14 RELATION OF DROUGHT TO WEEVIL RESISTANCE IN COTTON. 



water to the growing plants too early in the season. The result is to 

 stimulate an undesirable vegetative growth and make the crop late. 

 thus increasing the danger of weevil injuries. 



In the drier districts of southern and western Texas the farmer 

 depends more upon the moisture already stored in the soil than upon 

 rain that falls during the growing season. To raise a crop of cotton 

 without any rain on the plants would seem an impossibility in many 

 humid regions, but this can often be done in dry regions if the 

 previous rainfall has been conserved in the soil by proper tillage. 

 Indeed, it is possible to have too much water stored in the soil and 

 thus make the plants too luxuriant, just as it is possible to have too 

 much rain. 



Under such conditions there is the less reason to urge the importance 

 of very early planting. In experiments with successive plantings 

 of Triumph cotton at San Antonio, Tex., in 1906. the April and May 

 plantings grew quite as large as the March plantings, showing a 

 practical equality of the available supply of soil moisture, which was 

 the limiting factor in this experiment. The surface of the soil be- 

 comes drier as the season advances, so that recourse to previous 

 wetting of the seed or to somewhat deeper planting may become 

 necessary to secure a good stand, but the easier cultivation and 

 greater freedom from weeds in dry weather more than compensate 

 for extra precautions in sowing. 



LATER PLANTING IN BLOWING SOILS. 



In addition to the loss of moisture and the checking of the plants 

 by weather too cold for growth to be made, early planting increases 

 the danger of the ,; blowing out " of the seedlings in some of the 

 sandy districts of southern Texas that are otherwise well adapted for 

 cotton. The surface soil may be drifted away and the plants broken 

 down by the wind or the young stems may be actually cut away by 

 the blowing sand. The winds are said to be much more severe as 

 a rule in March than in April, and in districts where this is true 

 it might be better if all plantings could be deferred till the later 

 month. Even though the winds were as severe in April as in 

 March the crop is less likely to be injured if the period of exposure 

 is shortened. It is also easier to keep the soil from blowing before 

 the cotton is planted, by throwing the surface of the field into ridges. 



In addition to the possibility of avoiding injury from the wind, 

 the April plantings are likely to have the advantage of more continu- 

 ous growth. This not only favors an earlier and larger crop, as 

 already explained, but tends at the same time to increase the length 

 and the uniformity of the lint. The proportion of aberrant 

 plants that are likely to appear in a variety of cotton depends to a 

 220 



