is the need for potash. 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 319 


However, some clay soils contain a large amount of pot- 
ash, but in an unavailable form. In this case the potash 
can often be made available by improved preparation and 
cultivation and by the addition of tegetable matter. The 
sandier the soil and subsoil the greater is the need for 
potash. Even on sandy lands, this fertilizer may not’ be 
needed in any considerable amount unless cotton rust 
commonly occurs on such soil. 

286. Nitrogen. — The proper proportion of nitrogenous 
fertilizer to acid phosphate in a fertilizer formula for 
cotton depends more on the recent cropping and manur- 
ing of the field than on the character of the rocks from 
which the soil has been derived. One can usually 
decide if nitrogen is needed by considering the following 
facts : — 

(1) Small stalks Gif not due to climatic influences, poor 
cultivation, etc.) are usually an indication that nitrogen 
is needed. ‘ 

(2) Excessive stalk or “ weed” growth of cotton is an 
indication that nitrogen can be dispensed with, wholly or 
partially. , 

(8) The fresher the land the less the need for nitrogen. 

(4) Phosphate hastens maturity and may make more 
severe the injury from cotton rust. 

(5) A luxuriant growth of cowpeas or of any other legume 
just preceding cotton largely dispenses with the necessity 
for nitrogen in the fertilizer ; so does a recent heavy dress- 
ing of stable manure or cotton seed. 

However, the only positive means of determining the 
exact fertilizer requirement of any soil is by making on it 
an experiment with fertilizers. 


320 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


287. Effects of commercial fertilizers on the soil. — 
Commercial fertilizers are, on the whole, profitable, in 
spite of many misfits between soil, crop, and fertilizer. 
Indeed, in a large part of the cotton-belt they are indis- 
pensable. The profits from their use will increase with a 
more general knowledge of agricultural principles. Com- 
mercial fertilizers have been occasionally charged with 
being largely responsible for the impoverished conditions 
of the cotton fields and the scant profits of the cotton 
grower. This is not correct. They do not in themselves 
exhaust the soil. Reliance upon fertilizers alone may 
cause a farmer to keep his land too long in cotton, instead 
of letting cotton alternate with soil-improving crops, such 
as cowpeas. The exhaustion of the fertility of the cotton 
fields is due chiefly to leaching, washing, and loss of vege- 
table matter as the result of continuous clean cultivation. 

For the scant profits too often secured in the culture 
of cotton, the chief causes are impoverished soil, purchased 
supplies, unintelligent use of fertilizers, scarcity of capital, 
deficiency of labor-saving machinery, unsatisfactory labor 
conditions, and the failure to master the principles which 
underlie a rational system of farming. What should be 
condemned is not the use, but the abuse, or purposeless 
use, of commercial fertilizers. 

288. Most popular factory-mixed fertilizers. — The use 
of ammoniated guanos, that is, complete fertilizers con- 
taining nitrogen, is more general among cotton farmers 
than the use of chemicals bought separately and mixed 
on the farm. The most extensively used form of com- 
plete ready-mixed guano contains about 1.65 per cent ot 
nitrogen (equal to 2 per cent of ammonia), 10 per cent of 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 321 


available phosphoric acid, and 2 per cent of potash. This 
is spoken of as a 10-2-2 guano. 

289. Advantages of the home-mixing of fertilizers. — 

‘If the farmer decides to buy the separate materials and 
do his own proportioning and mixing, he usually purchases 
cotton-seed meal, acid phosphate, and kainit. If he 
wishes to make a more concentrated fertilizer, that is, 
one of higher grade, he may buy the nitrogen in the form 
of nitrate of soda, or sulfate of ammonia, and the potash in 
the form of muriate or sulfate of potash. Those farmers 
who understand how to mix fertilizers find that it is much 
more economical to do so than to buy the average ready- 
mixed guano. The advantage of home-mixing are the fol- 
lowing : — 

(1) The mixture made at home usually costs several 
dollars less per ton than a factory-mixed fertilizer of 
exactly the same composition. 

(2) Home mixing permits the farmer to suit the fer- 
tilizer to the particular soil on which each lot is to be ap- 
plied, and to adapt the fertilizer to the different crops. 
For example, in purchasing a complete ready-mixed fer- 
tilizer, he applies this to all soils and all crops; yet the 
nitrogen in it is not needed by legumes, such as cowpeas 
and peanuts; and the potash in it may not be required by 
any crop on some clay soils. In making his own mixture 
the farmer would omit the nitrogen in the one case and 
the potash in the other, and thus save their cost. How- 
ever, farmers who do not understand how to suit the fer- 
tilizers to the soil and the crop find it advantageous to 
use a factory-mixed guano. Its one slight advantage con- 
sists in being somewhat more evenly mixed. 

Y 


322 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


290. Amounts of increase from commercial fertilizers. 
— The results of several hundred fertilizer experiments 
made on a great variety of soils in Alabama led to the con- 
clusion that, as an average, each ton of fertilizer adapted 


Fie. 147.—A Fieip or Corton. 


The plot on the left was unfertilized and yielded only 460 pounds 
of seed cotton per acre; that on the right received 640 pounds per acre 
of a complete fertilizer and yielded 1206 pounds, an increase of 746 
pounds of seed cotton per acre. 


to the soil should afford an increase of about 1500 pounds 
of seed cotton, —or one bale increase per ton of fertilizer 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 823 


(Fig. 147). Under unfavorable conditions, —as on prairie 
or waxy lime land, or with unsuitable fertilizer, or with the 
use of excessive amounts, — the increase was much less. 
These estimates are for appropriate mixtures of high- 
grade chemicals. 

Smaller figures would probably represent the increase 
from a ton of ordinary cotton guano, or ready-mixed fer- 
tilizer. 

If all the fertilizer experiments made by the experiment 
stations be averaged, including those on soils not needing / 
fertilizers, the average increase drops far below one bale 
for each ton of fertilizer. (Bul. No. 62, Bur. Soils, U. 8. 
Dept. Agr.) 

291. Profit returned by fertilizers. — Assuming an in- 
crease of one bale (say 1500 pounds of seed cotton) for each 
ton of well-proportioned and appropriate fertilizer applied 
to four or five acres of land, an estimate can be made as 
to the profit, under favorable conditions, afforded by a 
judicious investment in fertilizer. Thus : — 

To one ton complete fertilizer, estimated cost Dr. Cr. 
incash . . $22.00 


To extra cost of picking “and ginning the in- 
creased yield, 1500 pounds, at 60 cents per 


hundred. 9.00 
By value of increased amount of seed, 1000 

pounds, at 75 cents.per hundred . . $ 7.50 
By value of one bale of cotton, 500 pounds at . 

10 cents per pound . . : 3 50.00 


Possible profit, from use of one ton of fertilizer . $26.50 
$57.50 $57.50 


292. Advantages of high-grade fertilizers. — Among 
either factory-mixed, or home-mixed fertilizers, those of 
higher grade, that is, containing higher percentages of 


324 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, naturally cost more 
per ton than low-grade fertilizers. Yet the high-grade 
fertilizers are usually more economical. The true test 
in choosing between two fertilizers consists in calculating 
which one affords a pound of nitrogen, potash, and avail- 
able phosphoric acid at the lower price. 

The reason why a concentrated, high-grade fertilizer is usually 
more economical than a low-grade fertilizer is made clear by com- 
paring a 12 per cent acid phosphate with a 16 per cent phosphate. 
To afford an equal amount of plant-food, say 960 pounds of avail- 
able phosphoric acid, requires 4 tons of the low-grade fertilizer, 
but only 3 tons of the high-grade fertilizer. This extra ton of 
the low-grade article involves extra expense for freight, hauling, 
mixing, and sacking. Hence, the manufacturer or dealer must 
charge more for each pound of plant-food in the less concentrated 
fertilizer. 

The advantage of using the highest grades of fertilizers increases 
with the distance that the fertilizer must be shipped and hauled. 
If, however, a fertilizer be made too concentrated, there is greater 
difficulty in mixing its constituents uniformly and in applying it 
evenly, because the amount to be used on each acre is so small. 

293. Quantity per acre of fertilizer. — Experiments 
in several states have shown that an application of 400 
to 600 pounds to the acre of a fertilizer adapted to the soil 
affords a larger profit to the acre than the use of smaller 
amounts. At the Georgia Experiment Station a complete 
fertilizer was used at the rate of 400, 800, and 1200 pounds 

,per acre. Each increase made a decided and profitable 
increase in the yield. However, the smallest lot returned 
much the highest percentage of profit on the investment ; 
the 800 pounds paid a higher dividend than the largest 
amount. This illustrates the usual rule, which is that 
the percentage of profit on the investment in fertilizers 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 825 


decreases as the amount of fertilizer increases ; but that the 
profit per acre is usually greater with the larger amounts, up 
toa certain point, which is often above 600 pounds per acre. 

Probably 200 pounds or less per acre is the amount of 
fertilizer most generally applied to cotton. 

Moderate to large applications pay best when the 
season is favorable, but involve the risk of loss should 
climatic conditions be extremely unfavorable. To ren- 
der as safe as possible heavy or intensive fertilization, the 
soils on which it is employed should be in good mechanical 
condition, especially as regards drainage and power to 
retain sufficient moisture during drought. This latter 
condition may usually be brought about by a rotation 
that affords an abundance of vegetable matter and by 
judicious preparation and cultivation. 


NitTrRoGEeNous FERTILIZERS 


294. Nitrogen produced on the farm. — The cheapest 
sources of nitrogen are barnyard manure and the legu- 
minous or soil-improving plants, such as cowpeas, velvet 
beans, hairy vetch, and (when pastured by hogs) peanuts. 
Manure may pay even better for hay and other forage 
crops than for cotton. Cotton seed is too high-priced in 
most localities for use as fertilizer. 

295. Cotton seed vs. stable manure.—In Alabama 
extensive comparisons of manure from horse stables with 
cotton seed were made on many soils, using an average 
of 835 pounds of fresh seed alone against a little over two 
tons of stable manure. 


Increase due to stable manure, — seed cotton per acre . 444 lb. 
Increase due to cotton seed, —seed cotton peracre. . 288 Ib. 


326 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


From a summary of the results of many tests made in 
Alabama during three years and on numerous soils, it 
appears that 5 pounds of stable manure exerted during 
the year when applied as fertilizer a greater influence on 
the yield of cotton than did one pound of cotton seed 
used without crushing or heating; that the average yield 
was increased by 101 per cent when stable manure was 
used and by 64 per cent when cotton seed was used; and 
that to obtain an increase of one pound in the yield of 
seed cotton there was required 3 pounds of cotton seed, 
or nearly 10 pounds of rich stable manure. 

296. Cotton seed vs. cotton-seed meal. — Most tests 
show practical equality for a pound of nitrogen in cotton- 
seed meal and in crushed or rotted cotton seed. To fur- 
nish equal amounts of nitrogen requires the following 
amount of each : — 


Puos- 
Nec pxontc Porasa 
i 
2000 lb. of cotton seed contain . . - | 62.6 | 25.4 | 23.4 
963 lb. of cotton-seed meal (63 per cent 
nitrogen) contain . . z 62.6 | 26.5 | 16.3 


The average of a number of experiments on many soils 
in Alabama showed that, as a fertilizer for cotton, one 
pound of high-grade cotton-seed meal was equal the first 
year to 2,4, pounds of crushed cotton seed. Later ex- 
periments in Alabama and Georgia make a still more 
favorable showing for the meal. Cotton seed exerts a 
greater influence the second year than does the meal; 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 327 


however, on sandy soils, most tests show the residual ef- 
fect of both cotton seed and cotton-seed meal to be slight. 
It seems safe to conclude that on most soils half a ton of 
medium or high-grade cotton-seed meal is about equal 
as fertilizer to a ton of cotton seed. 

Cotton seed may be applied in deep furrows in January 
without much danger that they will grow. If applied 
late, they should first be either crushed or composted or 
subjected to a high temperature caused by allowing them 
to be moistened and heated in bulk. When the seed ger- 
minate, the fertilizing value is apparently decreased, but 
not lost. Further experiments on this point are needed. 

The oil is without value as a fertilizer, and the hulls 
contain but little plant-food. Therefore, the most com- 
-plete value of the cotton seed is obtained by the public 
when the oil mill extracts the oil. 

It has been shown that the meal and hulls from one ton 
of cotton seed is at least as effective a fertilizer as the 
entire seed. Hence, the farmer who can exchange one ton 
of his seed for the meal and hulls contained in it, namely, 
about 750 pounds of meal and 800 pounds of hulls, loses 
nothing in fertilizing value. When the farmer can get 
1000 pounds or more of meal and no hulls for one ton of 
seed, he usually makes a nearly equal exchange, if the 
cost of hauling be disregarded. He should usually obtain 
in exchange for a ton of cotton seed, considering only the 
fertilizing value, as many pounds of meal in excess of 1000 
pounds as will pay for hauling both ways and whatever 
profit he may see fit to charge. 

297. Other forms of nitrogen. — Whenever the nitro- 
gen in nitrate of soda is as cheap as that in cotton-seed 


328 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


meal, the former may be profitably employed on cotton. 
The farmer should buy either nitrate of soda, cotton-seed 
meal, dried blood, or tankage, choosing that one in which 
a pound of nitrogen costs least. Most experiments fail to 
show any notable difference in the value of a pound of 
nitrogen from these different sources. 

298. General need of cotton soils for nitrogen. — 
Cotton-seed meal or other nitrogenous fertilizer is highly 
beneficial to cotton on a large proportion of the culti- 
vated area of every region where the soils have become 
poor. Apparently it is almost universally needed on 
‘uplands in such regions except on (1) new grounds, and 
(2) on soils containing considerable vegetable matter, as 
the result of proper rotation with cowpeas, or other humus- 
forming crops. Although cotton-seed meal is almost 
universally beneficial, it is not always profitable when 
applied to cotton at the rate of 200 pounds or more 
per acre. Poor physical condition of the land, resulting 
in a scarcity of moisture in the summer, is the greatest 
hindrance to the profitable use of large applications of 
cotton-seed meal. But even with poor physical con- 
dition, it is usually profitable on soils where the stalk is 
small to supply nitrogen in the mixed fertilizer for cotton. 

299. Cost of a pound of nitrogen. — A pound of nitro- 
gen in commercial fertilizers usually costs 15 to 18 cents. 
To learn the average cost each year, inquiry should be 
made of the State Commissioner of Agriculture, in the 
capital city of the state. 

300. Fertilizing value of cotton-seed meal and hulls 
before and after being fed.— In an experiment at the 
South Carolina Experiment Station a definite amount 


COTTON ‘FERTILIZERS 829 


of cotton-seed meal and hulls was fed to dairy cows, and 
every particle of the resulting manure was returned to 
the soil as fertilizer for cotton. An exactly similar amount 
of cotton-seed meal and hulls was applied directly as 
fertilizer for cotton. The yield of cotton was much greater 
where the manure was used. This was probably due in 
part to the quicker decay of the manure than of the meal 
and hulls. 

301. A rational system of fertilization with nitrogen. — 
Considering permanent effect, as well as influence on 
the crop immediately following, the cowpea and other 
leguminous plants must be ranked as a cheaper source of 
nitrogen than is any nitrogenous material which may be 
bought as commercial fertilizers. The aim of the cotton 
farmer should be to grow such areas of legumes as will 
enable him to dispense with the purchase of nitrogenous 
fertilizers for cotton, using the funds thus saved to pur- 
chase increased amounts of phosphates or other necessary 
non-nitrogenous fertilizers. The money that would have 
been necessary to purchase one pound of nitrogen will buy 
about three pounds of phosphoric acid, or of potash, which 
larger purchases of phosphate and potash will enable the. 
farmer to grow heavier crops of legumes. And heavier 
crops of legumes trap larger amounts of otherwise un- 
available atmospheric nitrogen and result in further soil 
enrichment and larger yields of cotton. 


PHosPHATIC FERTILIZERS ; 
302. Different kinds of phosphate. — While there are 
a number of forms in which the farmer may obtain phos- 
phoric acid, the one that is almost universally employed : 


y 


330 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


in the cotton-belt is acid phosphate. This usually con- 
tains 14 to 16 per cent of available phosphoric acid, but 
both lower and higher grades than this may be obtained. 
Acid phosphate is manufactured by adding sulphuric 
acid to the finely ground phosphate rock, or raw phos- 
phate. The sulphuric acid is employed in order to make 
the phosphoric acid promptly available to plants. As 
the sulphuric acid has no fertilizing value, it serves to 
dilute the original phosphate rock. Hence, acid phos- 
phate usually contains only about half as large a percentage 
of phosphoric acid as the raw phosphate from which it 
was made. But nearly all of the phosphoric acid in acid 
phosphate is in a soluble or available condition. 

Raw phosphate consists of the finely ground phosphate 
rock without treatment with any acid. Among the 
names given to it are crude phosphate, ground phosphate 
rock, and floats. It usually contains from 26 to 30 per 
cent of total phosphoric acid. All of this is insoluble, 
and hence not in a form to be immediately used by the 
roots of plants. 

As ground phosphate rock contains about twice as much 
total phosphoric acid as does acid phosphate, and in some 
localities costs less than half as much per ton, it would 
be desirable to use the raw phosphate if it could be made 
available. 

303. Effects of different phosphates on cotton. — Re- 
peated experiments in many states have shown that 
cotton can make some use of raw phosphate, but that 
acid phosphate usually is much more effective. However, 
experiments have also shown that the raw phosphate 
becomes more quickly available if it is mixed with large 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 331 


amounts of rotting vegetable matter. Hence, raw phos- 
phate mixed with stable manure is sometimes as effective 
as an equal weight of acid phosphate. The use of raw 
~phosphate for cotton should probably be restricted to 
cases where it can be thus used with manure or leaf-mold, 
or to soils on which a large amount of vegetable matter 
is being plowed under. Even in the latter case acid phos- 
phate is usually the more profitable the first year. 

It is generally believed that the residual effects, that is, 
the effects subsequent to the year when it is applied, are 
greater with raw phosphate than with acid phosphate; 
but the difference in residual effect is not sufficient to 
overcome the usual greater efficiency of acid phosphate 
in the year in which it is applied. 

304. Other sources of phosphoric acid. — Another 
source of phosphoric acid is slag phosphate; this is more 
available than raw phosphate. Still another source of 
phosphoric acid is ground bone, which is not extensively 
used by cotton growers. 

The principal phosphate mines are in South Carolina, 
Tennessee, and Florida. Some authorities estimate that 
unless new phosphate mines are discovered, or the export 
of phosphate to foreign countries decreased, the supply of 
high-grade phosphate rock will be exhausted long before 
the close of the present century. This is one of the con- 
siderations that should lead farmers to utilize on the farm 
the substances rich in phosphoric acid. Richest of these 
are the bones of animals. Cotton seed, and all other seeds, 
contain considerable phosphoric acid, which is retained 
on the farm when these seed are there fed to live- 
stock. 


332 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The cost of available phosphoric acid in commercial 
fertilizers usually ranges around 5 cents per pound. 

305. General need of cotton soils for phosphates. — 
The need for phosphate as a fertilizer for cotton is appar- 
ently almost universal on poor land east of the Mississippi 
River. Exceptions are found in some of the soils of the 
Central Prairie Region of Alabama and Mississippi, as 
well as in the similar area of black waxy soil in Texas. 
Phosphate is also often needed on the rolling cotton lands 
west of the Mississippi, that have sandy and loamy soils. 


PotasH FERTILIZERS 


806. Extent of the need for potash. — Potash is more 
abundant in Southern soils than is phosphoric acid or 
nitrogen. Therefore, most crops make less demand for 
potash in the fertilizer. Cotton agrees with most other 
crops in less frequently needing artificial supplies of potash, 
or in needing it in smaller amounts as a plant-food than 
the other two fertilizer constituents. 


This small demand for potash is notable in view of the fact 
that the entire plant contains about three times as much potash 
as phosphoric acid. The less frequent need for potash in the 
fertilizer seems to be due to the following causes : — 

(1) To relatively greater abundance of potash than of phos- 
phoric acid in the soils of the cotton fields. 

(2) Probably to the action of the calcium sulfate (which con- 
stitutes about half the weight of acid phosphate), in rendering 
available the potash of the soil. 

(3) To the fact that the seed and lint taken together remove 
nearly equal amounts of phosphoric acid and potash, thus first 
exhausting that one which is less abundant, — phosphoric acid. 

At all events, healthy ‘cotton plants frequently fail to make 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 833 


profitable use of potash. At the several experiment stations and 
substations in Mississippi and Louisiana its use was unprofit- 
able; the South Carolina and Georgia stations recommend it 
only in relatively small amounts; and the Alabama Station has 
found it often profitable, but more useful as a preventive of rust 
on certain soils than as an ordinary plant-food. 


307. Potash as a means of checking cotton-rust. — On 
soils very liable to severe injury by attacks of cotton-rust 
the use of potash is recommended; for on such soils 
potash, ordinarily in the form of kainit, has conspicuously 
decreased the amount of rust and greatly increased the 
yields. Rust occurs most frequently on poor sandy soils, 
such as are especially common in the class known as the 
Norfolk soils, which constitute a large proportion of the 
area of the southeastern part of the cotton-belt. Hence, 
on such poor sandy soils, potash is more frequently than 
elsewhere needed for cotton. 

In several hundred local tests conducted by the Alabama 
Experiment Station, 100 pounds of kainit per acre has 
been highly effective in restraining cotton-rust, apparently 
about as effective as 200 pounds. 

In one test 60 pounds of kainit effected a noticeable 
decrease in the injury from this disease’ Apparently it 
is safer to use at least 80 pounds per acre where the pur- 
pose is to combat rust. 


In the fertilizer experiments in Alabama two facts relative 
to kainit and cotton-rust are noticeable, viz. (1) the usual favor- 
able effect of kainit in checking rust, and (2) its occasional failure 
on some soils and in some seasons to reduce the injury resulting 
from this disease. Just how potash decreases rust is not well 
understood. It enables the cotton plant to remain green and 
thrifty through periods of unfavorable weather. Probably it 


334 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


reduces the amount of water necessary to keep the plant in health, 
judging by the fact that potash has been found to reduce the 
amount of water transpired by the leaves of the corn plant. 
Potash in the fertilizer usually causes the later retension in the 
autumn of the leaves of the cotton plant (Fig. 148). 


Fic. 148. A Corron FIELD, SHOWING THE EFFECTS OF PoTasH IN 
RETENTION OF THE LEAVES. 


On the right, the fertilizer contained no available potash; on the 
left, it contained 50 pounds muriate of potash per acre. 


308. Kainit, muriate and sulfate of potash. — In ex- 
periments in Alabama, a pound of potash in the form of 
muriate was as effective in checking rust as when an equal 
amount was applied in the form of kainit. It is slightly 
less convenient to apply muriate of potash; for as this is 
four times as strong as kainit, it is advisable to use only 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 38385 


25 to 50 pounds of the muriate per acre, which small 
amount necessitates extreme care in pulverizing and evenly 
distributing this fertilizer. Aside from this slight con- 
sideration of convenience, the farmer should buy that one 
of these materials in which a pound of potash delivered 
at his farm costs him less. Where the freight rate and 
cost of hauling is high, the muriate will be the cheaper 
source of potash; near seaport cities, or where freight 
rates are low, kainit may be the cheaper form. 

Kainit usually contains about 12 per cent of potash 
and muriate four times this amount. Another source of 
this plant-food is sulfate of potash, in which a pound of 
potash usually costs a little more than in kainit or muriate. 
The supply of potash salts comes from mines in Germany. 


MIscELLANEOUS FERTILIZERS, AND EFFECTS OF 
FERTILIZERS 


809. Lime. — Lime has shown very slight effect as a 
fertilizer for cotton in several tests in South Carolina and 
at Auburn, Alabama. At any rate, cotton is not con- 
spicuously a lime-loving plant, like clover, wheat, timothy, 
and the like. Neither is cotton averse to lime, as shown 
by its successful growth on numerous limestone soils. 
In the Gulf States there are considerable areas of slightly 
acid upland soils. On some of these a light application of 
lime may be found profitable in connection with other 
fertilizers. 

310. Composts.— As the word ‘ compost” is used 
by cotton planters, it usually refers to a mixture of stable 
manure, cotton seed, and phosphate, which, after being 
brought together, are allowed to ferment 4 to 8 weeks. 


336 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Other coarse materials, and also other chemical fertilizers, 
often enter into a compost. The theory underlying the 
making of composts is that during the fermentation, 
materials previously insoluble are decomposed and con- 
verted into a soluble condition. 


Taken as a whole, four experiments at the Alabama Experi- 
ment Station offer no argument in favor of composting such ma- 
terials as cotton seed, fine stable manure, cotton-seed meal, and 
acid phosphate. Nor do the experiments along this line made 
at other experiment stations sustain the claim that these ma- 
terials can usually be profitably composted for cotton when the 
price of this staple is low and labor expensive. With high- 
priced cotton and cheap labor, otherwise unemployed in winter, 
composting may be profitable. 

It is not contended that experiments have definitely settled 
the question against composting stable manure and cotton seed. 
The*point is that convenience and cost of labor should be the 
chief considerations in determining whether the composting of 
fine stable manure, cotton seed, and acid phosphate is advisable. 
Conditions .may justify the making of compost heaps when 
coarse litter of any sort, as oak leaves, pine needles, or coarse 
manure are obtainable at slight outlay for labor. There are also 
good reasons for placing in the compost heap such cotton seed 
as cannot be applied in the drill early enough to prevent germi- 
nation; many farmers find composting the most convenient 
means of killing the seed that are to be applied late in the season. 
The Furman formula for composting, very popular in the 1880’s 
and still used, consists of 


750 pounds stable manure, 
750 pounds cotton seed, 
367 pounds acid phosphate, 
133 pounds kainit. 


The chemicals and cotton seed are spread in alternate layers, 
the cotton seed being dampened and mixed with the phosphate 
and then with the manure. In four to six weeks the compost 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 337 


is removed in vertical layers, thus more thoroughly mixing the 
materials. ‘ 

In view of the present high prices of cotton seed, and with 
a view of utilizing cheap raw phosphate, the following formula 
for making a compost for*cotton is suggested : — 


One load coarse stable manure, dampened, 
300 pounds raw phosphate, 
One load leaf mold from the woods, or other litter. 


311. Effects of fertilizers on maturity. — Cotton grow- 
ing on poor land is late in maturing, unless the process 
be hastened by the loss of leaves from rust, or by the pre- 
mature death of the plants. 

Acid phosphate decidedly hastens the maturity of cotton. 
Its use enables the farmer to obtain at the first picking, or 
at the first and second pickings, a larger proportion of the 
total crop of cotton than by the employment of any other 
single fertilizer. Other forms of phosphoric acid, including 
raw phosphate and basic slag, when used in connection 
with stable manure, have also been found to hasten ma- 
turity.’ At the Texas Experiment Station (Bul. 75). the 
plants fertilized with acid phosphate were 18 inches high 
when the plants on the unfertilized area and on the plots 
fertilized with nitrogen or potash were less than half that 
height; at the time when the phosphate plants bore 8 to 
16 squares each, the other plants averaged only about 4 
squares. . 

Nitrogen in commercial fertilizers in small or medium 
amounts somewhat favors early maturity. When a 
nitrozenous fertilizer is combined with acid phosphate, 
the highest degree of earliness is secured. On the other 
hand, ripening is retarded if the amount of nitrogen be 

Zz 


338 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


excessive or if a nitrogenous fertilizer be applied very 
late. It is a common observation that stable manure 
makes cotton late in opening. This can be overcome by 
caution in avoiding the use of excessive amounts and by 
supplementing the manure with any form of phosphate. 

The use of potash usually causes the crop to retain its 
leaves and to continue growing late into the fall. Hence, 
potash does not promote early maturity, but in judicious 
proportions in a complete fertilizer it does not exercise 
an injurious retarding effect. 

In North Carolina, C. B. Williams found that slacked 
lime hastened maturity when used in connection with a 
complete fertilizer. 

Commercial fertilizers, judiciously employed, constitute 
one of the most effective means of insuring the early open- 
ing of cotton, and thus of securing a crop before boll-weevils 
become so numerous as to destroy all young forms. 

By hastening the maturing of the cotton plant, commer- 
cial fertilizers have enabled farmers to grow cotton in 
higher latitude and in higher altitudes than was possible 
before their use became common. 


Effects of fertilizers on quality. — In Egypt, where. a cotton 
of very long, fine staple is produced, attention has been directed 
to the effects of fertilizers on the quality of lint. Observations 
on cotton, growing in the rich soils of that country, indicate that 
heavy applications of fresh or unfermented barnyard manure, 
or other fertilizers promoting a very rank growth late into the 
fall, injure the quality of lint; while phosphates, which hasten 
maturity, improve the staple. Partly on account of the more 
prompt action of nitrate of soda as compared with sulfate of 
ammonia or other nitrogenous chemicals, the former is there 
given preference as a supplement to an application of manure. 


COTTON FERTILIZERS 339 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


1. Assuming that nitrogen is worth 17 cents per pound, avail- 
able phosphoric acid 5 cents, and potash 5 cents, calculate the 
commercial value of the plant-food in a ton of fertilizer of the 
following composition : — 


(a) 10 per cent available phosphoric acid, 2 per cent nitro- 
gen, and 2 per cent potash; 

(b) 10 per cent available phosphoric acid, 3 per cent nitro- 
gen, and 3 per cent potash; 

(c) 5 per cent available phosphoric acid, 4 per cent nitro- 
gen, and 5 per cent potash. 


2. Calculate the percentage of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and 
potash in a mixture of 


300 pounds nitrate of soda containing 15 per cent of nitro- . 
gen; 

500 pounds kainit, containing 12 per cent of potash; and 

200 pounds of acid phosphate, containing 16 per cent of 
available phosphoric acid. 


3. Calculate how many pounds of each of the three fertilizers 
just mentioned would be required to make a mixture containing 
the same amounts and kinds of plant-food as one ton of guano 
analyzing 10 per cent available phosphoric acid, 1.8 per cent 
nitrogen, and 2 per cent potash. 

4. Calculate how many pounds of the same kind of phosphate 
and kainit as in (2) and of cotton-seed meal containing 2.8 per 
cent of available phosphoric acid, 64 per cent of nitrogen, and 1.8 
per cent of potash, would be required to contain the same kinds 
and amounts of plant-foods as one ton of guano analyzing 10 per 
cent available phosphoric acid, 2 per cent of nitrogen, and 2 per 
cent of potash. 

LITERATURE 
Newnan, J.S. Ala. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 5, 12, 22. 


Bonpvurant, A. J.,and Cuarton, J. Ala. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 
34 and 42. 


340 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Ducear, J. F. Ala. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 78, 91, 108, 107, 113, 
131, 145. 

Reppine, R. J. Ga. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 11, 16, 20, 24, 27, 
31, 35, 39, 43, 47, 52, 56, 59, 63, 66, 75. 

Catvin, M.V., and Kimsprovuea, J. M. Ga. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 
79. 

McBryope, J.B. S.C. Expr. Sta., Bul. (New Series) No. 2, and 
Rpts. 1888-1889. 

Harper, J. N. S.C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 145. 

Wituiams, C.B. N.C. Dept. Agr., Bul. Jan., 1907; and Proce. 
Southern Asson. Commissioners Agr., 1909. Raleigh, N.C. 

Wuitt, H.C. U.S. Dept. Agr., Office Expr. Stas., Bul. No. 33, 
pp. 169-196. 

Wuitney, Mitton. U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Soils, Bul. No. 62. 


CHAPTER XX 


COTTON—THE CULTIVATION OF THE AMERICAN 
UPLAND GROUPS 


THE modes of tilling and handling a crop of growing 
cotton, as of any other wide-area staple crop, come to be 
largely traditional and perfunctory. The fact that such 
labor is often left to ignorant or uninterested workmen 
tends to perpetuate this rule-of-thumb. Sometimes the 
methods are followed with the blindness of a superstition. 
The cotton-grower, however, must recognize that even the 
most common daily labor of tillage must rest on principles 
and reasons, if he is to secure the most satisfactory results ; 
therefore, this subject is worthy of careful and detailed 
consideration. 

312. Disposal of litter. — Where cotton is the preced- 
ing crop, the first step in preparing the field for another 
crop of cotton consists in reducing the old stalks to frag- 
ments fine enough to be plowed under. This is most 
economically done by driving a stalk cutter (Fig. 77) along 
each row, the blades on the cutter chopping the stalks 
into short pieces. A more common method consists in 
beating the old brittle stalks with a heavy stick; this is 
best done during dry weather or on a frosty morning late. 
in winter. Sometimes the stalks are lifted by a plow or 


by hand and then raked and burned. This latter course 
341 


342 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


should be avoided except when it may be made necessary 
by the presence of the cotton boll-weevil. 

313. Methods of plowing. — The greater part of the area 
intended for cotton receives only one plowing before the 
seed are planted. This usually consists in forming ridges 
or beds. More thorough preparation may be given by 
first plowing the land level or flush, afterwards forming 
the beds by a subsequent plowing. The conditions under 
which this double amount of preparation, namely, first 
broadcast plowing and then bedding, is especially advis- 
able, are the following : — 

1. When the soil is a stiff loam or clay inclined to form 
clods ; 

2. When the land has not been cultivated the preceding 
year, or when the preceding crop is one that has left much 
vegetation on the surface. 

The practice of plowing land twice for cotton, first 
fallowing it, and then throwing it into beds, is on the in- 
crease among the best farmers. 

314. Time of plowing or breaking. — February and 
March are the months in which the greater part of the 
plowing of cotton land is performed. The time of plow- 
ing is largely a matter of convenience. The general rule 
should be that the larger the proportion of clay in the soil, 
the earlier may plowing be done to advantage, provided 
the surface be freshened later. The larger the amount of 
trash to be buried and rotted, ‘the earlier should be the 
date of plowing. Some farmers begin plowing for cotton 
in December or even in November. This permits freezes 
to aid in pulverizing the soil and killing some kinds of cot- 
ton insects that spend: the winter in the ground. 


COTTON CULTIVATION 343 


Early plowing may cause clay land to become too com- 
pact before the time for planting. In this case it is de- 
sirable, shortly before planting, either to replow the land 
or to loosen the surface with a disk-harrow. Too early 
plowing of sandy land increases the loss due to the leach- 
ing out of plant-food in the water that drains through the 
soil. Hence, sandy land, as a rule, is not plowed in the 
fall. However, it is good practice to plow any soils ex- 
cept the sandiest in the fall, provided some winter-growing 
crop, such as the small grains, or clovers, or vetches, are 
sown. The roots of the growing plants largely prevent 
leaching by appropriating the plant-food that becomes 
available as the vegetable matter decays. These green 
crops can be plowed under in the late winter or early 
spring, or grazed, or otherwise utilized. Plowed soil 
should be kept covered during winter with growing plants. 
Fields covered with cowpeas or other dead leguminous 
plants should not be plowed very early, since early fall 
plowing would induce rotting and leaching before the cot- 
ton plants would be ready to utilize the nitrogen made 
available by the decay of the legumes. 

A smali proportion of the area in cotton is plowed only 
a few days before planting. This incurs the danger that 
some of the seed may fail to come up in the loose soil, 
which quickly dries. 

315. Depth of plowing. — A large proportion of the 
cotton fields are plowed only 3 ‘to 4 inches deep. It is 
generally advisable to plow deeper than this, so-as to afford 
a larger amount of available soil-moisture for the benefit 
of the plants in periods of dry weather, and to increase 
the feeding area for the roots. However, extreme depth, 


344 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


as well as extreme shallowness, is to be avoided. Plowing 
too deep may bring to the surface much of the subsoil, 
where, for a year or two, it remains infertile and subject 
to baking or clod-forming. Moreover, the cost of very 
deep plowing is excessive. A depth of 6 to 8 inches may 
be regarded as unusually good preparation; this depth 
should be attained only gradually, that is, by plowing 
each year only about an inch deeper than the year before. 
By a gradual and judicious increase in depth, a few farmers 
have advantageously stirred their soil to even a greater 
depth than 6 to 8 inches. For very deep plowing the disk 
plow is a favorite implement (Fig. 80). 

When plowing is early, or several months before the 
time of planting the seed, the depth may well be greater 
than in late plowing. This is because the earlier plowing 
permits the upturned subsoil to be improved by the ac- 
tion of freezes and of the air, and because the deeper layer 
of stirred soil requires a longer time to settle to that degree 
of compactness most favorable to the germination of seeds 
and the growth of plant roots. 

Even when deep preparation fails to increase the yield 
the first year, an increase is apt to result in succeeding 
years. The aim of the cotton grower should be gradually 
to deepen the layer of plowed soil. 

316. Subsoiling. — This term means the loosening of 
the subsoil without bringing it to the surface. It is usually 
accomplished by first employing an ordinary turn-plow, 
and then in its furrow running a special subsoil plow (Fig. 
78). This latter plow has no moldboard, and merely 
loosens the subsoil, without displacing it. 

Subsoiling is a means of suddenly increasing the depth 


COTTON CULTIVATION 345 


of loosened soil. The benefits from subsoiling, when 
done under the most favorable conditions, are the same 
as-those that, result from any form of deep plowing. 

However, subsoiling often fails to pay for the extra ex- 
pense, especially the first year. Some’ of the conditions 
under which subsoiling is often unprofitable are the follow- 
ing: — 

1. When performed while the subsoil is too wet; often 
when the surface soil is dry enough for plowing, the wet 
subsoil is simply ‘ puddled,” or injuriously compacted 
by subsoiling. 

2. Subsoiling is usually injurious when it is accom- 
plished so late that there is not afterwards sufficient rain 
to settle the disturbed subsoil and to destroy the large 
air spaces between the clods or small soil masses. 

As a rule the most favorable time for subsoiling in 
preparation for cotton is in the late fall or early winter 
before the lower layer of soil has been saturated by the 
winter rains. 

317. Forming the ridge or bed. — Most cotton fields 
are prepared by throwing together at least four furrow- 
slices turned up by a moldboard plow. This forms a 
ridge or bed which is usually 3 to 4 feet wide, and several 
inches high. 

In regions where commercial fertilizers are used, there 
is first run a furrow in which the fertilizer is placed, and 
over which the bed is subsequently formed. This center 
furrow may be either (1) along the line of old cotton 
stalks, or (2) in the middle or water-furrow of the 
year before, or (3) it may be run in land already plowed 
broadcast. . 


846 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


When cotton follows cotton, the plowing to make a center 
furrow usually serves to lift out the roots of the old cotton plants. 
This is the first step in preparation and may be taken several 
weeks earlier than the other steps in plowing. 

In certain stiff lands where fertilizers are seldom used, it is 
a disputed point whether a center furrow is advantageous. Ex- 
periments on this point are too few to be conclusive. The use 
of a center furrow and the consequent deeper and more thorough 


TESTA 
| 


Fic. 149.— A Mipp_Le Burster, or DousBLeE Motpsoarp Piow. 


preparation under the center of the bed is probably advantageous 
when plowing is performed early; while if plowing is done imme- 
diately before planting, a center furrow may leave the soil too 
loose for the maximum germination of the seed, and for the best 
growth of the young cotton plants. 

In “bedding land” the first two furrows thrown together 
form a narrow ridge called a ‘‘list’’; the soil, from the hitherto 
unplowed strip, or ‘‘balk,” is usually thrown against each side 
of the ‘‘list’’ by a turn-plow. But this balk is sometimes split 
and thrown outward by a single trip of a double moldboard 
plow, called a ‘‘middle burster” (Fig. 149). 


COTTON CULTIVATION 347 


L 


318. Formation of beds by using a disk-harrow. — A 
saving of labor may be effected by forming the beds with 
a disk-harrow instead of with a turn-plow. The use of 
the disk-harrow for this purpose is practicable only on a 
field previously plowed broadcast. 

319. Planting cotton level. — Practically all the cotton 
of the United States is planted on ridges or beds. How- 
ever, a few farmers, on well-drained sandy soil, plant late 
cotton on land that is not bedded, but merely “‘ flushed,”’ 
or ‘plowed broadcast.” This requires very shallow 
planting, and also requires very careful early cultivation 
to prevent covering the plants. The object in planting 
on a level is to enable the plants better to endure drought. 

A method that is generally an improvement on the last 
named consists in forming low beds; before being planted 
they are pulled down almost level, by harrowing or drag- 
ging them whenever a crust forms or whenever young 
weeds appear. 

320. Distribution of fertilizers. — The rows having 
been marked off, usually with a shovel plow, the fer- 
tilizer (if any is to be-used) is drilled in this furrow. It is 
most conveniently put in place by means of a one-horse 
fertilizer distributor, which also draws earth over the fer- 
tilizer. Immediately a “list ” is formed. The bed may 
be completed at once, or more frequently not until the 
entire area intended for cotton has been thus fertilized 
and listed. On some farms the fertilizer is distributed _ 
by hand, either through a “guano horn” or without 
this inexpensive device. 

321. Time of planting. — The usual date for the begin- 
ning of cotton planting is two to three weeks after the 


348 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


average date of the last killing frost in that locality. 
Planting begins in March near the Gulf of Mexico; it 
begins about April 1 in the central part of the Gulf States ; 
and in the extreme northern part of the cotton-belt it 
may be delayed until May. In the central part of the 
cotton-belt most of the crop is planted before May, but 
an occasional field is not planted until about the first of 
June. Extremely early planting increases the risk of 
injury by frost in spring and increases the labor of culti- 
vation. Rather early planting is advisable in regions 
where the cotton boll-weevil is present. Extremely late 
planting reduces the labor of cultivation and usually also 
reduces the yield, many of the immature bolls being 
destroyed by frost in the fall. 

322. Cotton planters. — There are numerous forms of 
planters for cotton. Most of them plant a single row at a 
time, opening the furrow, dropping the seed, and covering 
the seed, at one trip (Fig. 150). Probably the most impor- 
tant features about a planter-are: (1) provision for con- 
stantly agitating the mass of seed, so that the feed may be 
uniform, and (2) provision for rolling or otherwise pressing 
the soil around the seed. 

If the earth above the seed be rolled, or otherwise com- 
pacted, the depth of planting may be as shallow as one inch. 
The usual-depth is from one to three inches. 


Some planters drop the seed at regular intervals rather than 
in a continuous drill. Such dropper-planters may require that 
the seed be first treated by some method that will serve to lay 
the fuzz and enable the individual seeds to be separated from the 
mass. This may be done by adding a little thin flour paste to 
the dry cotton seed while being shaken in a revolving barrel; or, 


COTTON CULTIVATION 349 


on a small scale, by dipping the seed in full strength commercial 
sulfuric acid, for about two minutes, which removes the fuzz. 
Immediately the sulfuric acid must be thoroughly washed off 
of the seed, so as to prevent loss of germinating power. 

The most common method of preparing the seed for very thin. 
planting consists in ‘‘rolling the seed.” This is done by dampen- 


Fig. 150.— An INEXPENSIVE Corton PLANTER. 


ing the seed, placing them in a barrel fitted with a frame and 
erank in such a way that it may be revolved; then dry ashes 
or dust is added, and the barrel revolved, thus causing the ashes 
or dust to coat each seed, and temporarily to paste down the fuzz. 


323. Quantity of seed.— A bushel of cotton seed 
usually contains between 120,000 and 150,000 seeds, or 
enough, if each one developed into a mature plant, to 
suffice for fully fifteen acres. However, it is customary 
to plant 1 to 14 bushels of seed per acre. An ideal 


850 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


planter that places the seed in a narrow drill or in hills 
requires less; and still less is required when planting is 
done by dropping the seed by hand in separate hills. 

On stiff land, it is regarded as advantageous to have a 
thick stand of plants, so that the combined strength of 
the young plants may be exerted to break through the 
surface crust, which might be too strong for a single 
plantlet. On the other hand, the presence of only one 
seed in a place greatly reduces the labor of chopping or 
thinning cotton. 

324. Broadcast tillage. — One change which should be 
made in cotton culture is the introduction of broadcast 
tillage; that is, of cultivation or tillage across the rows by 
means of weeders (Fig. 86) or of light, spike-tooth, adjust- 
able harrows (Fig. 85). This kind of tillage permits a 
larger area to be covered in a day’s work of man and team 
than does any other kind of cultivation. It has the double 
object of breaking the surface crust before this has become 
very thick and hard, and of destroying weeds and grass 
while they are extremely small or merely sprouting. One 
horse drawing a weeder, or a double team drawing a light, 
spike-tooth harrow, may cultivate ten or more acres in a day. 

As soon as a crust begins to form, there is need for the 
use of a weeder or light harrow at the following stages in 
the cultivation of cotton : — 

(1) A few days or weeks before planting, in order to 
break the crust and save the moisture for the germination 
of the seed soon to be planted. 

(2) Following a rain occurring soon after planting, which 
otherwise would leave too dense a crust to be easily broken 
by the young plants. 


COTTON CULTIVATION ~° 351 


(3) Between the time when the young plants first take 
on their green color and the time when chopping or thin-. 
ning is done. 

