The Bulletin. 



49 



on the Edgecombe farm than on the Iredell farm, since the cotton was 

 planted on the Edgecombe farm several weeks earlier than on the Iredell 

 farm. And, again, the quality of the seed might have contributed to this 

 difference as seed were not from the same source. 



Just here it might be interesting to note the averages of the different 

 varieties on the same soil and on different soils. The following table will 

 aid in this comparison. 



Russell's Big Boll 



Culpepper's Improved 



King's Improved 



Excelsior Prolific 



Edgeworth 



Cook's Improved 



Simpkins' Improved.. 



Average for 

 all Farms 



337.77 

 361.16 

 367.67 

 379.10 

 339.11 

 362.70 

 375 .78 



Average for 

 Edgecombe 



462.72 

 7 yrs. 

 471.97 

 7 yrs. 

 441 .84 

 6 yrs. 

 528 .86 



5 yrs. 

 474 .83 



6 yrs. 

 468.01 

 5 yrs. 

 370.35 

 3 yrs. 



Average for 

 Red Springs 



286.08 

 3 yrs. 

 345 .95 



3 yrs. 

 294 .65 

 3 yrs. 

 311.89 

 3 yrs. 

 257 .46 

 2 yrs. 

 278.21 



lyr. 



Average for 

 Iredell 



264 .52 



3 yrs. 

 265.58 



5 yrs. 

 366.52 



6 yrs. 

 296.56 



5 yrs. 

 285 .04 



6 yrs. 

 345 .87 



4 yrs. 

 381.21 

 2 yrs. 



From first glance the difference as brought out by this table 

 would not amount to so very much: in the average for all the 

 farms there is only a difference of 41.33 pounds between the 

 highest and the lowest; on the Edgecombe farm there is a difference of 

 jiist 157.71 pounds; on the Red Springs farm the difference is 88.48 pounds, 

 and on the Iredell farm the difference is 116.69 pounds between the highest 

 and the lowest yielding varieties. On studying these figures more closely 

 this difference is of decided importance when they are applied to the actual 

 production of cotton in the State or on the individual farm. Just to illus- 

 trate: in North Carolina there are about 1,624,000 acres in cotton. If the 

 whole acreage had been in Russell's Big Boll, which gave the lowest aver- 

 age, instead of Excelsior Prolific, which gave the highest average, the loss 

 to the State would have been $7,955,040. (Allowing the price of cotton to 

 be 12 cents.) Again, suppose the average farm contains fifty acres of cotton, 

 and that the lowest yielding variety is being planted in each locality, the 

 difference between Simpkins's Improved (the lowest) and Excelsior Prolific 

 (the highest) was 158.51 pounds per acre; this would have resulted in a loss 

 of $951 for each farm adjacent to the Edgecombe farm. The difference be- 

 tween Edgeworth, the lowest, and Culpepper's Improved, the highest, was 

 88.48 pounds per acre on the Red Springs farm, which difference would re- 

 sult in a loss of $531 on the adjacent farms. The difference between Russell's 

 Big Boll, the lowest, ahd Simpkins's Improved, the highest, was 119.69 

 pounds per acre on the Iredell farm. This difference would amount to a loss 

 of $695 to the man who planted Russell's Big Boll on farms adjacent to the 

 Iredell farm. Of course these examples are extreme because no variety is 

 planted exclusively. Yet if a farmer, by knowing the adaptations of a 

 variety, can save from $500 to $1,000 on a fifty-acre farm, a study of varie- 

 ties and their adaptation to different sections and different soils and fertili- 

 zation is of very great importance. 



