10 



Alabama Canebrake Station, Bulletin No. 7, February, 1890 (pp. 11). 



Field experiments, W. II. jS^ewman, M. S. — 



(1) Cotton, test of varieties. — Tabular record and notes on twelve vari- 

 eties. 



(2) Cotton, CO mparatiiie earlincss from northern-groicn seed. — Tlie exper- 

 iment was made in the Endeavor to find a " variety from some northern 

 point tliat would mature a crop before attacked by the worms. Seeds 

 were obtained from Somerville, Tenn., Carters, iST. Ga., and lialeigli, 

 ]Sr. C. The seeds from North Carolina were of an .improved variety, 

 and those from North Georgia and Tennessee were common. They were 

 planted March 28, on one-thirdacre plats, in black slough bottom-land.'' 

 The results from these seeds were sufficiently better than those from 

 seeds grown at the station to justify a repetition of the experiment. 



(3) Peas and melilottis as fertilisers. — A brief record of an inconclusive 

 experiment to study the comparative value of peas and melilotus as 

 fertilizers. 



(4) Pea vines as fertilizer for cotton. — Report of an experiment on 

 three one-teuth-acre plats. On one plat no pea vines were planted, on 

 anotlier they were left on the ground, and on the third tho-y were cut 

 for hay. The peas were followed by cotton. The results in this, as in 

 other similar experiments at the station during the past fiv^e years, 

 strongly favored the use of i)ea vines to restore fertility to worn-out 

 soils, and implied that it is better to cut the vines for bay than to leave 

 them on the ground. The increased yield by leaving the vines is small, 

 and the land is much harder to prepare where the vines are left. From 

 two to five tons of hay can be cut from one acre in vines. The increased 

 cotton grown by leaving the vines to rot on the land was worth only 

 $8.75, while the vines cured into hay would be worth not less than three 

 times that sum. The effect of the vines upon crops after the first season 

 has not been ascertained. 



(5) Corn, effect of fertilizers. — The results obtained on nine plats 

 where difterent fertilizers were compared with no manure, " were very 

 uniform, and no increase can be attrfbuted to the fertilizers." These 

 results afford cumulative evidence that the commercial fertilizers can 

 not be profitably used on the black prairie soils of the canebrake. 



(6) Corn, test of varieties. — Tabular record for twenty varieties, in- 

 cluding Brazilian flour corn. 



(7) Corn, thiclcness of j)lanting. — Corn was planted in four different 

 degrees of thickness, the rows being from 4 by 2 feet to 4 by 5 feet 

 apart, on black prairie bottom-land. The yield was decidedly in lavor 

 of the thick planting. 



(8) Pea vines as fertilizer for corn. — The results of an experiment 

 on three one-tenth -acre jiiats indicated no marked effect from the use 

 of pea vines as compared with no manure. 