However, it may be impracticable to use either weeder 
or harrow (1) on stony land, (2) on a field where there is 
much trash, and (3) where the stand is thin or very ir- 
regular. 

The judicious use of the weeder or light harrow just 
before chopping cotton permits this operation to be post- 
poned longer and to be effected with less labor. 

325. First tillage by separate rows. — As soon as prac- 
ticable after all the young plants have appeared above 
ground and have taken on a green color, the first tillage 
is given with some form of cultivator. The principal 
objects of this operation are the following : — 

(1) To reduce the width of the strip that is subsequently 
to be thinned by the hoe; 

(2) To destroy vegetation; 

(3) To put the soil into the best condition for retaining 
moisture in dry weather and for the growth of the roots 
of the young cotton plant. 

326. Narrowing the strip to be hoed. — Since the main 
purpose of this first operation is to prepare for the 
more expensive work of chopping, any implement now 
used must run very close to the line of young plants with- 
out throwing much earth toward them. Among the 
implements used in this operation, which is usually called 
scraping or barring off, are the following : — 

(1) Any ordinary cultivating implement supplied with 
a fender to prevent the rolling of too much soil on the tiny 
plant (Fig. 87); 


852 * SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(2) Implements supplied with small points on the side 
next to the cotton; 

(3) Moldboard- or turn-plows, with the bar side next the 
line of plants, so as to throw the soil away from the row. 

While the use of the turn-plow in this first cultivation 
by rows is perhaps more common than that of any other 


Fic. 151.— One Form or PLow-stTock. 


Showing handles, beam, and foot, to the lower part of which sweeps, 
scrapes, or other implements may be attached. 


implement, its use in “barring off” cotton is subject to 
the following objections : — 

(1) It leaves the young plants on narrow high ridges, 
which quickly dry out. 

(2) These narrow high ridges may crumble, pulling the 
plants down, if heavy rains occur. 

(3) The deep plowing by the turn-plow cuts many roots. 


COTTON CULTIVATION 853 


Therefore, the turn-plow should be used for barring off 
cotton only under special conditions; for example : — 

(1) When grass has become too large to be easily killed 
by “scrapes” or by other shallow-working implements. 
In this case the best means of killing the grass may be by 


burying it for a number of 
days, as is done by the 
moldboard plow. 

(2) The deep tillage, such 
as that given by the turn- 
plow, may sometimes be de- 
sirable on clay soils prepared 
early and subsequently 
very greatly compacted by 
rains, hence needing stirring 
after the plants come up. 

A widely used and gener- 
ally satisfactory implement 
for this cultivation or scrap- 
ing is a narrow sweep or 
scrape, especially when 
- equipped with a fender. 
Such a cultivating imple- 
ment may be one of several 
similar points attached to 
a two-horse cultivator or 
to a one-horse cultivator, 
or it may be the sole point 
on an ordinary cultivating 
“stock,” or plow frame 
(Fig. 151). 

2A 


Fic. 152. — A Youne Corron PLant 
SHOWING Two SEED-LEAVES BELOW 
anp Two Trup Leaves ABOVE. 


354 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


327. Chopping or thinning. — As soon as possible after 
the operation of scraping or barring off, the plants (Fig. 
152) should be thinned by means of a hoe. This first hoe- 
ing is called “chopping.” Usually either one or two plants 
are left at the desired distance apart. Much subsequent 
hoe work is saved if, at the time of chopping, the plants 
can be safely thinned to a single one at the required dis- 
tance apart. However, it may be wise to leave two or 


Fig. 153.— Various Forms oF SwEEPsS AND SCRAPE USED IN CULTI- 
VATING COTTON. 


more plants in a place, or twice as many hills as will finally 
remain, if chopping is done when the plants are extremely 
small, or if many of the young plants are expected to die 
as the result of disease or of unfavorable weather. 

328. Second cultivation or ‘“‘siding.””— The objects in 
“siding ”’ cotton are as follows : — 

(1) To throw close about the plant, for its firmer support, 
earth that may have been removed from it in the first 
cultivation or in hoeing. 


COTTON CULTIVATION 855 


(2) To form a mulch that will retain the moisture in 
the soil layer just below it. 

(8) To destroy weeds. 

Since one purpose is to throw a little earth towards the 
plants, the scrape or sweep now used may be wider than 
that used at the first cultivation (Fig. 153). To prevent 
the small plants being covered, it may still be necessary to 
use a fender attached to the stock or cultivator (Fig. 87). 

This second tillage or cultivation is done by running the 
cultivating implement close on both sides of each row of 
plants. Hence, for scraping, two furrows per row usually 
suffice, where a single scrape or sweep is used. 

Siding should sometimes be done as soon as practicable 
after chopping. But in order to give time for grass to be 
smothered by the earth thrown on it in “ barring off,’’ sid- 
ing may be delayed. 

329. Third tillage or cultivation, or ‘ cleaning middles.” 
—TIf the “siding” just described has been performed 
with only two scrape furrows per row, there is usually 
left a low ridge of soil, called a “balk” or “ middle,” 
halfway between each two lines of plants. If this strip 
becomes compact or weedy, the next step is to cultivate 
it. This is usually done by a single furrow of a rather 
large sweep or scrape, which splits the “‘ middle,” lapping 
part of it on each of the adjacent rows. When a double 
cultivator is employed, it cultivates the plants on both 
sides and throws out the “ middles” at the same time. 
Even when a single scrape is used in “ siding,’ farmers 
often prefer to throw out the “middle” immediately. 

330. Subsequent tillage. — The operation of “siding” is 
repeated as often as necessary to destroy all young weeds 


856 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


and grass and to prevent the formation after each rain of 
a crust on the soil, which would hasten the loss of water’ 
by evaporation. Likewise, the middles are cleaned or 
thrown out as often as necessary for the same purpose. 
The larger the plant becomes, the wider, as a rule, are the 
scrapes or sweeps employed. 

It should constantly be borne in mind that one of the 
principal objects of tillage is to form a mulch of loose dry 
soil through which the moisture from the lower layers 
cannot rise and be evaporated. 

331. Subsequent hoeing.— The hoeings subsequent 
to chopping are necessary only when vegetation grows 
along the line of plants in spite of the earth thrown upon 
the young weeds in siding. Hoeing is a cleaning rather 
than a true tillage or mulching process. Next to picking, 
it is the most expensive operation in cotton culture; 
hence, as far as practicable, the horse implements should 
be made to lessen the necessity of hoeing. 

332. Amount and frequency of tilling. — There can be 
no fixed rule as to how often cotton should be cultivated. 
The general rule is to cultivate it before the formation of 
a crust following each rain. Four “ plowings” may be 
considered the minimum and six or more are often advis- 
able. The total number of furrows per row required in 
good tillage is usually between twelve and sixteen. In addi- 
tion to this, two or more hoeings are usually given. 

333. Late tillage. — Practice varies greatly as to the 
stage in the life of the cotton plant when cultivation should 
cease. In most parts of the cotton-belt, tillage is contin- 
ued through July and sometimes into August. The gen- 
eral rule is that cotton plants that are making less than 


COTTON CULTIVATION 85T 


a normal growth of limbs and foliage should be cultivated 
late, while plants of large size may be “ laid by ” earlier, 
so as to check the growth of stalk. 

After cotton has received what’ has been planned. to be 
the last tilling, rains sometime occur within a few days, 
destroying the soil-mulch made by the last cultivation. 
In this case it is usually advisable to give an additional 
late cultivation, so as to reéstablish the soil-mulch, and 
to retain the moisture in the soil. 

At the final tillage of cotton, the middles are always 
thrown out.. 

334. Depth of cultivation.— The same principle applies 
here as in the tillage of any other crop. At the first culti- 
vation, the depth may well be shallow, medium, or deep, 
as the judgment of the farmer dictates. But in the sub- 
sequent tillings, the depth should be shallow; that is, just 
deep enough to destroy vegetation and to form a soil-mulch 
thick enough to check evaporation. 

Usually a depth of 14 to 2 inches meets these require- 
ments. The finer the soil particles forming the mulch, 
that is, the more complete the pulverization effected by 
the tilling implement, the less the thickness of soil-mulch 
required to check evaporation. A three-inch mulch of 
small clods is less effective than an inch mulch of well- 
pulverized soil. 

335. Sowing seed among growing cotton plants. — 
When it is desired to improve the soil by growing, during 
the cooler months, some soil-improving plant, such as 
crimson clover or hairy vetch, the time selected for sowing 
the seed is usually immediately after the first picking. 
By choosing this time, no cotton is knocked from the 


858 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


plants by the one-horse cultivator used in covering these 
seed. On some farms fall-sown oats are sown among the 
growing cotton plants and covered as just indicated. To 
permit the use of harvesting machinery in the oats, the 
cotton plants, if large, are loosened in winter by means 
of a narrow plow, or by the use of a subsoil plow, and then 
pulled and removed. 

336. Distance between rows.—In deciding on the 
space between rows and between plants of cotton, the 
general rule is as follows: The richer the land, the wider 
must be the rows and the greater the distance between 
plants in the row. This rule is exactly the opposite of 
the practice in spacing Indian corn. The reason for 
planting cotton farther apart on rich land is the fact 
that cotton is a branching or spreading plant, and 
hence on rich land requires much space for the outward 
growth of its long branches. On the other hand, corn 
has no branches and may be crowded as closely together 
as is permitted by the supply of plant-food and of 
moisture, both of which are of course more abundant on 
rich land. 

The usual distance between rows of cotton on upland, 
where a crop of one half bale or less per acre is expected, 
is 3 feet. On highly fertilized upland, the distance may 
well be increased to 4 feet. On bottom land and other 
very rich land, a distance of 5 feet is advisable, and occa- 
sionally even wider rows are preferable. 

The wider the rows can be made without reducing the 
yield, the cheaper is the cost of cultivation, since work 
with cultivators is cheaper than work along the rows with 
the hoe. 


COTTON CULTIVATION 359 


337. Distance between plants in the row. — Much of 
the cotton grown in the United States is unduely crowded 
in the row. A distance of 12 inches may be regarded as 
the minimum even for very poor land. With almost any 
character of medium or fair soil, capable of producing one 
half bale of cotton or more per acre, it is usually better 
to space the plant at least 18 inches apart. 

To increase this distance beyond 2 feet is usually unwise, 
except when the soil is very rich; in this latter case, it is better 
to increase the width of the rows than to space the plants much 
more than 2 feet apart. 

By giving ample distance between plants in the drill, the num- 
“per of bolls per plant is greatly increased. Thus on well-fertilized 
land, plants spaced 1 foot apart averaged 12.6 bolls per plant, 
while with double this space, there was an average of 40 bolls 
per plant. (S. C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 140.) In this case the 
number of bolls per acre and the yield were much greater with 
the thinner planting. 


838. Results of distance experiments with cotton. — 
Most of the experiment stations in the Southern States 
have conducted experiments on this subject. Naturally 
the results have varied greatly as influenced by differences 
in soil, in fertilizer, in rainfall, and in the variety of cotton 
under observation. In a series of experiments at the 
Georgia Station, where the yield was a little more than a 
bale per acre,-slightly higher yields were made where the 
plants stood 1 foot apart than where they were 2 feet 
apart; a distance of 3 feet between plants afforded a slight 
reduction in yield; and where the space between plants 
was increased to 4 feet, the yield was notably decreased. 


In the Piedmont region of North Carolina the King variety 
made as the average of a five years’ test the greatest yield when 


360 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


the plants were spaced 16 inches apart, the rows being 3} feet 
wide; in rows 4 feet wide, larger yields were obtained when the 
spaces between plants were 12 or 16 inches than when the space 
was greater. In the coast region of North Carolina at the 
Edgecomb Test Farm, nearly similar results were obtained with 
the Russell variety. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


The laboratory work to accompany this chapter should con- 
sist of participation in any of the operations connected with cot- 
ton culture that may be in progress at the time this subject is 
studied. In case this is not practicable, field observations on 
the results of such operations should be made by the student and 
presented to the instructor in the form of descriptions or drawings. 


LITERATURE 


Doueear, J. F. Ala. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 107. 

Reppine, R. J. Ga. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 48, 47, 52, 56, and 59. 

MacNiper, G. M., and others. N.C. Dept. Agr., Bul., Feb., 
1909. 

McBryvpg, J.B. S.C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 2. 

Hammonp, Harry. U.S. Dept. Agr., Office Expr. Stas., Bul. 
No. 33, pp. 225-278. 

Burkett, C. W., and Por, C. H. Cotton, pp. 147-168. New 
York, 1906. : : 

Mercizr, W. B. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 257-258. 


CHAPTER XXI 
COTTON — HARVESTING AND MARKETING 


PickING, ginning (removing the lint from the seed), 
baling, and compressing into very hard and compact bales 
for long-distance transportation are the different processes 
in the harvesting and marketing of cotton; and to these 
is here added a brief discussion of grades, qualities, and 
market classes. 

339. Picking.— The picking of the crop is the most 
expensive operation connected with cotton culture. The 
price paid varies greatly, but is usually between 40 and 
75 cents per one hundred pounds of seed cotton. This is 
equivalent to about 14 to 24 cents per pound of lint, or 
$6 to $11 per bale. In localities where labor is scarce 
or expensive, the cost of picking is sometimes even above 
the highest figure just mentioned. 

Picking begins in August or early in September. The 
greater part of the crop is picked in the months of Sep- 
tember, October, and November. In some localities con- 
siderable cotton is picked in December and a small amount 
sometimes remains in the field until after Christmas. 

A fair day’s work for an experienced picker is 150 to 
200 pounds of seed cotton; but very skillful pickers, 
under special incentives, and for a single day at a time, 


have picked more than double these quantities. 
361 


362 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fic. 154.— An ALaBamMa Corton FISLD THAT YIELDED ABOUT Two 
AND ONE-HALF BALES PER ACRE. 


COTTON HARVESTING 3863 


In picking, the principal aims are : (1) rapidity of work, (2) the 
inclusion of only the minimum amount of trash, and (3) com- 
pleteness of work, so as not to leave in the bur an occasional 
lock or piece of a lock. In connection with the latter aim it 
should be borne in mind that it is sometimes more profitable to 
leave unpicked a lock of stained or diseased cotton than to in- 
clude it with the main picking, since it would tend to lower the 
quality of the entire lot, and to perpetuate disease if the seeds are 
used for planting. 

When locks lying on the ground where. they have been stained 
by dust or mud are included with the main picking of white cotton, 
the selling price of the whole is lowered. It pays to harvest 
stained cotton separately or else to leave it unpicked. Cotton 
picked while wet, unless afterwards very thoroughly dried, makes 
a poor staple, which sells at a reduced price, because of the fibers 
broken in ginning damp cotton. 

Yields. — The average yield per acre in the United States is 
about 200 pounds of lint, or two-fifths of a bale per acre. How- 
ever, more than a bale per acre is often grown in productive 
fields. Occasional yields of more than two bales per acre are 
obtained (Fig. 154). 


340. Mechanical cotton-pickers. — The models in the 
Patent Office at Washington show that numerous cotton- 
pickers have been invented and that most of these have 
never been brought into use. However, within the first 
decade of the twentieth century several cotton-picking 
machines have demonstrated that they can pick large quan- 
tities of cotton, that they can harvest 80 to 90 per cent 
or more of the cotton open at the time of operation, and 
that they can pick without including very much more trash 
than that included by careless hand-picking. 

Many of these mechanical pickers are only partly auto- 
matic, and require human brains and hands to guide the 

‘separate picking devices. 


364 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fia, 155.— Tse Worswick-Haarpt Corron Picker at Worx. 


COTTON HARVESTING 365 


Some of these machines operate on the suction principle; 
the open end of a hose pipe is directed by the human hand close 
to each open boll, when the suction created by a revolving fan 
on the machine draws the seed cotton through a tube and into a 
hopper. An example of this class of suction machines is the 
Worswick-Haardt picker, invented by J. E. Worswick, Mont- 
gomery, Alabama, (Fig. 155). 

Other mechanical pickers entangle the seed cotton by means 
of innumerable sharp, tack-like points embedded in narrow re- 


Nel 
Fie. 156.— Tue Dixie Corron Picker. 


volving belts, which are directed by human hands into contact 
with the open boll; the lint is instantly entangled and borne 
along the revolving belt to the hopper, where it is removed by 
brushes. An example of such a machine is the Lowry Cotton 
Picker, invented by George A. Lowry, Boston, Massachusetts. 

Among other mechanical cotton-pickers recently advertised 
are the following : — 

The Dixie Cotton Picker, invented by John F. Appleby, 
Chicago, Illinois (Figs. 156 and 157). 


366 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The Oliver Cotton Picking Machine, advertised by Stern 
& Sons Company, Chicago, Illinois. 

The Thurman Vacuum Cotton Picking Machine, manufac- 
tured by Vacuum Cotton Picking Machine Company, St. Louis, 
Missouri. 

The Price-Campbell Cotton Picking Machine, invented by 
Angus Campbell, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and exploited by 
Theodore Price, New York City. 

It seems safe to predict that the time is near at hand when 
cotton-picking machines will harvest a part of the crop where 


Fig. 157.— VertiIcaL Section THROUGH Dixie CoTron PIcKER 
WHEN aT WORK. 


the conditions for their work are most favorable and where labor 
is scarce or expensive. The chief difficulty in the way of their 
rapid introduction is the high price at which it is now proposed 
to sell these mechanical pickers. 


341. Ginning. — After being picked, the seed cotton is 
hauled to the gin, which is usually a public ginnery, oper- 
ated by steam power (Fig. 158). There suction pipes lift 
it from the wagon, and suitable devices carry it through 


COTTON HARVESTING 367 


a cleaner, and thence through the gin, which breaks the 
lint from the seeds by means of circular saws which re- 
volve at a speed of about 400 to 500 revolutions per min- 


Fic. 158.—SEcTION THROUGH A GINNERY. 


Showing four gins, press, suction pipe, and shafting. 


ute (Fig. 159). A brush removes the lint from the saws 
and passes it to a condenser, which presses it into layers. 

Cotton ginned when damp affords a poor sample be- 
cause the gin cuts a considerable proportion of the fibers. 

It is generally believed that a better grade or sample 
is afforded by storing the seed cotton for a few weeks than 
by ginning it soon after picking. 

342. Baling. — The fleecy staple is then carried to the 
press and compacted into rectangular (so-called “ square my 
bales, which usually weigh about 500 pounds each, or 
about 14 pounds for each cubic foot. 


3868 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


COTTON RIBZ 


HULLER RIB 


SPIKED ROLLER , 


MOTE BOARD 


Fic. 159.— TRANSVERSE SECTION THROUGH A CoTTON GIN. 


COTTON HARVESTING 869 


The bales are covered with heavy coarse cloth or “ bag- 


ging.”’ One of the greatest wastes connected with the 


growing and marketing of cotton in the United States is 
the failure to use a sufficient amount of bagging and of a 
quality suitable to prevent the staining of the outer layers 
of the staple with mud and dust. 


The amount of tare (or weight of bagging and ties) which the 
trade is supposed to allow is 30 pounds on a 500-pound bale; 
but only on a few bales do the bag- 
ging and ties weigh this much, and 
these are penalized or ‘‘ docked”’ ; the 
interest and influence of local buyers 
is in favor of a light or deficient 
covering. A general improvement in 
the amount and quality of covering 
of the bales of American cotton, 
which are now more poorly protected 
‘than those from any other part of the 
world, would, in time, redound to Fic. 160.— Foreign anp 
the profit of both the farmer and the A™=8!can Corron Baus. 
spinner (Fig. 160). _ Showing on the right the 

The round bale, on the otherhand, @™fenor covering and torn 
7 ; condition of an American 
is usually covered very completely pale, in contrast with the 
with cotton cloth, which affords better covering of the foreign 
satisfactory protection. Moreover, bale on the left. 
the round bale is dense and requires 
no further compression. But for various reasons the round bale 
has not been able to come into general use in the face of opposi- 
tion in the interest of compress men and manufacturers of square- 
bale presses. The round bale usually weighs about 250 pounds, 
or half as much as the square ‘bale. 


343. The cotton gin. — There are two main types of 
gins, roller and saw gins. The former are used in ginning 
Sea Island cotton, the naked seeds of which are easily 

2B 


370 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


separated by rollers from the lint. This general type of 
gin has been in use in India for centuries. 

The saw gin, employed to gin short-staple cotton, is a 
modern machine, which has been second to no other agri- 
cultural invention in its effects on the world’s wealth, 
commerce, and comfort. The saw gin has made possible 
the South’s greatest industry, — cotton culture, — and has 
supplied with fleecy food the textile industries of all manu- 
facturing nations. It was invented by Whitney and 
Holmes about 1792. Before that time a laborer with his 
fingers separated about one pound of lint cotton per day. 


A single gin of average size accomplishes the work of about 
4000 such laborers. Within one hundred years after its inven- 
tion the saw gin made possible a four-hundred-fold increase in 
the cotton crop of the United States. 

The saw gin is also used in ginning long-staple upland cotton; 
but to do this without injury to the staple, the usual speed of 
the saws should be greatly decreased. 

When long-staple upland is ginned, care should first be taken 
to remove from the gin the roll of cotton left by the preceding 
bale of short-staple; for the mixing of even a little of this with 
long-staple cotton greatly lowers the selling value of the latter. 
This is because the spinning machinery in any one mill is arranged 
for a fiber of a definite length; the admixture of fibers of widely 
different lengths results in loss to the spinner, either by fibers 
wasted or by the making of thread of undesirable quality. 


344. Care of baled cotton. —Since cotton does not 
readily absorb large amounts of moisture, farmers and 
warehousemen often leave bales of cotton exposed for 
weeks or months to the weather (Fig. 161). This results 
in darkening and weakening the fibers in the outer layers, 
and consequently in a decreased selling value. Cotton 


COTTON HARVESTING. 371 


bales should be kept continuously under shelter. If it. 
becomes necessary to leave them uncovered, they should 


Fig. 161.— Corron Bates terr UNPROTECTED FROM RAIN. 


rest on poles or timbers laid on the ground, so that no part 
of the cotton bale touches the moist soil. 

345. Compressing. — Most cotton that is to be ex- 
ported, or transported great distances, is first shipped to 
“* compresses,” where the 
size of the bale is still 
further reduced by the 
application of enormous 
pressure (Fig. 162). 

In some processes now 
coming into use, cotton, 
as soon as ginned, is 
immediately compressed 

On left, ordinary square bale; in cen- 


into bales of very great ter, bale from gin compress; and on 
density ready for export. right, ordinary compressed bale. 


372 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


One great advantage of thus compressing it at the gin is 
the more complete and careful covering of the bale with 
new, closely woven cloth (Fig. 163). On the other hand, 


Fic. 163.— Bates rrom A Gin CoMPRESS. 


the ordinary compress utilizes a part of the coarse, heavy, 
and usually cut or torn covering that was originally placed 
on the bale at the gin. 

346. Commercial classes or grades of cotton. — Cotton 
is bought and sold according to quality or grade. When 
farmers sell, unless the number of bales be very large, a 
decision as to the grade or quality is usually made by the 
buyer, the seller being ignorant, as a rule, of the exact 
quality of cotton that he.is selling. To better enable 
farmers to know what grade of cotton they sell, most 
agricultural colleges in the cotton-belt now employ ex- 


COTTON MARKETING 878 


perts to give instruction in cotton-classing to those stu- 
dents who are pursuing an agricultural course. 

In large transactions, especially between business firms 
or corporations, experts representing both parties pass 
judgment on the grade, and any difference in classification 
is arbitrated by disinterested experts. 

The classing of cotton cannot be learned without prac- 
tice under an expert, and never very quickly. The basis 
or starting point is middling cotton. Contracts are based 
on this grade, and if other grades are delivered, the differ- 
ence in grade is settled in cash. The seven principal or 
“ full ” grades of cotton, mentioned in order of value, are 
the following : — 


(1) Fair (4) Middling 
(2) Middling fair (5) Low middling 
(8) Good middling (6) Good ordinary 


(7) Ordinary 


Between each pair of the full grades mentioned above, 
are the “half grades,” designated by prefixing the word 
“strict”? to the name of the next lower grade; thus 
strict middling is a half grade better than middling. 

In the larger markets use is also made of the “ quarter 
grades,” indicated by prefixing the word “fully” or 
“barely ” before the term indicating the grade. 

The grades “ fair’ and “ middling fair” are compara- 
tively rare. The greater part of the crop.of the Southern 
States usually consists of the following grades and half 
grades arranged in order of value : — 


Strict good middling, Strict middling, 
Good middling, Middling. 


3874 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


In years when continued rains occur during the fall, 
the crop may consist largely of the following still lower 
grades : — 

Strict low middling, 
Low middling. 


The grade of cotton is determined by a number of con- 
siderations, which have somewhat different weights in 
different markets. In general, the grade depends prin- 
cipally upon (1) the abundance of trash, (2) the color of 
the fiber, and (3) the amount of “nep,” or tangled, im- 
mature fibers. In general, the grades from best to lowest 
are supposed to express in some measure a decreasing 
percentage of waste material in spinning. 

The preferred color is snow white or slightly creamy, 
that is, with the faintest suggestion of a yellowish cast. 
In this matter of color, different markets vary. All mar- 
kets, however, rate low the samples of cotton which pos- 
sess even the faintest suggestion of blue, which is a qual- 
ity usually due to long exposure of the open cotton to the 
weather, and hence an indication of weakness of fiber. 

Strange as it may seem, length of fiber does not usually 
greatly influence the grade. But this does determine 
the price; length of staple is considered as “ spinning 
quality ” or “ character,’”’ and is independent of the grade. 
Thus there is middling cotton of the ordinary short-staple 
kind, middling “ benders,” and middling long staple, the 
three selling at widely different prices. 

347. Tinges and stains. — If lint cotton shows patches 
of faint color, it is designated as “ tinged”; if the color 
is decided and distinct, it is classed as “stained.” Both 


COTTON MARKETING 375 


tinges and. stains are usually due to contact with red or 
other strongly colored soil or to injured bolls. The price 
of stains is somewhat below that of tinges, and consider- 
ably below the price of unstained or white cotton of other- 
wise the same grade. This emphasizes the folly of allow- 
ing pickers to mix with white cotton the stained locks 
that are usually found lying on the ground. 

348. Differences in value between the commercial 
grades. — There is no fixed difference in the value of any 
two grades. The demand determines this difference, 
which varies from year to year. Usually the following 
general statements hold true : — 

(1) The difference in price between any two paincont 
grades of good cotton is less than between any two of the 
lower adjacent grades. 

(2) When the greater part of any year’s crop consists 
of the lower grades, the difference in price in favor of the 
upper grades is greater than usual, because of the strong 
competition, under these conditions, for the small amount 
of cotton of the upper grades. 

(3) As the average price of cotton rises, the difference 
in price between grades increases, because the lower 
grades entail a larger percentage of waste in spinning than 
do the better grades; this waste can ill be afforded when 
even low-grade cotton sells at a comparatively high 
price. 


The following categories give examples of approximate differ- 
ences in price that frequently prevail among the usual grades 
and half grades. The (+) sign indicates a price in cents per pound 
above that of middling, while the (—) sign indicates that the 
price is below the middling quotations : — 


376 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Good middling . ...... . . . + % cent 
Strict middling . . . . ... . . . +25 cent 
Middling «§ «© «© «© # « * © *% w & &@ O cent 
Strict low middling . - . + « — 4 cent 


Low middling ......... . — $cent 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


As part of the practice to accompany this chapter a ginnery 
should be visited, and inspection made of the parts of some gin 
while it is not in motion. 

While it is not advisable for instruction in cotton classing to 
be given by any except experts of long experience in cotton 
buying and classing, it may be possible for samples of middling 
cotton to be procured by the school and for the pupils to become 
somewhat familiar with its characteristics. 

College classes will doubtless be instructed by an expert, who 
will need a complete set of specimens, or types, which can usually 
be purchased from the U. 8. Department of Agriculture. 


LITERATURE 


Hunt, T. F. Forage and Fiber Crops in America, pp. 364-378. 
New York, 1907. 

Burkett, C. W., and Por, C. H. Cotton. New York, 1906. 

Tompxins, D.A. Cotton and Cotton Oil. Charlotte, N.C., 1901. 

Rosrnson, T. A. Classing Cotton. Stillwater, Okla., 1909. 

Miter, T. S. The American Cotton System. Flat, Texas. 

Hammonp, Harry. U.S. Dept. Agr., Office of Expr. Sta., Bul. 
No. 33, pp. 264-268 and 351-384. 

Earte, D. E. Cotton Grading. Clemson (S.C.) Agr. Col. 
Exten. Work, Vol. IV., Bul. No. 2. 


CHAPTER XXII 
COTTON — HISTORY AND STATISTICS 


Corron appears to be a native of the tropical parts of 
both hemispheres. The cotton plant was grown in India 
many centuries before the beginning of the Christian era. 
Until about a century ago, India continued to produce 
most of the world’s supply of cotton; it now ranks as 
second only to the United States in the amount of cotton 
produced. Gradually the cultivation of cotton spread 
from India until at least small areas were grown in Egypt 
and other parts of northern Africa, in Spain (where cotton 
was probably introduced by the Moors), and in Italy. 

Egypt, now the third largest producer of cotton in the 
world, probably learned cotton culture at a much later 
date than did the inhabitants of India. , 

England, which now manufactures more cotton than 
any other country, apparently did not manufacture cotton 
cloth until about the seventeenth century. 

349. History in America. — Columbus found cotton 
growing in the West Indies in 1492, as did Cortez in Mexico 
in 1519. Indeed, at that time cotton constituted the 
principal clothing of the natives of Mexico. A few years 
later explorers found cotton growing in Peru and Brazil. 
It is interesting to note that the American Indians in- 
habiting what now constitutes the cotton-growing states 


of the Union appear to have been without cotton. But 
377 


3878 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


their contemporaries of nearly all nationalities to the 
southward grew and used this plant in countries where in 
modern times its culture has made relatively little progress. 

Cotton manufacturing was greatly stimulated by the 
inventions of Arkwright, Crompton, Cartwright, and Watt 


1 ff date 


——— == 


Fic. 164.— Toe Propetuinc MECHANISM OF AN OLD Horse-POWER GIN. 


Showing large wheels with wooden cogs. (By permission of D. A. 
Tompkins.) 


in the eighteenth century. To supply the demand for 
raw cotton thus stimulated, cotton culture was extended 
in India, along the shores of the Mediterranean, and in 


COTTON STATISTICS 379 


Brazil. At that time the southern part of the United 
States was producing only a few bales for export and not 
enough to supply its own people with cotton clothing. 

In 1764 the American colonies shipped eight “ bags ” 
of cotton to Liverpool, and this probably represented the 
entire export of that year from the American colonies. 

350. The invention of the cotton gin. —In 1793, Eli 
Whitney, then living in South Carolina, applied for a pat- 
ent on asaw gin. Prior to that time, hand-picking was the 
tule, and only a rude form of roller gin was known. The 
immediate effect of the invention of Whitney’s saw gin was 
greatly to increase the production of American cotton. In 
the period of 116 years, from the invention of Whitney’s 
gin to 1908, the cotton crop produced in the United States 
increased so that it was nearly six hundred times as large 
at the end as at the beginning of this period. 

Before the general introduction, in the last quarter of 
the nineteenth century, of public ginneries operated by 
steam, practically all of the crop was ginned on small plan- 
tation gins, propelled by six or eight mules driven in a 
circle (Fig. 164). 

351. Value and extent of the American cotton crop. — 
The American cotton crop is usually between 11,000,000 
and 13,000,000 bales. The area of cotton picked in 1909 
was estimated at 30,938,000 acres. The lint and seed of 
a single crop are usually worth about $750,000,000. Less 
than two thirds of the lint is exported. Cotton shipped 
abroad, together with cotton-seed oil and meal, annually 
brings into the United States about $500,000,000, or more 
money than foreign nations send into this country for any 
other single crop. Moreover, the remainder of the crop 


380 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


made into cloth in the United States supports one of the 
most important American manufacturing industries, the 
cotton textile industry. 

Year by year, cotton is coming into wider use. Pro- 
duction and consumption have both rapidly increased. 
The following table shows how rapidly the cotton pro- 
duction of the United States has increased : — 


Year Bates Propucep 
AP9O! os) cal! at! Gem wh ew a 8,889 
1810 bee Te a ee “ei 4 a 92695360 
1880 . .... . =. . . . 1,038,847 
1850 Lt oe ee we mw 2 « 24b4 442 
1870 a de Be Soe se ad Get tes ee, ARS OZ SIZ, 
1890 sito Ween tae! ie We cate er car tee BOS 22D9F 
1908 Woo Ge ee ey Gh Bl a co ES AB2MST 


The production of cotton in the United States did not 
permanently rise above 1,000,000 bales until 1832, nor 
above 3,000,000 bales until 1851. The crop in round 
numbers was about 4,000,000 for each of the three years 
preceding the Civil War. During this war cotton culture 
was largely discontinued, the production dropping to 
300,000 bales in 1864. 

Not until 1875 did the annual cotton crop remain per- 
manently above 4,000,000 bales. ; 

From the last table, it may be seen that during the 
greater part of the past century the annual cotton crop of 
the United States has practically doubled every twenty 
years. In very recent years the rate of increase has been 
slower. Neither the world’s market for cotton goods 
nor the productive capacity of the Southern cotton fields 
has nearly reached its limit. 


COTTON STATISTICS 881 


352. Production of cotton seed.— For each bale of 
500 pounds there is usually produced a half ton of cotton 
seed. The value of the seed produced in 1908 has been 
estimated! at more than $92,000,000. More than half 
of the cotton seed pro- 
duced are manufactured 
into cotton-seed oil, 
meal, cake, hulls, and 
linters, — the latter be- 
ing a very short, low- 
priced fiber adhering to 
the seed after ginning. 
The remainder of the 
crop is used as food for 
cattle, as seed for plant- 
ing, and as fertilizer. 

353. Production by 


Fic. 165.— PrercentaGe or THE TOTAL 
states.— Only ten American Crop or Corron GROWN IN 


Americanstatesproduce E4c# Stars uv 1908. 

large amounts of cotton (Fig. 165). These are the following, 
named in order according to the average percentage of 
the crops of 1906, 1907, 1908 produced in each state. 


ER E: OF 

State oe ee StAre Pacem 
“Texas. . . . . 27.0 Arkansas. . . . 7.3 
Georgia . . . .143 Oklahoma .. . 6.6 
Mississippi . . .12.4 Louisiana . . . 5.7 
Alabama .. . 98 North Carolina . 4.9 
South Carolina. . 8.5 Tennessee . . . 2.5 


Since Figure 165 gives the percentages for only one year, while 
the table states the average results for three years, the latter may 


1U. 8. Bur. Census, Bul. No. 100. 


€ 


882 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


be regarded as more reliable. Students will find it interesting to 
make three-year averages of the crops of still later years in order 
to note the tendency for cotton culture to increase in certain 
states and to decrease in others. 

Other states together produce about 1 per cent of the crop. 
In most of the states named above, cotton is the most valuable 
sale crop produced. The important cotton-growing states 
embrace less than one fourth of the area of the United States. 
Yet this small part of the country furnishes the most valuable 
article of export from the farms of the nation. 

Within the past few years the extension of cotton culture in 
Oklahoma has proceeded more rapidly than in any other state, 
thus raising this state to a higher position than it occupies in the 
above table. 

Reports of cotton ginned each year. —Both the Census Bureau 
of the United States and the Bureau of Statistics of the National 
Department of Agriculture devote much attention to the gather- 
ing of statistics relative to the production of cotton. Cotton crops 
grown in 1909, 1908, and 1907, expressed in running bales and 
in equivalent 500-pound bales, are given in the following table 
(Crop Reporter, Apr., 1910). 5 


Running Bares! EquivavtEnt 500-Pounp BaLes 


STATE 
1909 1908 1907 1909 1908 1907 


United States . |10,363,240/13,432,131/ 11,325,882) 10,290,395/13,587,306/11,375,461 


‘Alabama. . .| 1,071,985] 1,360,601] 1,133,285] 1,056,097) 1,374,140) 1,132,966 
Arkansas. . . 715,670} 1,020,704) 770,214) 729,329) 1,058,089) 793,415 
Florida . . . 62,711 71,923 57,736 54,951 63,221 50,711 
Georgia . . .| 1,897,761] 2,026,999) 1,901,576] 1,849,003] 1,980,077) 1,855,789 
Louisiana. .| 268,800] 481,979) 679,782} 263,909} 486,350) 694,066 
Mississippi . .| 1,106,170) 1,668,461) 1,478,689] 1,117,287) 1,704,972) 1,504,303 
North Carolina 647,747} 701,356] 652,930] 613,799] 663,167) 619,650 
Oklahoma . . 571,370} 705,200} 870,238) 563,170) 706,815) 882,984 
South Carolina .| 1,160,167) 1,242,012} 1,186,672) 1,122,479) 1,195,235] 1,142,244 
Tennessee : 248,778) 349,525) 277,114) 255,193) 359,859] 286,301 


Texas. . . .| 2,549,417] 3,724,575| 2,267,293 2,602,356 3,913,084 2,360,478 
All other States 62,664 78,796 50,353 62,822 82,297 52,554 


1 Counting round as half bales and including linters. 


COTTON STATISTICS . 383 


“The statistics in this report for 1909 are subject to slight 
corrections. Included in the figures for 1909 are 49,448 bales, 
which ginners and delinters estimated would be turned out after 
the time of the March canvass. Round bales included are 
150,690 for 1909 ; 242,305 for 1908; and 198,549 for 1907. Sea- 
island bales included are 94,566 for 1909; 93,858 for 1908; and 
86,895 for 1907. Linter bales included are 314,597 for 1909; 
346,126, for 1908; and 268,060 for 1907. ‘The average gross 
weight of the bale for the crop, counting round as half bales and 
including linters, is 496.5 pounds for 1909, compared with 505.8 
for 1908 and 502.2 for 1907. The number of ginneries operated 
for the crop of 1909 is 26,660, compared with 27,598 for 1908.” 

354. Distribution of cotton culture in the United States. 
— The northern line of the cotton-belt of the United States 
extends from near Norfolk, Virginia, in a southwesterly 
direction to the northeastern part of Georgia; thence in 
a northeasterly direction through Tennessee and into 
Kentucky, crossing the Mississippi River just south of 
the mouth of the Ohio. Thence the line extends almost 
directly west through the southern part of Missouri, 
excluding the northwestern part of Arkansas. The cot- 
ton-belt includes practically all of Oklahoma and all of 
Texas except the extreme western part. Small isolated 
areas producing small amounts of cotton are found in the 
irrigated regions of New Mexico, California, and other 
parts of the Southwest. 

Within the territory mapped as constituting the cotton- 
belt, a large proportion of the counties produce only a few 
thousand bales. These areas in which cotton is a relatively 
unimportant crop are, (1) the country along the northern 
edgé of the cotton-belt, especially in mountainous sections ; 
(2) parts of the country on the Gulf coast where rice, 
sugar-cane, truck crops, and forest products supplant 


384 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


cotton; and (3) the extreme western part of the cotton- 
belt, where the slight rainfall prevents the extensive culti- 
vation of this crop. 

355. The principal foreign cotton-producing countries. 
— The United States produces about two thirds of the 
supply of cotton used in the world’s mills. Next to the 
United States, 
with its twelve 
to thirteen mil- 
lion bales per 
year, comes In- 
dia with an an- 
nual crop of 
about 3,000,000 
bales, and Egypt 
with about 
1,300,000 bales. 

356. Countries 
producing small 
quantities of cot- 
ton.— Next, with 


Fia. 166. — PercenTacr or Wortp’s Mitz Suppty much smaller 
or Corron conTrizuTeD By Eacu Counrry 1n quantities, come 


1908. : z 
Russia and its 
Asiatic provinces, China, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Turkey, 
and Persia (Fig. 166). 

If account were taken of the unknown quantities of 
cotton that, never reach the mills, but that are converted 
into cloth in the homes of the people of China, the Celestial 
Empire would probably rank above Egypt as a cotton- 
producing country. 


UNITED STATES 66.4 


COTTON HISTORY 885 


357. Competition in cotton culture. — It is often said 
that the United States has a practical monopoly of cotton 
culture. This is largely true, but changing conditions in 
all parts of the world make it possible for the foreign 
grower of cotton to become a more formidable competitor 
of the American cotton producer than has been the case 
in the past. 

The following facts suggest the possibility of constantly 
increasing competition from abroad : — 

(1) Great efforts have been made during the past few 
years, especially by the British and German governments 
in their African possessions, to build up centers of cotton 
production. These attempts, unlike those made during the 
Civil War, were made in countries believed to have climatic 
conditions well suited to the growth of the cotton plant. 
In some of these countries, notably in German East Africa, 
British East Africa, and Uganda, these efforts are resulting 
in a rapid increase each year in the number of bales pro- 
duced, which suggests that the climatic and other con- 
ditions are favorable. 

(2) A high price for American cotton always stimulates 
foreign cotton production. The American farmer expects 
high prices for cotton in the future, partly because of the 
injury inflicted on the American crop each year by the 
boll-weevil in its eastward march. The probable high 
prices would have the effect of increasing cotton prowuce 
tion in Africa and Asia. 

(3) Improvement in the methods of cultivation in India 
can greatly increase the cotton production of that coun- 
try. Extension of the government’s irrigation system 
will have the same effect. Improvement in the quality 

2c 


386 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


of Indian fiber is possible. Moreover, even a cotton with 
very short staple, as that of India, is indirectly in competi- 
tion with ordinary American cotton; for, being cheaper, it 
is used for many purposes where a staple of greater length 
could be employed. In 1910 (as a result of a short Ameri- 
can crop, with consequent high prices) a small amount of 
Indian cotton was imported by American mills. 

(4) In Egypt the government is extending the irriga- 
tion system, thus increasing the area of cultivated land, 
and making possible even larger yields per acre by reason 
of more frequent irrigation. However, Egyptian cotton 
is not directly in competition with American short staple. 

On the other hand, among the facts which suggest the 
freedom of the American producer from serious rivalry by 
the foreign cotton grower are the following : — 

(1) Stimulated by the high prices of cotton prevailing 
during and just after the Civil War, great efforts were 
made in numerous foreign countries to stimulate the pro- 
duction of cotton. As a rule these attempts were unsuc- 
cessful. 

(2) The southern part of the United States is believed 
to be the only very large area of country having climatic 
conditions throughout its entire extent exactly suited to 
the cotton plant. 

(3) India, the second in rank among cotton SpuntEe 
produces chiefly a staple shorter than the American, and 
hence not generally used by the same mills. 

(4) The cultivated part of Egypt is a country of limited 
area; moreover, the staple produced is longer than the 
staple of the bulk of the American crop, and hence is used 
in different mills and for different purposes. 


COTTON HISTORY 387 


358. Program for the American cotton grower. — The 
best steps for the American cotton grower to take in order 
to meet any foreign competition that the future may 
bring forth consist (1) in producing cotton by more inten- 
sive methods, which lowers the cost of producing each 
pound of lint, (2) in more largely employing machinery 
in the cultivation and harvesting of this crop, and (3) in 
improving the usual wasteful and slovenly method of 
covering and handling American bales. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


From the latest United States Census Reports on Agriculture, 
students should calculate : — 

(a) The proportion of the total crop produced by their state; 

(b) The proportion of the crop of their state produced by their 
county ; 

(c) A list of the ten counties in their state producing the great- 
est number of bales ; 

(d) The average yield per acre of lint cotton in the United 
States. 

(e) The average yield per acre of lint cotton in five selected 
counties in their state. 


LITERATURE 


Burxert, C. W., and Por, C. H. Cotton, pp. 13-74, 301-329. 
New York, 1906. 

U. S. Census Bur. Latest Publications on Agriculture. 

U.S. Census Bur. Buls. Nos. 100, 107 and later. 

U.S. Dept. Agr., Office Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 33, pp. 13-66, 266— 
270. 

U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. of Statistics, Bul. No. 16 and later. 


CHAPTER XXIII 
COTTON —INSECT ENEMIES 


THE most destructive insects attacking the flowers or 
bolls are the boll-worm and the Mexican cotton boll- 
weevil. 

Among the insects most injurious to the foliage are the 
cotton caterpillar. The cotton red-spider also injures 
the leaves, and on the young seedlings a plant-louse is 
sometimes troublesome. 

The roots are invaded by a very small animal called 
the nematode worm. The stems of the young plants are 
attacked by cutworms and the buds by cowpea-pod weevils. 


Tue Cotton BoLi-worm. — HELIOTHIS OBSOLETA 


_ 359. Life history of boll-worm.— The boll-worm is 
one of the most widely distributed enemies of cotton. 
The only parts of the cotton plant injured are the squares 
or bolls, which are eaten into and the interior destroyed 
by the caterpillar stage of a moth. Other plants that 
are much injured by the same worm are corn and to- 
matoes. (See corn ear-worm, paragraph 192.) 

