129 



The cultural method begins with thorough preparation of land in 

 the fall, winter, or earl}^ spring for the succeeding crop, by which 

 means hibernating pupse in the soil are in many cases destroyed. As 

 a female moth appearing in the. spring from a hibernated pupa may be 

 the progenitor of many thousands of bollworms by early August, the 

 importance of their destruction by thorough fall and winter plowing is 

 evident. 



Experiments made with fertilizers during 1904: on several types of 

 soil, including the so-called sandy soils of east Texas, the post oak, 

 gray prairie, river bottom, and black waxy soils of central and north 

 Texas indicate that these are very useful in the production of an early 

 and large crop of cotton (see PL XX for views on one of the Depart- 

 ment's experimental farms in 1904). The accompanying diagram (fig. 

 27), compares the yield, with respect to earliness and quantity of 



D/^TE-^ 



AUG. SEPT 



-30 a 9 14 



OCT. NOV. 

 9 24 29 4 9 14 (9 24 29 3 8 i3 i8 23 28 



7 000 

 6 500 



■^ T 



::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: j.„::.:.: 





__ L^ y-l -Tr-'^' 





y.: 



5500 





'' 1 • t 







^ 4500 





/ 







^3500 



^3000 



^ 2 500 



2 000 



1 500 



, 





/ 



,.^''*' 'f 'T " -T-"^::^* 



/ 



,-" 



4 



, • " 



X ■-■- 



r' 1 



,' 





500 



if' (C " 







., , , j_. 



'^^f^iS/^^^^JTf* -o^s^io^* 



0^* 10^ ■ lO^f afe* 



Fig. 27— Diagram showing comparative earliness and quantity of cotton crop from fertilized and 

 unfertilized plats (from Quaintance and Bishopp). 



seed cotton, from two plats of the experiment farm at Pittsburg, Tex. 

 Plat 1 was treated with a fertilizer analyzing phosphoric acid 10 per 

 cent, potash 2 per cent, at the rate of 300 pounds per acre. Plat 4 

 was unfertilized, the treatment in all other respects being the same. 



Specific recommendations as to the quantity per acre and kind of 

 fertilizers to be used niay not be given as the result of one year's 

 experimentation. Simply the fact of their utility is pointed out. 

 Planters should arrange for a series of tests calculated to answer these 

 respective questions for their own soils. 



Of equal importance is the use of seed of varieties with an inherent 

 tendency to begin fruiting earl}^ in the growth of the plant, thus 

 insuring an early crop (see PI. XXI, illustrating comparative matur- 

 ity of King and Myers cotton treated the same throughout the 



