FIELD CKors. 433 



plowed plat ,show(Hl a more vi<;'orou.s iind .strong'er orowth. At the 

 time the corn was put in the silo the plat plowed 3 in. deep yielded 

 14.2 tons of fodder per acre; 5 in. deep, 26.2; 7 in. deep, 29.4; and 9 

 in. deep, 28.2 tons per acre. It is concluded from this experiment that 

 for a deep soil deep fall plowing- is preferable to shallow plowing for 

 corn. With impoverished soil, deep plowing can not be practiced. If 

 the soil be shallow, it should be gradually deepened by subsequent 

 plowing. 



Results of experiments on cotton in Alabama, 1*. H. Melt, et 

 AL. (A/aJMnua College Sta. Bid. 107, i>2>. 181-J,^3, pls.23, Jigs.3).^Th\^ 

 bulletin was prepared l)y the station for the Paris Exposition, and covers 

 the following subjects: Varieties, culture, manuring, chemistry, and 

 diseases of cotton; the improvement of cotton by hybridization and 

 by selection, and the climate of the cotton belt. Thirty-seven previous 

 bulletins on the ditierent phases of cotton culture have been published 

 by the station. The present bulletin embodies the experience of the 

 station in its study of cotton culture up to the present time, covering 

 a period of 16 years. Such conclusions to date or such additional mat- 

 ter as has not been previously recorded will be noted. 



The best average record of all varieties tested 4 or more years up 

 to the present time has been made by Truitt and Peterkin, the yield 

 of lint cotton of these 2 varieties for 7 years being at the average 

 rate of 425 lbs. for the former and 417 lbs. for the latter per acre. 



For the purpose of classification, 70 varieties were studied compara- 

 ti\'ely in 1899, and a provisional classification of varieties made. 



Results of fertilizer experiments at the station have shown that cot- 

 ton-seed meal and nitrate of soda are practically equally valuable as 

 sources of nitrogen for cotton. Cotton seed and cotton-seed meal were 

 about equally efiective. In 79 per cent of the tests with stal)le manure 

 V. cotton seed the yields were greater with stable manure. In 1898 

 cotton, cowpeas, and velvet beans were grown on contiguous plats. 

 The cowpeas and velvet beans were picked and removed from the field 

 and all the plats plowed in March, 1899, and planted to cotton. The 

 yield of seed cotton per acre was 1,.533 lbs. following cowpeas, 1,373 

 lbs. following velvet l)eans, and 837 lbs. following cotton. In 3 other 

 experiments the average increase of seed cotton per acre, due appar- 

 ently to the plowing under of velvet beans, was 660 lbs., a gain of 72 

 per cent as compared with the average yield of plats where the pre- 

 ceding crop had ])een cotton. In a cooperative experiment conducted 

 under unfavorable conditions, the average increase of seed cotton per 

 acre occasioned by turning under cowpeas was 125 lbs. An average 

 increase of 32 lbs. of seed cotton in 1899 was attributed to the residual 

 effect of appl3ing720 lbs. of rotted cotton seed in 1898. It is believed 

 that the average yield of cotton per acre in Alabama might be increased 

 at least 50 per cent through the general use of legumes as fertilizers. 