The parent is a moth (Fig. 167) which may lay more 
than one thousand eggs. These are laid by preference on 
the fresh silks of corn, so that the young worm, as soon as 


hatched, may enter the tip of the ear, where it is commonly 
388 


COTTON INSECTS — 889 


known as the ear-worm. Eggs are laid on all parts of the 
cotton plant, but especially on the leaves. On hatching, 
the young worms, which are too small to be easily seen, 


wander about for a 
few hours or days, eat- 
ing small amounts of 
the surface tissue of 
the cotton leaves and 
of the tender growing 
buds. This is the 
period in the life of 
the insect on cotton 
when it can be most 
easily poisoned and 
controlled. 

On becoming strong 
enough to cut into a 
boll, the worm destroys 
the contents of one or 
more bolls (Fig. 168). 
Qn reaching full size, 
it drops to the ground, 
burrowing usually toa 
depth of two or three 
inches below the sur- 
face. Here it remains 
during the pupal stage 
(Fig. 169), while chang- 
ing to a moth. 


Fic. 167.— Motus or Cotron Boti-worm 
AND Corn Ear-worm. 


Showing the variations in color between 
different individuals. 


In most parts of the cotton region there are five genera- 
tions annually produced by the boll-worm, the first three 


3890 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fic. 168.— Tue Corton BoLL-worm ON THE 
OursipE oF a Corron Bott. 


The mass of insect castings near the top of 
the picture suggests the injury already done to 


the interior of the boll. 


of which usually 
feed upon corn. 
The first and second 
generations feed on 
the young leaves in 
the bud or growing 
part of the corn 
plant; the third 
generation preys 
chiefly upon the 
ears of corn in the 
green or roasting- 
ear condition, when 
the insect is known 
as the corn ear- 
worm or roasting 
ear-worm. This in- 
sect prefers corn to 
cotton. Hence it 
remains on corn as 
long as the ears are 
green. After the 
greater part of the 
corn hardens, usu- 
ally in July, and 
after the third and 
more numerous 
generation of worms 


appears, severe injury is done to the squares and bolls 


of cotton. 


360. Preventive measures.—In spite of the great 


COTTON INSECTS 391 


‘injury done to cotton, prevention or poisoning is seldom 
attempted.. Experiments have shown that dusting the 
plants with a light application of Paris green or other 
preparation of arsenic destroys many of the tiny worms 
on the day. on which they are hatched and before they are 
large enough to enter the 
boll. For poisoning to be 
most effective, it should begin 
about the time that adjacent 
corn ears begin to harden, and 
it may need to be repeated 
several times. The poison 
adheres better if applied while 
the dew is on the plants. 
The most generally practi- 
cable method of reducing the Fic. 169. — Pupat or Curysauis 
injury to cotton consists in ried se pied ehladat 
using corn as a trap crop. 
Strips of corn should be planted about the first of June, 
or at such times as to bring the corn into the roasting-ear 
condition about the first of August. Then the moths 
deposit their eggs on the corn rather than on the cotton 
plants. The trap crop of corn is still more effective if two 
plantings are made at intervals of a few weeks, so as to 
furnish a continual supply of roasting ears during the 
time when moths are most numerous. These strips of 
corn may be planted on oat patches adjacent to the cotton 
fields, or better, 2 to 4 rows of corn may be planted in 
alternation with 20 to 40 rows of cotton. In order for 
the corn to serve as a trap crop, it must be planted late, 
and not at the time when the cotton is planted. 


392 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Such corn may be cut and fed to live-stock when in the 
late roasting-ear condition ; or it may be left in the field as 
usual. In this 
latter case corn 
is still help- 
ful in reduc-’ 
ing the num- 
ber of boll- 
worms, since 
it attracts a 
number of 
worms to each 
ear. Here they 
devour each 
other, leaving 
only one or two ~ 
alive, instead 
of many. 

Plowing in 
late fall or 
early winter 
destroys the burrows (Fig. 170) in which the insect passes 
the winter, and turns the pup up to be killed by unfavor- 
able weather. 


Fic. 170.—Pupa or Bouu-worm In 11s UNDER- 
GROUND Burrow. 


Tue Mexican Corton BoLL-wEEVIL. — ANTHONOMUS 
GRANDIS 


361. Extent of injury. — The boll-weevil is the most 
destructive insect enemy that has ever attacked cotton 
in the United States. When it first invades a new region 
it sometimes reduces the total production of cotton by 


‘COTTON INSECTS 893 


about 50 per cent. Such an enormous reduction as this 
is not due solely to the smaller amount of cotton produced 
per acre, but is partly due to reduction in acreage. For- 
tunately in most of the country west of the Mississippi 
River, where the boll-weevil has been present for a longer 
time than anywhere else in this country, farmers, within 
a few years after the arrival of this pest, have learned 
to change their methods so as to regain a part or all of this 
loss. However, even before the a 
._ boll-weevil had extended beyond 
Texas and Louisiana, the injury to 
the cotton crop was estimated at 
more than $22,000,000 in one year. 
362. Food of the weevil. — The 
injury done by this insect is practi- 
cally confined to the squares and 
bolls. The squares are decidedly 
preferred, and as long as these are 
present in abundance but little Raia dls ene aes 
damage is done to the larger bolls. at the outer end of the 
This preference for the squares, Pan alias 
rather than for the older forms, 
makes it possible for farmers to grow cotton in spite of 
the boll-weevil. This is done by hastening the early growth 
of the plants so that many bolls will form and pass the danger 
point before the weevils become very numerous. After the 
weevils become very abundant in August, they sometimes 
destroy every square in a field, so that no late blooms 
appear. 
_ The injury is effected both by the mature weevil (Fig. 
171), feeding from the outside of the square or boll, and by 


Fic. 171.—Tse Mature 
BouL-wEEVIL. 


394 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


the grub or larval stage within (Fig. 172). The mature in- 
sect can live for a short time on the tender leaves or grow- 


B 
WALA 
BEY 


Fic. 172.— Corton SQUARE SHOWING BoLL-wEEviL Larva IN PosItTIoNn. 
Natural size. 


ing buds of the cotton plant, a fact which is important to 
remember in considering means of combating this pest. 

The cotton boll-weevil does not eat any plant that is 
widely grown except cotton. This fact is utilized by de- 
priving the insect, late in autumn, of green cotton plants, 
its only food. 


COTTON INSECTS 395 


363. Stages in the life of the boll-weevil. — In the life 
of the cotton boll-weevil, as in that of most other insects, 
there are four stages. These are, (1) the egg; (2) the lar- 
val, or grub stage, which is the growing period; (3) the 


Fic. 173.— Puncturep Corton Square. 


Showing egg puncture of boll-weevil and “‘ flaring”’ of bracts. 


pupal, or changing stage, in which this insect is compara- 
tively inactive and in which no food is taken; and (4) the 
adult or mature stage, which, with the boll-weevil, is the 
period of activity and of egg-laying. 

364. How the injury is done. — Injury to the forms, 


3896 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


or young fruits, of the-cotton plant are due both to punc- 
tures made by the mature weevils for the purpose of ob- 
taining a food supply for themselves, and to the young 
grubs, which develop within the square or boll where the 
egg has been laid by the mature weevil. 

A few days after an egg has been laid in a square, the 
color of the latter becomes paler, and the surrounding leafy 
parts flare, or spread outward (Fig. 173). The square may 
remain hanging on the plant or it may drop to the ground, 
carrying the larva or grub within. It was found in experi- 
ments in Texas that among the immature insects in the 
fallen squares, about one third developed into adult weevils. 
The remainder were killed by their insect enemies or by 
the rapid drying of the squares where they lay in strong 
sunlight on the hot soil. 

The dead squares that continue to hang to the plants 
bring forth a larger proportion of mature weevils than 
do the fallen squares, probably because in the hanging 
squares larve are less exposed to the attacks of their 
principal insect enemies, the ants. Hence some farmers 
attempt to brush off as many of these infested squares as 
possible, by attaching a brush, or a stick wrapped with 
cloth, to the cultivating implement. Some authorities 
regard this as impracticable. 

The larve developing within the bolls may result in 
the destruction of only one lock or of the entire boll. 

Feeding punctures may cause the square to die or the 
boll to rot. 

365. Rapid multiplication. — One of the reasons why 
the cotton boll-weevil is destructive is because it multi- 
plies very rapidly. The time from the laying of the eggs 


COTTON INSECTS 897 


to the appearance of the mature weevil is less than 25 
days. Hinds and Hunter have estimated that the average 
time between the egg-laying period of any two genera- 
tions is about 43 days, and that a single pair of weevils 
coming from their winter quarters in the latter part of 
spring in Southern Texas, may there, before the occur- 
rence of frost, have 250,000 living descendants. In south- 
ern Texas there may be as many as five generations; but 
in the part of the cotton-belt farther north it is probable 
that the usual number of generations averages four per 
year. 

366. Where the winter is spent.— The boll-weevil 
passes through the winter in the mature or weevil stage. 
Therefore the most effective means of fighting the boll- 
weevil aim at reducing as low as possible the number of 
adult weevils that live through the winter. Fortunately, 
of the weevils that go into winter quarters the greater 
portion die before spring. In Texas and Louisiana the 
percentage of weevils living through the winter has varied 
from less than 1 per cent to more than 50 per cent of those 

-that entered winter quarters. The proportion of those 
that survive can be largely reduced by the destruction of 
the trash under which they usually take shelter through- 
out the winter. 

The hiding places preferred are: (1) in the empty cotton 
burs and in other litter in the cotton field; (2) in the fallen 
leaves and in the bark and moss of the woods; (3) in corn 
stalks, grass, blackberry patches, and other litter or vege- 
tation adjacent to the cotton fields; and (4) around and 
in buildings and haystacks. 

All of this suggests the need of plowing under deeply, 


398 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


or otherwise destroying, as much as practicable of the litter 
and vegetation adjacent to cotton fields and the advisa- 
bility of keeping the fields in a clean and neat condition. 

367. Principal preventive measures. — The boll-weevil 
in its different stages spends most of its life within the cot- 
ton forms, and when outside it takes so little food from the 
surface of boll or square or leaf, that the use of poisons 
(except in one special case, as indicated below) is useless. 
The warfare against this pest must be an indirect one, 
and its aim should be to prevent many insects from living 
through the winter. 

When cold weather approaches, or on the occurrence of 
a killing frost, boll-weevils enter their winter quarters 
under all sorts of trash. Experiments have shown that 
if the weevils can be deprived of their food for a period 
of several weeks before cold weather occurs, they will be 
so weakened that most of them die before spring. Hence 
the best method of reducing the injury in the next crop 
of cotton consists in plowing, piling, and burning in Oc- 
tober, or as soon as possible, the old cotton stalks and all 
litter adjacent to the cotton fields. Even later burning is 
beneficial, ‘though to a less extent. Burning the stalks 
and burs destroys the immature insects inside the bolls and 
squares, destroys many of the adult insects, and deprives , 
the remainder of food and shelter. 

Preparatory to being burned, the cotton stalks are usu- 
ally uprooted with a double moldboard plow. A special 
device for cutting the stalks below the ground is shown in 
Figs. 174 and 175. 

A less effective treatment consists in turning a large 
number of cattle into the cotton fields before frost, so that 


, 


COTTON INSECTS 399 


% 


they may quickly consume all leaves and young forms; 
this should be followed by the thorough plowing under 
of the stalks, so as to prevent young sprouts from putting 


Fic. 174.— Cotton STaLuK CUTTER. 


H, Steel blade, bolted to under side of 4 x 4 side piece, and projecting 
14 inches. (Fully described in Circ. 30, La. Crop Pest Commission, 
Baton Rouge, La.) 


out, for the weevils are able to subsist on these young 
sprouts. The early destruction of cotton stalks in the fall 
is advisable, even though one’s neighbors should not prac- 


= 97 AL — | 
u—~ Aes 


Fic. 175.—Sipr View or Corton StaLK CUTTER. 
H, Steel blade. 


tice it. However, the more general this custom in regions 
where the boll-weevil is present, the better for every 
farmer. 

368. Forcing the crop to early maturity. — Not only 
should the cotton grower reduce the number of weevils 


400 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


surviving the winter as directed above, but he should also 
force the growth of the cotton plant as rapidly as practicable. 
The purpose in doing this is to enable the cotton plants to 
set a large number of bolls before many generations of weevils 
have had time to come forth. Bolls of rather large size 
are not seriously attacked so long as there is an abundance 
of squares for the weevils then present. Hence the earlier 
bolls escape injury, and there should be enough of these 
to make a satisfactory yield. 

The methods of forcing the cotton plant rapidly for- 
ward are the following : — 

(1) The use of varieties which set a large proportion of 
the bolls early ; 

(2) The liberal use of fertilizers rich in phosphoric acid, 
or the growing of cotton on rather rich, well-drained land. 

(3) Thorough preparation of the land and frequent cul- 
tivation of the crop; and 

(4) Early planting. 

369. Minor methods of combating the boll-weevil. — 
One of these consists in poisoning such mature weevils 
as are present on the growing points or tender buds of the 
cotton plants just before the appearance of any squares. 
Some of the weevils that survive the winter spend a short 
time in eating these tender parts of the cotton plant. 
The poison found most effective is powdered arsenate of 
lead. This should be applied at the rate of 2 to 24 
pounds per acre and by means of a “ powder gun,” which 
forces the powder into the growing tips, where the 
weevils are feeding before the appearance of squares. 
This poisoning can be done advantageously but once, and 
only in the few days just before the first squares appear 


COTTON INSECTS 401 


(Fig. 176). While it kills most of the weevils then present, 
other weevils continue to come from theit winter quarters 
for several weeks 
after the forma- 
tion of squares 
begins. The use 
of any kind of 
poison after 
squares appear 
is ineffective. 
Where the boll- 
weevil is present, “ 
the space  be- 
tween cotton 
rows should be 
increased so that 
the sunshinemay 
more rapidly dry 
and destroy the 
fallen squares 


with the larve Fic. 178. Cormrox PLANT IN THE ‘‘ BUDDING”’ 
contained in SracE. 

them. A culti- Only at this stage can poison be used against the 
vator which col- hall-wseak 

lects the squares in the ‘‘middle’’ where there is most 
sunlight, is shown in Fig. 177. 

For at least a few weeks after the appearance of the 
weevils, and while there are but few in the fields, it is ad- 
vantageous, where practicable, to pick the infested squares 
from the ground and from the plant. These should be 
burned, or else treated as shown in paragraph 371. 

2D 


402 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


370. Spread of the boll-weevil. — Ordinarily the adult 
weevil flies but a few rods at a time. However, when food 
becomes scarce in the fall, distances of as much as fifty 
miles are traversed in a few days. This fall migration, ap- 
parently in search of food, explains the rapid spread of 
the boll-weevil. The weevil usually advances about fifty 
miles a year. However, in 1909 its‘eastward spread across 


Fic. 177.— Tue Hinps Cuan CuLtivator FOR TILLAGE AND FOR 
DRAWING THE FALLEN SQUARES TO THE WATER-FURROW. 


the southern part of Mississippi was more than twice this 
distance, bringing the weevil at the end of 1909 to within 
about ten miles of the Alabama line in the vicinity of Mo- 
bile. In the fall of 1910 this insect invaded several coun- 
ties in the southeastern part of Alabama. Probably its 
extension northward will be somewhat less rapid than its 
eastward spread. . 

Crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico about 1892 it 
has persistently spread eastward and northward. The 
map (Fig. 178) shows that by the close of 1909 the boll- 
weevil occupied the greater part of the cotton-growing 


403 


COTTON INSECTS 


‘OI6L ‘I8oo9nY OL Z68I WOU AVAA HOV TWAGIM-TIOG GHL AM GALSAANI SVANY THI ONIMOBS av — ‘821 “Ory 


n moa 
as omgsny NOL109 sts yy s soe = 
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ON3z93> Lid 


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ip. 


404 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


areas of Texas and Louisiana, the southern portion of 
Mississippi, and the southern parts of Oklahoma and 
Arkansas. It may be expected to spread over the entire 
cotton-growing area of the United States within the next 
15 to 20 years. 

371. Insect enemies of the boll-weevil. — The weevil 
has fewer insect enemies than most crop pests. This is 
probably because the mature weevil is protected with a 
hard coat, and because in its stages of larva and pupa, 
when not thus protected, it is inclosed within the square 
or boll. However, there are some minute insects that 
lay their eggs in the body of the immature boll-weevil 
while the latter is still in the square. On hatching, these 
smaller insects cause the death of the pest. These minute 
parasites have not destroyed a large proportion of the boll- 
weevils in Texas, and it remains to be seen whether this 
class of insects will be more useful in the moister climate 
of the Mississippi Valley and eastward. 

In order to utilize these most fully, the squares that may 
be picked during the few weeks after the weevils make 
their appearance, instead of being burned, should be placed 
loosely in boxes, one side of which is made of screen wire. 
This should be fine enough (14 meshes to the inch) to pre- 
vent the escape of the weevils that may hatch; however, 
it will permit the escape of their minute insect enemies. 
If these cages are placed at intervals in the cotton field, 
it is claimed that these parasites will be turned loose in 
such quantities as to reduce appreciably the damage done 
by the boll-weevil. 

The cotton leaf-worm or caterpillar has been until recently 
a serious enemy of cotton. (See paragraph 376.) How- 


COTTON INSECTS 405 


ever, when the boll-weevil is present, the caterpillar should 
not be poisoned, but treated as an enemy of the boll- 
weevil, and hence as a friend of the farmer. This is be- 
cause the cotton caterpillar, by consuming all the foliage 
of the cotton plant, prevents the formation of squares and 
thus deprives the weevil. of its food in the fall at a time 
when starvation is most fatal to the insect. 

372. General suggestions on farming after the arrival 
of the boll-weevil. — Unless there are special hindrances 
to the early maturity of the cotton crop, cotton should 
continue to be grown at a profit after the arrival of the 
boll-weevil. But this will be possible only for those farmers 
who practice intensive cotton culture, that is, such methods 
as in the absence of the weevil will produce nearly a bale 
per acre. The larger the yield, the greater, as a rule, is 
the proportion of the crop that matures early, and hence 
that may be expected to escape injury by this pest. It 
will be necessary to grow at least as many bales as at 
present but on a much smaller number of acres. 

The presence of the boll-weevil causes farmers to pro- 
duce their supply of food and forage and to grow for sale 
a greater variety of farm products and live-stock than 
before the coming of the weevil. This gives an opportunity 
for rotation of crops, which enriches the soil and thereby 
makes easier the production of larger yields per acre of 
cotton. Rotation is also a means of reducing the amount 
of injury inflicted on the cotton plant by the boll-weevil. 

The wide distribution of this insect may be expected 
to raise the price of cotton. This higher price, together 
with the more intensive methods of fertilization and cul- 
tivation, and the diversification of crops, should compen- 


406 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


sate for the greater cost of growing cotton in the presence 
of the boll-weevil. This insect brings about a revolution in 
agricultural methods. While the first effects are disastrous, 
the country in time recovers its usual range of prosperity. 

373. Loss from burning cotton stalks. — As a means 
of depriving the boll-weevil of its food, the burning of the 
cotton stalks in the fall is generally recommended. This 
decidedly reduces the damage done by the weevil to the 
next crop on the same land. Since Southern soils are almost 
universally in need of vegetable matter, the necessity for 
burning cotton stalks is to be regretted. Should thorough 
deep plowing under of stalks prove effective, it would be 
far preferable. The loss of vegetable matter and of plant 
food by burning are considerable. 

374. Pounds of vegetable matter, nitrogen, phosphoric 
‘acid, and potash in the stems, roots, and burs on an acre 
yielding 300 pounds of seed cotton: — 


Peete Nrrrocen| PHOSPHORIC! Poraga 
ATTER Ls. te La. 
Ls. 
Analyses at Ala. Expr. Sta. 1097 7.5 3.4 17.5 
Analyses at 8.C. Expr. Sta. 11.3 2.7 22.7 
Average... .. 9.4 3.1 20.1 


~ At the usual prices of commercial fertilizers this rep- 
resents a loss per acre by burning stalks of about $1.50 for 
nitrogen, or a total of about $2.75 for all three constituents. 
The humus and the nitrogen are completely lost, and the 
potash and phosphoric acid are practically lost, since they 
are concentrated in the spots where the stalks are burned. 


COTTON INSECTS 407 


Cotton stalks should not be burned except where this 
course is recommended as a necessity in fighting the cotton 
boll-weevil. Then extra pains must be taken to compen- 
sate for the loss by introducing into the rotation at short 
intervals some humus-forming crop. 


Insects oF Minor Importance 


375. The cowpea-pod weevil (Chalcodermis aneus). — 
This is a small black beetle or weevil, with a long snout 
and marked with numerous tiny pits, or depressiors (Fig. 
179). It injures the 
young plants, espe- 
cially the growing ter- 
minal buds and the 7 
young stems. As the 
plant grows larger 
this insect ceases to 
attack cotton. 

This is the insect 
most frequently mis- 
taken for the boll- 
weevil. Conspicuous 
differences exist in the shiny, black. color and pitted 
appearance of the cowpea-pod weevil, in contrast with 
the brownish or grayish appearance of the boll-weevil, 
which is not conspicuously pitted. 

Injury to cotton by the cowpea-pod weevil usually 
starts in areas where the previous crop was cowpeas. 
Hence, in some localities where this pest is a serious one, 
it may be desirable to change the rotation that is generally 


Fic. 179. — Cowrega-pop WEEVIL. 


408 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


advisable on cotton farms, so as to grow no cowpeas just 
before cotton, substituting some other legume, as velvet 
beans, or soybeans, or crimson clover. 

Liberal fertilization and the use of a little nitrate of 
soda in the drill at the time of planting hasten the growth 
of the young plant and thus shorten the time during which 
it is subject to the attacks of the cowpea-pod weevil and 
of cutworms. When this insect is present before cotton is 
chopped, a thick stand should be left, to be thinned to a 
final stand after the attacks of this insect have ceased. 

376. The cotton caterpillar (Alabama argillacea). — For- 
merly this was the most destructive enemy of the cotton 
plant. In recent decades the injury has been infrequent 
and never widespread. The damage is done by the larval 
or caterpillar stage of a grayish moth. Eggs are laid on 
the underside of the leaves, where the larve hatch and 
devour the foliage. On reaching the proper degree of 
maturity the larve fold the leaf together and surround 
themselves with a web in which the pupa or chrysalis 
form of the insect is passed. From the pupa emerges soon 
the adult moth prepared to lay eggs for a new generation 
of larve. The insect passes the winter as a moth. 

Complete protection is afforded by dusting or spraying 
the plants with Paris green or other preparation of arsenic. 
The most usual method of applying the poison consists 
in tying a small sack of Paris green alone or mixed with 
flour, on each end of a stout stick as long as the rows are 
wide. A man on horseback riding between the rows 
shakes out a cloud of dust above the row on either side, 
thus poisoning about 20 acres in a day. 

Where the cotton caterpillar and the cotton boll-weevil 


COTTON INSECTS 409 


are both present, the former may aid the farmer by de- 
priving the boll-weevil of its food. 

377. The cotton red-spider or rust mite (Tetranychus 
glovert). — The reddening of the leaves of cotton, often 
called “red rust,” is sometimes due to the attacks of a 
minute red mite. These tiny red insects, almost micro- 
scopic in size, may be seen on the underside of the leaves, 
usually surrounded by a thin web. Their injury is most 
severe in wet weather. They are easily spread by laborers 
or teams. If they are discovered early, before many 
plants have been attacked, the injured plants and adjacent 
ones should be pulled and burned. Dusting with powdered 
sulfur blown on the underside of the leaves has been recom- 
mended. However, treatment is seldom attempted. As 
soon as possible after being picked, the cotton plants on 
an infested field should be deeply plowed under. 

878. Cotton lice or aphids. — These are the progeny 
of small, soft-bodied insects that suck the juices from the _ 
growing tips and leaves of the very young cotton plant. 
They are most troublesome in periods of cool weather. 
Treatment is not attempted ; yet any insecticide that kills 
by contact would be destructive to the insects, though 
scarcely practicable. 

379. Cutworms (Noctuide).— The cutworms are the 
-larve or caterpillar stage of certain night-flying moths. 
These caterpillars cut down the very young cotton plants. 
They are most troublesome on land which has grown 
sod or weeds the previous year. By plowing such land 
early in the fall and planting it late in spring, the damage 
from cutworms is reduced. While treatment is not gen- 
erally regarded as necessary, the worms can be destroyed 


410 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


by the distribution, a little while before planting, of a mix- 
ture of Paris green with either moistened wheat bran or 
corn-meal, or by other kinds of poisoned bait. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


Inspection of the cotton fields should be made for the pur- 
pose of observing any of the insect pests here mentioned which 
may be in evidence at the time this chapter is studied, or to note 
the injuries resulting from their work. 

In the absence of such insects a laboratory period should be 
spent in examining pictures and descriptions of these insects 
in the publications cited below. 


LirgRATURE 
Boll-worm. 


Bisuop, F. C., and Jones, C. R. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s 
Bul. No. 290. 

QuaintTance, A. L., and Bisnorp, F. C. U.S. Dept. Agr., Far- 
mer’s Bul. No. 212. 


Boll-weevil. 
Hinps, W. E. U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Entomology, Buls. 51 and 
74; Ala. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 146. 
Hunter, W. D. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. No. 344. 
NeweELL, W., and others. Numerous publications of La. Crop 
Pest Commission. Baton Rouge, La. 


Cotton insects in general. 
Howarp, H. L. U.S. Dept. Agr., Office of Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 
33, pp. 317-350. 
Suerman, F., Jr. N.C. Dept. Agr., Bul., June, 1908. 
Sanperson, E.D. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. No. 223. 


Numerous publications of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology; of the Louisiana Crop Pest 
Commission, Baton Rouge; of the Georgia State Board of En- 
tomology, Atlanta; and of most of the Experiment Stations in 
the cotton-belt. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


COTTON — FUNGOUS AND OTHER DISEASES OF 
COTTON 


380. Cotton wilt or black-root (Neocosmospora vasin- 
fecta). — This disease shows itself at any time after the 
cotton plants are about 6 inches high. It is most preva- 


Fic. 180.—Corron PLANTS ATTACKED BY WILT. 


lent and destructive while they are loaded with blooms 
and bolls. Some of the diseased plants suddenly wilt, and 
these may die in a few days (Fig. 180). Wilting is first 
shown by the young and tender leaves at the top of the 


' plant. Other diseased plants show a dwarfed, unhealthy 
411 


412 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


appearance, and may drop their leaves and die, or they may 
continue to live in an unthrifty condition. 

Cotton wilt is caused by a fungus growth, which enters 
the plant from the soil through the roots. This fungus, 
or parasitic plant, consists largely of threads, which stop 
up the water-bearing ducts in the roots and stems. The 
wilting of the leaves is due to the cutting 
off of their water supply by the plugging 
up of these ducts with the threads of the 
fungus. 

Cotton wilt may readily be detected by 
cutting through the main root or stem; 
the layer just under the bark is blackened, 
and throughout the stem the cut ends 
of the stopped-up water-carrying ducts 
appear as small dark dots (Fig. 181). 

- 381. Spread and persistence of wilt. — 
Fic. 181.—SecTION Cotton wilt occurs chiefly in the sandy 
THROUGH WILTED : 
anv Heauruy Soils of the southern half of the cotton- 
Comox STALKS. helt. This disease first appears in small 
a ms ei spots in the field. It is extremely im- 
stem attacked by portant for the farmer to recognize cotton 
val wilt when it first appears and while it 
is confined to these small spots, for these diseased areas 
enlarge rapidly every year when cotton is planted on the 
field. In time the entire field becomes infected, and the 
majority of cotton plants of the ordinary varieties die. 
Thus the field soon becomes useless for the cultivation of 
the common varieties of cotton. 

The germs of the disease live in the soil for four or more 

years, even when no cotton is grown. 


COTTON DISEASES 413 


382. Treatment of wilt by means of rotation of crops..— 
In spite of this long life of the germ of cotton wilt, the 
only effective treatment of the soil consists in starving 
the germs. This is done to a considerable extent by keep- 
ing cotton out of the field for three years; a longer banish- 
ment of cotton still more nearly gets rid of the disease. 
Meantime the field may be used for corn, oats, grasses, 
‘the Iron variety of cowpeas, and certain other plants. 

It has been found that cotton wilt is most prevalent 
on soils which contain, not only the germs of the wilt 
fungus, but also the minute worms that cause root-knot 
(see paragraph 385) on the roots of cotton and of numerous 
other plants. . It is thought that the wounding of the roots 
of cotton by these tiny nematode worms more readily per- 
mits the entrance of the germs of cotton wilt. Hence, 
in a field where both troubles occur, no plants should be 
grown on which nematode worms thrive and multiply. 

383. Use of resistant varieties. — Not every cotton 
plant in a diseased spot dies. The plants that live and 
thrive are resistant, and the seed saved from them produce 
plants, the majority of which are resistant. Thus, by 
selecting for several generations healthy plants and grow- 
ing them each year on diseased spots, a variety of wilt- 
resistant cotton may be bred up. This can probably be 
done with many varieties. However, present varieties 
differ greatly in the degree to which they resist cotton 
wilt. The varieties Dixie and Dillon have been thus 
bred up by the United States Department of Agriculture, 
until they are able to produce profitable crops in fields 
that have been ruined for most other varieties by the pres- 
ence of this disease. 


414 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


To maintain the wilt resistance in these or other varie- 
ties, it is advisable to grow them on infected land and 
to continue the selection each year from plants that are 
thrifty. 

384. Cotton root-rot (Ozonium).— This disease, like 
cotton wilt, causes the sudden wilting of the plants while 
engaged in forming fruit. However, it is confined to the 
extreme western part of the cotton-belt, while cotton wilt 
is a disease of the southeastern part. Cotton root-rot is 
especially prevalent on the stiff, lime, ‘‘ black-waxy ” soils 
of Texas. It is caused by a fungus that develops 
threads both within and upon the surface of the roots. 
The roots of diseased plants are covered by whitish threads, 
which later become darker. Sometimes wartlike bodies 
appear on the surface. 

No treatment of seed or soil is effective. However, very 
deep fall plowing and rotation of crops are helpful. In 
such a rotation the farmer must avoid the use of other 
plants attacked by this disease, among which are sweet 
potatoes and alfalfa; among the plants not subject to 
this root-rot are all the grains and grasses. 

385. Root-knot ( Heterodera radicicola) (Fig. 182).— This 
is a special kind of enlargement on the roots of many 
plants, caused by the attacks of extremely small worms, 
called nematodes. Cotton is attacked, but less severely 
than are most varieties of cowpeas. Among the plants 
not attacked are the grains and grasses and the Iron 
variety of cowpea. The best way to combat this disease 
consists in starving the worms, by excluding from the field 
for two years all plants on the roots of which nematodes 
can develop, including ordinary varieties of cowpeas, and 


COTTON DISEASES 415 


all other plants having tender succulent roots. Mean- 
‘time the land may be cropped with any of the grains, with 
any of the forage grasses, 
or with peanuts, or with 
velvet beans, or with 
the Iron variety of cow- 
peas, which are all 
practically exempt from 
attack. 

The root-knot en- 
largements may be dis- 
‘tinguished from the 
beneficial tubercles oc- 
curring on the roots of 
cowpeas and other leg- 
umes as follows : — 

When small, root- 
knot swellings are gen- 
erally longer than thick, ? 

, : Fic. 182. — Root-KNot or NEMATODE 
and the swelling is on Inguries on Corton Roots. 
all sides of the root; 
while tubercles are always formed on one side of the root. 

386. Boll-rot or anthracnose (Colletotrichum gossypit). — 
This fungus is responsible for the greater part of the rot- 
ting of the bolls of cotton. In its worst form, which occurs 
during damp weather, small discolored depressions appear 
on the bolls; these spots become grayish and in time be- 
come covered with pinkish spores, which in effect are the 
seedlike parts of the fungus (Fig. 183).. Either a single lock 
or the entire contents of the boll may be rotted. Or the 
disease may keep the boll from opening widely. 


416 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Dry weather checks the progress of the disease, and it 
may then appear only as a reddening or spotting of the sur- 
face of the boll without serious damage to the crop. 


Fic. 183. — ANTHRACNOSE ON Corron BOLLs. 


No method of spraying for the prevention of boll-rot 
has been devised. But since anthracnose develops most 
rapidly in the shade, preventive measures consist in (1) ad- 
mitting the maximum amount of sunlight by widening 


COTTON DISEASES 417 


the rows; (2) avoiding the use of nitrogenous fertilizers, 
which induce a rank growth of the plant; and (3) planting 
those varieties which have not an excess of foliage, and 
which show partial resistance to this disease. Anthracnose 
of the bolls is most troublesome on rich land or on that 
which is highly fertilized, especially with nitrogenous fer- 
tilizer. While the worst injury is done to the bolls, this 
disease also attacks the young seedlings, the stem or 
branches of the larger plants, and the leaves. 

Disinfection of the seed by dipping them in a 3 per cent 
solution of formalin has been recommended, but not 
generally practiced. This would have the effect of destroy- 
ing such germs as might have lodged on the outside of the 
seed, and hence this treatment might reduce the amount 
of injury. However, no treatment of the seed can destroy 
all of the fungus, since this organism penetrates the parts 
inside the seed-coat or hull. Apparently the use of dis- 
eased seed constitutes one of the methods by which boll-rot 
is propagated. Hence seed from diseased bolls and even 
seed from badly infected fields should be avoided. 

387. Cotton-rust or black-rust. — Cotton-rust causes the 
premature loss of the foliage. This reduces the weight 
or prevents the maturing of late bolls. It is probably 
the most widely prevalent destructive disease of cotton. 
The yield may be reduced by a severe attack of rust as 
much as 50 per cent. 

Several different kinds of fungi are found in the diseased 
foliage, but these are thought to be unable to gain entrance 
into the leaves until unfavorable conditions of weather 
or soil have weakened the plant. Cotton-rust is usually 


worse in hot weather following a period of heavy rains. 
25 


418 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


It is much more prevalent on sandy soils than on clay 
soil, and on poor than on fertile land. It usually occurs 
in July, August, and September. 

The disease comes on with variable symptoms. When 
the weather is dry, the leaves of the diseased plants usually 
show at first a mottled yellowish color. After wet weather 
there may be no yellowing but a sudden blackening, 
dying, and falling of the foliage. 

No remedies can be employed after cotton-rust appears. 
Prevention, instead of cure, is needed. Any treatment 
of the soil and any application of fertilizers that promote 
a healthy but not excessive growth of the cotton plant 
increase its resistance to rust. 

On poor soils of any kind, the addition of vegetable 
matter by proper rotation of crops is the most widely 
applicable means of warding off rust. On very poor sandy 
soils the application of potash usually enables the plant 
to resist the disease and to retain the greater part of its 
foliage until the crop is mature. For this purpose at least 
80, and better 100 pounds of kainit per acre is advisable, 
applied in connection with the other fertilizers which may 
be required on that particular soil. 

Where the unthrifty condition of cotton plants is caused 
by poor drainage, ditching is usually a means of decreasing 
the amount of rust. 

388. Minor leaf diseases. — Other diseases of the leaves, 
whieh are less destructive than cotton-rust, are angular 
leaf-spot (Fig. 184), which appears earlier than rust; leaf 
blight, in which the diseased areas show as small whitish 
spots ; and cotton mildew, appearing on the under side of the 
leaves. No remedies are in use for any of these diseases. 


¢ 


COTTON DISEASES 419 


389. Sore-shin, or damping off (Rhizoctonia). — The 
fungus causing this disease penetrates the stems of the 


BREWER 
Fic. 184.—Disrasep Luavss, Bout, anp Stems or Corron PLANT. 
Showing several forms of bacterial blight, known on the leaves as angu- 

lar leaf-spot ; on the stems as black arm; and on the bolls as bacterial 

boll-rot. 


very young cotton plants just below the surface of the soil. 
Some of the diseased plants die, while’ others. recover. 
It is worse in wet weather. Any method of hastening the 
drying of the surface soil is believed to be helpful. This 
may sometimes be done by passing a weeder or harrow 
across the rows after the ground has dried sufficiently to 
permit this. The use of lime has been recommended as 
helpful in combating a similar disease on certain other 
crops, but its effects on cotton have not been investigated. 


420 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


The object of any laboratory work in connection with this 
chapter should be to become acquainted with the appearance 
in the field of cotton plants attacked by any of these diseases 
that may be prevalent in the neighborhood of the school or near 
the students’ homes. 


LITERATURE 


Stevens. Diseases of Plants. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. I, pp. 
450-453. | 
Atkinson, C. F. U.S. Dept. Agr., Office of Expr. Sta., Bul. 
No. 33, pp. 279-316. 
Orton, W. A. U.S. Dept. Agr., Div. Veg. Phys. and Path., and 
Farmer’s Bul. No. 302. 


, 


pan ge est Vs deone 


Tic. 185.— A Fieutp or Hemp. 


421 


CHAPTER XXV 


HEMP — CaNnaBIS SATIVA 


Hemp is a member of the mulberry family (Moracee). 
It is useful for the fiber, of which burlap bags and twine 
are made. 


Fig. 186.— Lear anp FLOWERS oF 
Hemp. 


w and ¢, pistillate or female flow- 
ers; 6, staminate or male flowers. 


The plant grows to a height of about ten feet 


(Fig. 185). It is annual, 
making its growth during 
the warmest months. 

An interesting fact about 
hemp is that there are male 
and female plants. The 
male plants bear in clusters 
the flowers containing the 
stamens or pollen-bearing 
parts. On the other or 
female plants are borne the 
pistils or seed-producing 
parts. The male plants are 
preferred for cultivation. 

Each leaf of hemp con- 
sists of five to seven leaflets, 


joined together only at the point where the leaf stem 


ends (Fig. 186). 


The most important hemp-producing district in the 
United States is the Blue-grass region of Kentucky. 
422 


HEMP 423 


390. Soils for hemp. — Hemp is at its best on a rich, 
moist, limestone soil. But it also thrives on other than 
lime soils if they are moist, but well drained. 

391. Cultural methods.— The land is plowed flush 
or broadcast and thoroughly harrowed. The seed is 
sown through a grain drill run in two directions. This 
insures a more even stand and a.more uniform germina- 
tion and early growth, both of which are desirable in order 
to secure plants of the desired diameter, preferably half 
an inch. The quantity of seed required per acre is one 
bushel. The date of planting in Kentucky is late in April. 
No cultivation is given after sowing the seed. Seed orig- 
inally from China is preferred, though in its first year in 
the United States it is believed to yield less hemp than 
during each of the next few years. The small area in 
Kentucky devoted to hemp grown for seed is planted in 
checks, with hills about seven feet apart each way, and 
with four plants in each hill. 

The Kentucky Experiment Station found that the use 
of 160 pounds per acre of nitrate of soda and an equal 
amount of muriate of potash profitably. increased the yield 
of fiber. 

392. Harvesting and preparing hemp for market. — 
Early in the fall hemp is cut, most of it by hand, but part 
also by special machinery. The stalks are spread evenly 
on the ground for about a week. Then they are raked 
together, tied into bundles, and shocked (Fig. 187). The 
Kentucky Experiment Station found it profitable to stack 
the hemp, though keeping the hemp in shock saves expense. 

Late in November or early in December hemp is retted. 
This consists in exposing it to cold and rain for about two 


424 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


months, spread out on the ground for the purpose of favor- 
ing the separation of the fiber from the adhering materials. 


Fic. 187.—SHocxine Hemp, 


When exposure to alternate freezing and thawing has ef- 
fected its end, the hemp is again shocked. 

The fiber is separated on the farm chiefly by the old 
device, called the hand-brake. In some regions this work 
is performed by machinery. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


In regions where hemp is not grown, it is scarcely profitable 
to spend a laboratory period on dried specimens and on the litera- 
ture of this crop. Instead, this laboratory period may well be 
devoted to some review or additional exercise relative to the’ 
principal crop of the region where the school is located. 


x 
LITERATURE 


Boyce. Hemp. New York, 1900. 

Dewey, L.H. The Fiber Industries in the United States. U.S. 
Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1901, pp. 541-544. 

Harper, J. N. Hemp. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 377— 
380. _ 

Hont, T. F. The Forage and Fiber Crops in America, pp. 394— 
397. New York, 1907. 


CHAPTER XXVI 
SWEET-POTATO — Ipoma@a BATATAS 


INTRODUCTORY 


THE sweet-potato belongs to the morning-glory family 
(Convolvulacee), which also includes a number of common 
weeds and cultivated flowers.. This plant has long been 
cultivated in the tropical and semitropical regions of 
both the eastern and the western hemispheres. Its origin 
is somewhat doubtful, but most authorities regard it as a 
native of America. 

393. Distribution and climate. — The sweet-potato is 
widely grown throughout the warmer regions of America 
and Asia, as well as to a smaller extent in other countries. 
This plant requires a warm climate. Its culture on a 
large scale is confined in the United States to the region 
lying south of the line drawn through central New Jersey 
to the southern part of Kansas. North of this line it is 
sometimes grown, but only on a small scale as a garden 
vegetable and without the best results in either quality 
or quantity. A number of the cotton-growing states 
each produces more than four million bushels annually. 

The sweet-potato grows chiefly during the hottest part 
of the year. In contrast with the Irish potato, it may 
be called strictly a summer crop, a difference that has an 
important bearing on the character of fertilizers needed 


for these two crops. 
425 


426 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


In the cotton-growing states the sweet-potato may be re- 
garded as a field crop, while north of this region it is treated as 
a garden crop. Conversely, the Irish potato is a field crop in 
the North and a garden crop in the South. 

There is corresponding confusion in the use of the word 
“potato.” This term, when used without modifiers, usually 


Fic. 188.— A Fieip or Sweet-poTaTors IN ALABAMA. 


means, in the Southern States, sweet-potatoes; while elsewhere 
it signifies the Irish, round, or white potato. 

The season that makes the maximum yield and best quality 
of sweet-potatoes is one in which frequent rains occur during 
the late spring and the greater part of the summer, but in which 
there is comparatively dry weather in September and October. 
Heavy rains near the time of harvest, especially if they follow 
a long period of drought, are apt to induce a new growth, which 
results in harm to the quality and keeping properties of the crop. 


SWEET-POTATO 427 


394. Description. — The sweet-potato is perennial, but 
in cultivation it is treated as annual; that is, new propa- 
gating material is placed in the soil each year. 

The plant has prostrate stems (Fig. 188), many of which, 
in the latter part of the season, take root at the nodes. 
The leaves are extremely variable in shape, and these 
differences constitute one means of classifying varieties. 

The valuable product is botanically an enlarged root. 
This is an organ for the storage of food, serving to hasten 
the growth of the young shoots, from which the plant is 
ordinarily propagated. Man converts this stored material 
to his own use. 

Some confusion arises from the fact that the same word 
“root,” when applied to the sweet-potato, may denote 
_ three parts: (1) the enlarged or edible root; (2) the’slen- 
der, fibrous roots which absorb the plant-food and mois- 
ture from the soil, and (3) the potatoes that are too small 
for market, but which are used for planting. Therefore, 
in this chapter, the word “potatoes” will be used to 
designate the large roots, as well as to include the whole 
plant. 

395. Flowers and seeds.— The sweet-potato seldom 
produces flowers in the American cotton-belt, and _ still 
more rarely, if ever, are perfect seed matured in this region. 
However, seeds are sometimes matured when the season 
of growth is prolonged by keeping the plants in a green- 
house. When sweet-potato seeds are planted, they give 
rise to young plants differing greatly among themselves 
and most of them unlike their parents. The best of these 
seedlings may be propagated in the usual way, and thus 
give rise to new varieties. 


428 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The blooms of the sweet-potato are purplish, and in 
shape and size resemble those of the larger wild morning- 
glories. 


Composition AND UsEs 
396. Uses. — The principal present use of the sweet- 
potato is as a vegetable for human use. It is shipped to 
the Northern markets in enormous quantities. On farms 
it is also used as food for live-stock, especially for hogs. 


Analyses of sweet-potato roots, vines, and dried or desiccated 
sweet-potatoes 


- 5 NItTRO- - 
Nicarnal Asa zane Fiper Fans oa. 
EXTRACT 
; % % % % b % 
Sweet-potatoes, edible 
roots'. . . . | 31.9) 1.0 1.6 | 0.9 27.9 | 0.5 
Irish potatoes . . .| 21.1] 1.0 | 2.1 0.6 17.3 | 0.1 
Dried sweet-potatoes? | 89.5 | 3.0 | 4.5 1.9 75.7 | 1.8 
Sweet-potato vines, 
fresh? . . . . . J] 170} 15 |] 2.1 | 3.1 9.5 | 0.8 


397. Value as food. — From the above table, it may 
be noted that the sweet-potato root is specially rich in 
nitrogen-free extract, which consists chiefly of starch and 
sugar. Therefore, in any diet for man or animal, sweet- 
potatoes should be supplemented by foods rich in protein. 


