52 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



get a composite cotton that combined the good qualities of both varie- 

 ties." Such a combination he claims to have secured in his King's 

 Improved. The variety has been widely distributed and tested, and 

 is probably as generally known as any other cotton variety. It is 

 very distinct from any other of the well-known varieties. 



Kino- is regarded as one of the best varieties for the northern part 

 of the cotton belt, where the season is too short for late varieties. It 

 is the variety most generally planted late in the spring, after oats, as 

 so-called stubble cotton, its short season enabling it to mature a good 

 crop even in the short time then available. The earliness of the vari- 

 ety and its consequent bearing on the boll-weevil question is the prin- 

 cipal reason for selecting it for distribution the present season. 

 Observation has shown that the damage caused by the boll-weevil 

 increases as the season advances. In the early part of the season the 

 numbers of the weevils are few, but as the season advances they 

 steadily increase, and become so abundant in the latter part of the sea- 

 son that in badly infested lields hardly ;i boll is permitted to reach 

 maturity. Many of the bolls which are formed before the weevil has 

 become abundant mature without injury, and the writer has observed 

 many particularly early plants, which, owing to their earliness, 

 escaped damage to a considerable degree and matured a fairly good 

 crop. This feature suggests that one of the most important factors 

 in the control of the boll-weevil is to utilize early-maturing varieties. 

 King is probably the earliest fixed variety known, and as it has given 

 excellent results in tests at the Mississippi Experiment Station, it will 

 probably do well in Texas also. Its use in boll-weevil sections to 

 avoid the ravages of this pest is experimental, and the outcome will 

 be watched with great interest. It is of special importance that grow- 

 ers note the yield of this variety in boll-weevil sections in comparison 

 with other sorts, and be prepared next fall to furnish the Department 

 of Agriculture with a statement of the results obtained. To obtain 

 the best results in sections where the boll-weevil is prevalent, the seed 

 should be planted as early as the season will safely permit. 



Plant 2\ to 5 feet high, rather spreading in habit, with numerous limbs gradually 

 decreasing in len-rth from below upward. Bolls small, nearly round, with small 

 blunt point, 4 to 5 locked, opening well. Seeds medium size, weighing from 0.10 to 

 0.11 gram, covered with brownish or greenish fuzz. Lint white, strong, three-fourths 

 to 1 inch in length. Per cent of lint usually about 33. Season very early. 



The seed distributed by the Department of Agriculture was grown 

 by the originator of the variety. Mr. T. J. King, at Louisburg, N. C, 

 in the season of r.*<>:i. 



L< >xg-Stai*lk Upland Varieties. 



ALLEN IMPROVED. 



Allen Improved (PI. II) is a variety of cotton originated in Claiborne 

 County. Miss., in 1809. by James B. Allen. Other and similar vari- 



