Vol. XVI. No. 400. 



THE AQRICULTUKAL XEWS 



369 



FIELD CROPS FOR THE COTTON BELT. By 

 J. O. Morgan, M.S.A., Ph.D , Professor of Agronomy in the 

 Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. The 

 Macmillan Company, Neiu York. Pp. 456, Figs. 7-5. 

 Price Is. 6rf. nett. 



As is explained in the Circular notice of the Rural 

 Text-book Series to which the book to be reviewed belongs, 

 the study of crop production for any large region involves 

 a study of four general phases of the subject, as: 1. The 

 plant, its structure, physiology and normal requirements; 

 (2) a general survey of the region where it i.s proposed to 

 cultivate the plant, to note how the natural conditions 

 correspond to the needs of the plant; (3) the adaptation of the 

 plant on the one hand to natural conditions, and the a lapta- 

 tion of soil on the other to the needs of the plant. Mai imum 

 production is obtained when perfect adaptation is secured; 

 (4) protection necessary against other indigenous plants, 

 fungus diseases, and insects. The treatment of subjects 

 in the present text-book follows practically the above 

 plan, and gives a good practical account of the chiiracters, 

 cultivation, and harvesting of the principal crops grown in 

 the eleven Southern States known as the Cotton Belt. In 

 many respects, climatic conditions in these states are widely 

 different from those of any other large area of the United 

 States, and, for this reason, practices involved in the produc- 

 tion of field crops in this region present many modifications 

 of those of other states. 



The values of the eleven principal crops produced in 

 the Cotton Belt will give some idea of the relative importance 

 of each, and, expressed in millions of dollars, they are: 

 cotton 699, corn (maize) 335 wheat 30, oats 28, siit/ar-cano 

 26, rice 16, ground nuts 14, Kafir and railo 6, sweet sor^ihum 

 5, rye '6 and barley "2. As might be expected, this text- 

 book devotes most attention to the two leading crop?, cotton 

 and corn, more than half of its contents being devoted to the 

 principles and practices followed in their production. As 

 these crops are cultivated in the West Indies, the remarks 

 dealing with them will be of interest and practical usefulness 

 to readers in these islands. 



As Sea Island cotton is restricted to the James and Edisto 

 Islands and the adjacent mainlands along the coasts of South 

 Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, this variety does not receive 

 much attention in this book. It is mentioned, however, that 

 recent studies by Watt indicate this cotton as being a modern 

 development, for there is no evidence to show that it is 

 indigenous to Barbados. Reference is also made to the fact 

 that this species is so closely allied with Gossypium vitifoliwa, 

 a long staple cotton of South America, as to suggest that its 

 original habitat is somewhere in that continent 



Chapter VIII, dealing with fertilizers, manures, and 

 rotations for cotton, dwells on the problem of maintaining 

 the productive power of soils in the cotton belt, which 

 involves such a system of cropping as will provide these 

 soils with an abundance of organic matter and nitrogen, 

 and the application of the two important plant-food 



materials — phosphoric acid and potash— to the soils in 

 which the.se constituents are more or less deficient. After 

 discussing the value of cotton seed and cotton-seed 

 meal as a source of nitrogen, and after giving fertilizer 

 formulas adopted in the Cotton Belt for cotton, the book 

 points out that althougli stable manure, especially when 

 cotton is produced in rotation with other crops, is of 

 unquestionable value, the cotton planter uses very little' 

 farm manure. The reason for this is that very little 

 stock is kept other than working stock neces.sary to deal 

 with the crop, and the most important source of organic 

 matter in the Cotton Belt is that of green manures, either 

 legumes or non-legumes. Of the first class, the cowpea, soy 

 bean, bur and crimson clover, vetch, melilotus, and the velvet 

 bean are the most important. Ordinarily, cowpeas will yield 

 at least li tons of dry matter to the acre, in tops and roots, 

 which is equivalent to an application of 6 tons of average 

 pen manure containing 25 per cent, dry matter and 75 per 

 cent, water, and will increase the nitrogen approximately 

 65 tt). to the acre. The different operations connected with 

 tillage, harvesting, and marketing cotton are described in 

 Chapter IX, while the two following chapters are cmcerned 

 with the important enemies and diseases of cotton 



Although ranking second in importance in southern 

 crops maize is, if the United States be taken as a whole, by 

 far the most valuable crop, for it is worth twice as much 

 as the cotton crop. The chapters relating to this product are, 

 especially at the present time, of peculiar importance to the 

 West Indies. In the Corn Belt the principal use of maize is 

 as food for livestock, but in some of the smaller islands it 

 is a staple article of diet. The paragraphs in respect to the 

 effects and value of inbreedings, and the methods of producing 

 cross-bred seeds .should be of interest to planters, as should 

 also be those which discuss the cultivation of the crop The 

 following rule for measuring shelled corn may be useful. 

 Multiply the cubic capacity of a crib by 4 and divide by 

 10, and the result will be the number of bushels. In the 

 United States the legal weight of a bushel of corn is 56 ft. 

 of shelled corn or 70 lb. of ear corn. 



To those concerned in the cultivation of rice. Chapter 

 .\.\.KI, which deals fully with the subject, .affords pr,ic'„ical 

 information while the growina importance of the ground nut 

 in the production of oil, and in replacing the cotton crops in 

 districts ravaged by the boll weevil lends special value 

 to the remarks on its culture. The fruit of the 

 ground nut otherwise known as peanut, goober, or pin- 

 dar, is really not a nut, but a ripened pod with 

 edible seeds, the term 'nut' having been added on account 

 of the flavour of the seeds resembling that of many true 

 nuts. It is best produced in light coloured soils of a .sandy 

 r)r loamy nature, and is admirably adapted to cimbination 

 cropping, the most important companion crop being corn 

 which is often planted in alternate rows. Soils deficient in 

 lime produce a large percentage of 'pops' or unfilled pods, 

 and fresh manure applied immediately before planting has 

 the same result. An important use of this crop in the 

 Cotton Belt is as pasturage for pigs. 



Although written primirily with the needs of the 

 college student in view, this text-book will be of practical 

 usefulness to West Indian planters and also to general readers, 

 for considerable attention has been paid in it to the princi- 

 ples of plint structure and nutrition. As in the other books 

 of this admirable and useful series, excellent illustrations 

 accompany the text, and a valuable addition is a full and 

 reliable index. The suggestion may be mide that the price 

 of the book should appear on the cover. 



