CHAPTER VII. 
TEKRESTIUAL AND METEOROLOGICAL INFLUENCES 
AFFECTING THE WORM. 
CONDITION OF SOIL, AND PLANT CONNECTED WITH THE APPEARANCE 
OF THE FIRST WORMS. 
Having seen tbat tbe worms first appear in parts of the southern por. 
tion of the eorton belt at a mueb earlier date than previously supposed, 
we will now briefly consider the conditions of soil and of the plant 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 lauds 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 lands of 
Texas and Louisiana. The rule of the first appearance on such low, 
rich, and moist lands does not apply 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 plantations in the whole cotton-growing 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, iu 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 land. All low 
parts on these islands are occupied by marshes, and are unfit for culti- 
vation, and the soil of the cotton fields is what is termed "dry hummock 
land." Again, Mr. Schwann 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 open and 
63 CONG 6 81 