1 Average of 14 varieties grown at S. C. Expr. Sta. in 1908 
(Bul. 146). 

2 Farmer’s Bul. No. 129, U. S. Dept. of Agr. 

3 Calculated from average composition of dry matter found in 
four varieties; S. C. Expr. Sta., No. 146. 


ae 


SWEET-POTATO 429 


On the table, among the dishes rich in protein are peas, 
beans, milk, eggs, and lean meat. In the diet of animals, 
suitable foods for supplementing sweet-potatoes are pea- 
nuts, the seeds of cowpeas, soy beans, the hay of any of the 
legumes, and cotton-seed meal. The figures show that 
the sweet-potato root contains about one and one half 
times as much nutritive matter as an equal weight of Irish 
potatoes. 


Moreover, the protein, or nitrogenous portion in Irish pota- 
toes, is chiefly in the less valuable form, amides; while it has 
been found that amides are not present in the mature sweet- 
potato, all the protein here being in a more valuable form. 

Compared with shelled corn, 300 pounds of sweet-potato 
roots afford slightly more total dry matter and carbonaceous 
material (as starch and sugar) and a littie less protein; the 
theoretical nutritive value of sweet-potatoes is approximately 
one third that of an equal weight of shelled corn. 

In order to make advantageous use of the sweet-potato as a 
hog food, it is necessary to use only the unmarketable roots; 
or else to require the hogs to harvest the crop, thus avoiding the 
principal item of expense for labor. 


398. Starch and alcohol. — It seems probable that the 
sweet-potato will become an important crop for the manu- 
facture of starch, an excellent quality of which has been 
made from this crop. Sweet-potatoes usually contain 
15 to 20 per cent of starch. This is a higher percentage 
than in the Irish potato, which is now a standard source 
of starch. 

Recent laws permitting, under certain restrictions, the 
manufacture of denatured alcohol for use as fuel and in the 
arts, make it probable that the sweet-potato will be ad- 
vantageously manufactured into this product. A bushel 


430 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


of sweet-potatoes is expected to make nearly one gallon 
of industrial alcohol. Moreover, in the manufacture of 
starch, after this substance is removed, alcohol could be 
made as a by-product from some of the waste material. 

399. Draft on soil fertility. — The sweet-potato removes 
much potash and also rather large amounts of other plant 
food, as shown by analyses : — 


Nirrocen PeEOie PotasH 
Per CENT | pap CENT Per Cent 
Sweet-potatoes, edible roots (N.J.)| 0.28 0.10 0.50 
Sweet-potatoes, edible roots (S. C.) .25 -07 AB 
Sweet-potatoes, edible roots (Cal.) .30 17 63 
Sweet-potatoes, edible roots, aver- 
age of above . -26 1 .53 
Sweet-potato, fresh vines “(Mad., 
water 83 %)!. 0.42 0.07 0.73 
Sweet-potato, fresh vines (S. Oy, ; 
83 %_ water)?. . . - .{| 0.384 0.05 0.48 
Fresh vines, average of above . . .38 .06 .60 


1 Farmer’s Bul. No. 26, U. S. Dept. Agr. 
2§. C. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 146, p. 18. 


The roots of sweet-potatoes remove about twice as much 
potash as nitrogen and about five times as much potash as phos- 
phoric acid. The fresh vines have been found to weigh consid- 
erably more than half of the weight of the edible roots and to be 
richer in nitrogen. 

According to the average figures in the above table a crop of 
200 bushels would remove in the edible roots alone 


31 pounds of nitrogen, 
13 pounds of phosphoric acid, 
64 pounds of potash. 


SWEET-POTATO 431 


VARIETIES 


400. Terms used. — Great confusion exists in the names 
and qualities of varieties of sweet-potatoes. This is partly 
due to the fact that many different names are locally ap- 
plied to the same variety; partly to the ease with which the 
tubers of different varieties become mechanically mixed ; 
and partly, perhaps, to natural variations occurring in the 
same variety under different conditions of climate and 
cultivation. 


The word ‘‘ yam ” is used as a part of a name of some vari- 
eties. Often it is applied to those varieties having a soft, sirupy 
texture and flavor; it is also frequently used for varieties having 
deeply cut leaves; and it has even been applied to those potatoes 
which have prominent veins on the roots. Its meaning is so 
indefinite and variable that the term might better be dropped, 
especially since the word ‘‘ yam’”’ is properly applied to an en- 
tirely different genus of plants, Dioscorea, of the yam family, 
largely grown in the West Indies and elsewhere as food for the 
natives. 


401. Market demands. — As a rule the Southern con- 
sumer, whether on the farm or in a city, prefers a soft, 
sirupy potato, which. qualities are still further developed 
by baking, the common Southern method of cooking this 
vegetable. On the other hand, the Northern markets 
demand a dry, mealy, or starchy potato, probably partly 
because the more common method of cooking consists in 
boiling. It is stated that in the latter part of winter there 
is more demand than earlier in Northern markets for the 
sirupy type of potato. 

Among varieties popular in the Northern markets are 
Nansemond and Big Stem Jersey. Probably the most 


432 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


popular variety among the Southern consumers, when 
obtainable, is the Yellow Yam, also called Georgia Yam 
and Sugar Yam. Since this variety is so much less pro- 
ductive than others, it is seldom obtainable, and its place 
among Southern consumers is taken by the Dooley, which 
seems to be a synonym of the Pumpkin Yam. 

402. Desirable qualities. — The qualities most desir- 
able in a variety of potatoes are (1) texture and flavor 
of the kind demanded by the market for which the crop 
is grown; (2) productiveness, and (3) keeping qualities. 

To supply the market for a few weeks in the latter part 
of summer, there is also need for early varieties, which, 
however, are usually inferior in quality to the standard 
kinds. Examples of early varieties are Nancy Hall and 
Strasburg. 

When potatoes are grown chiefly as a stock food, yield 
is the main consideration. As a rule, the most productive 
varieties have a hard texture and high percentage of dry 
matter, and are not favorites for the table. Among the 
most productive kinds are Southern Queen, Hayman, 
Providence, and Shanghai. This class of varieties is also 
the type best suited to the manufacture of starch and 
industrial alcohol. 

403. Classification of varieties. — No system of classi- 
fication is thoroughly satisfactory. For the sake of con- 
venience, varieties may be divided into four groups as 
follows : — 


Group I. Bunch, or vineless varieties, having short 
vines, with leaf-stems closely crowded to- 
gether (Fig. 189); leaves usually deeply 
cut (Fig. 190). 


SWEET-POTATO 433 


Group II. Leaves deeply cut; vines long. 

Group III. Leaves shouldered, or very slightly lobed 
(Fig. 190) ; vines long. 

Group IV. Leaves with margins entire or nearly un- 
broken by lobes or shoulders (Fig. 190) ; 
vines long. 


Each of these groups, except possibly the vineless varieties, 
may be subdivided into three classes, according to the texture 


Fic. 189.—A Brancu or a VINELESS SWEET-POTATO PLANT. 
Showing crowded position of leaf-stems. (After Price.) 


and flavor, which may be either sirupy, mealy, or intermediate. 
Each of these subdivisions may be further subdivided into three 
groups, according to whether the uncooked flesh is yellow, white 


Fic. 190.— Turee SHapes or SwEET-potTaTo LEAVES. 


On left, cut-leaf type; in center, shouldered leaf; and on right, entire 
or ‘‘round”’ leaf. 


2F 


434 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


or mottled white and yellow. Each of these last subdivisions 
can be still further separated into four divisions, according as the 
skin of the potato is white, yellowish, light red, or purple (dark 
reddish). If all of these classes should have representatives, 
there would be 144 different classes. However, the vineless 
has only a few subdivisions at the time when this is written. 

Examples. of the bunch varieties are found in the several 
strains of vineless, which appear to differ somewhat in quality 
and yield. 

Among the varieties of the cut-leaf type, with long vines, 
are the following. Sugar, or Yellow Yam, and its synonyms, 
all of which have a sirupy quality, but are relatively unproduc- 
tive; the Spanish has cut leaves and a mealy texture. 

Among varieties having shouldered leaves is the Yellow Nan- 
semond which has a mealy texture. 

Among the varieties with leaves almost entire are Pumpkin 
Yam, or Dooley, which has a sirupy flavor; and among those 
with a starchy texture are Southern Queen and Hayman. 


Sorts, FeRTILizERs, AND RoTATION 


404. Soils. — For the best results in quantity and 
quality, the soil for sweet-potatoes should have the fol- 
lowing properties: (1) It should be mellow, so as not 
to bake, and so that the roots may easily penetrate it, 
and fully develop without undue pressure; (2) it should 
be warm, so as to promote a long period of active growth; 
and (3) it should be well drained, so that growth may be 
vigorous and the quality of the crop good. These con- 
ditions are best filled by a sandy loam or sandy soil. On 
a given farm, the soil which contains the largest proportion 
of sand is usually devoted to the cultivation of sweet- 
potatoes. 

However, this crop is not confined to sandy land. On 


SWEET-POTATO 435 


some clay soils, especially if rich in lime, large yields are 
made; but here the crop is later, of somewhat poorer 
quality, and liable to be of inferior appearance by reason 
of adhering particles of soil. Moreover, harvesting is 
more laborious in clay than in sandy soils. 

405. Humus. — If sweet-potatoes must be grown where 
there is much clay, there should be also an abundant supply 
of humus, so as to make the soil mellow and free from a 
tendency to bake. In fact, whatever may be the nature 
of the soil, humus is an important constituent for the best 
results with sweet-potatoes. A favorite method of apply- 
ing it, especially in regions where sweet-potatoes are grown 
for market, consists in using pine or other leaves from the 
woods, which are first employed for a number of months 
as bedding in the stables or barn lots. 

A still more economical method of supplying humus, 
and with it nitrogen, consists in plowing under a growth 
of crimson clover a few weeks before setting sweet=-potato 
slips. 

406. Fertilizers. — As shown in a previous paragraph, 
both the roots and the vines of sweet-potatoes contain 
much more potash than either nitrogen or phosphoric 
acid. Therefore, the fertilizer should be rich in potash. 
Moreover, sandy soil, the type usually selected for sweet- 
potatoes, is generally more deficient in potash than is 
stiffer land. 

This crop makes heavy demands for nitrogen also. The 
cheapest means of supplying it consist in growing a pre- 
ceding crop of crimson clover, cowpeas, or other legumes. ' 

Acid phospliate has also been found by experience to 
be needed in fertilizer formulas for sweet-potatoes. 


436 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


No one formula is best for all soils. The following is only 
suggestive for soils needing a complete fertilizer under conditions 
where moderate fertilization is desired : — 


150 pounds per acre of high grade sulfaté or of muriate of 
potash, 

250 pounds acid phosphate, 

150 pounds nitrate of soda (or 320 pounds of cotton-seed meal 
or tankage). ; 


Potash salts, acid phosphate, and cotton-seed meal or tankage 
are applied before bedding the land, while nitrate of soda is 
drilled alongside of each row soon after the slips have rooted and 
begun to grow. 

Farmers in the cotton states are sometimes afraid to use 
stable manure or other nitrogenous fertilizers, lest the crop: ‘‘ run 
chiefly to vines.”” When the fertilizer is properly balanced, — that 
is, made up of the proper proportion of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, 
and potash, — there is little, if any, danger that the growth of vines 
will be excessive. Only by the development of a large growth of 
vines can a maximum crop of roots be secured; for the starch 
and other valuable material, of which the roots largely consist, 
can be manufactured only by an abundance of leaves and other 
green portions of the plant. 

In the parts of New Jersey where this crop is extensively 
grown for market and large yields are secured, it is not unusual 
for a farmer to apply 10 tons of manure per acre for sweet-pota- 
toes, in addition to 500 to 1000 pounds of commercial fertilizer. 


407. Place in the rotation. — Since a field of sweet- 
potatoes needs to be kept free from grass and weeds at 
the least expense, it is generally advisable for this crop 
to follow one which leaves the land clean; that is, relatively 
free from seeds of weeds and grass. One of the best of 
such crops to precede sweet-potatoes is cotton. 

It is also advantageous that the preceding crop supply 
a large amount of humus. Cowpeas or velvet beans 


SWEET-POTATO 4387 


answer this purpose well, if so grown as to keep down the 
growth of weeds. One of the best means of supply- 
ing both humus and nitrogen consists in growing a pre- 
ceding catch-crop of crimson clover, to be plowed under 
in April as a preparation for sweet-potatoes. The clover 
seed can be sown among the bearing cotton plants in Sep- 
tember, taking care to inoculate the soil, which is usually 
done by sowing with the seed some soil from a spot where 
any true clover, — such as crimson, red, or white clover, — 
has recently grown and developed tubercles on the roots. 

408. Effect on land. — The large quantities of manures 
and fertilizers sometimes employed for sweet-potatoes 
tend to make this field produce good crops the next year, 
provided the vines be left on the land and somewhat evenly 
distributed. However, the sweet-potato in itself is an 
exhaustive crop on account (1) of the large amounts of 
potash and nitrogen removed and (2) of the leaching of 
the soil by winter rain, which is apt to be especially great 
on a field plowed in the fall and left bare of vegetation 
during winter. To prevent this leaching, it is advisable, 
where practicable, to sow small grain or some winter 
cover-crop after harvesting sweet-potatoes. 

However, unless the field is securely fenced, stray hogs, 
rooting for the small potatoes, will often destroy the stand 
of any winter-growing plant. An additional reason for 
selecting a fenced field for sweet-potatoes is in order that 
the small, injured roots may be utilized by the landowner’s 
hogs, without the expense of handling this unsalable part 
of the crop. 

It is generally advisable not to grow sweet-potatoes for 
two years in succession on the same land. This is partly 


438 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


because of the removal of large amounts of fertilizing con- 
stituents, but chiefly because the crop is subject to several 
very destructive diseases, which, after being once intro- 
duced into the soil, increase in injury to each successive 
crop. 

CuttTurAL Metsops 

409. How propagated. — The sweet-potato is propa- 
gated without the use of seed. The most common 
method consists in placing the roots in beds, where, under 
the influence of proper amounts of heat and moisture, 
the buds or eyes develop into shoots. These shoots, 
variously called ‘ slips,” ‘ draws,” or ‘ sets,” are the 
means by which the greater part of the acreage is grown. 
A second method consists in cutting sections of vines from 

‘plants produced by slips and in setting these vines in the 
field rather late in the season. A third method, seldom 
employed, consists in cutting the potato into small pieces 
and planting these sections just as one would plant Irish 
potatoes. 

410. Bedding sweet-potatoes. — About six weeks before 
setting the slips in the field, the enlarged roots are placed 
in specially constructed beds, for the purpose of stimulating, 
by means of heat and moisture, the development of buds 
and shoots. 

The source of heat throughout the greater part of the 
United States is fermenting stable manure. However, 
flue heat is employed in the trucking region of New Jersey, 
Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia, and occasionally else- 
where. 

411. Manure bed. — A bed to be heated by manure 
is usually made as follows: In a well-drained, sheltered 


SWEET-POTATO 439 


spot, the soil is excavated to a depth of six or more inches, 
and a simple frame made with side and end boards; a 
layer of moist stable manure, with a depth of four to eight 
inches, is packed in; and over this is placed a layer of 
about four inches of fine, loamy soil to keep the potatoes 
from coming in immediate contact with the manure, which 
would rot or dry them. It is best to let the excess of heat 
pass off, by waiting a few days before placing the potatoes 
in the bed. Then, or as soon as the bed is ready, they 
are pressed into the soft layer of earth, being placed as 
near together as possible without touching. They are 
then covered with a layer of loamy soil, which should 
cover the most exposed roots to a depth of at least two 
inches. For an early crop a movable covering of pine 
leaves, or of cloth, or even a glass sash is sometimes em- 
ployed. If leaves are used, they must be removed as soon 
as sprouts appear, to avoid long, tender slips. If glass is 
used, care must be given to ventilation. A trench around 
the outside provides for drainage. 

When necessary, this bed is watered. Excess of water 
should be avoided, especially before the sprouts appear 
above the surface, for watering is usually a cooling process, 
and it may be a means of baking the surface soil. Keep 
the surface layer pulverized, so as to decrease evaporation 
and permit the easy emergence of the young shoots. Of 
course all grass and weeds must be destroyed while young. 

412. Fire hot-beds. — These consist of a board floor 
with an inclosed air space about two feet in depth under 
the entire area of the floor. The sides of this space are 
tightly closed by planks and by earth heaped against 
them; or by the earth walls left in excavating for the bed. 


440 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The floor is covered with about five inches of soil, in which 
the potatoes are bedded and covered with additional soil, 
just as in the common type of bed. Fire-heated flues are 
provided underneath the floor. 


The slope of the floor should be about 1 foot in 20. The fur- 
nace, which is usually 6 feet long by about 2 feet 6 inches in the 
other dimensions, is made of brick and sunk to such a depth 
in the ground at the lower end of the bed as to give the necessary 
slope to the flues. The flues for a bed 12 feet wide usually con- 
sist of three lines of six-inch tiles and should extend about 30 
feet from the furnace, at which point they empty their heat and 
smoke into the large air space under the floor. Over the furnace 
is a layer of soil about 1 foot deep; over the flue the depth 
of this layer gradually decreases. At the end of the hot-bed 
farthest from the furnace is a wooden flue about 10 feet long 
to create a draught and to carry off the smoke; this flue should 
be provided with a damper to regulate the draft. The effort is 
to keep the temperature of the soil in which the potatoes are 
bedded at about 80° to 85° F. 


413. Kind and quantity of potatoes to bed. — A bushel 
of small potatoes affords a larger number of slips than 
does a bushel of roots of larger size. This is because the 
greater number of small potatoes possesses a greater total 
surface area from which buds grow out. Farmers give 
preference for bedding to roots of small to medium size. 
It has not been proved that small but well-shaped potatoes 
cause any decrease in the size of the roots of the next crop. 
However, in the case of a mechanical mixture of several 
varieties or strains, the exclusive use, year after year, of 
the ill-shaped, stringy roots would result in time in a crop 
consisting chiefly of the inferior strain or variety, having 
the greatest proportion of undesirable potatoes. So far 


SWEET-POTATO “447 


as present information goes, the small potatoes make just 
as good “ seed stock ” as large roots from the same hill. 


A bushel of medium-sized potatoes covers about 15 to 20 
square feet of surface when bedded; a bushel of small roots re- 
quires 25 square feet or more of bed. At the first drawing, a 


Fic. 191. —Swret-potato SLIPS READY TO BE SET IN THE FIELD. 


bushel of bedded potatoes may be expected to afford 800 to 1500 
slips, besides which it usually affords a smaller number at the 
second, and again at the third drawing. For each acre to be set 
out with the slips from three drawings, it is well to allow at least 
2 bushels of very small potatoes and at least double this amount 
with roots of medium size. To plant the entire area early, that 


oa 


442 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


is, chiefly from the first drawing, these amounts will need to. be 
about doubled.. By using vine cuttings, clipped from the plants 
set out early, the acreage can be increased without additional 
expenditure for ‘‘ seed potatoes.” 


414. Drawing or removing the slips. — When the shoots 
show a length of about 4 inches above ground, or a total 
length of 6 or 7 inches, and when roots have begun to de- 
velop on the lower parts of these slips, they should be 
drawn and transplanted to the field (Fig. 191). The bed 
should first be watered. The slips should be so carefully 
pulled as not to move the “seed potatoes.” While not 
generally practiced outside of the trucking regions, it is 
best promptly to dip the base of each slip in a stiff batter 
made of clay and fresh cow manure. The object is to sup- 
ply moisture until the plant is rooted and to insure the 
closest possible contact of the plant with the soil-moisture. 

By keeping the bed watered, it should be ready to afford 
a second drawing about 10 to 14 days after the first, and 
then after a still longer interval, a third drawing can often 
be made. 

415. Transplanting. — The rows are first flattened with 
a harrow or board, so as to destroy the crust and young 
vegetation, and to insure a soft bed of soil. Then careful 
growers mark the rows with suitable devices so as to make 
the plants stand at uniform distances apart. One person 
drops the slip near its position, and another inserts it in 
place, carefully pressing the soil around the slip. In setting 
out potatoes, the farmer uses either a garden dibble or small 
trowel, or a short sharpened stick; on soft soil the slip is 
pressed into place by the use of special devices, about as long 
as a walking-stick, which usually consist of either (1) a 


SWEET-—POTATO 


443 


single lath, having a base hollowed out and covered with 
leather, or (2) wooden tongs made of two laths (Fig. 192). 


On many farms, it is customary to 
wait for a rain and to transplant the 
slips or vine cuttings only after a rain. 
If the land has been well prepared and 
_ repeatedly harrowed, it is not neces- 
sary to wait on the weather. Some 


growers prefer to set slips without a~ 


rain. In the latter case, it is usual to 
water the plants. The water serves 
to settle the soil more closely around 
the stem than would be possible if 
reliance were placed entirely on the 
moisture in the soil. After watering 
sweet-potatoes or any other plant, one 
must be careful to cover the watered 
spots with a thin layer of dry soil, to 
prevent evaporation and baking. 
416. Transplanting machines. — 


Fie. 192.—Drvicrs 
FOR SETTING SwEEt- 
POTATO SLIPS AND 
VINE-CUTTINGS. 


When a large acre- 
age is cultivated in 


{, sweet-potatoes, it is 
, profitable to employ 


Pes a pak a 
= 
Fic. 193.—A TRANSPLANTING MACHINE. 


a transplanting 


: machine (Fig. 193). 


It sets and waters 
the plants as fast 
as the team pulls 
the machine along 
the rows. Two men 


444 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


on seats at the rear drop the plants at the required in- 
tervals. 

417. Time of transplanting. — Bedding may be done 
about three weeks before the time when the last light frost © 
is expected. The soil must be well warmed before trans- 
planted slips will thrive in the field. In the central part 
of the cotton-belt, transplanting about April 1 may be 


\ 


a 


of 


Fig. 194. —SwEET-POTATOES ATTACHED TO A SECTION OF PLANTED VINE. 


regarded as early. To determine the last date at which 
setting in the field may be done with the expectation of a 
fair yield, a period of at least 34 months should be allowed 
before the usual date of the first fall frost. In this region, 
it scarcely pays to set slips or vines after July 15; and in 
general the yield from the late plantings are much smaller 
than from those made in mid-season. 


SWEET-POTATO 445 


418. Propagation by the use of vine cuttings. — When 
the bedded potatoes do not furnish enough slips for the 
desired area, they may be supplemented by setting out in 
June or early July sections of about 18 inches of vine cut 
from the early plants. Vine cuttings are usually set out 
just after a rain by a stick or lath with concave base, 
pressed down on the center of the vine (Fig. 192). 

Roots produced by vine cuttings are preferred for 
bedding. This is because such potatoes usually escape 
black rot, a disease which, if present in the bed, is con- 
veyed to the slips by the diseased potatoes. The prefer- 
ence for potatoes from vine cuttings (Fig. 194) may also 
be due to their greater soundness, sometimes attributable 
to the late date of planting. 

419. Distance between plants. — In the cotton states, 
the rows aré usually about 34 feet apart. Truckers 
sometimes plant in narrower rows. In: several experi- 
ments, a distance of 18 inches between plants afforded 
larger yields than were obtained either by closer or wider 
spacing. 

420. Preparation of land. — It too frequently happens 
that the land is merely thrown into beds without any pre- 
vious plowing. For this crop, which makes a large yield 
per acre and requires a soft, mellow soil for the easy trans- 
planting of the slips and for the full development of the 
crop, it is profitable to give thorough preparation. This 
should consist of broadcast plowing, repeated harrowing, 
and the formation of beds, which are usually thrown up 
over a furrow in which fertilizer has been applied. Before 
bedding and after the fertilizer is drilled in, the latter 
should be thoroughly incorporated with the soil by running 


446 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


some cultivating implement in the open furrow. It is 
usually better for the beds to be formed several weeks 
before the date of transplanting, so as to permit the soil 
to be settled by rain. The beds should be kept covered 
with a loose layer of soil and free from crust and vegetation 
by the repeated use of a light harrow. 

To produce the largest yield, the depth of plowing should 
be considerable, and deep plowing should probably be 
the rule where the crop is to be used as stock food. How- 
ever, the market prefers a rather short potato, and this 
shape is favored by rather shallow plowing; that is, to a 
depth of not more than 5 inches. 

421. High and low beds. — While level tillage can be 
practiced for sweet-potatoes set out late on sandy, well- 
drained soil, it is probably advisable for the planting, as 
a rule, to be done on beds; however, these should be 
pulled down by the use of the harrow until elevated only 
3 or 4 inches above the water-furrows. Planting on low 
ridges affords a warmer, more perfectly drained soil. 
The extremely high ridges sometimes seen add greatly 
to the cost of cultivation, and unless the season be very 
wet, high ridges do not materially increase the yield. 

422. Tillage. — Cultivation should be given whenever 
a crust begins to form, or when the first appearance of 
young weeds or grass makes it necessary. Tillage should 
be shallow. The most satisfactory implements are those 
forms of one-horse cultivators equipped with small points, 
so as to be run as near as possible to the plants without 
covering them with soil. A scrape or any other imple- 
ment doing shallow work is also suitable. Just before 
each cultivation, if the vines have begun to run, they 


SWEET-POTATO 447 


should be turned into alternate middles, using a stick, 
so as to get them out of the way of the implement. At 
the next cultivation, the position of the vines is reversed. 
Tillage usually ceases when ‘the vines meet across the row, 
though it is still desirable to pull or remove with a hoe 
large weeds and bunches of grass. 

Some cultivators are equipped with a vine-lifting attach- 
ment, which makes it unnecessary to move the vines into 
alternate middles by hand. 

423. Pruning the vines. — Experiments have shown 
that pruning the vines in order to obtain vine cuttings 
for propagation reduces the yield. The few experiments 
so far made do not agree in showing any advantage from 
the custom of lifting or moving the vines late in the season 
to prevent their rooting at the joints or nodes. 


HARVESTING AND STORING SWEET-POTATOES 


424. When to dig potatoes. — The root of the sweet- 
potato has not reached maturity and condition for storage 
until, when a cut is made, the wound heals over with a 
whitish appearance. If thé broken place becomes dis- 
colored, the potato is immature. 

Since the price is much higher in August and early in 
September than during October and November, a part of 
the crop may be dug very early, even at a sacrifice of yield 
and maturity. The bulk of the crop is not dug until about 
the time of the first fall frost. Some prefer to dig potatoes 
before they are touched by frost, but the frosting of the 
vines does no harm if harvesting is then done before the 
decay extends from the vines to the roots. Late digging, 


448 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


if the potatoes be not frost bitten, improves the keeping 
qualities of the crop. 

425. Methods of harvesting. — The long vines must 
first be disposed of. They are usually pulled by running 
a plow on each side of the row. This work is done much 
more satisfactorily if the line of plants be barred off with 
a turn-plow, to the beam of which is attached a rolling 


Fie. 195.—Speciay Plows FoR DIGGING SWEET-POTATOES. 


coulter, which cuts the vines close to the row (Fig.195). The 
potatoes are then upturned by the use of a large turn-plow. 

If the work of harvesting is performed by careful laborers, 
sorting may be done in the field, the injured and unmarket- 
able roots being gathered in different baskets from those 
containing the marketable potatoes. With less careful 
labor, it is better to gather all potatoes together, sorting 
them at the place of storage or of packing. Extreme care 
should be taken to avoid bruising the potatoes, since germs 
of decay enter through bruises and cuts. One means of 
reducing bruising consists in gathering:the roots in small 


SWEET-—POTATO 449 


baskets or boxes, which are not emptied until after these 
packages are hauled to the place of storing or packing. 

Sweet-potatoes for market are generally packed in 
ventilated barrels covered with burlap cloth, though 
smaller packages are also used to a limited extent. 

426. Yields. — The average yield for the entire acreage 
cultivated in sweet-potatoes in the United States is usually 
reported as about 100 bushels per acre. Good farmers 
expect to make fully 200 bushels per acre, and yields above 
500 bushels per acre have been repeatedly reported. 

The substitution for corn of sweet-potatoes (supple- 
mented by peanuts or other crop rich in nitrogen) as a 
food for hogs in the fall months is often advisable on 
sandy soils. For very sandy soils are not well suited to 
corn, but, when properly fertilized, they make good crops 
of sweet-potatoes. On such soils it is sometimes as easy 
to make 200 bushels of sweet-potatoes as to produce 30 
bushels of corn to the acre. In this case the amount of 
nutritive material in the potatoes is about twice as much 
as in the corn from a similar area. 

The sweet-potato largely or entirely loses this relative 
advantage on richer soils, particularly on those consisting 
largely of clay. 

427. Conditions necessary in storing potatoes. — In 
order that sweet-potatoes may keep in perfect condition 
‘throughout the winter, so as to prolong the time of use or 
to be sold at the higher prices prevailing after Christmas, 
they must fulfill the following conditions : — 

(1) The potatoes when stored must be sound, all bruised, 
cut, or diseased potatoes being excluded from the storage 


place. 
26 


450 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(2) The roots must be subjected to a certain degree of 
drying or evaporation, which may be induced either by 
_ ventilation alone while the potatoes are kept in the shade, 
or by exposure to artificial heat, combined with ventilation. 

(3) Rats and mice must be carefully excluded. 

(4) The potatoes must not be allowed to become so 
much colder than the air coming in contact with them . 
as to cause the latter to condense or deposit its contained 
moisture upon the cold surface of the potatoes. 

428. Banking. — The method in common use in the 
cotton states by those who store potatoes for home use, 
or in small quantities for market, consists in keeping 
them through the winter in conical banks or mounds, 
each containing 10 to 25 bushels. 


To make a potato bank, cut a small circular trench around a 
well-drained, somewhat sheltered spot. With the excavated 
earth, slightly build up the ground on which the heap is to stand. 
Place a layer of straw over this, and on it build up a cone-shaped 
heap of potatoes around a central ventilator, made of several 
poles or boards. Cover the potatoes with pine needles or with 
clean, dry straw. Over the straw or leaves, place a layer of corn- 
stalks to support the weight of the outer covering of soil. A 
few weeks later, after the potatoes have gone through a sweat, 
and before cold weather, place a layer of soil over the corn stalks ; 
and in cold weather, stop the ventilator with a capping of hay. 
The whole is best inclosed under a cheap shelter of boards, 
though sometimes the bank is left with no covering except a 
few boards placed over the ventilator. 


429. Keeping potatoes by the kiln-drying process. — 
Where sweet-potatoes are extensively grown for marketing 
in winter, they are stored in houses of special construction. 
These are much more satisfactory than banks in all regions, 


SWEET-POTATO 451 


By the use of such storage houses, labor is economized, 
and the loss from decay is very greatly reduced. 

In special potato houses, even in the cotton-belt, arti- 
ficial heat is advantageous, especially during the sweating 
period and during the coldest. weather in winter. 


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Fic. 196.—Enp View or a House FOR STORING SWEET-POTATOES. 

A, A, A, A, Bins, four feet wide, with slatted floor and walls; B, B, pas- 
sageways above and below, with doors at ends; V, ventilating door; 2, 2, 
loose boards forming floor of upper passageway. 


452 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


430. Example of a sweet-potato house. — Storage 
houses may vary in capacity from a few hundred bushels 
to several thousand. The construction and management 
of such a house, used by an Alabama farmer, may serve as 
an example. The essential features of such a house are 
the following: (1) double walls filled with sawdust and a 
layer of sand or sawdust above the ceiling; (2) one or 
more ventilators, and transoms over the doors; (8) bins 
slatted on all sides and bottoms, so that the air has free 
access. Figure 196 supplies additional information regard- 
ing some of the details. 


An ordinary stove is placed in this -house, with stove-pipe and 
flue. For the first few weeks after the potatoes are stored, fire 
is kept burning to drive off surplus moisture and to prevent sweat- 
ing. Again, in cold or damp weather in winter, fires are main- 
tained in order to keep the air inside warmer and dryer than that 
outside. In this latitude the main purpose of fires and of a 
ventilator is to prevent the condensation of the moisture of the 
air upon the cool surface of the potatoes. The temperature 
within this particular house varies between 40° and 70°, after the 
curing process is complete. In the sweet-potato districts, where 
such houses are in common use, the temperature for the first 
few weeks is kept at about 90° F., during which time ample 
ventilation is given to carry off the evaporated moisture. The 
preferred winter temperature within a sweet-potato house is 
around 50° and always, if possible, below 65°. 


ENEMIES 


431. Insects. — The sweet-potato has relatively few 
very injurious insect enemies. However, in some fields in 
Texas and Louisiana the sweet-potato root-borer or weevil 
(Cylas formicarius) is very destructive, since it tunnels 


SWEET~POTATO 453 


through and ruins the maturing potatoes (Fig. 197). No 
treatment is known except to avoid storing or bedding 
any infested roots, which may be recognized by the bur- 
rows within them. Care should be taken to avoid intro- 


Fic. 197.— Cross Section THROUGH a SWEET-POTATO, SHOWING INJU- 
RIES BY SWEET-POTATO ROOT-BORER. 


ducing this serious pest on sweet-potatoes brought east- 
ward from the infested regions. 

For various léaf-eating insects, occasionally attacking 
the foliage of this plant, the recommendation is to dip 
the slips, before being set, in a solution of arsenate of lead, 


454 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


and, if necessary, to spray the vines with this or with Paris 
green. Cutworms may be poisoned before setting the 
slips, as suggested in paragraph 379. 

432. Fungous diseases. — The enlarged root of the 
sweet-potato is subject to various forms of decay, each 
one due to a different germ or 
disease-producing organism. The 
most serious of these is the follow- 
ing : — 

Black-rot (Spheronema_fimbria- 
tum). — The presence of this fungus 
within the potato root causes black 
spots on the surface (Fig. 198). 
These spots are slightly depressed, 
and the dark color extends deep 
into the enlarged root, which com- 
pletely decays in the field or during 
storage. If diseased potatoes are 
bedded, the slips are also diseased. 
The remedies consist in (1) bedding 
no tubers thus diseased; (2) de- 
Fic. 198.—Buack-rot on stroying any slips on the white 

Root anp Surpor SwWEET- ‘ 5 

POTATO. stems of which are found any dark 

spots; and (8) rotation of crops, 
avoiding the planting of sweet-potatoes for two years in 
succession on the same land and avoiding any land where 
this disease has occurred in recent years. 


In addition to these measures, J. L. Winslow soaks the roots 
for five minutes just before bedding, in a weak solution of for- .- 
malin, using 1 ounce of this liquid to 8 gallons of water. He also 
dips the slips into a slightly stronger solution of formalin. It is 


SWEET-—POTATO : 455 


improbable that this treatment destroys that part of the fungus 
lying below the surface, but it doubtless reduces the amount of 
disease. No slips should be purchased without a guarantee that 
they are grown from potatoes known to be free from black-rot. 

Soft-rot causes stored sweet-potatoes to shrivel and decay. 
To minimize this injury, avoid bruising the sweet-potatoes and 
remove and burn all diseased roots as soon as seen. 

For dry-rot, destroy all diseased roots. Sweet-potatoes are 
also attacked by other diseases. The general recommendation 
is to avoid growing this crop twice in succession on the same land 
or even at short intervals. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


1. If practicable, prepare and plant a propagating bed of 
sweet-potatoes. If this cannot be done, place at least a few sweet- 
potatoes in damp soil in a box kept in a warm place. As soon 
as buds and shoots develop make drawings of 


(a) A sweet-potato, with sprouting buds, and of 
(b) A detached slip or shoot long enough to be trans- 
planted, showing especially the location of the roots. 


2. Make a drawing showing the position and direction of the 
enlarged roots (potatoes) as they grow in the soil. 

3. Students should participate in any of the operations con- 
nected with the growing of this crop, which may be in progress 
~' when this chapter is studied. 

4. If this subject is studied in the fall, a storage bank of sweet- 
potatoes should be made by the students, or else inspection made 
of a bank or potato-house on some farm in the neighborhood. 


LiTeRATURE 


Fitz, James. Sweet Potato Culture. N. Y., 1890. 

Pricz, R. H. Sweet Potatoes. Buls. Nos. 28 and 36, Tex. 
Expr. Sta. 

Ducear, J. F. Sweet Potatoes. Farmer’s Bul. No. 26, U. 8. 
Dept. Agr. 


456 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Nessit, D. M. Sweet Potatoes. Farmer’s Bul. No. 129, U.S. 
Dept. Agr. 

Morean, H. A., and Burnette, H. F. Sweet Potatoes. La. 

“Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 22. 

Burnette, H. F. Sweet Potatoes. Bul. No. 30. 

Newman, J. S. Southern Gardener’s Practical Manual, pp. 
120-155. 1906. 

Waitzt, M. B. Sweet Potatoes. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, 
pp. 613-623. 

Duacear, B. M. Fungous Diseases of Plants. pp. 344, 348-349. 
New York, 1909. 


CHAPTER XXVII 


CASSAVA — MANIHOT UTILISSIMA 


Cassava, in tropical countries called manioc, is a shrub 
4 to 10 feet high, which, in general appearance and foliage, 


somewhat resembles the castor 
bean plant (Fig. 199). Cassava 
belongs to the milk-weed fam- 
ily (Euphorbiacee). Its native 
_ country is Brazil, but it is now 
cultivated in many tropical and 
semitropical regions. . 

433. Kinds. — Cassava has 
been divided into two classes, 
namely, the bitter and the sweet. 
Bitter cassava is the kind gen- 
‘erally grown in the tropics. It 
requires more than one year to 
make its best growth and has 
not been cultivated extensively 
in the United States. Sweet 
cassava is the kind grown in 
this country. 

434. Climate and distribu- 
tion. — The cassava requires a 


season of about seven months 
457 


Fic. 199.— Cassava PLant, 
SHOWING StTemMs AND EN- 
LARGED Roots. 


458 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


without frost, and the yield is larger if this period is still 
longer. While the plant has been grown north of the 
central parts of the Gulf States, yet its cultivation is 
scarcely practicable above the southern third of these 
states. The plant is very sensitive to frost. Moreover, 
its northward extension is limited by (1) the difficulty 
of saving through winter the stems, used as propagating 
material, and (2) by the fact that where the ground freezes 
it is impracticable to leave the roots in the ground until 
they are needed for use. 

435. Uses and composition. — The only valuable por- 
tion of the cassava plant is the root. From each plant 
grow 4 to 8 roots in a cluster, each of which is usually 
1 to 2} inches in diameter, and 2 to 3 feet long. These 
roots are rich in starch. They are used for the manu- 
facture of starch and of the human foods, tapioca and 
arrowroot. Their more common use, however, in the 
United States is as food for hogs, poultry, and other 
live-stock. Fresh cassava roots contain 25 to 30 per cent 
of starch, and the total dry matter averages about 34 per 
cent, or a little more than in sweet-potatoes. As cassava 
contains only about 1 per cent of protein (nitrogenous 
material) the roots should be fed in connection with foods 
rich in nitrogen, such as cowpeas, peanuts, and velvet 
beans. 

436. Poisonous constituent.— The bitter varieties of 
cassava, as grown in tropical countries, contain in the un- 
cooked fresh roots appreciable amounts of the poison, 
prussic acid. However, this poison is volatile, and is easily 
removed by heat or by exposure for a few hours to the air. 
The amount of this poison found in sweet cassava is too 


CASSAVA 459 


small to be dangerous to man or to live-stock. The greater 
part of the prussic acid is contained in the bark or skin of 
the root and in its outer layers. 

437. Soils and fertilizers. — Cassava requires a rather 
fertile, loose, sandy soil. A sandy soil is not only necessary 
for the best growth of the plant, but also in order that the 
roots may be easily pulled. The land must be well drained 
and warm, so as to make the season of growth as long as 
possible. Cassava thrives on soil too sandy and dry for 
corn and may be regarded as a drought-resistant crop. 

It is best to furnish the nitrogen for cassava by grow- 
ing a preceding crop of cowpeas or velvet beans. In case 
cassava is not preceded by a leguminous crop, it should 
be fertilized with a complete fertilizer, such as the fol- 
lowing : — ; 

200 Ib. acid phosphate per acre, : 
50 lb. muriate of potash or 200 lb. of kainit, and 
200 Ib. cotton-seed meal. 

In a single test in Florida, it was found better to apply 
all of the fertilizer before planting than to divide it into 
several applications. 

438. Preparation, propagation, and cultivation.— Prepa-. 
ration consists in broadcast or level plowing and harrow- 
ing. Plowing need not be very deep, for this would have 
the effect of making the roots grow deeper in the soil and 
hence make the pulling of the roots more difficult. The 
land should be marked off in checks 4 feet each way, 
and the fertilizer drilled in and mixed. At the intersec- 
tion of the furrows or marks, the sections of stem contain- 
ing the eyes or buds should be dropped, stepped on, and 
covered with 2 to 4 inches of soil. 


460 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Cassava is propagated in the United States only by 
planting portions of the stem, which are usually cut into 
lengths of 4 to 6 inches, each section containing 2 or more 
buds or eyes. It has been found best to drep two short 
sections in each hill, though many farmers plant only one. 

Ina field of cassava there are usually a number of vacant 
hills, chiefly due to the killing of the buds during winter on the 
section of stem planted in those particular hills, but sometimes 
due to failure to press the cutting into close contact with the 
moist soil. On account of the difficulty in getting a perfect stand, 
some growers find it advantageous to sprout the cuttings in 
specially prepared beds similar to those used for sweet-potatoes, 
in which beds the necessary watering can be given. Sprouted 
cuttings require especial care in planting, so as to avoid breaking 
off the young shoots. 

Tillage should be level and shallow, as this is a very shallow- 
rooted plant ; it should be repeated until the plants thoroughly 
shade the soil. Usually one or two hoeings will be necessary, 
but the amount of hoe work can he decreased by using the 
weeder before the young plants appear. 


439. Harvesting. —If the stems are to be used for 
planting, they should be cut before the occurrence of the 
first frost, since the buds are easily killed. The stem is 
cut 6 inches above the ground so as to leave a stub by 
which to pull out the cluster of roots. Pulling is done 
either by hand alone, or by the help of a grubbing hoe, 
or by the use of a cant-hook, such as is used if handling 
logs. This hook is caught under the center of the plant, 
the short end of the stick placed on the ground, and the 
long end lifted so as to raise the cluster out of the soil. 

Cassava roots keep best when left in the ground until 
needed for use, provided the soil is well drained and does 
not freeze. 


CASSAVA 461 


440. Storing stems or ‘‘ seed canes” for planting. — 
One of the chief difficulties in growing cassava near the 
northern edge of the region in which it succeeds is that of 
keeping the canes or stems through the winter without 
injury to the bud, as the result of cold, excessive dryness, 


oy ge ae ae 
thy aD Yipee - 
Yigees 4 Up y Ly Yee Late y Gi, Legs ML Ge QU ELLs WHOA 
OOPS teu 


Fie. 200.— METHOD OF PREPARING BED FOR KEEPING CASSAVA SEED 
Stems over WINTER. 


or too much moisture. In general, the stems are kept 
through the winter by bedding them (Fig. 200) somewhat 
as sugar-cane is bedded. 


The spot selected for a cassava seed-bed should be well drained, 
and a slight excavation should be made, forming a succession of 
sloping surfaces. Two or three layers of stems are laid on this 
in a nearly horizontal position, the base of each being pressed into 
close contact with the earth. The covering consists of 3 or 4 
inches of straw, on top of which is placed at first a-layer of about 
2 inches of soil, which, before very cold weather, is increased to 
4 inches. 

Another method of storing cassava stems consists in standing 
the stems upright in a trench, the whole being covered with a 
thick layer of straw, weighted down with a small amount of 
earth. Cassava beds should be under a roof, and some growers 
build a permanent house, inside of which the canes are stood on 
end and covered as just stated. 


441. Enemies. — Cassava has few serious enemies 
among insects or plant diseases. One of the most trouble- 
some is “ Frenching” (Gleosporium manihot). This fun- 
gus kills the tips of the branches and then spreads 


462 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


downward. Injury can be prevented by planting only 
stems from plants that are entirely free from this disease. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


1. In case cassava stems can be obtained, drawings should 
be made showing : 


(a) ‘how the stems branch; 
(b) locations of leaf scars and buds. 


2. In a region where this plant is grown students should 
inspect a cassava ‘* seed-bed ’’ and should participate in, or at 
least observe, any processes of propagation, cultivation, or 
harvesting which may be in progress at the time. 


LITERATURE 


Stockxsripce, H. E. Cassava as a Money Crop. Fla. Expr. 
Sta., Buls. Nos. 35 and 49. 

Witey, H. W. Sweet Cassava. U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Chem., 
Bul. No. 44. 

