FIELD CROPS. 41 



of the cotton plant from the botanical standpoint. It deals with the plant's 

 structure and habits as affected by differences in the number, position, and 

 arrangement of the leaves and branches on the main stalk, and the arrangement 

 of the fruiting branches and their leaves and flowers. Special discussions are 

 also given of the various flower parts and adjacent structures, of the hairs on 

 the surface of the seed coat, and of the roots and underground shoots. 



B-elation of drought to weevil resistance in cotton, O. F. Cook (U. 8. 

 Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 220, pp. 30). — Attention is called to the fact 

 that in large portions of Texas where drought prevails during the summer 

 months, cotton can be successfully raised by selecting drought-resistant varie- 

 ties. 



Observations at the San Antonio Experiment Farm indicate that dry weather 

 is an important factor in limiting the injuries caused by weevils. It caused a 

 complete cessation of weevil injuries even after the weevils had survived the 

 winter in unusual numbers and had begun to feed and breed in the buds of the 

 young plants. 



Proper cultural methods must be practiced in order to improve the quality 

 of the fiber as well as to counteract weevil injuries. Earlier maturing long- 

 staple varieties should replace the present late varieties. 



Two additional measures of weevil resistance worthy of consideration in the 

 humid region are the development of quick fruiting long-staple varieties, and 

 the better organization of cotton growing communities so that only one type of 

 cotton shall be grown in the one locality. Columbia cotton, originated by H. J. 

 Webber in South Carolina, and Foster cotton, bred by D. A. Saunders for the 

 Red River Valley of Louisiana and northeastern Texas, are mentioned as 

 adapted to such conditions. 



The author finds that rapidity of fruiting after fruiting has once commenced 

 is more important than absolute earliness, and the setting of a crop of bolls in 

 the shortest time after the flower buds begin to appear is the ideal form of 

 earliness from the standpoint of weevil resistance. 



German colonial cotton-growing enterprises, K. Supf (Deut. Kolon. Baxim- 

 woU Untemehm., Bcr., 12 (1910), pp. 123, tabic 1, pis. IS, dgms. 2).— This re- 

 port is a general review of the cotton-growing industry in the German African 

 colonies, and consists in part of statements made by practical growers with 

 reference to the success achieved in the culture of this crop. Commercial and 

 other exiiert testimony regarding samples submitted for scoring is also given. 



[Description of the oat plant], Bohmer (Fuhling's Landtv. Ztg., 60 {1911), 

 'No. 18, pp. 609-616). — A scheme is outlined for the description of oat plants 

 and a classification of the principal varietal groups of cultivated oats is pro- 

 posed. 



The picking and handling of peanuts, W. R. Beattie (U. 8. Dept. Agr., 

 Bvr. Plant Indus. Circ. 8S, pp. 7). — Directions are given for the harvesting, 

 curing, storage, transportation, cleaning, and care of peanuts. Greater attention 

 to careful methods of curing, thrashing, and storing the peanuts is advocated 

 as a means of improving quality, likewise more attention to the condition of 

 cars used for shipment. 



Intensive potato culture in Ireland {Fruit, Flower, and Veg. Trades' Jour. 

 [London], 18 {1910), No. 27, p. 613; abs. in Internat. Inst. Agr. [Rome'\, Bui. 

 Bur. Agr. Intel, and Plant Diseases, 2 (1911), No. 1, pp. 87, 88).— It is stated 

 that a few growers have successfully obtained early and late crops of potatoes 

 from the same land in one season, and that the method has passed the e-xjicri- 

 mental stage. 



The assimilation of nitrogen by rice, W. P. Kelley (Hawaii 8ta. Bui. 24, 

 pp. 20). — In field trials continuing earlier work (E. S. R., 22, p. 29), the appli- 

 20296°— No. 1—12 i 



