COTTON. 31 ton. The ingredients should be mixed in the following proportions: one part of nitrogen and one part of potash to three and one-third parts of phosphoric acid. From 200 to 400 pounds of the mixture should be used per acre and should be drilled in, not broadcasted. The barnyard manures are excellent for the soil. For green manure the cowpea is an excellent crop when turned under.
Harvesting.—Cotton is picked by hand, though some wachines have been invented which do the work fairly well.
Fields are picked over from two to four times, the season being about 2 to 3 months. Growers are working to shorten the season by breeding more rapid fruiting and maturing varieties.
Varieties.—Two species are common in the southern states: the upland or short-staple cotton and the sea island cotton. Upland cotton has a flower white or cream- colored when first opening, later becoming reddish and on the third day falling. The boll left after the flower falls develops to the size of a hen’s egg, when it splits, lib- erating the seeds and fibrous wool. Sea island cotton yields less per acre than the upland cotton but the lint finds a better market as it is longer and the quality is better. It is grown along the coast from South Caro- lina to Florida and on the adjoining islands. Like corn, there are a large number of varieties of cotton. The fol- lowing list gives some of the upland varieties that are grown: Dixon’s Improved, Beck, Peerless, Sure Fruit, Cochran Prolific, Texas Storm Proof, Texas Oak, Griffin Hawkins, Mell Cross, Peterkin, Truitt, Schley, Moss’ In- proved, Russell, Big Roll, and many others.
.Uses.—Cotton is used in the well-known manufacture of cotton cloth, the seed being used for the manufacture of cottonseed oil and meal. A ton of seed yields from 40 to 45 gallons of oil. The meal of cottonseed ranks as one of the best feeds in use for stock and also as an excellent fertilizer.
Enemies.—Anthracnose is a fungus affecting the leaves, stems and bolls of the cotton plant. There is no known remedy for this pest.
Root-rot.—Is a fungus which attacks the cotton plant and a large number of other plants and trees. It is best treated by rotation of crops.
Leaf Blight.—Sometimes attacks the leaves, blackening them and destroying them. No remedy can be recom- mended.
32 THE FARMER’S ENCYCLOPEDIA.
Boll-rot.—Is one of the diseases for which there is no treatment, attacking the bolls, seeds and lint.
Damping off.—In which the plants affected usually fall, manifests itself as a brown area on the stems just above the roots.
Wilt.—Is shown when the interior of the stem is brown instead of white. This disease attacks other field and garden crops such as the cowpea cand watermelon. There is no treatment, but seed should be obtained from healthy plants which have grown on infected ground as it is aft- erwards immune to the ravages cf this pest.
There are a large number of insects attacking cot- ton, The following do most damage: The cotton worm is a caterpillar infesting the field during the summer and becoming more numerous during the last of the season. The remedy is <o distribute Paris green pow- der over the plants so as to dust them with it.
The Boll Worm, the corn ear-worm and the Tomato Fruit Worm are all the same species. In addition to cot- ton, corn and .tomatoes, it feeds upon many garden plants. Frequently several days are passed in searching for a boll and it is during this stage that the insect may be destroyed by arsenical poison. The best means of fight- ing the boll worm is by the intelligent rotating of crops.
Entomologists advise, when planting cotton, that five rows for every twenty-five be left vacant. In these five rows at the earliest possible time one row of early-maturing sweet corn is planted. Dur- ing the silking period frequent examinations are made as to the number of boll worms. As soon as the fresh white eggs are found each morning the silk ends of the corn are cut away and destroyed; then the plants themselves are destroyed and three more of the rows are planted to dent corn so as to bring the silking period about the first of July or a little later. The eggs on these rows should mature as the worms destroy each other and be destroyed by their enemies; those escaped, however, will be trapped if the fifth and last row of the vacant strip be planted to sweet corn at such time as to reach full silk about Aug. 1. This last row should be carefully watched and the corn cut and destroyed as soon as it appears that no more eggs are being deposited. Early fall plowing and breaking of farm land is the general treatment for this insect.
De
Transformations of cotton bollworm: 1, egg on under side of cotton leaf; 2, larva one-third grown boring into square;
3, entrance hole of young larva in square, with excremental pellets at edge of hole; 4, nearly full-grown larva just issued from boll; 5, full-grown larva on leaf stem; 6, pupa shown in center of underground earthen cell; cell shown in longitudinal section; 7, adult moth, light variety ; 8, adult moth with dark fore wings; 9, adult moth in rest- ing position, wings slightly elevated.
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34 THE FARMER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA.
The Mexican cotton boll weevil is a most important enemy. This weevil is of chocolate color, issuing in early spring from its winter quarters to feed upon the young cotton. The eggs are laid in the young squares or fruit.
When the larva hatches it begins to feed at once on the boll. Having the crop mature early in the season and then chop, plow up or burn the stalks before frost is the most practical treatment for this insect. Wilcox and Smith recommend the following:
“Lantern traps are of little avail in fighting the Mexican eotton boll weevil. Reliance should be placed on extermina- tion by cultural methods. Trap crops of early cotton may be planted about gins and seed houses, and these crops thoroughly sprayed with arsenical poisons for the destruc- tion of the weevils in the spring. The weevils may also be jarred from the trap crops into pans containing kerosene or some adhesive substance. Infested squares may be recognized by their flared appearance and may be picked off and destroyed with the enclosed grubs. Many infested squares fall to the ground and may be gathered and burned or plowed under deeply. Since cotton seed is often infested with weevils, is may be well to fumigate it as it is ginned with carbon bisulphide, using 1 pound for 25 to 50 bushels of seed. Since cotton keeps growing and producing squares until severe frosts occur, it will be advantageous to allow cattle in the cotton fields late in the fall to eat the late squares which will be infested with weevils. The remaining stalks may be cut down and piled in windrows, under which the weevils will hibernate, and this material may then be burned. Spraying may be adopted as supplemenetary to the cultural methods for combating this weevil. The ar- senical poisons are recommended, a strong solution to be used for trap crops.”