-Witey, H. W. The Manufacture of Starch from Potatoes and 
Cassava. U.S. Dept. Agr., Div. Chem., Bul. No. 55. 
Tracy, S. M. Cassava. U. 8. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. 
No. 167, and Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 227-229. 
Moors, C.C. Cassava: Its Content of Hydrocyanie Acid and 

Starch. U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Chem., Bul. No. 105. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 
PEANUT — ARACHIS HYPOG@A 


Tue peanut is the principal sale crop in a number of 
counties in the southeastern part of Virginia, in the eastern 
part of North Carolina, and in one section in Tennessee. 
Virginia and North Carolina produce more than half of 
the commercial crop of the United States. The peanut 
is grown for local use and as food for live-stock in every 
southern state, and in a number of states further north 
and west. : 

In America the principal use of the peanut is for eating 
after being parched. It is also extensively employed in 
confectionery.. It is one of the best foods for hogs and 
poultry, and is also fed to other classes of live-stock. 

442. Range. — The peanut is regarded as a native of 
Brazil, though an Asiatic origin has also been claimed 
for it. It became an important article of commerce in 
Africa much earlier than in the United States. In this 
country the growing of peanuts for the market is an indus- 
try thatthas grown up since 1866, partly due to the knowl- 
edge of the edible qualities of this nut spread throughout 
the country by the soldiers who had fought in the peanut- 
growing section of Virginia. 

Although the American crop of peanuts probably ap- 


proaches twenty million bushels, including those con- 
463 


464 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


sumed on the farm, this is only a fraction of the world’s 
supply of peanuts. A single city in France, Marseilles, 
imports annually a larger amount of peanuts than was 
produced a few years ago in the entire United States. In 
Marseilles the principal use of these imported African ‘and 
Indian peanuts is for the manufacture of oil, a use for 
which the peanut has not been extensively employed in 
the United States. 

443. Description. — The peanut plant belongs to the 
pea family (Papilionacee), which also includes the clovers, 
vetches, and beans. Like the others just mentioned, the 
peanut is a soil-improving plant. Its roots bear numerous 
enlargements, or tubercles, through which the plant is able 
to draw its nitrogen from the air (Fig. 201). 

This plant is peculiar in bearing its seed or fruit under- 
ground. The flowers are borne on small stems springing 
from the axil of the leaf. The flower stem turns down- 
ward, and after the flower is fertilized, the tip of the 
pistil, which is sharp, grows into the ground. Soon after 
the long slender portion, called the “ peg” has pierced 
the ground, its lower tip enlarges and becomes the pod or 
shell. The inclosed seeds, which are commonly called nuts, 
are more properly peas. 

The peanut plant is annual, making its growth in the 
warm season, and easily killed by frost. Each leaf con- 
sists of four leaflets, and these have the interesting habit 
of folding together at night or while rain is falling. 

Each plant bears a number of branches, which in some 
varieties lie flat upon the ground, while in other varieties 
the branches are erect. The pod contains from one to 
three or sometimes even four seeds. 


PEANUT 465 


Fig. 201.— Tue Lowir Part or A PEANUT PLANT. 


Showing roots, root tubercles, and nuts or seeds borne on the end of 
‘“needles,”’ or elongated pistils. : 
2H 


466 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


444, Composition. — The following table shows that 
all parts of the peanut plant are rich in nutritive qualities : 


NITROGEN- 
PEANUT Water | Prorern | FIBER FREE Far 
Extract 
% % % %, % 
Peanut with hull . . .| 6.60; 23.20 |18.40| 14.20 | 35.00 
Peanut kernels . . . .| 7.85 | 29.47 | 4.29) 14.27 | 49.20 
Peanut hay . . . . .| 7.83| 11.75 |22.11) 46.95 1.84 
Peanut hulls . . . . .{|12.94| 7.22 |67.29| 19.42 2.68 
Peanut meal or cake . .|10.74| 52.49 | 5.93) 27.26 8.84 


A crop of 60 bushels of peanuts per acre, together with one 
ton of hay, has been found to contain approximately 85 pounds 
of nitrogen, 15 pounds of phosphoric acid, 32 pounds of potash, 
and 46 pounds of lime. Most of the lime and potash is con- 
tained in the hay, while the greater part of the phosphoric acid 
and more than half of the nitrogen are found in the nuts. 


445. Soils. — A sandy or sandy loam soil is preferred. 
Nuts of the highest market quality, that is, with the 
brightest shells, are produced on light-colored, sandy soil. 
Red or dark soils, especially when containing much clay, 
stain the hulls, and hence reduce the market price. Such 
soils, however, are fully as good for peanuts that are to 
be consumed on the farm. While a stiff soil is usually 
avoided for peanuts, — partly because of the staining of the 
shells and partly because peanuts cannot be grazed by live- 
stock on such soils while wet, — yet these heavier soils some- 
times make larger yields of nuts than do very sandy fields. 

In the choice of soils for peanuts it must be constantly 
remembered that a loose, friable condition of the surface 
layer is necessary in order that the “ pegs,” from which 
the pods will develop, may easily enter the soil. 


; PEANUT 467 


446. Liming soils. — A considerable amount of lime in 
the soil increases the yield. However, the percentage 
of lime in the soils of the eastern peanut region is low, 
so that this element is usually supplied artificially. . The 
absence of lime is generally believed to be one of the causes 
leading to a large proportion of “ pops,” that is, shells 
without nuts. Potash is said to reduce the number of 
“pops.” Probably one of the good effects of lime is its well 
known effect of making available the potash in the soil. On 
soils extremely deficient in lime, as are most light-colored, - 
sandy soils, an application of lime is usually advantageous. 
A minimum of 10 bushels or a maximum of 50 bushels 
of slaked lime per acre may be used. The smaller appli- 
cation repeated at frequent intervals is preferable to larger 
application once every four or five years. Where lime is 
used special care must be taken to maintain an abundant 
supply of humus in the soil. Lime is best applied broad- 
cast and harrowed in, but when very small amounts are 
employed, it is sometimes placed in the drill, or even 
drilled on top of the ridge after the seed have been 
planted. 

447. Fertilizers. — Other fertilizers for peanuts should 
be placed in the drill, though some farmers in Vir- 
ginia apply a few hundred pounds of land-plaster per acre 
after the plants have made considerable growth. It seems 
to be better practice, instead of using plaster, to increase 
the amount of acid phosphate, since nearly half of the 
weight of acid phosphate consists. of land-plaster. In 
either form, the plaster converts a part of the potash of 
the soil into a more available form. 

The fertilizer most generally needed by peanuts is a 


f 


468 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


mixture of acid phosphate and some form of potash, such 
as kainit or muriate of potash. A good general fertilizer 
is at least, 200 pounds of acid phosphate and 50 pounds of 
muriate of potash per acre. 


If the land is extremely poor, there is some advantage in using 
a small amount of nitrogenous fertilizer, so as to promote the 
early growth of the plant before it is able to draw its nitrogen 
from the air. For this purpose about 40 pounds of nitrate of 
soda per acre may be placed in the furrow at the time of planting, 
or, better still, applied on one side of each row of plants at the 
first cultivation. The later application of nitrate has the ad- 
vantage of not stimulating the growth of weeds and grass as 
early in the season as would be the case if it were applied at or 
before planting. 

However, for the greater part of the supply of nitrogen re- 
liance must be placed on that drawn from the air by the tubercles 
on the roots of the peanut plant. 


448. Preparation of the land. — The first step in pre-- 
paring peanut land is to remove any coarse litter, such as 
stalks of corn or cotton, which might interfere with ger- 
mination and cultivation. The land should be plowed 
and thoroughly harrowed. The time of planting depends 
on the locality, the soil, and the nature of the preceding 
crop. Generally it is well to plant peanuts after some 
hoed crop which has been well cultivated, such as cotton. 
Some farmers find it advantageous to plow the land at least 
a month before planting. This gives time for weed seeds 
to germinate. This crop of young weeds should then be 
destroyed by the use of the disk harrow or other suitable 
implement. 

Furrows should be opened at regular intervals and in 
these the fertilizer drilled, generally by the use of a machine. 


PEANUT 469 


A cultivator or other implement frequently follows the 
fertilizer distributor, in order to better mix the fertilizer 
with the soil. When planting on ridges is to be practiced, 
the land is next ridged, either by means of turn-plows, 
* cultivators with suitable points, or by means of special 
implements. These ridges, just before planting, should 
be partially pulled down, and flattened by the use of a 
weeder or spike-toothed harrow. 

449. Method of planting. — On this low, flattened list 
or ridge the seed are then planted either by means of a 
planter, — which opens, drops, and covers, all at one 
time, — or by means of hand-planting in a furrow opened 
by a scooter and covered by the use of a double foot or 
other suitable device. 

On stiff lands a depth of 14 inches suffices early in the 
season. The depth generally preferred is about 2 inches. 
When planting is done at a late date or on dry soil, a still 
greater depth is advisable. 4 

On very dry soils, especially when planted late, no ridges 
are formed, the seed being planted about 2 inches below 
the surface level. . 

450. Distance between rows and between plants. — 
With the Spanish peanuts or other erect varieties, the 
distance between rows is usually 24 to 30 inches, and from 
30 to 36 inches with the running kind. Spanish peanuts 
on good land may advantageously be planted as close as 
4 inches apart in the drill, but cultivation is more econom- 
ically done if more space is given, usually 8 to 12 inches 
between hills, with two peas in a place. In experiments 
at the Arkansas Experiment Station the yield of Spanish 
peanuts decreased as the space between rows was made 


470 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


wider than 2 feet and as the distance between plants was 
increased above 6 inches. 

451. Seed. — To plant an acre of either Spanish or 
running peanuts rather thickly, requires about two bushels 
of unhulled nuts, or about half a bushel of hulled peanuts. 

The seed intended for planting should be harvested 
before the plants are killed by frost and so stacked and 
stored as to avoid heating. Varieties having large pods 
require the shelling of the seed peas, but shelling is not 
necessary with the Spanish variety. The latter is usually 


Fic. 202. —A Pranvur ‘ Popper.” 


A device for shelling peanuts. 


simply broken, each piece being planted with the inclosing 
shell. In this case, some growers find it advantageous to 
soak the Spanish peanuts for a few hours before planting, so 
as to hasten germination. Shelling affords a more nearly 
perfect stand and more rapid germination, thus giving 

the crop an opportunity to begin growth before grass and 
weeds start. 

Shelling of seed peanuts should usually be performed 
by hand, since the use of machines for this purpose some- 
times breaks the thin coat surrounding the nuts. Any 
Injury to this thin layer is apt to interfere with germina- 


PEANUT 471 


tion. In the hand shelling of peanuts the work may be 
hastened and the fingers spared by the use of a simple 
device known as the “ popper.’”’ This is a thin piece of 
white oak or other suitable material bent into the shape 
of a pair of tongs (Fig. 202). While the seed peas are 
being shelled, defective seed should be separated and 
rejected. 

452. Breeding. — No form of plant-breeding has been 
generally applied to the peanut. However, since the selec- 
tion of seed from the best plants largely increased the 
yield of other crops, a similar increase is to be expected 
by the process of saving seed from the best single plants 
of peanuts (Fig. 203). 

453. Time of planting. — The time of planting varies 
greatly with the latitude. In Virginia the greater part 
of the crop is planted in May, and this is the preferred 
month for planting the running varieties throughout most 
parts of the cotton-belt. However, these varieties are 
often planted in April in the southern part of the United 
States. The Spanish peanut requires Jess than four 
months for maturing a crop. Hence, this kind can be 
planted at any date desired after cotton comes up, and 
up to the first of July. Even later plantings of this va- 
riety are sometimes made, but at the sacrifice of yield. 
Spanish peanuts can be planted after any of the small 
grains are harvested; but unless the season be especially 
favorable, maximum yields are not to be expected where 
grain stubble is plowed under in June, because of the 
tendency of such fields to dry out or otherwise get into 
poor mechanical condition. 

454, Tillage. — After planting and before the plants 


Fic. 203. — A Fie.tp oF SPANISH PEANUTS GROWN FROM SELECTED SEED. 
472 


PEANUT 473 


appear above ground, the peanut field may be tilled with 
a weeder. As soon as the line of plants can be seen, 
tillage begins with some form of cultivator equipped with 
fine teeth or with scrapes. After the young plants have 
attained some degree of toughness, the weeder is brought 
into use at frequent intervals. ‘It is best run diagonally 
across the rows. By this means much of the young grass 
along the line of the drill is destroyed, thus saving much 
work with the hoe. One hoeing, or, if necessary, a second 
one is given, but only when needed. Grass growing 
among the prostrate branches of the running varieties 
should be pulled by hand; large weeds in such positions 
are better cut off, since the pulling of large grass or weeds 
after the nuts form, disturbs the buried nuts and does 
more harm than good. 

The cultivator is used as often as necessary. The first 
cultivation may be rather deep. Unless level culture is 
practiced, it is customary for the cultivator to throw some 
earth around and among the plants, thus making a low 
ridge or bed of loose soil in which the ‘“‘ pegs ” may become 
imbedded. 

455. Rotation. — Peanuts should generally follow a 
crop kept clean by the use of the hoe. Among such crops 
are cotton and sweet and Irish potatoes. 

When the vines are returned to the land and evenly 
distributed, or when the crop is grazed on the land, the 
peanut enriches the soil, especially in nitrogen. However, 
when peanuts are grown for market, both the nuts and 
vines are usually removed from the land, making a heavy 
draft on soil fertility, and necessitating a judicious rota- 
tion. On some fields in the peanut region this crop is 


474 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


grown without due attention to rotation. The result 
is a notable decline in yield, due to the exhaustion of the 
supplies of humus, potash, phosphoric acid, and lime, 
and in some cases to the occurrence of disease or insect 
injury. 

The best rotation varies with a number of conditions. 
Where peanuts constitute the main sale crop, they are 
often rotated with corn. An improvement would be the 
sowing of either cowpeas or of crimson clover among the 
corn rows. Peanuts can also be rotated with small grain, 
the oats or wheat being followed by cowpeas and this crop 
by peanuts. When cotton is the preceding crop and when 
the germs of cotton wilt are not present in the soil (para- 
graph 380), crimson clover seed should usually be sown 
in the cotton plants in September, and the young clover 
plants can then be plowed under for fertilizer the next 
spring, in time for the growth of a crop of peanuts. 

456. A recommended rotation.— A suitable rotation 
for those fields in the southern part of the cotton belt in 
which the presence of cotton wilt prevents the frequent 
growing of cotton, is the following : — 


First year: corn with Iron cowpeas between the rows. 
Second year: cotton. 
Third year: peanuts. 
Fourth year: fall-sown oats, followed by Iron cowpeas. 


From such a rotation, crimson clover is omitted because 
it might be the indirect means of increasing the amount 
of wilt in the next cotton crop. This is because crimson 
clover is attacked by nematode worms (see paragraph 385) ; 
but the peanut is exempt from this injury, and hence the 


/ CAROLINA’ ” 


Fig. 204.— Pops anp Peas or THREE VARIETIES OF PEANUTS. 


475 


476 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


latter constitutes a good crop to grow on fields where the 
Organisms of either nematode worms or cotton wilt are 
present. - 

457. Varieties. — There are but few varieties of pea- 
nuts grown in the United States. The most important 
are described below (Fig. 204). 

Virginia Runner.— This is a variety having long 
branches flat on the ground, and bearing pods throughout 
the entire length. The pods are of light color and usually 
two or sometimes three in a pod. The pods do not adhere 
well to the vines in digging. The weight of this and of 
other large varieties is twenty-two pounds per bushel. 

Virginia Bunch is an erect variety bearing its fruits 
only near the base of the plant. The nuts are similar 
to those of the Virginia Runner. 

The North Carolina, sometimes called the Wilmington 
and sometimes the African, has spreading prostrate stems, 
and the plant is of somewhat smaller size than the Virginia 
Runner. The pods and peas are also smaller than those 
of the Virginia Runner, but larger than Spanish peanuts. 
The percentage of oil is high as compared with other 
American varieties, but lower than that of peanuts grown 
in Africa. The weight of the North Carolina variety is 
twenty-eight pounds per bushel. 

The Spanish is the earliest variety of American peanuts. 
The branches grow upright, and the pods are clustered 
around the base of the plant (Fig. 205). Hence, in sandy 
soil practically all of the nuts adhere to the vines when 
the latter are pulled, after being loosened. The pods are 
short and slender, usually containing two nuts. The hull 
lies in close contact with the nut, so that moisture is quickly 


PEANUT ATT 


Fie. 205.— A Buncu or SpanisH PEANvtTs. 


478 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


conveyed to the latter ; as a result, Spanish peanuts sprout 
more quickly, if left in the land after maturing, than do 
varieties with larger pods and more space between nut 
and shell. Hence, Spanish peanuts must be dug or used 
as hog feed soon after ripening, while the large-podded 
varieties may remain sound enough for hogs to eat through- 
out the first half of the winter. 

Spanish peanuts require less than four months from 
planting to maturity, or at least a month less than most 
other varieties. Hence they may be planted later. They 
are sometimes planted after oats are harvested, but under 
these conditions the yield is reduced. The latest date 
for planting Spanish peanuts with the expectation of a 
fair yield is about July 1, in the central part of the cotton- 
belt. Spanish peanuts can be grown on poorer soil and 
on soil with less lime in it than can most other varieties. 

458. Uses.— The peanut constitutes an important 
human food. It is eaten roasted, for which use the va- 
rieties having large pods are preferred. The-shelled peas 
are extensively used in confectionery, and to this use the 
Spanish and the smaller peas of the other varieties are 
largely devoted. In Marseilles, France, and in other 
localities in Europe, large amounts of peanuts from Africa 
and India are converted into oil and peanut cake. Peanut 
oil commands a higher market price than cotton-seed oil 
and is largely used as a substitute for olive oil. There 
is need for further investigation to determine whether it 
is practicable for Southern cotton oil mills to manufacture 
peanut oil from some of the African peanuts, rich in oil, 
which could doubtless be successfully grown in the 
South. = 


PEANUT 479 


Peanut butter, made from the ground peas or nuts, 
with or without the addition of oil, is a palatable and 
nutritious article of human food and is rapidly growing 
in popularity. 

459. The peanut and its by-products as food for live- 
stock. — Outside of those regions in which the peanut 
is grown as a sale crop, its principal use is as a food for 
hogs, the hogs doing the harvesting. To make the season 
in which peanuts are available as long as possible, there 
should be a succession of plantings of Spanish peanuts at 
intervals of a few weeks; this succession of Spanish pea- 
nuts should be planted in addition to the necessary acreage 
in the running varieties, the latter being grown largely 
with a view to use in December. Hogs make satisfactory 
growth on peanuts alone, but the addition of a small 
amount of corn makes the gain more rapid and improves 
the quality of the meat and lard produced. 


Hogs fed on peanuts make very soft pork and lard that melts 
at a low temperature. Hence, it is advisable to remove pea- 
nuts from the ration at least a month before the animals are 
killed. 

In growing peanuts as an article of sale, the nuts left in the | 
field and the immature or unmarketable pods may be used in 
fattening hogs. 

The Spanish and other varieties of peanuts having an erect 
habit of growth produce from 1 to 2 tons of excellent hay per 
acre. This must be mowed before many of the leaves fall or 
become spotted. The field may then be grazed by cattle and 
finally hogs turned in to consume the nuts. : 

Peanut meal is quite similar in composition to cotton-seed 
meal, and suitable for the same uses. 

In some regions the entire plants — vines with attached nuts 
— are fed to horses. 


‘SLONVGd DNIMOVLG — ‘90% “PLL 


480 


PEANUT 481 


460. Harvesting. — The principal harvesting season is 
the months of September and October. Peanuts for mar- 
ket or for seed should be dug before frost. They are 
ready for harvesting as soon as the pods about the base 
of the plant show a tendency to shed, or easily become 
detached from the vine. Harvesting may be done in a 
variety of ways. The usual method is to remove the 
moldboard from a turn-plow and run the share under the 
row on each side at a sufficient depth not to sever the pods 
from the branches. The side from which the moldboard 
has been removed is kept next to the row. 

Sometimes a special blade is attached to the plow in 
such a way as to run under the line of plants. The plants 
are then lifted by hand or by means of forks and thrown 
into small piles on every third row. They are stacked, 
usually on the same day as dug, and before the plants 
have thoroughly dried. The stacks are as slender as 
possible and only about five feet high (Fig. 206). They 
are made around poles seven feet long, driven securely 
into the ground. The tops are turned outward and 
the nuts inward, so as to protect the latter from rain, 
dew, and sunshine, and from the attacks of birds and 
other animals. Before making the stack, a few short 
poles are placed on the ground so as to keep the nuts 
from resting on the latter; a little space for ventila- 
tion is left around each stack-pole. The stack is capped 
with grass, hay, or other material suitable for shedding 
water. 

461. Yields of peanuts. — At the branch Experiment 
Station at Newport, Arkansas, a yield of 172 bushels per 


acre was made by planting Spanish peanuts 4 inches apart 
21 


482 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


in drills 2 feet apart.1. This is probably the largest yield 
on record. A yield of 60 bushels or more of any variety 
may be regarded as a good crop. The average of the 
entire country in most years is below 35 bushels per acre. 

462. Enemies. — The peanut has few enemies either 
among insects or among the minute organisms usually 
concerned in the diseases of plants. 


The most common disease is a form of leaf-spot (Cercospora 
personata). The symptoms are the appearance of brownish 
spots on the leaves. This disease is more frequently noted on 
sour or poorly drained land. If it appears late in the life of the 
plant, it will often be practicable to mow the erect varieties for 
hay before the disease has rendered the vines unfit for this use. 

In a few localities, especially around old premises, the peanut 
plant is sometimes killed by a form of root rot (Fusarium). The 
symptoms are the presence of a mass of white threads on the stem 
just below the surface, together with the appearance of minute 
round, whitish, or brownish bodies, about the size of mustard 
seeds, clustered around the stem, close to the surface of the 
ground. 

Doubtless rotation of crops, keeping off of the infected fields 
most of the legumes and other susceptible crops, is the best means 
of avoiding injury by this disease. 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


1. Determine the weight of 100 shelled nuts of the Spanish 
and of some larger variety. 

2. Determine the percentage of hulls in the unshelled dry 
nuts of both the Spanish and some larger variety. 

3. If growing peanut plants are available, make a drawing 
showing where the ‘‘ pegs” or “‘ needles’’ originate, and the 
enlargement which they undergo after penetrating the soil. 

4. The principal laboratory work to accompany this chapter 


1 Ark. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 58. 


PEANUT 483 


should be the actual performance or observation of the field 
operations herein’ mentioned. 


LITERATURE 


Hanpy, R. B. Peanuts: Culture and Uses. U.S. Dept. Agr., 
Farmer’s Bul. No. 25. 

Beartiz, R. W. Peanuts. U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s Bul. 
No. 356. 

Newman, C. L. Peanuts. Ark. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 84. 

Rover, Wiuu1am N. The Peanut and its Culture. Petersburg, 
Virginia. 

Corsett, L.C. Peanuts. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. 2, pp. 514— 
519. 


CHAPTER XXIX 
SUGAR-CANE — SaccHARUM OFFICINARUM 


SuGar-CANE is one of the family of the grasses. Like all 
the grasses, sugar-cane has a jointed stem with a leaf origi- 
nating at each node. The leaves are arranged in two 
vertical ranks, and are borne alternately on two sides of 
the stalk. The plant grows to a height of 8 to 12 feet, or, 
in tropical countries, to a greater height. 

The stem is large and upright, except when bent or 
reclined by wind or by its own weight. A number of 
stalks usually grow together in a cluster, due to the fact 
that this plant throws up additional stems from the buds 
at its lower nodes below the surface of the ground. 

463. Duration. — Sugar-cane is perennial. In some 
tropical countries a number of harvests are secured from 
a single planting. In Louisiana usually only two or three 
crops are grown before the stubble becomes too thin to 
produce profitable yields. In the pine-belt east of Loui- 
siana and north of the latitude of Florida, a planting of 
sugar-cane usually affords but a single crop, annual plant- 
ing being necessary. In this region the cane is usually 
cut and made into sirup within eight months after the 
date of planting. In tropical countries, the plants are 
often permitted to grow for fourteen months or more 


before being harvested. 
484 


SUGAR-CANE 485 


464. Leaves. — The leaves of sugar-cane are broad and 
long, sometimes reaching a length of three feet. In some 
varieties minute prickles occur on the leaves, making the 
harvesting of the crop disagreeable. The leaves have a 
central midrib, which gives a moderate degree of stiffness 
to the lower part of the leaf-blade. 

The leaf of the sugar-cane, like that of corn, has special 
cells which, when the supply of water is not sufficient, 
roll it together, thus reducing the loss of moisture. The 
leaf-sheath, or part that folds around the stem, serves 
to protect the bud, or eye, which it incloses. As the plant 
matures, the leaves unclasp from the stem and hang loosely 
or fall. The falling of any leaf is regarded as an indication 

of the maturity of the internode next below this leaf. 

In the cells of the leaves the green coloring matter 
during daylight manufactures starch from the carbonic 
acid gas of the air and the water brought from the roots. 
This starch is then changed and conveyed to all parts of 
the plant, a large part of it being finally deposited in the 
pith cells of the stem in the form of sugar. Thus, sugar, 
the valuable product of cane, is made up almost entirely 
of water and of a gas occurring in abundance in the air; 
if only sugar were removed from the land there would be 
practically no exhaustion of the plant-food by the growing 
of sugar-cane. 

465. Roots. — A small part of the main stem of cane 
is below the surface of the ground, connected below either 
with the cane that was planted or with another cane, 
from one bud of which it grew. The nodes, and hence 
the buds, on this underground part of the stem are very 
close together, making it possible for a number of stems 


486 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


to spring up in a cluster or stool as the result of the growth 
of these underground buds into suckers, or young canes. 
In a band around the stalk at each node are a number of 
nearly transparent dots. From these dots spring true 
roots when this joint is kept moist by 
contact with the soil. The roots are 
fibrous and usually they do not pene- 
trate to great depth. 

466. The stem. — The part most 
valued is the stem, from which sugar 
and sirup are manufactured. The 
stem is large and cylindrical, and con- 
sists of a series of internodes of vari- 
able length, separated by joints, or 
nodes (Fig. 207). The internodes 
(often popularly called ‘ joints ’’) are 
short at the base and longer toward 
the middle or upper part of the stalk. 
The length of internodes varies greatly 
with different varieties and is de- 
creased by drought, or by other con- 
dition unfavorable to growth. The 
Fic. 207.—Parr or a rind or outer portion of the stalk con- 
Stem oF SUGARCANE. ists chiefly of strong fibrous tissue, 

A, buds or eyes; B, .. , 
joints; C, nodes; D, in. giving strength and hardness to the 
ternodes; X,dotswhere stem. The rind, and hence the stalk, 
ere is of various colors, depending on the 
variety. Among the most common colors are purple 
(or reddish), striped purple and white, and green. Yellow, 
white,. brown, and other colors also occur, especially in 
varieties grown in tropical countries. 


SUGAR-CANE 487 


467. Structure of the stem. — On cutting across a stalk 
of cane, one finds the greater part of the space within the 
rind occupied by white pith cells. It is- within these 


Fic. 208.— Cross Section or Part or A Stem or SuGaR-caNE. 


The dark spots inclosing smaller white spots are the bundles which 
contain the tubes and vessels through which liquids circulate ; the greater 
part of this section consists of pith cells. Greatly enlarged. 


white pith cells that the sugar is contained. The enormous 
pressure of a mill is required to expel the juice in which 
the sugar is dissolved. 


488 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


At intervals among these pith cells may be found strands of 
tougher tissue running parallel to the length of the stalk (Fig. 
208). These tough, strong strands are the bundles of fibrous 
tissue that serve for the circulation of liquids within the plant. 
Each bundle (Fig. 209) contains (1) several vessels, that is, organs 


Fic. 209.— Cross Section THROUGH A BUNDLE FROM THE STEM OF 
SUGAR-CANE. 


V, vessels for upward current; S, sieve tubes for the descending sap; 
P, pith cells containing sugar. Greatly enlarged. 


for the carrying of water and dissolved plant-food from the soil 
upward to the leaves; (2) a number of smaller carriers, called 
sieve tubes, through which the digested sap is returned from the 
leaves to all the other parts of the plant. 


SUGAR-CANE 489 


The bundles are most numerous just beneath and within 
the rind, where they serve to give strength and stiffness to the 
stem. At the joints or nodes the bundles branch and inter- 
mingle, a part being continued into the leaves, and a part enter- 
ing the next upper internode. The larger the amount of fiber, the 
smaller is the amount of sugar, and the greater the difficulty of 
expelling the juice. Therefore, canes with short internodes, 
and hence consisting largely of the fiber that constitutes the hard 
nodes, are less desirable than those with long internodes. The 
internodes are longer where all conditions are favorable to a 
luxuriant growth; for example, abundance of plant-food, an 
ample supply of moisture, and judigious cultivation. 


468. The buds or eyes. — At each node or joint on the 
stem is borne a bud. This is the part of the plant from 
which the next crop must grow, just as the eye of the Irish 
‘potato serves instead of seed to perpetuate that plant. 
The buds occur alternately on opposite sides of the stem. 
A bud is about the size of half of a pea. It is closely 
‘enfolded and protected by the leaf-sheath. Moreover, 
each bud consists of the inner part, which is capable of 
growth, and of several outer protecting coats. 

The aim in harvesting before frost that part of the cane 
crop intended for planting and the banking or windrow- 
ing of cane in winter is to protect the buds from freezing. 
The life of the bud is easily destroyed by freezing weather, 
especially if moisture has collected under the leaf-sheath 
and around the bud.. ; 

469. Method of propagation. — For commercial pur- 
poses, the only method of propagating sugar-cane consists 
in planting the stalks or sections of stalks on which are 
borne the eyes. Stimulated by the moisture and heat of 
the soil, the bud swells and grows into a sucker, or young 


= 


490 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


cane. This develops a stalk, with buds at each node. 
The growth of clusters of stalks results from the 
growth of several of the buds on the base of the young 
plant, usually from those nodes located below the surface 
of the ground. Thus, a cluster or stool consists of stalks 
of various sizes and ages, only one of which grew from 
the planted bud, but all indirectly tracing back to that 
bud. The percentage of the eyes of planted cane capable 
of growth varies greatly with different varieties, and is not 
the same for the buds growing on the upper and lower 
part of the stalk. Care in planting results in an increase 
in the number of buds that grow, thus affording a thicker 
stand. The young sucker draws its nourishment from 
the mother stalk (planted cane or older growing plant) 
until its own roots have sufficiently developed to supply it 
with the necessary food and moisture. 

470. Propagation of sugar-cane from seed. — In trop- 
ical countries, some varieties of sugar-cane “ arrow,” 
or produce from the top of the stem, when a little more 
than a year old, a flower stalk, on the top of which is borne 
a silky head consisting of innumerable very small flowers. 
Each flower when mature resembles a small, chaffy grass 
seed. Until the latter part of the nineteenth century it 
was thought that no seed reached such a degree of develop- 
ment as to be capable of germination and growth. How- 
ever, scientists have now learned methods by which a very 
small proportion of the seeds of sugar-cane produced in 
tropical countries may be made to grow. The plants pro- 
duced by seed grow very slowly, requiring several years 
to attain the size that is ordinarily reached in a few months 
by cane propagated from buds. 


SUGAR-CANE 491 


471, Improvement of cane. — It has been proved that 
sugar-canes propagated from buds differ among themselves 
in the percentage of sugar and in other useful qualities. 
It has also been found that the selection for planting pur- 
poses of canes from clumps or stools the stalks of which 
are rich in sugar, results in an improvement in the quality 
of the next crop. By this mode of selecting good stalks, 
some improvement can be made in sugar-cane. 

An experiment conducted at the Louisiana Sugar Experiment 
Station through six generations showed a decrease in yield from 
the repeated planting of small canes. Taking the average for 
all years the continuous planting of large canes produced an 
average crop of 30 tons of cane per acre. The repeated planting 
of medium-sized canes yielded 29.85 tons; and the continuous 

planting of small canes afforded an average crop of only 25.95 
tons of cane per acre. The decrease from using small seed canes 
was greater in the first crop, or ‘‘ plant cane,” than in the second 
crop, or “ stubble cane.”’ 

However, it is a general rule that plants grown from 
seed show greater differences among themselves than do 
the same kinds of plants when propagated from buds. 
Taking advantage of this, selection is made of those seed- 
ling canes which show especially desirable qualities, and 
these strains are thereafter propagated by planting the 
canes in the usual way, thus retaining and perpetuating 
the quality desired. The planting of true seed is now the 
first step in the usual method of bringing into existence 
new varieties of sugar-cane. 


ComPoOsITION 


472. Proportion of parts of the cane. — At the Louisi- 
ana Sugar Station, for each ton of stripped cane of the 


492 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Red or Purple variety there was found about three quar- 
ters of a ton of tops, leaves, and roots. Nearly 90 per 
cent of the weight of the stripped cane may consist of 
juice. However, the small mills having only three rollers 
usually extract only about half of the total juice. 


The large and powerful mills connected with sugar-houses 
extract from 75 to 80 per cent of the weight of the cane as juice. 

A ton of stripped cane is expected to yield between 150 and 
180 pounds of sugar. Exact data for the yield of sirup are not 
abundant, but the output may be roughly estimated at 12 to 
15 gallons per ton of stripped cane crushed in small, poor mills, 
or as much as 22 gallons in gocd mills in Louisiana. 


473. Relative composition of sugar-cane in the sugar- 
belt and in the coastal pine-belt. — The sandy uplands of 
the coastal pine-belt of the United States afford a cane fully 
as rich in sucrose, or crystallizable sugar, as the canes of 
Louisiana, the sucrose usually ranging from 10.50 to 14 
percent. But the shorter season in the pine-belt makes the 
percentage of glucose, or non-crystallizable sugar, greater 
here than in Louisiana. This higher glucose content would 
be a great disadvantage in manufacturing sugar, since glu- 
cose not only fails to crystallize, but its presence also causes 
some of the sucrose to fail to make sugar. 

On the other hand, this high percentage of glucose is a 
positive advantage in sirup making, because the greater 
the amount of this substance the smaller is the tendency 
for the sirup to crystallize, or to turn to sugar, — a change 
that is extremely undesirable. 

474. Removal of plant-food from the land. — At the 
Louisiana Sugar Station (Bul. No. 59) the following facts 
were learned as to the amount of plant-food removed by 


SUGAR-CANE 493 


a ton of stripped Red or Purple cane with the accompanying 
waste parts : — 


Pounps PER Ton or STRIPPED 

CANE 
Nitrogen are Potash 
In 1 ton of stripped canes . . . 1.08 1.04 1.22 
In leaves and tops (1376 lb.) . . 1.73 0.49 1.21 
Total in cane, leaves, and tops. 2.81 1.538 4 2.43 


In Louisiana, the tops and leaves are usually burned on the 
land, thus saving their quota of phosphoric acid and potash, but 
losing all of the nitrogen. Under these conditions the loss of 
plant-food represented by a crop of 25 tons per acre of stripped 
cane would*be 


Nitrogen . . ... .. . . +. 61 pounds 
Phosphoric acid. . . . . . . . 26 pounds 
Potash. . ... .. =. =. +. . 80 pounds 


When the leaves and tops are burned, sugar-cane is an exhaust- 
ing crop. It makes a demand for a large porportion of nitrogen 
in the fertilizer, or else for much nitrogen supplied by growing 
a preceding crop of cowpeas or velvet beans. Some analyses of 
cane grown in Hawaii and in foreign countries show a larger 
draft on the fertility of the soil than is indicated by the analyses 
of American cane. : 


SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


475. Soils. — The sugar-cane bears a large number 
of broad leaves and presents a very extensive surface en- 
gaged in transpiring water. Hence, the most important 
requirement in a soil for sugar-cane is that it shall afford 
a generous supply of moisture throughout the growing 


494 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


season. W. C. Stubbs says that the best soil for sugar- 
cane should be capable of holding 25'per cent of its weight 
of moisture. 

In a hilly country alluvial bottoms make the best soil 
for sugar-cane, provided they are well drained, and the soil 
somewhat sandy, but fertile. Especially in the northern 
part of the region where sugar-cane is grown, a stiff or 
poorly drained soil is unsuitable for this plant. On such 
soils, the yield of cane and the quality of the sirup are 
unsatisfactory. 

Soils for sugar-cane should be fertile, and well supplied 
with vegetable matter. 


Stubbs states that the soils of the sugar-belt of Louisiana con- 
tain on an average 


Lime . . ...... +... O.5 per cent 
Potash ....... . . . O04 per cent 
Phosphoric acid . .. . . . . O.1 per cent 


He calculates that if the entire growth were removed from the 
land, a soil of this composition contains enough of the above 
fertilizer constituents for the following number of crops, each of 
25 tons of cane, besides tops and leaves : — 


Nitrogen for... ...... 70 crops 
Phosphoric acid for . .. . . . 150 crops 
Potash for / 2. o™. ow 2)... ©) 6888 crops 
Lime for ..... . . . . . 1250 crops 


As a matter of fact, the yield would decline to an unprofitable 
amount long before any one form of plant-food would be com- 
pletely exhausted. 


476. Uplands for cane. — Most of the uplands on which 
sugar-cane is sometimes grown east of the Mississippi 
River are much more sandy, and hence much more de- 


\ 


SUGAR-CANE 495 


ficient in plant-food, than the soils of the sugar-belt of 
Louisiana. Therefore, on such upland the yield of cane 
per acre is usually lighter. However, there is partial com- 
pensation in the fact that cane grown on the pine lands 
is ordinarily richer in total sugars than cane grown on 
the alluvial lands in Louisiana. 

477. Fertilizers. — Under the system generally prac- 
ticed in Louisiana, the tops and leaves are annually burned 
on the field, thus returning to the soil a part of the phos- 
phoric acid and potash, but robbing the soil of practically 
all of the nitrogen contained in the above-ground part 
of the plant. Therefore, the principal fertilizer constituent 
needed is nitrogen. Experiments at the Louisiana Sugar 
Station have indicated that as much as 48 pounds of nitro- 
gen per acre can be applied with profit in the form of com- 
mercial fertilizers. This amount is contained in about 340 
pounds of nitrate of soda or in larger amounts of cotton- 
seed meal, dried blood, or tankage. An application of 36 
pounds of phosphoric acid per acre was found to be suffi- 
cient for Louisiana soils. This amount is contained in 
about 250 pounds of acid phosphate. Louisiana experi- 
ments showed that cane grown on the soils of the sugar- 
belt needed but little, if any, potash. No fertilizer was 
found to influence notably the percentage of sugar in the - 
juice, when the fertilizer was used in moderation on rich 
alluvial soils. 

Part of the commercial fertilizer is advantageously ap- 
plied before the planting of the cane, and a part may be 
reserved for application soon after growth begins. If 
nitrogenous fertilizer is applied too late in the summer, it 
delays the ripening of the cane, and hence reduces the yield 


496 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


of sugar, or injures the quality of sirup. Phosphates tend 
to hasten the ripening of cane, as also of other plants. 

478. Source of nitrogen. —- The demands for a large 
amount of nitrogen are met by the planters of Louisiana by 
plowing under, every third or fourth year, a luxuriant 
growth of cowpeas, usually grown in the corn in rotation 
with sugar-cane. In the pine-belt east of the Mississippi 
River, nitrogen should be supplied by plowing under, 
the year before planting cane, a luxuriant growth of vel- 
vet beans or of the Iron variety of cowpeas. 

479. Fertilizer experiments with cane in the pine-belt. — 
An extensive series of fertilizer experiments was conducted 
for two years by the United States Department of Agri- 
culture on sandy pine land in the southern part of Georgia. 


This field had been in cultivation for a number of years. 
When cane was not preceded by a soil-improving crop, the 
results were as follows : — 

(1) The fertilizer formula that can be recommended as the 
result of these tests consists of 


600 pounds high-grade acid phosphate, 
100 pounds cotton-seed meal, 
300 pounds nitrate of soda, 
_100 pounds sulfate or muriate of potash, 
1100 pounds, total per acre. 


Such a fertilizer would contain about 86 pounds of available 
phosphoric acid, 50 pounds of nitrogen, and 50 pounds of potash, 
and would analyze approximately as follows : — 


8.0 per cent of available phosphoric acid, 
4.5 per cent of nitrogen, 
4.5 per cent of potash. 


In these tests 1200 pounds, and even 2000 pounds, of a com- 
plete fertilizer was more profitable than 800 pounds on sandy 


SUGAR-CANE 497 


soil not previously improved. However, 800 pounds was suffi- 
cient on a similar soil where the entire growth of velvet beans 
had been plowed under a few months before planting the cane. 

(2) These quantities of fertilizer were found more effective 
when divided into two applications, one before planting and one 
late in May, than when all the fertilizer was used at the time of 
planting. 

(3) As a source of nitrogen, nitrate of soda was superior to 
cotton-seed meal; the nitrogen in cotton-seed meal was more 
effective and profitable than an equal weight of nitrogen in the 
form of cotton seed. 

(4) For land where a crop of velvet beans had been plowed 
under, the results justified the recommendation of an applica- 
tion of 

1100 pounds of high-grade acid phosphate, 
100 pounds nitrate of soda, 

_100 pounds muriate of potash, 

1800 pounds, total per acre. 


This mixture would analyze about 
11.5 per cent available phosphoric acid, 
1.1 per cent nitrogen, 
4.0 per cent potash. 

480. Forms of plant-food for sugar-cane.—It is a 
common practice among the farmers of the cotton-belt 
who grow cane on a small scale, to fertilize it with 25 to 
60 bushels of cotton seed per acre at the time of planting, 
in addition to some commercial fertilizer. At prices 
of cotton seed prevailing in recent years, the necessary 
nitrogen can be supplied more economically in the form 
of commercial fertilizer, and still more economically by 
plowing under a preceding crop of cowpeas, velvet beans, 
or other soil-improving plant. The use of much stable 
manure, while not unusual, is apt to give the sirup a dark 


color and inferior flavor. 
: 2k 


498 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


For plants like sugar-cane, in which a high quality of 
product is important, it is usually regarded as better to 
employ sulfate of potash than muriate of potash or kainit. 
However, this point needs further investigation. 

481. Summary regarding fertilization of cane. — On 
soil not previously enriched, sugar-cane requires a fertilizer 
rich in nitrogen. Potash is needed on the sandier lands, 
but apparently not on the rich alluvial soils of Louisiana. 
Phosphoric acid should generally be supplied, but acid 
phosphate need not constitute so large a proportion of the 
fertilizer for cane as for cotton. 


CutturaL MeErTHops 

482. Propagating material. — Sugar-cane is propagated 
by planting the stripped stalk, from the buds or eyes of 
which grow suckers. In the sugar-belt the stubble of cane 
lives through the winter, so that there cane is usually 
grown two or three years in succession from a single plant- 
ing. In the tropics one planting serves for many years. 

In the greater part of the American sirup-belt, the stub- 
ble is so often killed that a good stand from this source 
is not expected. Yet at least as far north as Montgomery, 
Alabama, a small portion of the stubble lives through 
the winter, and this amount can be increased by plowing 
two furrows over the stubble before killing frosts occur 
in the fall. In this region the plants grown from stubble 
cane are usually small and short-jointed. Hence, stubble 
cane here is usually not ground, but used as seed material 
for the next crop. 

483. Preparation of -the land in Louisiana. — A crop 
of cowpeas grown with corn is plowed under with four-, 


SUGAR-CANE 499 


six-, or eight-horse plows in August or September. Since 
the cane fields are flat and wet, drainage is here a most 
important matter. To improve the drainage, the land 
is thrown into high beds early in the fall, and about a 
month after the land was first plowed. These beds are 
usually 5 to 7 feet wide. Plowing is deep. Water-fur- 
rows are opened with a double moldboard plow, as an 
additional step in draining the land. 

Throughout the season these beds are kept high and the 
water-furrows kept open. To better facilitate drainage, 
“quarter drains” are run across the rows at suitable 
intervals at a depth of about six inches below the level 
of the water-furrows. ‘These “ quarter drains” empty 
into narrow, deep ditches, which are about 100 or 125 
feet apart and parallel to the rows of cane. Tile drains 
are in many respects preferable to open ditches, but in 
the sugar-belt they are liable to become stopped by sedi- 
ment, deposited when water is backed up in them. 

484. Planting in Louisiana. — In the top of each bed 
a furrow is opened with a double moldboard plow, the 
bottom of which should not be as deep as the water-furrow. 
In this newly opened trench is planted a double row of 
cane. The amount of “seed” required by this method of 
planting is about four tons per acre. The cane is then 
covered by the use of a disk cultivator. Fall-planted cane 
is covered with a considerable depth of earth as a protec- 
tion from cold in winter. 

In Louisiana, planting begins as early in the fall as the 
cane reaches sufficient maturity for the buds to germinate. 
It continues at least until the grinding season begins in 
November, when the laborers and teams are needed for 


500 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


the cutting and hauling of the crop. Whatever areas are 
not planted in the fall or early winter are planted in Feb- 
ruary or March, using cane that has been protected 
throughout the winter in windrows. 

