CHAPTER VII 



TEEEESTEIAL AND METEOEOLOGICAL INFLUENCES 

 AFFECTING THE WOEM. 



CONDITION OF SOIL AND PLANT CONNECTED WITH THE APPEARANCE 

 OF THE FIRST WORMS. 



Having seen that the worms first appear in parts of the southern por- 

 tion of the cotton belt at a much earlier date than previously supposed, 

 we will now briefly consider the conditions of soil and of the plaDt con- 

 nected with this first appearance. In glancing over the reports on this 

 subject in answer to our questions, we find a remarkable unanimity of 

 opinion corresponding with what has been observed by ourself and as- 

 sistants and with the general experience collected. It is that the earliest 

 worms of the season are confined to fields on the "low lands" where the 

 plants are naturally more thrifty and more advanced than on any other 

 soil. Low lands where cotton is planted in Texas and Louisiana comprise 

 the so-called bottom lands of the rivers, and on such lands the soil is 

 always a very rich alluvium and never sandy. Farther east, however, 

 low lands are frequently sandy and the bottom formation of alluvial 

 soil is less common than in Texas and Louisiana. This holds especially 

 true of Florida, where the soil is exclusively sandy, more or less mixed 

 with decayed vegetable matter. In the latter State fields on " hummock 

 land," and near the edges of ponds or lakes replace the bottom lauds of 

 Texas and Louisiana. The rule of the first appearance on such low, 

 rich, and moist lands does not ai)ply alone to the extensive area of such 

 land in the southern portion of the belt, but also to similar low places 

 in particular parts of i)lantations in the whole cotton-growiDg country, 

 the first worms on any plantation always being noticeable in such low 

 spots. 



The general rule, however, is not without exception, for on the sea 

 islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, where, in former 

 years, the worms always appeared early, the soil in which cotton was and 

 is, to a limited extent, still cultivated, cannot be called low laud. All low 

 parts on these islands are occui)ied by marshes, and are unfit for culti- 

 vation, and the soil of the cotton fields is what is termed "dry hummock 

 land." Again, Mr. Schwarz found a very early appearance in Lavaca 

 County, in Southern Texas, where the country is several hundred feet 

 above the river bottoms in the same latitude, and consists of oi)en and 

 63 CONG 6 81 