Fall planting is usually considered better than spring 
planting, the former affording an earlier growth and a 


Fic. 210.— One Form or Cane LoapEr. 


larger harvest. In Louisiana the entire uncut stalk is 
used for seed. In some warm countries the tops are 
planted as soon as cut, thus utilizing for planting that part 
of the plant which is of least value for sugar-making. 
485. Planting in the pine-belt.— The land is plowed 
into beds 5 or 6 feet wide. In the water-furrow is strewn 
commercial fertilizer, or frequently 25 to 50 bushels of 


SUGAR-CANE 501 


cotton seed per acre. Cotton seed is usually so high in 
price that other nitrogenous fertilizers may be profitably 
substituted for it. When cotton seed is used, it should 
be supplemented by acid phosphate, or phosphate and 
potash, mixed in the furrow with the seed. Where much 
fertilizer is used, a furrow should be made through it, so 
as to mix it with the soil, thus preventing the eyes of the 
cane from coming into immediate contact with the ferti- 
lizer ; this is because the eyes or buds may be killed by con- 
tact with certain fertilizers. A single line of cane, the 
ends of the stalks slightly overlapping, is then planted 
in the water-furrow. The cane is covered and a list or 
bed formed above it. This covers the cane so deeply that 
it is desirable to remove a part of the soil before the young 
plants come up. This is best done by running a spike- 
tooth harrow on the rows and parallel with them. This 
removes the excess of soil, kills sprouting weeds, and, by 
retaining moisture below the layer of loosened soil, causes 
an increased number of eyes on the planted cane to grow. 

Planting is done chiefly in the first half of March, but 
in parts of Florida, fall planting is sometimes practiced. 

486. Tillage. — In Louisiana in the spring, a part of the 
soil is removed with the hoe from above the fall-planted 
cane and the row “barred off’? and fertilized. Then 
the soil is thrown toward the rows. Subsequent tillage 
is effected chiefly by the use of a disk cultivator, supple- 
mented by the use of some other suitable implement in 
‘the middles, or water-furrows, which must be kept open 
continuously to afford drainage. 

In the sandy lands, the more common implements of 
tillage are the scrape or sweep and various styles of one- 


Z 


502 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


horse cultivators. Here there is no need to use the hoe 
to remove the surplus soil, for on sandy land this can be 
done with a harrow before the young plants appear. Fre- 
quent cultivations and occasional hoeings are given up to 
the time when the cane affords shade enough to keep down 
weeds and grass. After the first one or two cultivations, 
the depth should be shallow. On well-drained soils in the 
pine-belt, there is not the same necessity as in the sugar- 
belt for making the beds high. 

In Louisiana when a crop is grown from the stubble, the 
dried tops and leaves of the preceding crop are burned 
in winter; the first tilling then consists in loosening the 
soil with the “stubble digger.” Previous to this, any 
stubble on which the upper eyes have been injured is cut 
off below the surface of the ground by the “ stubble 
shaver.” Fertilizer is applied in a furrow near the line 
of stubble, and the soil is then thrown back towards the 
row. 


Dr. W. C. Stubbs thus describes the usual steps in the culti- 
vation of sugar-cane in Louisiana: ‘‘ As soon as a stand is secured 
jn either plant or stubble cane, the dirt is returned and the mid- 
dies split out with a two-horse plow and the latter then sent to 
the tool-room, to remain until the next season. The first culti- 
vation is made by straddling the cane with the disk cultivator, 
using three unequal disks, running them very shallow and throw- 
ing very little dirt to the cane. The middle or diamond culti- 
vator follows, working completely the middle of the row. In 
this operation, both mules walk between the cane. 

‘““The next cultivation is made in the same way, or if the cane 
has grown considerably and requires more dirt, the three unequal 
disks are removed and two or three of equal size are substituted. 
These disks can be dished to throw much or little dirt. Having 
displaced the three unequal disks with those of equal size, the 


SUGAR-CANE 503 


cultivation continues with them, followed immediately by the 
diamond or middle cultivator until ‘lay by’ is desired. Then 
a single large disk is substituted on either side for the smaller 
equal ones on the disk cultivator, and the two forward shovels 
on the middle cultivator are turned up, leaving only three for 
work, and with these the cane is laid by.”’ 


487. Burning. — The burning of the dried tops and 
leaves results in the loss of all the nitrogen, but is consid- 
ered advisable in the sugar-belt of Louisiana as a means 
(1) of destroying many cane borers; (2) of causing the land 
to dry out more rapidly than if the litter were left on it; 
and (3) of disposing of the unrotted vegetable matter 
that would interfere with cultivation. 


Suggested system of cultivation in Cuba.— Earle (‘‘ Southern 
Agriculture,’ pp. 133-135) recommends for Cuba the following 
as an improvement over the system generally practiced in that 
country in the care of cane grown from stubble : — 

‘* As soon as the cane is cut, take an ordinary horse hay-rake 
and drive so as to cross the cane rows, taking the trash from one 
middle and dumping it in the next one. This quickly and cheaply 
clears half the ground so that it can be plowed and cultivated, and 
it provides a double mulch. of trash for the other half, so thick 
and heavy that practically no grass or weeds can come through, 
and these middles will require no further attention for the season. 

‘“* Keep the alternate middles well cultivated until the begin- 
ning of the rainy season, and then sow them down to cowpeas. ... 
The next year, of course, the middles are reversed, so that all 
the soil is thoroughly aerated and pulverized every two years... . 
Plowed strips make an efficient fire break;... (fire) is an enemy 
more dreaded than any other by the Cuban planter.” 


488. Rotation for sugar-cane. — As a means of restor-. 
ing the nitrogen removed in the stalks and in the burning 
of the leaves, the sugar planters of Louisiana grow and 


504 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Fic. 211.— A Fretp or VELver Beans. 


One of the best legumes for improving very sandy soils. 


plow under cowpeas before planting cane. Their usual 
rotation is : — 
First year: Corn with broadcast cowpeas sown as early 


SUGAR-CANE 505 


as practicable and at the rate of 1 to 3 bushels per 
acre. 

Second year: Sugar-cane from planted canes. 

Third year: Sugar-cane from the old stubble. If the 
stand of stubble is good and the land very rich, a third 
crop of sugar-cane may be harvested, this also springing 
from the old stubble. 

The Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station found that 
when the entire growth of cowpeas was plowed under as 
usual, the subsequent yield was larger by 7.4 tons of cane 
per acre than where only the stubble of the cowpeas was 
used as fertilizer. 

In the pine-belt north of Florida, annual planting of sugar- 
cane is generally necessary. In this region sugar-cane 
should usually be preceded either by the Iron variety of 
cowpeas or by a crop of velvet beans (Fig. 211), plowed 
under for fertilizer. Since the sugar-cane plant is attacked 
by nematode worms, this plant should not be grown on 
land where nematode worms and cotton wilt are found. 
(See paragraphs 385 and 380.) 


VARIETIES 


489. Standard varieties.—- By far the most popular 
variety in the pine-belt is the purple or red cane. The 
striped, or true ribbon cane, is used to a limited extent. 
For sale in the local markets for chewing, the green variety 
is most popular, and the single stalks of this usually sell 
- at about double the price of other kinds. Green cane is 
but little used for sirup-making, (1) because this variety 
matures later than purple cane, and the yield of sirup is 
believed to be less; (2) because green cane is more easily 


‘ 


506 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


injured while in the seed-bed; and (3) because it is re- 
garded as less able to withstand drought. 

490. Other varieties. —- In the sugar-belt red or purple 
cane and striped cane are the standard kinds. In recent 
years two seedling canes introduced by the Louisiana 
Experiment Station have been extensively grown in Louisi- 
ana. These are D 74 and D 95. Both have afforded 
in Louisiana greater yields, a greater per cent of crystalliz- 
able sugar, and higher purity than the ordinary purple 
cane. 

D 95 is a large, erect, purple cane. It has long joints, 
large stalks, and pale green foliage; it “suckers” or 
“rattoons ”’ well and is fully as hardy toward cold as 
ordinary purple cane. 

D 741s a tall, erect, green cane, with long joints, and a 
deep green foliage. It ‘‘ suckers’ abundantly and pro- 
duces large stalks and heavy yields. 

The leaves of both of the above varieties are upright in 
growth and adhere closely to the stalk, which habit may 
cause them to be topped too low. The yield of these . 
varieties is greater than that of purple cane; the sugar 
produced has been found to average nearly $30 more in 
value (La. Bul. 78, p. 21) than that from an acre of ordi- 
nary cane. Moreover, these varieties are more easily 
harvested, being straighter than ordinary cane. 

The Louisiana Experiment Station made many field 
and sugar-house tests, comparing red or purple with striped 
cane. The striped cane had the following advantages : 
The stalks grew slightly larger, affording a large yield of 
cane; the stalks were softer and somewhat more easily 
crushed and manufactured into sugar. 


SUGAR-CANE 507 


The red or purple cane was hardier and multiplied 
better, producing about 16 per cent more suckers than 
did striped cane. The stalks of the former were smaller, 
due to the thicker stand. 

491. Japanese sugar-cane.— This cane is quite dis- 
tinct from the other kinds generally cultivated in the 
United States. The canes are.more slender, which makes 
stripping of leaves more expensive and thus decreases 
the value of this variety for the manufacture of sirup. 
Japanese cane is much hardier toward cold than other 
varieties. The stubble, even as far north as latitude 33, 
puts out a sufficient number of shoots to insure a stand 
the next year. A single planting may suffice for a number 
of years. Only a thin stand is needed at the beginning 
of the season, since this cane suckers very profusely, fifty 
or more stems sometimes arising from the same cluster. 
Its hardiness makes Japanese cane available for sirup 
even above the central part of the Gulf States. However, 
its best use here is as a green soiling food for live-stock, 
especially for hogs. 


HARVESTING AND UsEs 


492. Stripping, topping, and cutting (Fig. 212).— Where 
cane is grown for sugar, the plant is mature enough 
to be stripped of its leaves when the lower leaves have ° 
become brown and partly loosened on the stalk. Another 
rule as to the best time for cutting cane for sugar-making 
is to wait, if practicable, until the fresh juice is thick enough 
to show a test of 8 degrees on the Baumé spindle. When 
the usual time for killing frost draws near, stripping and 
harvesting must be done, even though only a few leaves 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


508 


“VNVISIOO'T NI GNVO-HVOOG ONILLAD— ‘SIS ‘Ol 


SUGAR-CANE 509 


have loosened. Every additional week during which the 
cane grows now adds to its percentage of crystallizable 
sugar (sucrose) and to the purity of the juice and ease of 
manufacture into sugar. 

Stripping and topping are usually done while the plants 
are standing. However, in the sirup-belt, the expectation 
of frost sometimes makes it necessary to cut the cane before 
stripping. In this case, the canes are piled and protected 
by their leaves and tops until the stalks can be stripped 
and ground. After lying thus in piles for a week or more, 
the leaves somewhat loosen their hold on the stalk, but 
this is more than overcome by the extra labor required 
in handling the cut stalks while stripping the leaves. 

For stripping the standing plants of cane, a patented stripper 


enables the laborer in the pine-belt to work about twice as rapidly 
as by using only his hands, but the stalk is not stripped quite so 


Fig. 218.— A Device ror Stripping THE LEAVES FROM SUGAR-CANE. 


clean of green leaf-sheaths as by handwork. A stripper (Fig. 
213) consists of a wooden handle, to one end of which are fastened 
two curved, flexible, dull blades, so arranged that they easily 
spring apart to admit the stalk between them. By a thrust 
against the stalk it slips into the space made by the curve in the 
blades; then a downward stroke removes the leaves from each 
side of the plant. 

At the time of stripping, the tops also are removed, usually 
by a cane knife, at a point just above the uppermost joint that 
is mature or colored. The cut is made higher up for sirup 
making than for sugar making, because the uncrystallizable sugar 


510 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


contained in the upper joints is not harmful in sirup, but unde- 
sirable in the manufacture of sugar. After being stripped and 
topped, the canes are cut near the ground with cane knives or 
sharp hoes, and piled at convenient intervals, ready to be hauled 
to the mill. 

In a single test (U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Chem., Bul. 75, p. 29), 
it was found by chemical analysis that stripping ten days before 
topping and harvesting had the effect of reducing the percentage 
of total sugar. It probably also decreased the weight of cane. 

By the use of ropes or hay slings laid in the wagon before 
loading the cane, unloading can be hastened, the large bundles 
being removed from the wagons by cranes. 


In the pine-belt, stalks intended for planting are dug 
rather than cut. This is in order to save the eyes at the 
base of the stalk and to decrease the danger of decay of 
the cut cane. Experiments are needed to determine 
whether the extra labor of digging is justifiable and whether 
the cut cane would keep as well as dug cane if the ends were 
dipped in tar or in some disinfectant. 

498. Bedding the cane. — In the pine-belt, before the 
occurrence of the first killing frost in the fall, that part 
of the crop intended for seed cane is dug, with its adhering 
leaves and tops, and piled in beds as follows : — 


A layer of cane is placed on the ground, and over this is placed 
another layer, its roots also resting on the ground, the leaves and 
tops of this second layer covering most of the first layer. In 
this way the bed is formed, each layer projecting the lower part 
of its stalks about 10 inches beyond the layer beneath, the tops 
and leaves of each layer covering the canes below after the manner 
of shingles. The width of the bed is usually 6 to 10 feet, and the 
length varies with the amount of seed cane to be kept. 

When all the cane has been put in, it is covered with cane 
leaves, and over all is thrown a layer of earth, completely cover- 


= 


« SUGAR-CANE 611 


ing the bed to a depth of 3 inches in the southern part of the 
cotton-belt and slightly deeper farther north. 

A rule often followed is to save one sixth of the crop to plant 
an equal area the next year, The stalks saved for seed usually 
include all those that are too small to be profitably ground. 


494, Harvesting sugar-cane in Louisiana. — Hatvest- 
ing is done by hand, the laborers at one operation topping, 
stripping, and cutting the standing cane, using a cane 
knife. Cane loaders (Fig. 210) are now widely used in 
Louisiana. These usually consist of a swinging boom 
mounted on a heavy wagon; a grapple fork, lowered from 
the end of the boom and operated by a small gasoline 
engine, lifts the cane from the heaps on the ground to the 
carts, or from the carts into the railroad cars. 

Several cane harvesters have been patented, but up to 
1910 none of them has come into general use. One great 
difficulty in securing a satisfactory cane harvester is the 
crooked condition of many of the stalks. 

There are elaborate devices for unloading cars at the 
sugar factories and for carrying the canes thence to the 
rollers of the mills. Much of the crop is transported by 

“rail from the fields to the sugar house. 

495. Time of harvesting. — That part of the crop in- 
tended to be planted in the fall is cut early, chiefly before 
the grinding season begins, and is promptly planted. The 
canes intended for planting in the spring are cut later, 
but before being injured by frost, and immediately placed, 
without being topped, in windrows in every second water- 
furrow, the tops and leaves of the uppermost plants 
covering and protecting the stems of those below, lapping 
like shingles. 


512 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS ¢ 


Furrows are then thrown on the windrows and the cover- 
ing of earth is completed by the use of hoes. In spring 
the surplus soil is removed, and the cane is pulled out by 
driving suitable implements across the windrows. 

This method of keeping planting cane in Louisiana 
differs from the practice in the pine-belt. 

496. Yields of cane. — The average yield for Louisiana 
is about 20 to 22 tons per acre; 25 tons is a fair yield and 
many fields produce 30 tons or more per acre. A good 
average yield of sugar is 150 to 160 pounds per ton, giving 
an average of more than 3000 pounds per acre, and under 
favorable conditions and in special cases, a yield of 4500 
pounds of sugar. An average yield of sugar is accom- 
panied by a yield of molasses amounting to about 100 to 
120 gallons per acre. In making sirup alone an average 
yield in the alluvial lands of Louisiana would be 500 to 
600 gallons per acre. 

In the sandy uplands of the pine-belt, the yield is usually 
smaller, or 12 to 15 tons of cane per acre. However, on 
the sandier soil the cane is richer in total sugars. In this 
region, it is a poor yield or a poor mill that affords less 
than 300 gallons of sirup per acre. Under favorable 
conditions and with good mills, yields above 600 gallons 
per acre are sometimes made. 

In Hawaii, by means of irrigation and the liberal use 
of fertilizers, yields of more than 100 tons of cane and 
24,000 pounds of sugar per acre have been produced. The 
average yield of the irrigated plantations in Hawaii is 
said to be 7 tons of sugar per acre. 

497. Uses. — Sugar-cane is more extensively used for 
the production of sugar than for any other purpose. This 


SUGAR-CANE 513 


is its almost exclusive use in countries where the warm 
seasons are long, as in Louisiana, Hawaii, and Cuba. In 
those regions where the climate is warm enough for the 
growing of sugar-cane, but where fall frosts occur too early 
for the plant to reach the degree of maturity necessary for 
profitable sugar-making, this plant is used for the produc- 
tion of sirup. Since, in the United States, sugar-cane can 
be grown for sirup over an area considerably larger than 
that suitable for profitable sugar production, a larger num- 
ber of farmers are probably engaged in growing this plant 
for sirup than for sugar. However, the average sirup 
maker grows but a few acres at most, while in the sugar- 
belt, single plantations include hundreds or even thou- 
sands of acres of cane. 

Sirup is the product obtained by boiling the juice from 
the cane. Molasses is a by-product in the manufacture 
of sugar, and, in its unadulterated form, much less exten- 
sively used on the table than is sirup. Blackstrap is the 
name of a very inferior grade of molasses, chiefly valuable 
as food for live-stock. 

The chief difficulty in extending the market for sirup 
lies in the fact that there is such a wide variation in the 
quality of sirup made by different farmers. Certain im- 
provements in the methods of making sirup as shown in 
later paragraphs would result in a more uniform product 
and in an increased demand. 

498. By-products. — The tops and green leaves of sugar- 
cane make a satisfactory food for live-stock. The crushed 
stalks, called “ bagasse,”’ are seldom utilized in the pine- 
belt, but they are used as fuel in the sugar houses. From 


this material also paper has been successfully made. 
2L 


514 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


SrruP-MakInG 


499. The equipment. — Since the making of sugar is a 
highly specialized branch of manufacturing, and not a part 
of farm work, a discussion of sugar making would be out 
of place in this book. On the other hand, the making 
of sirup is usually a part of the farmer’s operations ; hence 
it will be briefly discussed here. 

The usual equipment for the making of sirup is not 
expensive. It consists essentially of a mill for crushing 
the cane and of a shallow pan, heated by furnace heat or 
by steam, for evaporating the juice of the cane down to 
the density required in sirup. 

The small roller mills operated by a single horse often 
extract only about half of the juice, thus causing an enor- 
mous loss. A first-class three-roller mill, properly set, 
will extract 60 per cent of the weight of the cane or 70 
per cent of the total juice. More powerful mills with a 
larger number of rollers and usually driven by steam, may 
express more than 80 per cent of the juice. 

The evaporator is usually a rectangular pan placed above 
a home-made furnace, in which wood furnishes the neces- 
sary heat. The bottom of the pan consists of a sheet of 
copper or galvanized iron, and the sides are usually of 
wood. [In the pan are three divisions, separated by par- 
titions, in which are gates or openings intended to regulate 
the flow of juice from one compartment to the next one. 

When steam is available, it is more convenient to cook 
the sirup by means of the heat given off by coils of steam 
pipes laid in the bottom of the evaporating-pan. The 
advantage of steam heat consists in the ability to regulate, 


SUGAR-CANE 515 


by a cut-off, the amount of heat, and thus to avoid any 
danger of scorching the sirup. 

After being expressed by grinding, the fresh juice is 
strained. In addition, it is sometimes strained through 
a barrel of black moss. From the strainer the juice is 
conveyed to the evaporator. Here it is heated rather 
slowly. Heat causes the solid impurities to coagulate or 
collect in masses of scum. This scum is removed before 
boiling begins, and repeated skimmings remove all other 
scum that rises. The boiling is continued in the next two 
compartments of the evaporator until the hot sirup has 
a ropy consistency, or, better still, until a Baumé hy- 
drometer, dropped into a slender deep vessel of hot sirup, 
sinks to the mark on the scale indicating a density of 
34°. This instrument, costing only about $1, is a far 
safer guide as to when to stop the cooking than is the 
eye, even of an experienced sirup maker. The use of a 
hydrometer is essential for all who would make a uniform 
grade of sirup. 

500. Preventing sirup from turning to sugar. — The 
first aim in making sirup is to produce an article of an 
agreeable flavor and nearly clear, or of bright color. The 
use of immature cane or of cane injudiciously fertilized 
results in injury to the flavor and appearance of the sirup. 

-Another important aim in making sirup is to make a 
product that will not, at a later date, crystallize or turn to 
sugar. The larger the proportion of glucose (or non- 
erystallizable sugar) in the sirup the less is the danger of 
the sirup turning to sugar. 


Conditions favorable to a large proportion of glucose, and hence 
to a sirup not easily crystallized, are the following : — 


516 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


(1) Cane not thoroughly ripe in the upper joints, that is, cane 
topped rather high, since it is these partially ripened internodes 
that contain the largest proportion of noncrystallizable sugar. 

(2) Juice that is slightly acid, as indicated by its changing 
blue litmus paper to a reddish color. If the perfectly fresh 
juice is not distinctly acid, it becomes acid after standing for a 
time, and after being repeatedly strained, by which it is brought 
into contact with acid-forming germs. 

(3) Slow cooking is desirable, since crystallizable sugar may be 
changed to glucose when heated for a long time in the presence 
of an acid, as in the acid juice. 

(4) Stopping the cooking before the sirup becomes very con- 
centrated checks the tendency to crystallize. 

(5) Exclusion of air, by canning or bottling while hot, is an 
effective means by which sirup is kept from turning to sugar. 


501. Effects of canning. — The sirup that commands 
the highest price is that which, while still bciling hot, is 
placed in cans, jugs, bottles, or other air-tight vessels, 
and promptly sealed, using solder on tins or sealing wax 
on top of the corks of jugs or bottles. 

The reason for placing sirup while hot in air-tight 
vessels is to prevent the entrance of germs, which would 
cause the sirup to ferment. Intense heat destroys what- 
ever germs may be already present in the empty vessels. 
However, it is best first to sterilize these vessels, that, is, » 
to kill the germs in them, by the use of steam. It has been 
found possible to preserve sirup in an unfermented con- 
dition in tight barrels which had been sterilized by steam 
and sealed while the sirup was still very hot. However, 
it is usually not possible to keep barreled sirup in a com- 
pletely sterile condition. Hence, barreled sirup should 
be consumed in winter, while that preserved in sealed cans, 
jugs, or bottles may be safely kept for use in warm weather. 


SUGAR-CANE 517 


502. Use of chemicals in sirup-making. — Certain 
simple chemical substances are freely used in the manu- | 
facture of sirup. The clear color and the degree of acidity 
desirable to prevent sugaring of unsealed sirup are some- 
times attained by passing the juice downward in thin 
layers through a box or barrel in which it is exposed to the 
ascending fumes of sulfur, burned in a small furnace con- 
nected with the bottom of the sulfuring vessel. 

Lime, slacked to a thin paste, is often added to clear 
the juice by causing the vegetable impurities in the juice 
to settle. Care is taken not to add enough lime to over- 
come the acidity of the juice unless means of overcoming 
the effects of lime are at hand. If the juice should become 
alkaline, its acidity may be restored by the addition of a 
little of a preparation called “ clariphos,”’ (a pure form 
of phosphate of lime, which also assists in clarifying the 
juice). 


History AND STATISTICS 


503. Early cultivation. — Sugar-cane is a native of 
Asia and probably of India. It was cultivated in India 
and China long before the Christian era. Yet not until 
after the discovery of America did sugar become a very 
important article of consumption among the inhabitants 
of Europe and America. The ancient Greeks and Romans 
seem to have lacked the luxury of sugar. 

From Asia, sugar-cane was carried to the islands of 
Oceania and to Africa. The Portuguese carried it to the 
Madeira and Canary Islands, southwest of Europe, whence, 
soon after the discovery of the New World, it was brought 
to the West Indies. 


518 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


From the West Indies, sugar-cane was introduced into 
Louisiana and Florida about the middle of the eighteenth 
century. 

The first sugar from sugar-cane in what is now the 
United States was made in Louisiana in 1791, but so small 
was the quantity that the product was rather an article 
of curiosity than of use. In 1795 sugar was first manu- 
factured in Louisiana on an extensive scale. De Bore, the 
pioneer in sugar-making in the United States, made a 
fortune in growing sugar-cane and in manufacturing sugar 
on his plantation in Louisiana. 

504. Production. — From this small beginning the 
production of. sugar increased so rapidly that at the be- 
ginning of the Civil War, within two thirds of a century 
after the first sugar was manufactured in Louisiana, the 
annual production of sugar in that state had reached about 
a quarter of a million tons. The Civil War reduced the 
yield to a small fraction of this amount. At the end of 
the first decade of the twentieth century Louisiana was 
producing annually about a third of a million tons of sugar. 
During this decade the sugar industry in the southern part 
of Texas has developed rapidly. 

Hawaii produces somewhat more sugar, and Porto Rico 
somewhat less, than does Louisiana. Cuba manufac- 
tures considerably more sugar than the total product 
of all the American states and territories just named. Cuba 
and Java are the world’s largest producers of sugar from 
sugar-cane. 

In recent years the world’s annual crop of sugar of all 
kinds is about 14,000,000 tons, more than half of which 
is made from sugar-beets. Sugar-cane affords about 


SUGAR-CANE 519 


5,000,000 tons of sugar annually. Sorghum, the sugar 
palm, and the sugar-maple tree afford relatively insig- 
nificant amounts of sugar. , 
505. Home consumption.— The United States con- 
sumes a larger quantity of sugar in proportion to popula- 
tion than any other country; it produces in the Southern 
States and in Hawaii and Porto Rico, less than half of 
the sugar consumed in the United States. Therefore, 
there is room for immense expansion in this country in 
the growing of sugar-cane for the manufacture of sugar. 


ENEMIES 


506. Insects.— The cane-borer (Diatrea saccharalis) 
is the principal insect enemy of sugar-cane in Louisiana, 
and this pest is widely distributed in cane-growing coun- 
tries. It is the larva, or caterpillar form, of a yellowish 
moth. The full-grown larva measures about one and 
a quarter inches in length. The injury is done by boring 
into the stalks of cane. Sorghum, Johnson grass, and corn 
are also attacked ; this insect is also known as the “ larger 
corn-stalk borer.” 

The best treatment is merely preventive, and consists in 
burning the tops and other litter of the cane in those regions 
where this borer is found, and in destroying any Johnson 
grass in and near the cane-fields. Since the borer has 
not ‘been reported extensively, if at all, in the American 
sirup-belt, where cane is not grown for several years 
in succession on the same land, care should be taken 
not to import this pest in seed canes from any infested 
region. 


520 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


The Southern grass-worm (Laphygma frugiperda) is some- 
times troublesome in Louisiana after overflows. Treatment 
consists in attaching a light piece of timber to the cultivating 
implement in such a way as to jar the cane, which causes the 
caterpillars to fall to the ground, where they are covered with 
soil by the cultivator. Dusting plants with one part Paris green 
to five parts of slacked lime is also recommended by Stubbs. 

The sugar-cane leaf-hopper occurs in Hawaii, having been 
accidentally introduced in seed canes from Australia. The 
method of combating it consists in the importation of its insect 
enemies or parasites. This leaf-hopper is not known in the 
United States. 


507. Diseases. — Red cane, a discoloration of the in- 
terior of the stem following cuts or bruises, is harmful if 
such injured canes are planted. 

There are several serious fungous and bacterial diseases 
of sugar-cane occurring in tropical countries. Among 
the means of escaping many of these are the selection of 
varieties that show the greatest resistance to these 
diseases. 


Root disease. — This is due to a fungus (Marismius sacchari), 
which may live from season to season in the soil or in the dead 
and decaying parts of the diseased cane plants. The disease 
may be shown above ground by the formation of a white, mold- 
like growth on the lower leaves. The plants appear as if suffering 
from severe drought, due to the loss of many of the small roots, 
killed by this disease. Preventive measures consist in burning 
the cane litter or diseased areas and planting canes free from 
disease. It is best for the canes for planting to be grown-in a 
special seed field, the ‘‘ seed cane’ for which has either been 
earefully examined, or perhaps disinfected (La. Expr. Sta., Bul. 
100). Any methods of improving conditions for the growth of 
cane, as drainage and good cultivation, minimize the injury from 
this disease. 


SUGAR-CANE 621 


LABORATORY EXERCISES 


(1) Count and record the number of true roots from a node 
just under the surface of the ground; also the number of dots on 
a node about a foot above the ground. Do roots develop from 
most of the dots? 

(2) Measure and record in order the length of each internode 
from the surface of the ground to the uppermost part of the stem. 

(8) Cut a cross section through a stalk of sugar-cane and make 
a drawing showing the relative number of bundles near the center 
and near the rind. 

(4) Dip the cut end of a cane bearing green leaves into diluted 
red ink, and afew hours later split the next few joints above, 
and trace the red liquid rising in the water vessels. Make a 
drawing of one such longitudinal section. 

(5) When a cane mill is next seen at work, note the dropping 
of the liquid from one end of the cane as soon as the roller presses 
the other end. 

(6) If cane that has been kept over winter or subjected to 
cold weather can be found, cut lengthwise through a live bud 
and through a dead bud, and make a drawing or description of 
the appearance of each. y 

(7) Wash away the soil from around a cluster of canes and 
attempt to determine which is the oldest and which the youngest 
cane in the cluster. 


LitERATURE 
General. ‘ ? 

Srusss, W. C. Sugar-cane. Vol. I. La. State Dept. Agr., 
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

Srusss, W. C., Biourn, R. E., and Dopson, W. R. La. Expr. 
Sta., Buls. Nos. 59, 66, 70, 78, 100. 

Earue, F. 8. Southern Agriculture. (The Macmillan Co.), 
New York, pp. 117-141. 

Ears, F. S. Cuba Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 2 (English Edition). 

Coss, N. A. Sugar-cane. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 
599-611. 


522 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Wicut, J. B. Sugar-cane. Association of Commissioners of 
Agr. of Southern States, Proceedings of Fourth Annual 
Meeting (1902), pp. 66-75. 


Manufacture of sirup. 


Ross, B. B. Ala. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 66, 103, 138. (All out 
of print.) 

Strocxsriper, H. BE. Fla. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 44. 

Ross, R. E., and McQuarriz, C. K. Fla. Farmers’ Institutes, 
Bul. No. 1. 

Witey, H. W., and others. U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Chem., 
Buls. Nos. 70, 75, 93, 103. 


CHAPTER XXX > 
TOBACCO — NIcoTIANA TABACUM 


Toxacco belongs to the nightshade family (Solanacee). 
This family also includes the Irish potato, tomato, and 
the Jimson weed. 

Tobacco is used chiefly for human consumption, the 
habit of chewing and smoking being general throughout 
a large part of the world. Snuff, insecticides, and some 
other articles are also manufactured from tobacco. The 
stems and other cheap by-products make valuable fer- 
tilizers. ; 

508. Description. — Tobacco is annual and makes its 
growth during the warm season. The plant has a stout 
stem, usually 4 to 7 feet high, from which grow large, thin 
leaves, which constitute the valuable part of the plant. 
The root system is rather shallow; the leaves vary in size 
and shape in different types and varieties of tobacco. 
They are arranged in eight vertical ranks, so that the 
ninth leaf is immediately above the first or lowest leaf, a 
fact which enables the farmer to top the plant to a definite 
number of leaves without stopping to count all of them. 

509. Distribution of tobacco.— The first settlers in 
America found the Indians cultivating tobacco, and this 
crop soon became the leading cash crop of the Virginia 


and Maryland colonists. It even became the medium 
523 


524 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


of exchange, taking the place of money. Tobacco is now 
extensively grown in certain restricted sections from Con- 
necticut to Texas. Among the Southern States Kentucky 
is the largest producer, followed by Virginia and North 
Carolina. In recent years, the production of a high-grade 
cigar tobacco has become a leading industry in the north- 
ern part of Florida and in other localities in the Gulf States. 

510. Composition. — All kinds of tobacco contain vary- 
ing quantities of the narcotic alkaloid, nicotine, which is 
a recognized poison. The heavier and stronger the leaf, 
the larger, as a rule, is the proportion of nicotine. 

All parts of the tobacco plant are rich in potash and 

nitrogen and also contain considerable amounts of phos- 
phoric acid. ‘Tobacco is an exhausting crop. 
“ §11. Soils and their relation to types of tobacco. — 
None of the ordinary crops of the farm is so much influ- 
enced in quality by the soil on which grown as is tobacco. 
For this reason tobacco culture is largely confined to re- 
stricted areas and to particular soils. An exact de- 
scription of the soils suited to each type is not easily 
made. In general, cigar tobacco and other kinds in 
which a thin leaf is desirable succeed best on rather 
light or sandy soils. On the other hand, heavy or 
dark tobacco is best suited to stiffer land. Burley tobacco 
is grown almost exclusively on limestone soils, chiefly in 
Kentucky and adjacent states. 

For most grades of tobacco, newly cleared land is pre- 
ferred, since an abundance of humus is desirable. For 
this reason, growers of this crop have cleared most of the 
forests from the best soils of the tobacco districts. 

The dark export tobacco of Virginia is largely grown 


TOBACCO 525 


on the reddish soils described as Cecil sandy loam and 
Cecil clay. 

Cuban cigar tobacco thrives best on gray sandy soils 
and on the Orangeburg series, consisting of a fine sandy 
loam, or clay loam, with stiffer, reddish clay-loam subsoil. 

For Sumatra tobacco in Florida, gray, sandy, hammock 
land, new and rich, is preferred. There are many other 
special kinds of soil suited to pasticular types of tobacco. 

512. Fertilizers. — As shown before, tobacco removes 
from the soil a large amount of potash and nitrogen. For 
this and for many other reasons (including the desirability 
that the plant should make a rapid and continuous growth), 
tobacco is liberally fertilized. The chief reliance is on 
commercial fertilizers. . 

The form in which potash is applied is especially im- 
portant. Muriate of potash and kainit should both be 
avoided, because of the large amount of chlorine found in 
both, which element is unfavorable to the burning quali- 
ties and other properties of tobacco. Instead, potash is 
best applied in the form of carbonate or sulfate of potash. 

513. Nitrogen supply. — Nitrogen may be applied in 
several forms: Organic nitrogen, supplied by cotton-seed 
meal, dried blood, etc., is a preferred form. Nitrate of 
soda is also used in moderate amounts. A mixture of 
organic nitrogen and of nitrate of soda is apparently 
preferable to either alone. Barnyard manure usually 
makes the leaf coarser than it would otherwise be; yet 
cow manure has been advised for shade-grown Sumatra 
tobacco in Florida, especially with the view to supplying 
humus and making the growth of the root system so rapid 
as to cause the production of new roots more rapidly than 


526 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


the nematode worms (paragraph 385) can destroy the older 
roots. 

514. Formula. — A fair proportion of acid phosphate 
is customary in all tobacco fertilizers, but an excess of 
this constituent has been found to injure the quality of 
the leaf. A complete fertilizer similar in composition to 
one in common use in North Carolina may be made as 
follows : — 3 


300 pounds acid phosphate per acre, 
50 pounds nitrate of soda, 
200 pounds dried blood, and 
150 pounds high-grade sulfate of potash. 


For shade-grown Sumatra tobacco, the amount of fertilizer 
used is several times larger than indicated above. For this pur- 
pose A. D. Shamel recommends the following kinds and amounts 


per acre: — 
1000 pounds cotton seed, 


1000 pounds cotton-seed meal, 
300 pounds carbonate of potash, 
700 pounds fine ground bone, 

_ 800 pounds lime, 

3800 pounds, total. 


515. Types and varieties of tobacco. — “ The principal 
types of tobacco are the following: (1) Cigar wrapper and 
binder ; (2) cigar filler; (3) chewing or plug; (4) smoking; 
(5) export tobaccos.” Types refer chiefly to the principal 
use made of each kind, and to the market for each. 

Cigar wrapper and binder tobacco is produced from 
several widely different varieties, the kind commanding 
the highest price being the Sumatra, grown under cloth 
or slat shade, chiefly along the Gulf coast. The best of 


TOBACCO 527 


the shade-grown Cuban tobacco is also sold as high-priced 

‘cigar wrappers. Cuban tobacco grown without shade 
is chiefly employed for cigar fillers; that is, for the body 
of cigars. In the United States it is grown chiefly in 
Connecticut and near the Gulf Coast. 

The dark, heavy tobaccos of southern Virginia and of 
Tennessee, — for example, the varieties Blue Pryor and 
Orinoco, — belong chiefly to the 
chewing or plug and to the export 
types. The greater part of the 
bright tobacco of North Carolina 
and of the light-colored tobaccos 
of Virginia and Maryland are 
employed for smoking. 

The White Burley, grown in 
Kentucky, is chiefly used for 
chewing tobacco, but also for 
smoking. 

516. Saving seed, and tobacco 
breeding. — The large, conspicu- 
ous flowers (Fig. 214) of tobacco 
are borne in clusters. The 
flowers are either self-pollinated 
or cross-pollinated. Experiments ; 
have demonstrated that by in- 
closing the flower buds under 
paper bags so as to prevent cross- 
pollination, the plants from seed 

‘ thus produced are more uniform, productive, and vigorous 
than when cross-pollination is permitted. Any variety 
of tobacco can be improved by careful selection of the 


Fic. 214. — Diacram or Toe 
Bacco FLOWER. 


528 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Mee RESIs T° 
MS, wart i. i 


Fig. 215.— SHowine THE Resvutts or BREEDING A STRAIN OF ToBacco 
Resistant TO DISEASE. 


Fig. 216.—Youne Tospacco Puanrts. 
The largest plant, on the left, is from the heaviest seed. 


TOBACCO 


best plants (Fig. 215) and by thus bagging the flowers 
to insure self-pollination. Only the central cluster of 
flowers should be bagged, the others being removed. 

The seeds of tobacco are extremely small. The 
largest of these produce much better plants than 
the smallest (Fig. 216). A special device or blower 
has been invented for use in removing the smaller 
seed from those to be planted (Fig. 217). This 
device consists of a glass tube about five feet long, 
with a fine-mesh wire screen near the bottom, and 


529 


a small bellows connected with the lower end of the , @ 


tube. 

In growing Sumatra and Cuban tobacco, it is 
customary to import the seed every year or every 
few years from Sumatra and Cuba. 


CuLtTuRAL METHODS 


517. Seed-bed.— The seed 
of tobacco are so minute, re- 
quiring about 5,000,000 to 
make one pound, that it is 
necessary to germinate the 


seed and start the young Fic. 217.—A Tosacco Szzp 


plants in a specially prepared _ BLOWER. 


seed-bed, from which they are later transplanted to the 
field. The preferred location for a seed-bed is on recently 
cleared land, where the soil contains much vegetable 
matter and few seeds of grass and weeds. A well-drained 
spot, sheltered on the north, is usually best. The seed- 
bed should be convenient to water, since the bed must be 


2M 


530 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


watered often enough to keep it continually moist, in 
order to insure the prompt germination of the seed and 
the rapid growth of the young plants. 


Fie, 218.—A Crors SHapE or TENT, HERE USED AS A SEED-BED. 


As a rule, brush and wood are burned on the chosen 
spot until the soil has been well heated to a depth of about 


TOBACCO 531 


3 inches. The chief object in this is to destroy weed seeds. 
Then the soil is spaded ‘or dug and thoroughly prepared 
by raking. ‘The bed is inclosed on all sides by a frame 
made of inch boards placed on edge. 

Since the burning drives off much of the nitrogen, and since 
the seeds are so small as to furnish practically no food to the 
young plant, the bed must be fertilized liberally, using quickly 
soluble, complete fertilizers rich in nitrogen. About 20 pounds 
of nitrate of soda for each 100 square yards of surface is especially 
helpful. Most'of this may be applied before planting, but ad- 
ditional amounts of nitrate of soda may be added in very dilute 
solution in the water applied to the young plants. _ 

After raking in the fertilizer, preferably a week or more before 
planting the bed, the seed are sown and the frame covered with 
light cotton cloth. The purpose of the canvas covering is to 
retain the moisture and heat and hence to hasten germination 
and growth. The cloth also keeps out some injurious insects. 
This covering should be removed about a week before the plants 
are to be set in the field, so that they may become toughened. 


518. Sowing the seed. — The seed are sown in January 
or February, or, in the cooler parts of the South, in March. 
The seed are first mixed with wood ashes or corn meal, 
so that they may be more evenly distributed. To further 
insure uniformity of distribution, half of the seed are usually 
sown broadcast in one direction over the entire bed, and 
the remainder are then sown crosswise to the direction 
of the first sowing. The seed are pressed into the soil 
with a light roller or by the use of the feet, sometimes 
after the surface has been very lightly raked, brushed, 
or whipped. 

The quantity of seed varies greatly with different 
growers. An amount frequently used is from 1 to 2 
tablespoonfuls for each 100 square yards of tobacco bed. 


532 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


519. Preparation of land. — For tobacco the land should 
be thoroughly prepared a number of weeks or even months 
before the plants are to be set in the field. The first 
plowing is level or broadcast. Rows are opened at the 
desired distance apart, the fertilizer is drilled in these and 
mixed by the use of some cultivating implement. Then 
a ridge or “list ” is thrown up above the fertilizer. The 
details of preparation vary greatly in different regions, 
the tobacco being sometimes planted on ridges and else- 
where practically on a level, the “list ’’ which covered 
the fertilizer having been first pulled down with a harrow 
or board. 

520. Distance between plants. — Practice varies greatly 
with different types of tobacco and in different regions. 
In the dark tobacco district of Virginia and Tennessee, 
the rows are usually 3} feet apart and the plants about 
3 feet apart in the rows. On the other hand, White 
Burley tobacco in Kentucky stands nearly twice as thick 
as this in the row; while under shade in Florida, Cuban 
tobacco is set 14 inches apart and Sumatra tobacco only 
about 12 inches apart in rows 3} to 4 feet apart. 

521. Setting or transplanting. — After the plants are 
of sufficient size, all danger of frost past, and the soil 
thoroughly warmed, the young plants are set in the field 
at the desired distance apart. In Florida, setting of Cuban 
tobacco should be finished by the middle of May and the 
transplanting of Sumatra tobacco should be completed 
by the middle of June, the bulk of each crop being set 
considerably earlier. 

In Virginia the period for setting plants extends from 
the middle of May to the latter part of June. Here early 


TOBACCO 533 


setting is much preferred, partly because, with tobacco 
cured with little or no artificial heat, conditions are much 
better for curing the early crop than for tobacco that ripens 
after cool weather begins. 

Plants are usually ready to be set in the field 9 to 10 
weeks after the sowing of the seed, or at a shorter interval 
when the seed-bed is planted late. 


Before removing the young plants from the seed-bed, the latter 
is thoroughly moistened. Then the young plants are carefully 
lifted, carried to the field, and set with the least possible delay. 
Some Florida growers prefer to wash from the roots the adher- 
ing soil of the plant bed. 

Setting of plants is usually done by the use of a short, sharp- 
ened stick or peg. For setting large areas, a transplanting 
machine is advantageously employed. This machine (Fig. 219), 
manned by a driver and by two men to drop the plants, sets, 
waters, and places soil around the plants at one passage along the 
row. 

In three or four days after setting, or as soon as the dying 
plants can be detected, the field should be reset. 


522. Cultivation or tillage. — About a week after the 
plants are set, the field should be tilled. The first culti- 
vation may be deep, if loosening of the soil is rendered 
necessary by previous tramping while setting the plants 
or by the compacting of the soil as the result of heavy 
rains. All later tilling should be shallow and repeated at 
frequent intervals. With shade-grown tobacco, cultivation 
is given weekly. Usually two hoeings are required. Tillage 
usually ceases, especially in shade-grown tobacco, when 
the buttons or flower heads appear or when the leaves 
become too large. 

523. Topping. This practice consists in removing 


SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


534 


‘OOOVEO], ONILLEG YOL ANIHOV]A] ONILNVIdSNVAL, VY — ‘61S “OlL 


TOBACCO 585 


the main or central flower bud together with such a num- 
ber of the upper leaves as will save, to mature on the 
plant, only the number of leaves found best for each va- 
riety of tobacco and for each -class of soil. 

The object of topping is (1) to increase the size of the 
remaining leaves, by concentrating in them more of the 
elaborated plant-food; (2) to make the leaves thicker and 
of stronger quality; and (3) to make the crop mature as: 
uniformly as possible. The general rule is that the fewer 
the leaves left, the larger, thicker, and stronger in quality 
will they be. On the other hand, high topping results 
in leaves of reduced size, but having the thinness that is 
prized in cigar wrappers. ' 


The number of leaves left varies greatly among the different 
types. In heavy tobacco, it is usually 8 to 10, in Burley at least 
14, in Cuban at least 16; in shade-grown Sumatra 25 or more 
leaves may be permitted to mature. With Sumatra tobacco,: 
grown under shade, topping is sometimes omitted if the land is 
very rich, the aim in this case being to make the leaves thinner 
than if the plants were topped. 


524. Suckering.— Soon after the plants are topped.,. 
branches or suckers grow from the axils of the leaves. 
These should be pinched or broken off before they have 
received much of the plant’s supply of nourishment. This 
process of suckering, or removing of suckers, should be 
done at such frequent intervals as to prevent their reach- 
ing a length of much more than 2 inches. The object in 
suckering is to prevent the diversion of plant-food and 
growth into these branches and to concentrate growth 
in the best or middle leaves. 

525. Growing tobacco under shade. —It has been 


536 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


r Z 
LSP 


Fic. 220.— Youne Topacco PLANTS GROWING UNDER A LatH SHADE 
In ALABAMA. 


TOBACCO 5387 


found by experience that tobacco grown under artificial 
shade affords the highest quality of cigar wrappers and the 
largest proportion of leaves fit for this use. This is the 
common method of growing Sumatra and Cuban tobacco 
for cigar wrappers. 


A “shade ’”’ consists of a field inclosed by a solid wooden 
wall about 9 feet high, the entire area of the field being covered 
at this height with thin cotton cloth or with laths (Fig. 220). 
The purpose is (1) to exclude a part of the sunlight, thereby 
making the leaves thinner, and (2) to increase the amount of 
moisture in the air and the soil, the result of which is a luxuriant 
and rapid growth. Shade-grown tobacco plants grow tall, 
often standing 9 feet high. They mature a large number of 
thin elastic leaves. 

When laths are used, they are usually so arranged as to afford 
half shade; that is, the space between laths is equal to the width 
of a lath. The covering of laths or cloth is supported by a 
suitable framework of wood and crossed wires. The cost of 
shading an acre with laths is several hundred dollars. Tobacco 
under shade is more highly fertilized than is customary with 
tobacco grown in the open, and extreme care is taken to make 
all conditions of preparation, fertilization, and cultivation favor- 
able to rapid growth. The result is a large proportion of leaves 
free from any blemish, and possessing the size and quality to 
command the highest price that is paid for any American tobacco. 


526. Place of tobacco in the rotation. — The following 
six-year rotation is recommended in Bulletin No. 165 of 
the Virginia Experiment Station for tobacco fields in the 
dark-tobacco district of Virginia. 

First. year: tobacco. 

Second year: wheat. 

Third and fourth years: mixed grasses and clover. 

Fifth year: corn. 

Sixth year: cowpeas. 


5388 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


This brings tobacco immediately after cowpeas, after 
which the rotation is repeated. 


In the limestone region of Kentucky the best position for 
tobacco is believed to be after a blue-grass sod, which supplies 
the necessary vegetable matter. Tobacco is then grown two 
years. It is followed by wheat, in which is sown a mixture of 
the seeds of clover, timothy, and blue-grass, with a view to again 
getting the field, after a few years, into blue-grass. For the 
same region the following four-year rotation has been suggested, 
where it is not practicable for tobacco to follow blue-grass : — 

First year: tobacco. 

Second year: wheat with grass seed. 

Third year: clover and timothy. 

Fourth year: clover and timothy. 

In the bright-tobacco districts of North Carolina a good 
plant to furnish the necessary vegetable matter and nitrogen is 
crimson clover, which may enter the rotation as a catch crop 
after cotton or corn and either immediately before, or a year 
preceding, the time when tobacco is to occupy the field. 


HARVESTING AND CURING 


527. Indications of maturity. — Tobacco will usually 
be ready for harvesting in three to three and a half 
months after the plants are set, or somewhat more than 
a month after the date of topping. The ripening of to- 
bacco is shown by the following symptoms: (1) The 
leaves change from a deep green to a lighter shade of green, 
with a faint tendency to yellowing or to yellowish mottling. 
(2) The leaf tends to crumple, especially along the edge. 
(3) The leaf veins become quite brittle, so that when the 
leaf is folded between the fingers, a clear, distinct break 
is made. (4) The leaf becomes heavier and somewhat 
less smooth to the touch. 


TOBACCO 539 


528. Two methods of harvesting. — The two methods 
of harvesting are (1) priming, that is, removing the leaves 
separately, and (2) cutting the stalks. While the object 
of topping is largely to cause the remaining leaves to ripen 
more nearly together, yet they will not all arrive at the best 
stage for harvesting on the same date. On account of 
this difference in the time of ripening of the leaves on the 
same plant, it has become customary, especially with 
high-priced tobacco, to harvest each leaf separately, 
priming it, or going over the field several different times. 

The other method of harvesting consists in cutting the 
entire stalk with the attached leaves.. The stalk is then 
split from the top to near the base, and 6 to 10 of the split 
plants are then straddled over a split stick or lath, or 
otherwise strung on a stick which is about 44 feet long. 
The plants are then allowed to wilt slightly, taking care 
that they are not injured by too much exposure to the 
sun. After wilting they are hung for a few days on a 
scaffold in the field, and later carried to the curing barn; 
or they are taken directly from the field to the barn, 
where they are to be cured. 

When the leaves are harvested separately, or primed, 
they are strung on wires or strings, being arranged in 
pairs with the upper surfaces facing each other, so as to 
prevent excessive crumpling. 

529. Methods of curing. — Methods of curing differ 
widely, varying with the type of tobacco and with other 
conditions. They may be divided into (1) curing with ' 
open fires; (2) flue-curing; and (3) air-curing. Special 
barns are built to suit the method of curing. Those in- 
tended for the flue-curing process are supplied with ven- 


540 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


tilators in the top, with a furnace, and with flues of terra- 
cotta or other suitable material for conveying the heat 
through the barn. Structures in which air-curing is to 
be done should have numerous ventilators on two 
sides. 

All curing barns are supplied with the necessary in- 
terior framing to support the sticks on which the tobacco 
is hung. 


Fire-curing— The method practiced in the dark-tobacco dis- 
trict of south-central Virginia is thus described in Bulletin No. 
175 of the Virginia Experiment Station :— 

“The yellowing stage is the first step in the curing process. 
The change to yellow is caused by a breaking down of the green 
chlorophyll granules during the first few days after the plant is 
cut. The riper the tobacco, the more quickly will this change 
take place. Therefore, to yellow uniformly, the plants should 
be cut as nearly as possible at a uniform stage of ripeness. This 
change in the leaf is favored and hastened by a gentle warmth 
(about 90° F.), by moderate moisture, and by dampness. It is 
not customary to use artificial heat in yellowing this type of 
tobacco, especially with early-cut tobacco. : 

“The next change that takes place in the leaf is from the yellow 
to the brown stage, and for this purpose artificial heat is used. . . 
The first fires built under this tobacco should be very small to 
avoid danger of premature drying of the tips of any of the leaves 
not yet fully yellowed. The temperature should not be raised 
above 95° F. or 100° F. at this first firing, and should be main- 
tained only long enough to dry out the surface moisture and start 
the tips of the leaves, already well yellowed, to turn brown. A 
few hours at this time will generally be sufficient. ... This 
process should be repeated every few days until all the gum 
has disappeared from the leaf and the tips of the leaves have 
begun to take on the brown color. After these conditions have 
been attained, a somewhat higher temperature may be used 
safely if the moisture supply is sufficient not to result in the dry- 


TOBACCO 541 


ing of the leaf before the color changes have taken place. It 
will not usually be found desirable for the temperature to rise 
above 125° F. for any length of time. ... After the barn has 
been fired three or four times, the leaf will require no further 
attention, until it is desired to take the tobacco down, perhaps 
several weeks later. 

“‘ As a general principle, to cure tobacco light it should be 
spread thinly in the barn and enough fires used to cause a quick 
cure without drying the leaf too rapidly. To darken or blacken 
tobacco, the principle is to delay the cure and not to dry off 
excessive moisture faster than is necessary to prevent actual 
damage. ... Tobacco once darkened cannot be lightened 
again; it is possible for the manufacturer to take light tobacco 
and darken it.” 


530. Flue-curing.— Most of the bright tobacco of 
North Carolina and Virginia is flue-cured in specially 
constructed barns, the process requiring only three or 
four days. 


“As soon as the barn is filled with tobacco, fires should be 
started, and the temperature raised to 90° F., where it should 
remain for 24 to 30 hours, during which time the tobacco becomes 
a uniformly bright yellow. Then the temperature is raised from 
90° to 120° F., from 15 to 20 hours. This process is commonly 
known as ‘fixing the color.’ The temperature may then be- 
increased gradually to 125° F., at which point it should be main- 
tained for about 48 hours. By this time the leaves should be 
almost, if not entirely, yellow, but the stalk will still be green. 
In order to cure the stalk, the ‘temperature can be raised to 
175° F., at the rate of 5° an hour, where it should remain until 
the stalks are thoroughly dried.” — A. D. SHamet in Bailey’s 
“Cyclopedia of Agriculture,’ Vol. II, p. 652. 


581. The air-curing of Cuban cigar tobacco in Florida. — 
Most Sumatra and Cuban cigar tobacco is subjected to 
air-curing, as are also many other types, including White 


42 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Burley. The curing of Cuban cigar tobacco in Florida 
is thus described : — 


“When the tobacco is primed from the stalk, it should not 
take longer than two weeks to cure; when hung on the stalks, 
three or four weeks are necessary.... In a general way it 
may be said that if a barn is filled with green tobacco, and the 
weather is hot and dry, the ventilators should be tightly closed 
for about three days, by which time the tobacco will be quite 
yellow. The barn should then be opened at night and kept 
closed during the day. This is done to prevent rapid curing, 
as rapid curing destroys the life of the leaf and gives uneven 
colors. If there are frequent showers, and but little sunshine, 
the barn should be closed and the fires started in small charcoal 
heaters distributed throughout the barn. These fires should 
be continued as long as is necessary to keep the barn in proper 
condition. Where the charcoal heaters are not available, wood, 
which has little odor and as little smoke as possible, should be 
used. ... To obtain the best results, the tobacco should be- 
come fairly moist and be fairly dried out once in every 24 hours. 

““ When the stems of the leaves are thoroughly cured, they are 
ready to be taken to the packing house. To get the tobacco in 
a condition to be handled, all of the places for ventilation are 
left open for one night. The next morning the tobacco will 
be in what is called ‘good case’; that is, it will have taken up 
moisture and become soft and pliable. The barn is then tightly 
closed in‘ order to retain the moisture. The tobacco is taken 
from the poles and stripped from the stalk or taken from the 
string, as the case may be, and is packed in bundles that weigh 
from 35 to 40 pounds and delivered to the packing house as 
quickly as possible.” —-M. L. Fioyp in Report No. 62, U. S. 
Dept. Agr. 


532. General remarks on curing tobacco. — The meth- 
ods of curing are so different in each section that no writ- 
ten directions will alone suffice. Tobacco curing is a matter 
of local experience. Whatever the method employed, it is 


TOBACCO 543 


usually advantageous to fill the barn promptly so that all 
of the tobacco may at the same time reach a similar stage 
in the curing process. The changes brought about in the 
curing and subsequent fermentation of tobacco are largely 
the result of chemical ferments or enzymes. 

533. Further treatment on the farm. — After curing is 
completed, tobacco cured on the stalk must be stripped 
from the stalk, and the 

‘leaves tied into bundles, 
after great pains have 
been taken to assort them 
into their different grades, 
which are usually four or 
five in number. 

Subsequent treatment 
of tobacco, including sev- 
eral steps in the ferment- 
ing of certain types, are 

- usually performed in the 
factory, and hence are 

Fig. 221.—Dr1acram sHOWING THAT 


not discussed here. Broap Topacco LEAVES AFFORD A 
534. Yields and prices. mucH LARGER NuMBER OF WRAPPERS 


aA fair yiel d of cured THAN DO Narrow LEAvEs. 
tobacco in the dark-tobacco district of Virginia is 800 
pounds or more per acre. The same figure represents 
somewhat above the average yield of the bright-tobacco 
region of North Carolina. In Kentucky a good yield 
of Burley tobacco is from 1000 to 1500 pounds per acre. 
‘In Florida, shade-grown Cuban or Sumatra tobacco is 
expected to yield between 1200 and 2000 pounds per 
acre. 


544 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


Prices are highest for the best grades of cigar wrappers, 
the farmer frequently receiving for such tobacco 40 cents 
to one dollar or more per pound, and the finished wrappers 
after proper treatment in the factory selling for several 
dollars per pound. However, by no means all of the crop 
of shade-grown tobacco consists of high-grade wrappers. 

The coarser and heavier the type or grade of tobacco, 
the lower, as a rule, is the price. The price of tobacco 
has fluctuated widely in recent years. 


ENEMIES 


535. Diseases.— A number of diseases attack the 
tobacco plant. Among them are wilt and the mosaic 
disease. Rotation of crops and disinfection of the seed- 
beds are the most common methods of combating the 
diseases of tobacco. 

536. Insect enemies. — Among the insect enemies of 
this plant are the tobacco worm (Fig. 222), the budworm, 
cut-worms, and wire-worms. The nematode worm attacks 
the roots of tobacco plants. The methods of combating 
this pest, including rotations, are discussed in paragraph 
385. 

For the Southern tobacco worm (Protoparce Carolina) 
dusting or spraying with Paris green in very dilute form 
is employed. In addition, the plants must be “ wormed ” 
every few days; that is, examined for the purpose of 
killing any insects and eggs that may be found. 

Paris green, diluted with some dry material, is dusted on the 
buds or young leaves as a means of destroying the budworms. 


Cut-worms are combated by the use of poisoned bait placed 
in the field before the plants are set. 


TOBACCO 545 


The wire-worm (Chambus caliginosellus) is injurious to to- 
bacco plants in the Virginia tobacco fields. It is especially 
abundant on fields which have recently grown up in weeds. The 


means of reducing the amount of injury consists in preventing 


the growth of weeds, especially of the Iron weed (Vernonia), in 
fields where tobacco is soon to be grown. 


In case this weed is 


oe 


AW 


( 
| 
/, 


ZA é ‘ 
BZ ZB ? E 
ee ZA 
> g 
igs <— we 
Ds aes = = 


Fic. 222.—SourHern Tosacco Worm. 
u, adult moth; 6, full-grown larva; c, pupa. 


present, it is recommended that instead of plowing it under it 
should be mowed and burned. By setting tobacco very late, 
this enemy is largely avoided, but the yield of tobacco is reduced. 


LABORATORY EXERCIS S 


In high schools located in regions where tobacco is not an 
important crop, it will usually be advisable to omit this chapter. 


The fact that the tobacco plant makes most of its growth 
2N 


w 


546 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 


during the period of school vacation renders it difficult to arrange 
for a comprehensive line of exercises on this plant. However, 
in regions where this is an important crop, it may be practicable 
for pupils to prepare and plant a small tobacco bed and to par- 
ticipate in the cultural operations connected with the early 
growth of the young plants. 

Seeds of tobacco should be examined and germinated by plant- 
ing a definite number of seeds by different methods, some on 
the surface, some in the shallowest possible furrows, and some 
in furrows about half an inch deep. From the results students 
should write conclusions as to the best depth for planting seed. 


LITERATURE 


KiLuesrew, J. B., and Myrick, H. The Tobacco Leaf. New 
York. 

Kinttesrew, J. B. The Culture and Curing of Tobacco in the 
United States. Tenth U. S. Census (1880), Agriculture. 

Bonpurant, A.J. Tobacco. Ala. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 64. 

Wuitney, Mitron. Tobacco Soils of United States. U. 8S. 
Dept. Agr., Bur. Soils, No. 11. 

Fioyp, M. L. Cultivation of Cigar-leaf Tobacco in Florida. 
U. 8S. Dept. Agr., Report No. 62. , 

McNgess, G. T., and Ayres, L. W. Experiments in Growing 
Cuban Seed Tobacco in Texas and Alabama. U.S. Dept. 
Agr., Bur. Soils, Buls. Nos. 27 and 37. 

Scouttse, J. I. The Work of the Agricultural Experiment 
Stations on Tobacco. U.S. Dept. of Agr., Report No. 63. 

McNgzgss, G. T., and others. The Improvement of Fire-cured 
Tobacco. Va. Expr. Sta., Bul. No. 166. 

Davipson, R. J. [Chemical Composition of Tobacco.] Va. 
Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 14, 50, 51. 

CarPenter, F.B. [Chemical Composition of Tobacco.] N. C. 
Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 90 A and 122. 

Lez, J.G. La. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 20, 25, 33. 

Garman, H., and others. Ky. Expr. Sta., Buls. Nos. 28, 45, 
55, 63, 66, and 129. 


TOBACCO : 547 


Scurrrrius, W. H., and others. The Cultivation of Tobacco 
in Kentucky and Tennessee. U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmer’s 
Bul. No. 348. 

Harper, J. N. Syllabus of Illustrated Lecture on Tobacco 
Growing. U. 8, Dept. Agr., Office Expr. Sta., Farmers’ 
Institute Lecture 9. 

Suamet., A. D., and Conny, W. W. Varieties of Tobacco. U.S. 
Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Ind., Buls. Nos. 91 and 96. 

Wuirney, Mitron. Methods of Curing Tobacco. U.S. Dept. 

’ Agr., Farmer’s Bul. No. 60. 

Loew, Oscar. Curing and Fermentation of Cigar-leaf Tobacco. 
U.S. Dept. Agr., Report No. 59. 

SHamet, A. D. Tobacco. Bailey’s Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 
639-653. 


GLOSSARY 


Acid phosphate. A fertilizer usually containing 12 to 18 per 
cent of available phosphoric acid; it is made by treating 
ground rock phosphate with sulfuric acid. 

Alabama argillacea. The scientific name of the cotton caterpillar. 

Aleurone layer. The thin layer just below the seed-coats and 
constituting a part of the endosperm of the seed. 

Amides. Organic compounds rich in nitrogen, but not serving 
all the uses of certain other forms of protein. 

Analysis. Statement of chemical composition. 

Andropogon sorghum. ‘The scientific name of all the sorghums, 
including sweet sorghum, kafir, and milo. 

Angoumois moth. The larve of this insect is a serious pest of 
wheat and corn grain. 

Anthers. Pollen cases. 

Anthronomus grandis. The scientific name of the Mexican 
cotton boll weevil. 

Aphids. Small insects, usually called plant lice, injuring young 
cotton and other plants. 

Arachis hypogea. The scientific name of the peanut plant. 

Ash. Ashes, or the incombustible mineral residue left after 
burning vegetable or animal matter. 

Auricle. Clasps, or small projections where leaf-bldde and leaf- 
sheath unite. 

Axil of the leaf. The angle between the leaf and the stem from 
which it springs. 


Back-furrowing. That form of plowing in which successive pairs 
of furrow slices are thrown toward each other. 

Bacteria. Minute vegetable organisms, some of which cause 
certain diseases of plants and animals. : 

Bagasse. The refuse or crushed stalk of sugar-cane or sorghum 
after the juice is pressed out. 

Bagging. The common cloth covering around cotton bales. 

Bake. To form a crust or clod. 

Balk. A narrow unplowed strip of ground between rows. 

Barring-off. Throwing the earth away from a line of plants by 
using a turn-plow. 


549 


550 GLOSSARY 


Beam. That part of the plow to the front end of which the team 
is’ attached. : : 
Beards. Long, stiff bristles projecting from the hull of certain 


seeds. 

Bedding. The act of so plowing land as to form considerable 
ridges, or elevated. beds. eee! 

Benders. A commercial term for cotton fiber intermediate in 
length between short-staple and long-staple lint; so called 
because it is largely grown on the bottom land in the bends 
made by rivers. 

Bin. A tight storage place for threshed grain. 

Binder, or self-binder. A machine for cutting and tying grain 
plants into bundles. . 

Blade. See leaf-blade. 

Blissus leucopterus. The scientific name of the chinch bug of 
the fields. 

Bluestone. See copper sulfate. 

Boll. The pod within which cotton seed and lint develop. 

Brace-roots. Roots of the corn plant originating at a node above 
ground. See p. 82. 

Bracts. In the cotton plant the three leaf-like parts that closely 
inclose the bud, bloom, or boll. 

Branching wheat. See p. 40. 

Bristles. Minute hairs, as at the base of a spikelet of oats. 

Broadeast. Scattered, not sown in drills. 

Budworm. See p. 206. 

Bur (of cotton). The hull of the open boll. 

Butt. The end of the corn ear near the point of attachment. 


Calcium sulfate. A chemical combination of lime and sulfuric 
acid. Gypsum or land plaster is nearly pure calcium 
sulfate. 

baotras eneus.’ The scientific name of the cowpea-pod 
weevil. 

Callandra oryza. The scientific name of the weevil that is most 
destructive to corn. 

anon A short pole with a hook attached used in handling 
ogs. 

Capillary attraction. The force that causes moisture in the soil 
fo move toward the surface or toward the dryer part of the 
soil. 

Capped. Covered, as with an extra bundle of grain placed on 
top of a shock of sheaf-grain. 

Carbon dioxid. Carbonic acid gas; a gas existing in the at- 
mosphere and used by plants. It consists of one part 
carbon and two parts oxygen. 


GLOSSARY 551 


Carbon disulfide. A liquid which readily turns to a vapor that 
is fatal to insect life. 

Cereal. Any edible grain. 

Chaff. The inclosing portion of. the wheat flower that is re- 
moved from the grain in threshing. 

Cheat. An annual grass that is a serious weed in fields of wheat 
and oats. 

Check-rower. A planter by the use of which corn can be planted 
in checks. See Fig. 88. : 

Chess. See cheat. 

Chinch bug. An insect attacking corn, wheat, and other plants; 
it is entirely unlike the household pest of the same name. 

Chit. The germ or heart of the grain, as in the corn kernel. 

Chrysalis. The pupal or changing stage of certain insects. 

Clasps. See auricles. 

Club wheat. A class of wheat plants distinguished by the club- 
shaped head, which is largest at the upper end. 

Cockle. An annual weed with large pink flowers. 

Colletotrichum gossypii. The scientific name of cotton anthrac- 
nose, which is the most common form of boll rot. 

Compresses. Establishments where bales of cotton are again 
pressed and made denser and smaller. i 

Convolvulacee. The name of the family to which the sweet 
potato belongs. 

Copper sulfate. A chemical combination of copper, sulfur, and oxy- 
gen useful for destroying the germs of many plant diseases. 

Corn binder or harvester. See pp. 198 and 199. 

Corn blades. See p. 99. 

Corn stover. See p. 99. 

Cotton, absorbent. Cotton fiber so prepared by chemicals as 
to be able to absorb much water; absorbent cotton is largely 
used in medicine and surgery. ° 

Cotton caterpillar. A caterpillar formerly very destructive to 
the leaves of cotton; it was often inaccurately called the 
army worm. 

Cotton-seed meal. The meal made from cotton seed after the 
oil is pressed out. : 

Cotton ‘‘square.’”’ The young bud of the cotton flower, with its 
three surroundings leafy bracts. 

Coulter, rolling. A revolving disk attached to the beam of a 
plow in order to cut the soil or the vegetation on it. See 
Fig. 195. 

Cowpeas. A soil-improving forage plant, often called ‘‘ peas,” 
or ‘‘field peas.” a ; 

Crease. The depression or furrow on one side of a grain of wheat 
or rye. 


552 GLOSSARY 


Crossing. Hybridizing, or transferring pollen to the stigmas of 
a different plant, variety, or species. 

Crown. That part of certain plants, as grains and grasses, from 
which a number of stems spring. 

Crude fiber. The woody portion of plants. 

Culms. Stems or erect branches. 

Current cross. Immediate hybridization, as shown in the hybrid 
seeds developed in the same season in which impregnation 
occurs. 

Cylas formicarius. The scientific name of the sweet-potato 
root-borer. 


Delinters. Used on p. 383 for establishments, such as cotton-oil 
mills, which delint cotton seed, that is, subject them toa 
second ginning. 

Delta Region. A region in the western part of Mississippi, con- 
sisting of rich river bottom land. 

Diabrotica 12-punctata. The scientific name of the budworm, 
an insect attacking the stem of very ‘young corn plants. 
Dibble. A small implement or sharpened stick for making holes 

in the ground. 

Diplodia. The name of a genus of fungi causing some of the 
rotting of corn ears. 

Diplosis sorghicola. The scientific name of the minute insect 
which destroys the seeds of the sorghums, and which is 
largely responsible for the failure of the crop of sorghum 
seed in the humid regions of the South. 

Disinfection. Destruction of the germs of disease, usually by 
treatment with chemicals or with heat. 

Disked. Tilled with a disk-plow or disk-harrow. 

Disk-harrow. A harrow consisting of a number of circular con- 
cave disks. 

Disk-plow. A plow in which the work of cutting and inverting 
the soil is done by a large, concave, circular disk which re- 
volves. The supporting framework for the disk is shown 
in Fig. 80. 

Dolochonyx oryzivorus. The scientific name of the rice bird or 
bobolink. 

Dominant quality. That one of a pair of contrasted qualities which 
shows in the larger proportion of the offspring. See p. 143. 

Double fertilization. That process occurring in the impregna- 
tion of some plants by which the pollen influences not only 
the germ of the seed, but also the endosperm. 

Dough stage. The stage of a maturing grain when the seed is 
in the stage of firmness represented by dough. 

Ducts. The channels through which the anide sap of plants 
circulates. 


GLOSSARY 553 


Einkorn. The German word for “‘one grain’’; the name of one 
kind of wheat. 

Elementary species. Groupsof similar plants ; often subdivisions 
of what has generally been assumed to be one variety. 

Embryo. The germ of the seed or grain. 

Embryo-sac. <A part of the ovary which incloses the female 
germ cell. 

Emmer. <A kind of wheat. See p. 40. 

.Endosperm. The part of the grain or seed around the germ. 
Entomologists. Persons skilled in the knowledge of insects. 
Environment (of plants). Surrounding conditions, for example, 

soil, rainfall, fertilizer, distance between plants. 


Fertilization of corn grain. The act or fact of union of the male 
and female elements; the usual result of pollination. 

Fibrous-rooted. Having numerous fine roots without a tap-root. 

Firing. The premature drying of leaves on growing plants. 

Boel The name given to the pupal stage of the Hessian 

‘ ly. 

Floats. See raw phosphate. 

Floret. A flower. . 

Flush plowing, or flushing. Plowing land without forming 
ridges or deep depressions; ‘‘broadcast”’ plowing. 

‘‘Fodder.”” A term often applied in the South to corn blades or 
leaves. See p. 99. 

Forage. Coarse food for live-stock; forage plants are those that 
afford pasturage, hay, etc. 

Forceps. Pincers. 

Formalin. A liquid consisting of water in which has been 
dissolved a pungent disinfecting gas, formaldehyde. This 
liquid readily evaporates, and the fumes destroy germs. 

Friable. Easily crumbled. 

Fruit limbs or branches. On the cotton plant those branches 
on which boll stems are directly borne. See p. 250. 

Fungous. The adjective derived from fungus. | 

Fiung’us, plural ftin’gi. A class of vegetable organisms having no 
green coloring matter, and including the rusts, smuts, and 
most other plant diseases. : 

Fusarium. The name of a class of fungi, some of which cause 
a part of the rotting of corn ears. 


Galechia cerealella. See grain moths. : : 

Galled spots. Areas of soil which have been impoverished by 
the washing away of the surface soil. 

Garlic, wild. A smail onion growing wild; a troublesome weed. 

Genus. A group of closely related species of plants. 

Germination. The act of sprouting, as with seeds. 


554 GLOSSARY 


Germination-box. A box in which seeds are sprouted to deter- 
mine the proportion of seeds able to grow. See p. 138. 
Ginnery. The building, including the equipment, in which 

cotton is ginned. ; 

Gleosporium manihot. The scientific name of the fungus causing 
the ‘‘Frenching” disease of cassava. 

Glucose. A non-crystallizable form of sugar. 

Gluten. See p. 39. 

Gossypium. The scientific name of the genus that includes all 
kinds of wild and cultivated cotton plants. 

Gossypium arboreum. The scientific name of a group of cottons 
largely grown in India. 

Gossypium barbadense. The scientific name indicating first the 
genus and next the species of Sea Island cotton. 

Gossypium hirsutum. The scientific name of the genus and 
species of American upland short staple and American long 
staple cotton. 

Gossypium obtusifolium. The scientific name of one group of 
eottons grown largely in India. 

Gossypium peruvianum. The scientific name of a species of 
cotton supposed to have originated in Peru and largely 
cultivated in Egypt. 

Grain drills. Implements for sowing grain and other seed in 
narrow rows. 

Grain moths. Several small moths, the larve of which attack 
wheat, corn, and other grain. 

Graminee. The botanical name of the grass family. 

Granary. A place or bin for storing grain. 

““Green-bug.”’ A small plant-louse injuring grain plants. 

Guano horn. A cheap metal tube with a funnel at the upper end, 
used in the application of fertilizer by hand. 


Head rice. Prepared rice of the highest grade. 

sea ed oe of plants and soil as the result of freezing of 
the soil. 

Heliothis obsoleta. The scientific name of the corn ear-worm and 
cotton boll-worm. 

Hessian fly. See p. 62. 

Hopper-dozers. Devices to be pulled through fields for catching 
grasshoppers. An essential feature is a vertical cloth, which 
the flying grasshoppers strike and thence fall into a large 
pan containing kerosene, which kills them. 

Ble oe The part of the oat grain which tightly enfolds the 

ernel. 

east Partly decayed vegetable or animal matter in the 
soil. 


GLOSSARY 555 


Hybridized. Crossed. 


Impregnation. See fertilization. : 

a oe That part of a stem lying between two nodes or 
joints. 

Intertillage. Cultivation among growing plants. 

Ipomea batatas. The scientific name of the sweet-potato plant. 


Johnson-grass. A perennial grass, difficult to eradicate. 


Kernel. In common usage, a grain or seed. 
Kiln. A term usually applied to a house or room in which some 
article is to be dried by artificial heat. 


Lady-beetle. See lady-bug. 

Lady-bug. A group of small beetles, many of them preying on 
harmful insects. 

Land plaster. An impure form of sulfate of lime. It is some- 
times bought as a fertilizer ; it is also obtained free as a neces- 
sary filler in acid phosphate, about half the weight of which 
consists of land plaster. 

Larva, plural larve. The grub or caterpillar stage of any 
insect; this is the stage in which most insects feed most 
ravenously and in which they make most of their growth. 

Leaching. The dissolving of plant food in the water of the soil 
and its removal in the water that drains away. 

Leaf-blade. The expanded part of a leaf. 

Leaf-sheath. See sheath. 

canal or The stalk, which supports the expanded part of 
a leaf. 

Leaflets. The separate, complete, leaf-like parts that make up 
what is botanically a leaf of locust, pecan, etc. 

Legume. A plant bearing a pod; the legumes in common use in 
agriculture, such as cowpeas, clovers, etc., are chiefly 
valuable because the enlargements (tubercles or nodules) 
on their roots store up nitrogen from the air for the enrich- 
ment of the soil. Moreover, most cultivated legumes are 
valuable forage plants. 

Leguminous plants. See legumes. 

Lint. The word commonly used to designate the fiber of cotton. 

Linters. The very short lint removed from cotton seed subse- 
quent to ginning; the removal of linters is usually done at 
the cotton oil mills. . ; 

Lissorhoptrus simplex. ‘The scientific name of the water weevil, 
which injures rice plants. : 

List. A small ridge formed by throwing two furrow-slices 
together. 


556 GLOSSARY 


Lister. A double moldboard plow used in the Southwest for 
opening a deep furrow in which to plant crops. : 
Lock of cotton. The seed and attached lint contained in one 

division or compartment of a boll of cotton. : 
Lubricant. A substance used to oil machinery to reduce fric- 
tion. 


Macaroni wheat. A class of hard or durum wheats, from which 
is manufactured the human food macaroni. 

Maize. Another name for corn. f 

Malvacee. The scientific name of the Mallow family, which 
includes cotton, okra, etc. 

Manihot utilissima. The scientific name of the cassava plant. 

Mating area. A tract of land on which two or more valuable 
strains, as of corn, are planted in adjacent rows for the 
purpose of effecting cross-pollination. 

Maturity. Ripeness. 

Melilotus alba. See sweet clover. 

Mendel’s law. A principle discovered by Mendel, which explains 
the mathematical proportions in which certain qualities are 
inherited by hybrid plants or animals. 

Middle burster. A plow with both a right-hand and a left-hand 
moldboard, thus at the same time throwing the soil both 
to right and left. 

Middling. A certain commercial grade of cotton. 

Midge. A particular insect of small size. For the sorghum 
midge, see p. 233. : 

Milk stage. The stage of ripeness of a grain in which the con- 
tents of the seed are of the consistency and color of milk. 

Mower. A mowing machine. 

Mulch. A covering, usually of loose soil or litter. 

Multiplication plot. An area of some crop grown chiefly with 
a view to increasing the amount of good seed for planting, 
without special reference to improvement in the quality of 
the seed. See p. 135. 

Muriate of potash. A salt-like fertilizer containing about 50 
per cent of potash. 


Nematode worms. Minute worms which enter the roots of 
certain plants and cause harmful enlargements. 

Neocosmospora vasinfecta. The scientific name of cotton wilt or 
black root. 

Nitrate of soda. A combination of sodium and nitric acid, form- 
ing a soluble and prompt fertilizer, containing 14 to 16 per 
cent of nitrogen. 

Nitrogen. A chemical element, which in certain combinations is 


GLOSSARY 557 


an important fertilizing material and in other forms a valu- 
_ able part of the food of men and lower animals. 
Nitrogen-free extract. In plants nutritive compounds contain- 
ing no nitrogen and consisting chiefly of starch, sugar, etc. 
Noctuide. The scientific name of one group of cut-worms. 
Node. A joint on a stem where a leaf is usually borne. 


Oryza sativa. The scientific name of the rice plant; the first 
word is the name of the genus, and the second is the name 
of the species. 7 : 

Oxygen. A gas existing in the atmosphere and required in some 
form by all forms of life. Oxygen also exists in combination 
with numerous other elements, forming gases, liquids, and 
solids. 


Panicle. A branching seed-head, as of oats. 

Papilionacee. The name of the family to which peanuts, 
clovers, and most other cultivated legumes belong. 

Parasite. An animal (or vegetable) organism which lives on and 
obtains nourishment from the body of another. 

Peduncle. In the cotton plant, the stem supporting the square, 
bloom, or boll. ‘ 

Peppergrass. An annual weed of the Mustard family, seeding 
about the same time as wheat. 

Phosphatic. Containing a large proportion of phosphorus or 
phosphoric acid. 

Phosphoric acid. The chemical compound of the elements 
phosphorus and oxygen that makes acid phosphate a 
valuable fertilizer. 

Piedmont section. The elevated country at the eastern base of 
the Appalachian Mountains. 

Pine needles. Pine leaves. 

Pistil. The central portion of a flower at the base of which seed 
may develop. 

Polish wheat. See p. 41. ere 

Pollen. The male element in the fertilization of a flower ; usually 
dustlike or in the form of minute particles. : 

Pollen tube. A slender outgrowth from the pollen grain after the 
latter finds lodgment on a receptive stigma. . 

Pollination. The act or fact of conveying pollen to the receptive 
stigma. 

Pores. Openings. ; . 

Potash. The compound of the chemical elements potassium 
and oxygen that makes kainit a valuable fertilizer. 

Pouland wheat. See p. 40. a : 

Protein. Certain compounds rich in nitrogen, found in plants 
and animals. 


558 GLOSSARY 


Pupa, plural pups. See pupal stage. . 

Pupal stage. That stage in the life of most insects which follows 
the larval or ‘‘caterpillar’ or ‘‘grub” stage and which im-~ 
mediately precedes the stage of the mature insect.. The 
pupal stage is not usually a period of growth, but of in- 
activity and of change of form. 


Quarter drains. Shallow cross-drains in a field of sugar-cane. 


Hachis, The portion of the stem on which flowers and seeds are 

orne. 

Raw phosphate. See p. 330. 

Recessive quality. That one of a pair of: contrasting qualities 
that appears in the smaller proportion in the hybrid offspring. 

Red clover. Commonly called clover; a biennial forage plant 
with roundish, pinkish flower heads. 

Rhizoctonia. The scientific name of the damping-off or sore-shin 
disease of young cotton plants. 

Rice bran. See p. 220. 

Rice polish. See p. 220. 

Rice weevil. Though named for the rice plant, this weevil does 
most injury to stored corn. 

Rick. A long stack. 

Ridging. See bedding. 

Rivers. See benders. 

‘Rotation of crops. The succession of crops that follow each other: 
on the same field in regular order. 

Rust. Diseases of certain plants due to the presence of definite, 
minute, vegetable organisms. 


Score-card. A numerical standard of excellence. 

Screening. Separating by means of sieves. 

Sea Island cotton. The plant that produces the longest, finest 
cotton fiber; its name is taken from the fact that this 
species of cotton is grown chiefly on islands along the South 
Atlantic seacoast. ‘ 

Self-pollination. Conveyance of pollen to the pistil of the same 
plant. Oats and wheat are self-pollinated. 

Shank. In the corn plant, the support for the ear. 

Shatter. To drop the grains prematurely. 

Sheaf oats. Oat-plants not threshed, including grain and straw. 

Sheath. The lower or stem-encircling part of the leaves of grass- 
like plants. ; 

Shock. A collection of bundles of grain plants leaning together ; 
a small pile of hay. : 

Shocker. See p. 198. 

Shovel. A shovel plow is intermediate in width and shape be- 


GLOSSARY 559 


tween a scooter and a sweep. It is used to open a trench or 
furrow and is attached to the foot of a plow-stock. 

Shredder. A machine for tearing into small pieces the coarse 
stems and other parts of corn stalks and other forms of 
coarse forage. See Fig. 98. 

Shucks. Corn shucks, the leaf-like parts inclosing the ear. 

Sieve-tubes. Plant structures for the circulation of sap. 

Silo. See p. 99. 

Single-tree. The short wooden bar to which the traces of each 
horse or mule are hitched. 

Slips. The slips of the sweet potato are also called ‘‘sets’”’ and 
“draws.’’ They consist of the young shoots growing out of 
the potato that is bedded. See Fig. 191. 

Small grains. A term applied collectively to wheat, oats, rye, 
and barley in distinction from the larger grain, corn. 
Smut. A disease of certain plants due to the growth of certain 

minute vegetable organisms. 

Sorghum vulgare. The scientific name which is used by some 
authorities to include all the sorghums.. - 

Species. A group of plants having certain qualities in common. 

Spelt. See p. 40. ‘ 

Sphacelotheca sorghi. The scientific name of the fungus causing 
the kernel smut of the sorghums. See p. 233. 

Spheronema fimbriatum. The scientific name of the organism 
causing the black-rot of sweet potatoes; until recently the 
first part of the name was usually written as Ceratocystis. 

Spikelets. A small cluster of flowers or seeds. 

Spores. Minute bodies which serve the purpose of seed for the 
fungi, that cause most plant diseases. 

Stamens. Anthers or pollen cases together with their supports. 

Biel In plants, failure to produce a normal number of 
seed. 

Stigma. The upper part of the pistil on which pollen must lodge 
and grow to effect fertilization of the flower. 

Stomata. Minute openings in the outer layer of plant tissue, 
especially on the under sides of leaves, through which open- 
ings the leaf gives off moisture and takes in carbon dioxide 
gas and oxygen. 

Strains. Subdivisions of a variety. ; 

Subsoil plow. A plow for loosening without inverting the soil. 
See Fig. 78. 

Subsoiling. See p. 163. 

Subspecies. A division of a species. : 

Suckers. In the corn plant, stems springing from some of the 
lower nodes of the main stem. 

Sucrose. Crystallizable sugar. 


560 GLOSSARY 


Sulfate of potash. A fertilizer containing 37 to 50 per cent of 
potash. : ; ; 

Sweet clover. Melilotus alba; a biennial, summer-growing leg- 
ume valuable for soil improvement, pasturage, and hay for 
home use. 


Tap-root. The main central root of such plants as cotton. 

Tare (in cotton). The allowance for weight of the covering, or 
bagging and ties, on a cotton bale; in practice it is usually 
24 pounds or less in American markets. 

Tassel. The panicle of male flowers borne at the top of a flower- 
ing corn plant. 

Teosinte. A tropical forage plant closely related to corn. 

Tetranychus gloveri. The scientific name of the red spider, a 
small mite that attacks cotton leaves. 

Threshing. The act of separating the grain of wheat, oats, etc., 
from the straw and chaff. 

Throw-board. See Fig. 92 and p. 191. 

Tillage. Cultivation. 

Tiller. To branch from the crown; to stool. 

Tilletia horrida. The scientific name of the fungus causing black 
smut in rice. 

Tip. The end of a corn ear farthest from the point of attach- 
ment. : 

Toxic. Poisonous. 

Toxoptera graminum. The ‘green bug,” a plant-louse injuring 
grain plants. 

Transpiration. The loss of water from plants by its passing 
into the air from the leaves, etc. 

Triticum. The name of the genus to which wheat belongs. 

Turn-plow. The kind of plow most generally used for turning 
over the soil. It includes a concave moldboard for twisting, 
pulverizing, and inverting the furrow-slice. 


Ustilago maydis. The scientific name of the fungus causing corn 
smut. 


Variety. A subdivision of a species; a group of individual plants 
possessing in common certain botanical or agricultural 
characteristics. 

Vegetable matter. Material now or recently existing in the form 
of plant tissue. 

Vegetative branches or limbs. On the cotton plant, those 
branches on which no boll stems are directly attached (see 
p- anon common equivalent terms are ‘‘base limbs” and 
s‘suckers.” 


GLOSSARY 561 


Vermicelli. A form of macaroni, manufactured from wheat. 

Vetch, hairy. A winter-growing, annual, leguminous plant, 
suitable for soil improvement, pasturage, and hay. 

Vine cuttings. Sections of vines cut off and planted, as with 
sweet potatoes. 

wee In seed, ability to sprout and to produce strong young 
plants. 

Vs., versus. Against, or in comparison with. 


Water furrows. The depressions or shallow trenches between 
two elevated beds of soil. 

bia sa form of light harrow, with long, flexible teeth. See 

ig. 86. 

Whorls. Sets or groups. 

Wild onion. See garlic. 

Windrows. In sugar-cane culture this applies to the rows of 
heaped and covered cane intended for planting. ; 

Winter-killing. The dying of young plants from cold or heaving. 


Zea mays. The scientific name of Indian corn. 


20 


INDEX 


[Numbers refer to pages.] 


Acid phosphate, how prepared, 330. 

Alabama argillacea, 408. 

Alabama Canebrake 
Station, 294. 

Alabama Experiment Station, 12, 
18, 31, 119,-126, 145, 157, 161, 
178, 187, 188, 205, 266, 270, 
273, 293, 299, 313, 325, 326, 
333, 339, 406, 522, 546. 

Alabama, productive varieties of 
corn in, 119. 

Alabama, productive varieties of 
cotton in, 293. 

Albino corn plants, 140. 

Alfalfa, root-rot on, 414. 

Allard, H. J., 266. 

.Allison method of cotton and corn 
culture, 180. 

American Breeders’ Association, 31, 
145, 314. 

Anderson, A. P., 230. 

Andropogon sorghum, 231. 

Anthracnose of cotton, 415. 

Anthronomus grandis, 392. 

Arachis hypogea, 464. 

Arkansas Experiment Station, 119, 
230, 247, 469, 483. 

Arkansas, productive varieties of 
corn in, 119. 

Atkinson, G. F., 420. 

Auricles of oats, 2. 

Austin, A., 230. 

Ayres, L. W., 546. 


Experiment 


Bailey’s Cyclopedia of American 
Agriculture, 67, 77, 97, 135, 
149, 247, 266, 360, 420, 424, 
456, 483, 521, 547. 


Ball, C. R., 246, 247. 
Barley, 74. 

beardless, 76. 

clasps, 75. 

composition, 75. 

description, 74. 

enemies, 77. 

fertilizers for, 76. 

laboratory exercises, 77. 

literature, 77. 

smut, 77. 

soils for, 76. 

sowing, 76. 

species and varieties, 75. 

uses of, 74. 
Batts, J. F., yield of corn, 204, 
Beal, H. W., 230. 
Beattie, R. W., 483. 
Bennett, R. L., 314. 
Bessey, C. E., 67. 
Bishop, F. C., 216. 
Blackstrap, definition of, 513. 
Blissus leucopterus, 211. 
Blue stem wheat, 41. 
Bluestone, 61. 
Bobolinks, 229. 
Bondurant, A. J., 546. 
Bowman, M. L., 205, 216. 
Boyce, 424. 


Boykin, E. B., 266, 314. 


Branching wheat, 40. 
Breeding of cotton, 300. 
of corn, 127. 
Broom-corn, 241. 
climate, soils, and fertilizers, 242. 
culture, 243. 
description, 241. 
enemies, 245. 


563 


564 


Broom-corn (continued) 
harvesting and preparation for 
marketing, 244. 
standard and dwarf, 242. 
statistics and yield, 241. 
varieties, 242. 
Budworms of corn, 206. 
Burkett, C. W., 360, 376, 387. 
Burnette, H. F., 456. 


Callandra oryza, 211. 
Calvin, M.'V., 340. 
Canada Experiment Farms, 20. 
Cannabis sativa, 422. 
Carbon disulfide, 64, 202, 212. 
Carleton, M. A., 65. 
Carpenter, F. B., 547. 
Cassava, 457. 
climate and distribution, 458. 
cultural methods, 459. 
enemies, 461. 
fertilizers for, 459. 
“frenching,” 461. 
harvesting, 460. 
kinds, 457. 
laboratory exercises, 462. 
literature, 462. 
poisonous constituent in, 458. 
propagation, 460. 
soils for, 459. 
storing ‘‘ seed canes,’ 461. 
uses and composition, 458. 
Cercospora personata, 483. 
Census, U. 8S. Bureau of, 287, 341. 
Chalcodermis eneus, 408. 
Cheat, 59. 
Check-rower, 166. 
Chemistry, U. S. Bureau of, 462. 
Chess, 59. 
Chinch bugs, 63, 211. 
Close breeding in corn, 140. 
Clover, crimson, in rotation, 47. 
red, in rotation, 47. 
Club wheat, 41. 
Cobb, N. A., 521. 
Cobey, W. W., 548. 


INDEX 


Coburn, F. D., 205, 246. 
Cockle, 60. 
Colletotrichum gossypit, 415. 
Composts, 335. 
Connecticut State Experiment Sta- 
tion, 136, 143, 149. 
Conner, A. B., 246. 
Convolvulacee, 425. 
Copper sulfate, 61. 
Corn, accidental versus inherited 
excellence, 131. 
Corn, albino plants, 141. 
Allison method of culture, 180. 
Angoumois moth in, 213. 
barren stalks, 130. 
binder or harvester, 198, 199. 
blades, 99. 
brace-roots, 82. 
breeding, 127. 
breeding for composition, 136. 
breeding, laboratory exercises, 
148. 
breeding, literature of, 149. 
breeding, systems of numbering, 
136. 
budworms, 206. 
butts, 108. 
characters needed, 114. 
checking, 175. 
cob, color of, 104. 
color of grain, 94, 117, 141-144. 
comparative yields of breeding 
rows, 132. 
composition, 98. 
composition influences shape, 137. 
composition, laboratory exercises, 
110. 
composition, of grains from tip, 
middle, and butt,146. 
composition, varied by selection, 
136. 
cowpeas with, 181. 
cribs, 201. Y 
crossing versus selection, 139. 
“crossed,” 180. 
cultivation of, 158. 


INDEX 


Corn (continued) 

cultivation, laboratory exercises 
in, 188. 

cultivation, literature of, 188. 

cutting and shocking, 192. 

cutworms attacking, 207. 

dates of planting, 168. 

definition of, 78. 

dent, 113. 

depth of planting, 167. 

depth of plowing for, 162. 

distance between plants, 178. 

dominant and recessive qualities, 
143. 

draft on fertility, 100. 

ear, 91. 

ear-branch, 84. 

ear, length and circumference, 
109. 

ear, proportion of grain, 109. 

ear, rots, 215. 

ear, shank, 116. 

ear, shape influenced by com- 
position, 137. 

ear, space between rows, 108. 

ear-to-row system of breeding, 
133. 

ear-worm, 208, 209, 210. 

early varieties, 125. 

effect of change of climate on, 
147. 

effects of cross-breeding, 14. 

effects of in-breeding, 140. 

enemies, 206. 

enemies, laboratory exercises, 215. 

enemies, literature of, 216. 

fertilizers for, 153, 187. 

fertilizer formulas for, 154. 

fertilizer, time to apply, 155. 

fertilizing, laboratory exercises, 
147. 

fertilizing, with legumes, 154. 

fertilizing, literature of, 157. 

fertilization of the flower, 90. 

flint, 113. 

“fodder,” 99. 


565 


Corn (continued) 

fungous diseases, 214. 

germination, test of, 138. 

grading seed grains, 147. 

grain, color in, 94. 

grain, composition, 93. 

grain, cross-section of; 93. 

grain, shapes of, 109. 

grain, structure of, 92. 

handling the ears, 189. 

hardness of grain, 114, 117. 

harrowing, 170. 

harvesting, 189. 

harvesting, laboratory exercises, 
204. 

harvesting, literature of, 205. 

height of ear, 129. 

hereditary qualities, 129. 

implements for, 164. 

improvement of varieties, 127. 

Indian meal moth in, 213. 

in a 3-year rotation, 152. 

in a 4-year rotation, 153. 

inheritance of color, 144, 145. 

inheritance of flint or dent struc- 
ture, 143. 

insects, 206. 

judging, 98, 101. 

judging, laboratory exercises, 102. 

judging, literature, 111. 

kernel, 92. 

kernels, best shape, 109. 

large-eared varieties, 122. 

“laying by,” 179. 

leaves, 83. 

leaves, curling, 84. 
structure, laboratory exercises, 

97. 

level preparation and planting, 
161. 

literature, 97. 

maturity, 114. 

means of improvement, 128. 

Mendel’s law applied to, 143. 

methods of applying fertilizers, 
156. 


566 INDEX 


Corn (continued) Corn (continued) 


methods of cutting, 194. 

Mexican June, 125. 

modified ridging system, 160, 162. 

number of ears per plant, 86. 

number of plants per hill, 177. 

other crops with, 179. 

place in rotation, 152. 

planting, 166. 

planting in water-furrow, 161. 

pod, 114. 

pop, 113, 114. 

pop corn crossed with dent, 127. 

position of ears, 86, 87, 116. 

productive varieties of corn, 120. 

products, 100. 

prolific varieties, 122. 

proportion of parts, 99. 

‘*pulling fodder,” 191. 

pulling the ears, 189. 

qualities accompanying 
yields, 116. 

qualities needing improvement, 
116. 

quantity of fertilizer, 157. 

races and varieties, 112. 

rat-proof cribs, 201. 

relationships between corn plants, 
139. 

remnants of breeding ears, 135. 

removal of tip grains, 146. 

replanting, 169. 

ridging versus flushing land, 159. 

roots, 79, 80, 81. 

rotations for, 150. 

rotation, literature of, 157. 

saving by shocking, 192. 

score-card for, 101. 

seed from tip, middle, and butt, 
145. 

selecting and crossing, 128. 

selecting according to composi- 
tion, 138. 

selection in field or crib, 130. 

shanks, length of, 130. 

shape of ear, 105. 


high 


shapes of grain, 92, 117. 

shocker, 198. 

shocking horse for, 194. 

shredding, 200. 

shucks, 84, 116. 

silks, 88. 

simple selection, 131. 

size of ears for planting, 130. 

sled cutter, 197. 

smut, 214. 

soft, 113, 114. 

soils for, 150. 

space between kernels near cob, 
169. 

stem, 82. 

stover, 99, 193. 

stripping the blades, 191. 

subsoiling for, 163. 

sweet, 113, 114. 

tassel, 86. 

thickness of planting, 176. 

thinning, 177. 

time of plowing, 159. 

tips, 108. 

top and bottom ears, 144. 

topping, 192. 

trueness to type, 109. 

two-horse cultivators for, 174. 

uses of, 78. 

varieties, 116. 

varieties, illustrations of, 124. 

varieties, laboratory exercises, 
125. 

varieties, literature of, 126. 

varieties, yields of, 118. 

vitality, 104. 

weevil-resistance, 114, 115. 

weevils in, 202, 211. 

Williamson method of culture, 
185. 

yellow varieties, 122. 

yields, 204. 


Cotton, absorbent, 263. 


Allen Long-staple variety, 299. 
angular leaf-spot, 418. 


INDEX 


Cotton (continued) 

annual crop of Egypt, 384. 

annual crop of India, 384. 

antagonistic qualities, 307. 

anthracnose, 415. 

Asiatic, 281. 

bacterial blight, 419. 

bagging, 369. 

bale, round, 369. 

bales, tare on, 369. 

baling, 367. 

bark and stems, 254. 

barring off, 352. 

-belt, extent of, 383. 

“benders,” 277. 

Bengal, 276. 

big-boll group, 288. 

Blue Ribbon variety, 291. 

boll-rot, 415. 

bolls, 257. 

boll-stems or peduncles, 255. 

boll-weevil, 392. 

boll-weevil, burning 
against, 398. 

boll-weevil, extent of injury, 392. 

boll-weevil, food of, 393. 

boll-weevil, grazing stalks against, 
398. 

boll-weevil, illustrations of, 171, 
172, 173. 

boll-weevil, insect enemies of, 404. 

boll-weevil, minor methods of 
combating, 400. 

boll-weevil, map of region in- 
vaded by, 403. 

boll-weevil, nature of injury by, 
395. 

boll-weevil, picking squares for, 
404. : 

boll-weevil, poisoning, 400. 

boll-weevil, principal preventive 
measures, 398. 

boll-weevil, rapid multiplication, 
396. 

boll-weevil, rate of spread, 402. 

boll-weevil, stages of, 395. 


stalks 


567 


Cotton (continued) 

boll-weevil, widening rows against, 
401. 

boll-weevil, winter quarters of, 
397. 

boll-worm, 210, 388. 

boll-worm, preventive measures, 
390. 

breeding, 300. 

breeding, for a small number of 
qualities, 308. 

breeding, laboratory exercises, 
313. 

breeding, literature, 314. 

burning of stalks, 397. 

burs, plant food in, 272. 

care of baled, 370. 

caterpillar, 404. 

causes of scant profits, 320. 

chopping, 354. 

classification of varieties, 283. 

classing, 372. 

cleaning middles, 355. 

Cleveland variety, 298. 

cluster group of, 283. 

color of lint, 374. 

commercial grades, 372. 

commercial grades, value of, 375. 

competition by foreign countries, 
385. 

competition, means of meeting, 
387. 

composition, 267. 

composition, laboratory exercises, 
273. 

composition, literature, 273. 

composts for, 335. * 

compresses, 371. 

Cooke Improved variety, 298. 

crop, statistics of, 379. 

crossing of American and Asiatic 
species, 276. 

crossing versus selection, 301. 

cultivation, 341, 351. 

cultivation, laboratory exercises, 
360. 


568 


Cotton (continued) : 
cultivation, literature, 360. 
culture in presence of the boll- 
weevil, 405. 

culture in U. S., 379. 

culture in U. 8., distribution of, 
383. 

defects in bolls, 306. 

depth of cultivation, 357. 

depth of plowing for, 343. 

description of varieties, 296. 

directions for crossing, 302. 

distance experiments, 359. 

distribution of fertilizer, 347. 

draft on fertility, 315. 

early King-like group, 288. 

easy deterioration of varieties, 
300. 

effects of raw and acid phosphate, 
330. 

Egyptian, 280. 

family and genus, 274. 

fertilizers, 309. 

fertilizers, advantages of home 
mixing, 321. 

fertilizers, amounts per acre, 324. 

fertilizers, amounts of crop in- 
crease from, 322. 

fertilizers, factory-mixed, 320. 

fertilizers, laboratory exercises, 
340. 

fertilizers, profits from, 323. 

fiber, breaking strength, 263. 

fibers of several varieties, 292. 

fiber, size, 263. 

fiber, uses of, 272. 

flowers, 256. 

flowers, time required for de- 
velopment, 265. 

forming beds for, 345. 

frequency of cultivation, 356. 

fruit, stages in life of, 265. 

fruiting branches, 250. 

gin, 370, 379. 

gin, roller, 370. 

gin, saw, 370. 


INDEX 


Cotton (continued) 

ginning, 366. 

ginning, Long Staple, 370. 

ginning, Sea Island, 369. 

glands, 257. 

grade, how determined, 374. 

ground phosphate rock for, 329. 

harvesting and marketing, 361. 

harvesting, laboratory exercises, 
376. 

harvesting, literature, 376. 

hastening maturity against boll- 
weevil, 400. 

Hawkins variety, 296. 

history and statistics in America, 
377. 

hoeing, 356. 

immature fibers, 262. 

implements used in cultivation 
of, 354. 

improvement profitable, 301. 

Indian, 258, 276. 

indications of need of nitrogen, 
319. 

insect enemies, 388. 

Jackson, 296. 

King variety, 297. 

late cultivation, 356. 

Layton variety, 297. 

leaf-worm, 404. 

leaves, 255. 

leaves, weight of, 271. 

lime for, 335. 

lint, 262. 

lint, composition of, 267. 

lint, effect of storage on, 263. 

lint, plant food in, 271. 

lint, proportion of plant, 271. 

linters, 383. 

list of leading varieties, 293. 

literature, 339. 

locks, 257. 

long-limbed group, 290. 

long-staple upland, 290. 

maturity affected by fertilizers, 
327. 


INDEX 


Cotton (continued) 

maturity or earliness, 254. 

methods of plowing for, 342. 

methods of separating large 
seeds, 313. 

mildew, 418. 

minor leaf diseases, 418. 

nitrogenous fertilizers, 325. 

no indications revealing the need 
for phosphorus, 318. 

not fertilized according to com- 
position, 317. 

pasting the seed of, 348. 

Peruvian, 280. 

petals and sepals, 257. 

Peterkin variety, 296. 

picker, Dixie, 365. 

picker, Lowry, 365. 

picker, Oliver, 366. 

picker, Price-Campbell, 366. 

picker, Thurman Vacuum, 366. 

pickers, mechanical, 361. 

pistil, 257. 

plant breeder’s methods of im- 
proving, 309. 

plant, composition 
of, 270. 

plant food in, 271. 

plant, habit of, 274. 

plant in budding stage, 401. 

/plant-to-row method of breeding, 
310. 

planters, 348. 

plants, weight of stems, leaves, 
ete., 271. 

pollen, 256. 

pollination of, 256. 

principal qualities 
plant, 305. 

principal species, 274, 275. 

principal uses, 267. 

-producing countries, 384. 

productiveness of varieties, 291. 

quality affected by fertilizers, 338. 

qualities needing improvement, 
307. 


of parts 


desired in 


569 


Cotton (continued) 

reasons for variation, 282. 

Rio Grande group, 287. 

rivers, 277. 

roots, 254. 

roots, plant food in, 271. 

roots, weight of, 271. 

root-knot, 414. 

root-rot, 414, 415. 

Russell variety, 297. 

rust, checked by potash, 333. 

score-card for, 313. 

Sea Island, 276, 279. 

seed, 264. 

seed as fertilizer, 325. 

seed, composition of, 268. 

seed, effects on hogs, 272. 

seed, effects on young calves, 273. 

seed, germination of, 264. 

seeding, 381. 

seed, number per bushel, 349. 

-seed meal, poisonous effects of, 
272, 

-seed meal versus manure, 328. 

-seed meal, sometimes unprofit- 
able, 328. 

seed patch, 306. 

seed, plant foodin, 271. ® 

-seed products, 270. 

seed, production and uses of, 381. 

seed, proportion of fiber, hulls, 
and meats in, 264. 

seed, proportion to entire plant, 
271. 

seed, rolling, 349. 

seed, time to apply as fertilizer, 
327. 

seed, uses of, 272. 

seed versus cotton-seed meal as 
fertilizer, 269, 326. 

semicluster group, 285. 

size of seed for planting, 312. 

soils, 315. 

sowing seed in, 357. 

species, American group, 276. 

species, Asiatic group, 276. 


570 


Cotton (continued) 

species, laboratory exercises, 281. 

species, literature, 281. 

stalk cutter, 399. 

stalks, loss in burning, 406. 

statistics, laboratory exercises, 
387. : 

stems and branches, 248. 

stems, plant food in, 271. 

stems, weight of, 271. 

“storm resistance,”’ 261. 

structure and general character- 
istics, 248. 

structure, laboratory exercises, 
265. 

structure, literature, 266. 

subsoiling for, 344. 

tillage by weeder and harrow, 350. 

time of planting, 347. 

time of plowing for, 342. 

tinges and stains, 374. 

Toole variety, 296, 297. 

Triumph variety, 298. 

Truitt variety, 298. 

twist in fibers, 262. 

upland species, 276. 

variation and selection, 303. 

varieties, 282. 

varieties, laboratory exercises, 
299. 

varieties, literature, 299: 

vegetative branches, 249, 250. 

where potash is needed, 318. 

wilt, description of, 412. 

wilt, persistence of, 413. 

wilt-resistant varieties, 414. 

wilt, spread of, 412. 

wilt, treatment of, 413. 

young plants of, 353. 

Cowpeas, in corn, 181. 

drilling versus broadcast sowing, 
181. 

fertilizer for, 184. 

methods of drilling, 184. 

methods of sowing broadcast, 
183. 


INDEX 


Cross-breeding, effects of, in corn, 

141. 
in corn, 140. 

“Crossed corn.’’ See page 180. 

Crossing versus selection in cotton, 
301. 

Crossley, B. W., 205, 216. 

Current cross, 127. 

Cutworms, 207. 

Cylas formicarius, 452. 


Davenport, E., 149. 

Davidson, R. J., 547. 

Dewey, L. H., 281, 424. 

Diabrotica 12-punctata, 206. 

Diatrea saccharalis, 520. 

Dioscorea, 431. 

Diplodia, 215. 

Diplosis sorghicola, 233. 

Disk-harrow, 16. 

for forming beds, 347. 

Dodlinger, P. T., 67. 

Dodson, W. R., 157, 230, 247. 

Dolochonyz oryzivorus, 229. 

Dominance of qualities in hy- 
brids, 143. 

Double fertilization, 90. 

in corn, 142. 

Drake, Z. J., yield of corn, 204. 

Drilling versus broadcast sowing of 
wheat, 54. 

Duggar, B. M., 456. 

Duggar, J. F., 31, 126, 157, 188, 
205, 299, 340, 360, 455. 


Earle, D. E., 376. 

Earle, F. S., 521. 

Ear-to-row system of corn breed- 
ing, 133. 

East, E. M., 143, 149. 

Einkorn, 40. 

Elliott, E. E., 67. 

Embryo-sae, 90. 

Emmer, 40. 

Endosperm, 90. 


INDEX 


Entomology, Georgia State Board 
of, 52. 

Entomology, U.S. Bureau of, 31. 

Evans, W. E., 281. 

Experiment Station, U. S. Office 
of, 117, 126, 205, 273, 281, 
287, 340, 360, 376, 547. 


Fertilizers, advantages of high grade, 


advantages of home mixing, 321. 
distribution of, 347. 
effects of, on soil, 320. 
for corn, 153. 
for cotton, 315. 
nitrogenous, 325. 
time of application to corn, 154. 
Fitz, James, 455. 
Floats, 330. 
Florida Experiment Station, 459, 
462, 522. 
Floyd, M. L., 546. 
Freeman, C. F., 246. 
Freeman, E. M., 246. 
Frost, date of first killing, 52. 
Fulcaster wheat, 42, 43. 
Fultz wheat, 42, 43. 
Furman compost formula, 336. 
Fusarium, 215. 


Galechia cerealella, 64. 

Gammie, G. O., 276, 281. 

Garlic, wild, 60. 

Garman, H., 547. 

Georgia Experiment Station, 18, 31, 
99, 120, 145, 154, 178, 187, 192, 
205, 294, 324, 333, 340, 360. 

Georgia, productive varieties of 
corn in, 120. 

productive varieties of cotton 
in, 393. 

Germination box, 138. 

Gleosporium manihot, 461. 

Gossypium, arboreum, 276. 

barbadense, 276. 
hirsutum, 276. 


571 


Gossypium (continued) 
obtusifolium, 276. : 
peruvianum, 276. 

Grain drill, 17. 

Grain-moths, 64. 

Graminee, 1, 68. 

Grasshoppers, 209. 

““Green-bug, ”’ 25. 

Guano horn, 347, 


Hammond, H., 360, 376. 
Handy, R. B., 483. 
Harper, J. N., 299, 340, 547. 
Harrow, spike-tooth, 171. 

use in cultivating cotton, 350. 
Harshberger, J. W., 98. 


Hartley, C. P., 130, 145, 146, 
247. 

Hays, W. M., 67, 205. 

Heaving, 19. 

Heliothis obsoleta, 210. 

Hemp, 422. 


cultural methods, 423. 
fertilizer for, 423. 
harvesting, 423. 
laboratory exercises, 424. 
literature, 424. 
soils, 423. 
Hessian fly, 62> 
Heterodera radicicola, 411. 
Hinds, W. E., 63, 203, 211, 212, 
213, 214, 393. 
Hinds chain cultivator, 402. 
Hopkins, C. G., 5, 97, 136. 
“ Hopper-dozer,” 209. 
Hunt, T. F., 4, 67, 97, 247, 376. 
Hunter, 8S. J., 25, 31. 
Hutchinson, W. L., 273. 


Illinois Experiment Station, 129, 
136, 215, 216. 

In-breeding, 139. 

Indiana Experiment Station, 111. 

Insect pests of oats, 25. 

Iowa Experiment Station, 111. 

Ipomea batatas, 425. 


572 


Johnson-grass seed, 21. 


Kafir, Black-hulled White, 238, 
239. 

composition of grain and stover, 
232. 


description and uses, 239. 
harvesting, 240. 
Red, 234. 
soils and planting, 240. 
Kansas A. & M. College, 66. 
Kansas Board of Agriculture, 205, 
247. 
Kansas Experiment Station, 20, 31, 
246. 
Kentucky Experiment Station, 546. 
Kilgore, B. W., 67, 126, 273. 
Killebrew, J. B., 546. 
Kimbrough, J. M., 340. 
Knapp, 8. A., 221, 228, 230. 


Lady-bug, beneficial, 25. 
Laphygma frugiperda, 521. 
Legumes a cheap source of nitro- 
gen, 154. 
Leidigh, A. H., 246. 
Lime, 335. 
for wheat, 45. 

Lissorhoptrus simplex, 229. 

Litter, disposal of, 341. 

Lloyd, F. E., 90. 

Louisiana Crop Pest Commission, 
399. 

Louisiana Experiment Station, 120, 
157, 219, 230, 247, 294, 521, 
546. 

Louisiana, productive varieties of 
corn in, 120. 

productive varieties of cotton in, 
393. 
Lyon, T. L., 31, 67, 111. 


Macaroni wheat, 40. 
Mallow family, 274. 
Malvacee, 274. 

Manihot utilissima, 457. 


INDEX 


Manure, increase in cotton from 
use of, 325. 

Marismius sacchari, 520. 

McBryde, J. B., 270, 273, 340, 360. 

McDonnell, C. C., 219, 230. 

MeNess, G. T., 546. 

MeNider, G. M., 360. 

McQuarrie, C. K., 522. 

Mell, P. H., 266. 

Mendel’s law in corn, practical 
results of, 145. 

Mercier, W. B., 360. 

Metcalf, H., 230. 

Mexican cotton boll-worm, 392. 

Middle burster, 346. 

Miller, T. 8., 376. 

Milo, 240. 

Milo compared with Kafir, 241. 

composition of grain, 231. 

Milo maize, 240. 

Minnesota Experiment Station, 205. 

Mississippi Experiment Station, 111, 
120, 273, 294. 

Mississippi, productive varieties of 
corn in, 120. 

productive varieties of cotton in, 

393. 

Molasses, defined, 513. 

Montgomery & Lyon, 31, 67, 111. 

Moracee, 422. 

Morgan, H. A., 456. 

Moore, C. C., 462. 

Moorehouse, L. A., 205. 

Myrick, H., 188, 546. 


Nebraska Experiment Station, 20, 
22, 67. 

Nelson, R. J., 230. 

Nematode worms, 474. 

Nesbit, D. M., 456. 

Newman, C. L., 247, 299, 483. 

Newman, J. S., 246, 339, 456. 

Nicotiana tabacum, 523. 

Nitrate of soda, 15, 48, 156, 327. 

Nitrogen, a rational system of fertil- 
ization with, 329. 


INDEX 


Nitrogen (continued) . 
cost of, 328. 
need of cotton soils for, 328. 
sources of, 327. 
North Carolina, Department of 
Agriculture, 67, 77, 119, 120, 
126, 263, 266, 295, 340, 360. 


Experiment Station, 188, 216, 
546. 
productive varieties of corn in, 
120. 
productive varieties of cotton 
in, 394. 


Nitrogen, effects on maturity of 
cotton, 367. 


Oats, Appler, 9. 
Bancroft, 9. 
Burt, 6, 9. 
change of seed, 21. 
composition, 4, 5: 
Culberson, 9. 
cultural methods for, 16. 
diseases of, 23. 
draft on soil fertility, 5. 
drilling versus broadcast sowing, 

17. 

fertilizers for, 13, 15. 
fungous diseases of, 23. 
grain, 4. 
harvesting and marketing, 26. 
heaving of, 19. 
improvement of, 12. 
in rotation, 14. 
insect pests of, 25. 
inter-tillage of, 22. 
laboratory exercises, 29. 
leaves, 2. 
literature, 3. 
“ May,” 9. 
nitrate of soda for, 15. 
open-furrow method, 18. 
panicle and spikelet, 2. 
pasturing, 22. 
pollination of, 2. 
preparation of land for, 16. 


578 


Oats (continued) 
quantity of seed, 19. 
Red Rust-proof, 6, 7. 
roots, 1. 
rotation for, 14. 
rust of, 23. 
size of seed, 20. 
smut, 23. 
soils for, 13. 
stems, 1. 
teams and labor, 28. 
time to sow, 16. 
Turf or Grazing, 6, 11. 
types of Southern, 6. 
varieties of, 6. 
weeds in, 23. 
winter-killing of, 19. 
with crimson clover, 27. 
Ohio Experiment Station, 20, 106, 
149. 
Oklahoma Experiment Station, 43, 
51, 58, 121. 
Oklahoma, productive varieties of 
corn in, 121. 
Ontario Agricultural College and 
Experiment Farms, 20. 
Orton, W. A., 420. 
Oryza sativa, 217. 
Ozonium, 414. 


Parker, E. C., 205. 
Pasturing oats, 23. 
Pasturing wheat, 57. 
Patterson, L. C., 273. 
Peanuts, 464. 
as stock food, 479. 
breeding, 471. 
composition of, 466. 
hulls, 466. 
kernels, 466. 
meal, 466. 
nut, 466. 
cultivation, 471. 
distance between plants, 469. 
effects on pork and lard, 479. 
enemies, 482, 


574 


Peanuts (continued) 
fertilizers, 467. 
harvesting, 482. 
in rotation, 473. 
laboratory exercises, 482. 
land-plaster for, 467. 
leaf-spot, 482. 
liming soil for, 467. 
literature, 384. 
method of planting, 469. 
North Carolina, 476. 
oil from, 464, 478. 
plant, description of, 464. 
preparation of land for, 468. 
preparation of seed, 470. 
soils, 464. 

Spanish, 476. 

time of planting, 471. 

uses of, 476. 

varieties, 476. 

Virginia Bunch, 476. 

Virginia Runner, 476. 

yields, 481. 
Pepper-grass, 60. 


INDEX 


Potash (continued) 
for checking cotton rust, 333. 
need for, 332. 
sources of, 337. 

Poulard wheat, 40. 

Price, R. H., 455. 

Protoparce Carolina, 544. 

Prussic acid in cassava roots, 458. 


Raw phosphate in composts, 337. 
Red cane, 520. 
Redding, R. J., 145, 155, 205, 340, 
360. 
Red May wheat, 48. 
Red rice, 228. 
Rhode Island Experiment Station, 
444. 
Rice, 217. 
amount of seed, 221. 
birds, 229. 
bran, composition of, 219. 
composition of, 219. 
distribution, 217. 
fertilizers for, 221, 227. 


Phosphate, effect on maturity of fungous diseases, 229. 


cotton, 337. 
need of cotton soils for, 332. 
raw or ground rock, 330. 


harvesting, 227. 
Honduras, 220. 
hulls, composition of, 219. 


Phosphates, effects of different implements and labor, 221. 


forms of, 33. 
Phosphoric acid, cost of, 332. 
sources of, 330, 331. 
Plant breeding a specialty, 312. 


insect enemies of, 229. 
irrigation, 223. 

Japan, 220. 

laboratory exercises, 229. 


Plant Industry, U. S. Bureau of, 60, literature, 230. 


266, 299, 547. 
Planter, hand, 169. 
check-row, 166. 
Plowing, depth of, 343. 
time of, 159, 342. 
Plumb, C. S., 188. 
Poe, C. H., 360, 376, 387. 
Polish wheat, 40. 
Pollen-tube, course of, 89. 
Potash, effect on maturity of 
ton, 338. 
Potash fertilizers, 332. 


polish, composition of, 219. 
preparation of land for, 221. 
production of, 217. 

rust, 229. 

smut, 229. 

soils, 221. 

sowing, 221. 

straw, composition of, 219. 
upland, 225. 

cot- varieties, 220. 

water weevil, 229. 

weeds in, 228. 


INDEX 575 


Rice (continued) Shiver, F. S., 373. 
weevil, 211. Shocker for corn, 198. 
yield of, 228. Shocking horse, 194. 
Ridgway, C. 8., 89. Shoesmith, V. M., 111. 
Roberts, H. F., 246. Shredder, 193, 200. 
Robinson, T. A., 376. Silage, 99. 
Root-knot, 413. Silo, 99. 
Roper, W. N., 483. Sirup, defined, 513. 
Rose, R. E., 522. making, 513. 
Ross, B. B., 270, 271, 273, 522. Smith, L. H., 136, 149. 
Rotation for oats, 14. Smut, of barley, 77. 
for wheat, 45, 46. loose, of wheat, 61. 
Rust of oats, 23. of corn, 214. 
Rusts of wheat, 60. of oats, 23. 
Rye and barley, 68. of wheat, 61. 
and crimson clover, 72. Soils, acid, for corn, 151. 
clasps on leaf, 69. for oats, 13. 
climate for, 70. U.S. Bureau of, 157, 340, 346. 
description, 68. Sorghums, 231. 
enemies, 73. laboratory exercises, 245. 
ergot in, 73. : literature, 47. 
fertilizers for, 70. Sorghum vulgare, 231. 
heads of, 69. Amber, 234, 235, 236. 
laboratory exercises, 77. composition of, 232. 
literature, 77. crossing, 233. ‘ 
pollination in, 70. cultivation, 237. 
preparation and sowing, 71. effects on soil, 232. 
soils for, 70. enemies, 233. 
uses, 68. fertilizer for, 236. 
utilization, 72. general description, 231. 
varieties, 70. groups of, 231. 
, harvesting, 237. 
Saccharum officinarum, 484. kernel smut, 233. 
Sargent, F. L., 77, 97. midge, 233. 
Scherffius, W. H., 547. Orange varieties, 235, 236. 
Schulte, J. I., 205, 546. planting, 237. 
Scofield, C. S., 67. preparation for, 237. 
Score-card for corn, 101. Red Top or Sumac, 235. 
for cotton plant, 312. saccharine, 234. 
for oats, 31. smut, 234. 
for wheat, 66. soils for, 236. 
Seed, change of, 57. sweet, composition of seed 
Seeding machines, 55. and of cured plant, 232. 
Seed wheat, best size of, 56. sweet, description and use, 234. 
Self-pollination in corn, 139. varieties, 235. 
Shamel, A.D., 547. where grown, 235. 


576 


Soule, A. M., 67, 149, 188. 

South Carolina, Clemson College, 
376. 

South Carolina Experiment Sta- 
tion, 121, 187, 219, 230, 246, 
270, 295, 299, 333, 340, 359, 
406. 

South Carolina, productive varieties 
of corn in, 121. 

productive varieties of cotton in, 
394, 

Spachelotheca sorghi, 233. 

Spheronema fimbriatum, 454. 

Stalk cutter, 158. 

Statistics, U. S. Bureau of, 387. 

Stevens, F. L., 215, 420. 

Stockbridge, H. E., 462, 522. 

Stubbs, W. C., 230, 521. 

Sturtevant, E. L., 92, 117, 126. 

Subsoiling, 163, 343. 

Suckers on corn, 83. 

Sugar, consumption of, 519. 

production of, 518. 

Sugar-cane, 484. 

bedding, 510. 
borer, 519. 
buds, 489. 
burning refuse, 502. 
by-products, 513. 
composition, 492. 
cowpeas as fertilizer for, 505. 
cultivation, 501. 

in Cuba, 503. 
cultural methods, 498. 
digging, ‘seed cane,” 510. 
diseases, 520. 
duration of, 484. 
extraction of juice, 492. 
fertilizer experiments, 496. 
fertilizers, 495. 
harvesting, 507. 

in Louisiana, 511. 
history, 517. 
improvement of, 491. 
insect enemies, 519. 
Japanese, 507. 


INDEX 


Sugar-cane (continued) 

laboratory exercises, 521. 
leaf-hopper, 520. 
leaves, 485. 
legumes as fertilizer, 497. 
literature, 521. 
on uplands, 489. 
-plant food removed by, 492. 
planting in Louisiana, 50. 
planting in Pine Belt, 500. 
preparation for, 498. . 
propagation, 489, 498. 

from seed, 490. 
proportion of parts, 492. 
roots, 485. 
rotation for, 503. 
sirup, effects of canning, 516. 
sirup-making, chemicals in, 517. 
sirup-making, equipment for, 514. 


sirup, prevention of sugaring, 
510. 
soils, 497. 


source of nitrogen in, 496. 
source of potash for, 498. 
Southern grass-worm, 520, 
stem, 486. 
stripper, 509. 
stripping and cutting, 507. 
structure, 487. 
tillage, 501. 
varieties, 505. 
yields, 512. 
“Sugar millet,” 231. 
Sweet-potato, 425. 
banking, 450. 
bedding, 438. 
black-rot, 454. 
classification of varieties, 432. 
conditions in storing, 449. 
cultivation, 446. 
cultural methods, 438. 
desirable qualities, 432. 
distance between plants, 445. 
draft on soil fertility, 430. 
drawing the slips, 442. 
dry-rot, 455. 


INDEX 577 


Sweet-potato (continued) 
effect on land, 437. 
fertilizers, 435. 
fire hot-beds, 439. 
flowers and seeds, 427. 
fungous diseases, 454. 
harvesting, 447. 
high and low beds for, 446. 
humus for, 435. 
insects, 452. 
kiln drying, 450. 
kind and quantity to bed, 440. 
laboratory exercises, 455. 
literature, 455. 
manure bed for, 438. 
market demands, 431. 
methods of harvesting, 448. 
place in the rotation, 436. 
preparation of land for, 445. 
propagation of, 438. 
pruning the vines, 447. 
root-borer, 452. 
root-rot, 414. 
slips, 441. 
soft-rot, 455. 
soils, 434. 
starch and alcohol from, 429. 
storage house, 451, 452. 
time to dig, 447. 
time of transplanting, 444. 
transplanting, 442. 
transplanting machines, 443. 
value as food, 428. 
varieties, 431. 
vine cuttings of, 445. 
yields, 449. 


Tennessee Experiment Station, 39, 
67, 121, 270. 

Tennessee, productive varieties of 
corn in, 121. 

Teosinte, 78. 

Texas Experiment Station, 122, 
246, 295, 314. 

Texas, productive varieties of corn 
in, 122. 


2P 


Throw-board, 190, 191. 
Tillage of wheat, 57. 
Tilletia horrida, 229. 
Tobacco, 523. 


breeding, 527. 
composition, 524. 
cultivation, 533. 
cultural methods, 529. 
curing, 540, 542. 

air, 541. 

fire, 540. 

flue, 541. 
- cigar, 641. 
cut-worms, 544. 
description, 523. 
diseases, 544. 
distance for, 532. 
distribution, 523. 
fertilizer formulas, 526. 
fertilizers, 525. 
harvesting, 538. 
indications of maturity, 538. 
insects, 544. 
laboratory exercises, 545. 
literature, 546. 
nematodes, 544. 
nitrogen for, 525. 
preparation for, 532. 
rotations for, 537. 
seed-bed, 529. 
seed-blower, 529. 
seed, saving, 527. 
setting, 532. 
shade, 530, 536. 
soils, 524. 
sowing, 531. 
stripping, 543. 
suckering, 535. 
topping, 533. 
transplanting machine, 534. 
two methods of harvesting, 539. 
types and varieties, 526. 
wire-worm, 545. 
worm, Southern, 544, 545. 
yields and prices, 543. 


Tompkins, A. D., 376. 


578 INDEX 


Toxoptera graminum, 25. 
Tracy, S. M., 462. 


Tubercles, distinguished from root- 


knot, 415. 


Turn-plow, in cultivating corn, 174. 


Tyler, F. K., 299. 


Umberger, H. J. C., 246. 
Upland rice, 226. 


U. 8. Department of Agriculture, 
130, 149, 205, 216, 221, 228, 
230, 246, 247, 281, 314, 462, 


482, 522, 546, 547. 
Ustilago maydis, 214. 


Vanatter, P. O., 67, 149, 188. 
Varieties of corn, yields of, 118. 


Vegetable Physiology and Pathol- 


ogy, U. 8. Division of, 67. 
Vetch, hairy, 12. 
Vincenheller, W. G., 230. 
Virginia Experiment Station, 122, 
130, 149, 188, 548. 


Virginia, productive varieties of 


corn in, 122. 


Waite, M. B., 456. 
Warburton, C. W., 240, 247. 
Watt, G., 266, 281. 

Webber, H. J., 149, 266, 314. 

Weeder, 171, 172. 
use in cultivating cotton, 350. 

Weeds in oats, 23. 
in rice, 228. 
in wheat, 59. 

Weevils in corn, 211. 

Wheat, Blue Stem, 41, 42. 
change of seed, 57. 
climate for, 53. 
composition, 39. 
cultural methods, 51. 
diseases, 60. 


drilling versus broadcast sowing, 


enemies, 59. 
fertilization of, 47. 


Wheat (continued) 


Fulcaster, 42, 43. 

grain, 37. 

hay, when to cut, 59. 

Hessian fly, 62. 

improvement of varieties, 44. 

insect pests of, 62. 

laboratory exercises, 64. 

large versus medium and small 
grains, 56. 

leaves, 34. 

lime for, 45. 

literature, 67. 

means of distinguishing varieties, 
43. 

most productive varieties, 43. 

pasturing, 57. 

plant food removed by, 47. 

plant-louse, 63. 

pollination, 34. 

preparation of land, 51. 

prices, 59. 

Purple Straw, 41, 42. 

qualities desired in, 44. 

quantity of seed, 55. 

Red May, 438. 

roots, 32. 

rotation for, 45, 46. 

rust, 60. 

score-card for, 66. 

size of grain, 38. 

smut, 61. 

soils for, 45. 

species and subspecies, 40. 

spikelets, 35. 

standards for, 66. 

stems, 33. 

stinking smut, 61. 

structure and composition, 33. 

tillage, 57. 

time to harvest, 58. 

time to sow, 52. 

varieties, 40. 

with crimson clover, 27, 

yields, 59. 


White, H. C., 340. 


INDEX 579 


Whitney, Milton, 157, 547, 548, Williamson method of corn culture, 


Wight, J. B., 522. 18. 
Wild onion, 60. Winter-killing, prevention of, 19. 
Wiley, H. W., 462, 522. Wisconsin Station, 77. 
Williams, C. B., 126, 188, 266, 338, 

340. + Zea mays, 78. 


Williams, C. G., 149. Zintheo, C. J., 205. 


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E. W. Hilgard’s SoiJs: Their Formation and Relations 16 Climate 
and Plant Growth . i ‘ “ ‘ . . . . 


Isaac P, Roberts’ The Farmstead . . * . . . . 


On Tillage, etc. 
F, H. King’s The Soil . On ee a 
Isaac P. Roberts’ The Fertility af the Land . e «& . . 
Elwood Mead’s Irrigation Institutions . . . . 
F. H. King’s Irrigation and Drainage a. Ne 
William E, Smythe's The Conquest of Arid Asiioxiess A . 
Edward B. Voorhees’ Fertilizers. de w . . . 
Edward B. Voorhees’ Forage Crops : 
H. Snyder’s Chemistry of Plant and Animal Life ‘ a 
H. Snyder's Soil and Fertilizers. Third edition . . oo 
L. H. Bailey's Principles of Agriculture . 
W. C. Welborn’s Elements of Agriculture, Sentient and biestet 
J. F. Duggar's Agriculture for Southern Schools 
G. F. Warren's Elements of Agriculture . 
T. L. Lyon and E. O. Fippen’s The Principles of Soil Manswewient 
Hilgard & Osterhout’s Agriculture for Schools on the Pacific Slope 


On Plant Diseases, etc. 
George Massee’s Plant Diseases. . ie 
J. G. Lipman's Bacteria in Relation to Couey ifs 8 
E. C. Lodeman’s The Spraying of Plants r 4 x - P 
H. M. Ward's Disease in Plants (English) . . : © % 
A. S. Packard’s A Text-book on Entomology 
Stevens & Hall’s Diseases of Economic Plants 


On Production of New Plants 
L. H. Bailey's Plant-Breeding . : . . . . . 
L. H. Bailey's The Survival of the Dnlike © avert at Beh us 
L. H. Bailey's The Evolution of Our Native Fruits ‘ . . 
W. S. Harwood's New Creations in Plant Life . . . . 


On Garden-Making 
L. H. Bailey's Manual of Gardening . . .« +. «© « 
L. H. Bailey's Vegetable-Gardening P " * ‘ % 
L. H. Bailey’s Horticulturist's Rule Book . . os 
L. H. Bailey's Forcing Book .  . ee 
A. French's Book of Vegetables. . . e # . 


On Fruit-Growing, etc. 
L. H. Bailey's Nursery Book . . . . . . . . 
L. H. Bailey’s Fruit-Growing . ae ee er . 
L. H. Bailey’s The Pruning Book . . oe em 
F. W. Card’s Bush Fruits . ‘ a % ‘ 
J. T. Bealby’s Fruit Ranching in British Golinniia de. teen be 


$1 75 net 
4 00 net 
I 50 net 


I 50 net 
I 50 net 
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I 50 net 
I 50 net 
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I 50 net 
I 25 net 
I 25 net 
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75 net 

75 net 
I Io net 
I 75 net 
I oo net 


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4 5o net 
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: BOOKS ON AGRICULTURE — Continued 


On the Care of Live Stock 
D. E. Lyon's How to Keep Bees for Profit . . . . « $f 50 net 
Nelson S. Mayo’s The Diseases of Animals . 2 « « « I 50 net 
W. H. Jordan’s The Feeding of Animals ts aks 48 -Sera cs I 50 net 


I. P. Roberts’ The Horse . OE OR Se : I 25 net 
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C. S. Valentine’s How to Keep Hens for Profit I 50 net - 
O. Kellner’s The Scientific Feeding of Animals (translation) I go net 
H. R. Lewis’ Poultry Laboratory Guide . . . . m ‘ 65 net 
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Dairy Products . . . . . . . . . . I go net 

On Economics and Organization 
J. McLennan’s Manual of Practical Farming . « < * #8 I 50 net 
L. H. Bailey's The Stateand the Farmer. . «. «. « I 2g5net 
Henry C. Taylor's Agricultural Economics . . . . + I 25 net 
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On Everything Agricultural 

L. H. Bailey’s Cyclopedia of American Agriculture: 

Vol. I. Farms, Climates, and Soils. 
Vol. II. Farm Crops. 
Vol. III. Farm Animals. 
Vol. IV. The Farm and the Community, 
To be complete in four royal 8vo volumes, with over 2000 illustrations, 

Price of sets: Cloth, $20 net; half-morocco, $32 net. 


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Cyclopedia of American Agriculture 
Epiren sy L. H. BAILEY 


Director of the College of Agriculture and Professor of Rural Economy, 
Cornell University. 


With 100 full-page plates and more than 2000 illus 
trations in the text; four volumes; the set, $20.00 net; 
half morocco, $32.00 net; carriage extra 


VoLuME I— Farms VotumeE III — Animals 
VotumE II—Crops VoLtumeE 1V—The Farm and the Community 


“Indispensable to public and reference libraries . . . readily compre- 
hensible to any person of average education.” — The Nation, 

“The completest existing thesaurus of up-to-date facts and opinions on 
modern agricultural methods, It is safe to say that many years must 
pass before it can be surpassed in comprehensiveness, accuracy, prac- 
tical value, and mechanical excellence. It ought to be in every library 
in the country.” — Xecora-Herald, Chicago. 


Cyclopedia of American Horticulture 
Epirep sy L. H. BAILEY 


With over 2800 original engravings; four volumes; the 
set, $20.00 net; half morocco, $32.00 net; carriage extra 


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its class. Illustrations and text are admirable. ... Our own convic- 
tion is that while the future may bring forth amplified editions of the 
work, it will probably never be superseded. Recognizing its impor- 
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PUBLISHED BY 


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