Browse Items: 50

Demonstration Work in Cooperation with Southern Farmers

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The Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Work conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Plant Industry was inaugurated under authority of Congress in January, 1904, primarily because of the depredations of the Mexican cotton boll weevil in the State of Texas. By the rapid spread of this pest east and north it had…

Building Up a Run-Down Cotton Plantation

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This bulletin is an account of the progress made in three years in changing a run-down cotton plantation into a profitable stock and hay farm. The results obtained from the use of cowpeas and other leguminous crops in restoring the fertility of the land have exceeded the expectations of those in charge of the work. Not only have the crops yielded…

The Identification of Varieties of Barley

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This bulletin has been prepared primarily to meet a widespread demand for a publication on the forms of barley. Although advantage has been taken of the opportunity to call attention to a number of new forms, the main object has been to satisfy the demand from experiment-station workers and advanced students in agronomy for an outline of the…

Barley: Culture, Uses, and Varieties

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BARLEY should be more widely grown in the Northern and Western States. It is an excellent grain feed for stock, being almost the equal of corn. It, however, competes with corn in few places, as it is mostly grown outside the limits of profitable corn culture. It produces more pounds to the acre than oats or wheat. If necessary, it can be seeded…

The Dasheen: A Southern Root Crop for Home Use and Market

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Only two distinctly starchy vegetables, the potato and the sweet potato, are commonly grown in the United States. A fall-maturing crop of the same character— the dasheen— was introduced a number of years ago for cultivation in the Southern States, primarily to supplement the small supply of home-grown potatoes. Most of the potatoes used in the far…

Experiments With Fall-Sown Oats in the South

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It is recognized that fall-sown oats succeed better than spring-sown oats in most districts of the South. The one disadvantage which has retarded the growing of the crop more than any other has been occasional loss by winterkilling. The development of hardier and otherwise more satisfactory varieties and the determination of better cultural…

Winter Oats for the South

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Only a small portion of the area of the Southern States is devoted to the production of oats. The average production for the past ten years of 16 States was about 870,000,000 bushels, or 8.5 per cent of the crop of the United States. The average acre yield was 21.8 bushels and the average acre value $10.09.

Winter oats are a valuable crop for…

Barley Culture in the Southern States

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Barley, although it ranks fourth among the cereals in the United States, is but little cultivated in the South for grain.

As a true awnless barley has been developed the word "hooded" is proposed for the beardless barleys now grown.

The Tennessee Winter variety is the most profitable barley to grow in the South.

Winter hooded and spring…

Wheat Growing in the Southeastern States

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THE FARMERS in the six Southeastern States- Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina are encouraged to increase their wheat acreage on land suitable for the crop, as it leads to crop diversification and provides home-grown bread.

The sandy loam, silt loam, loam, and many of the clay soils when well drained…

Corn Culture in the South

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The South has special advantages for the raising of corn, in the long season during which it may be grown and in the ready sale for the crop at remunerative prices. Planting may be done as early as February in the Gulf States, or it may be deferred until after a crop of oats or clover has been gathered from the land in June. Killing frosts rarely…

How to Grow Alfalfa

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ALFALFA is a perennial legume belonging to the same family as peas, beans, and clover. The leading commercial varieties of alfalfa in the United States are the Common, Grimm, Turkestan, and Peruvian. Grimm alfalfa is superior to the Common in the North, and Peruvian is preferable for the Southwest.

Alfalfa succeeds best in a dry climate where…

Utilization of Alfalfa

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HEREIN the uses of alfalfa are set forth, particularly its use as a forage crop, and suggestions are offered that may be helpful in making its utilization more efficient and more generally satisfactory.

Recent experiments indicate that larger yields of hay result and stands are maintained in better condition when the cutting is delayed until the…

Facts About Cotton

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COTTON is the great crop of the South. It is grown on about 2 million farms in the southern part of our country. The average size of the crop is about 13 million bales of cotton lint, each weighing about 500 pounds, and about 6 million tons of cottonseed.

Large quantities of cotton are grown in other countries, too — chiefly India, China, Egypt,…

Peanut Growing

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PEANUTS are an important farm crop throughout the greater part of the Southeastern States. The peanut is a native of the Tropics and was introduced into North America during the early colonization period, but its use has increased very greatly during recent years. Peanuts should be grown in a definite rotation, including at least two…

Peanut Growing for Profit

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PEANUTS have become one of the best money crops for use in rotation with cotton and other farm crops in the fight against the boll weevil. Until recently peanuts were grown in the greater part of the Gulf coast region primarily for stock feeding, but now they are of commercial importance in no less than 12 Southern States.

Good seed, proper…

By-Products From Crushing Peanuts

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The popular idea seems to be that the peanut is marketed chiefly in the roasted form. As a matter of fact, however, these nuts are used principally in making salted peanuts, peanut butter, and confectioners' and bakers' goods, and in the manufacture of oil and meal. The peanut industry was of little commercial prominence until 1870, when it began…

Peanut Oil

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A large increase in the acreage of peanuts in the South, especially in the territory infested with the cotton boll weevil, has led owners of oil mills, farmers, merchants, and bankers to look for a new outlet for a part, at least, of the peanut crop. As a result there has arisen during recent years considerable interest in the experimental…

The Peanut

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It is not definitely known when and where the peanut was first cultivated. Several allied species of plants are natives of Brazil, and there is every indication that the common peanut originally came from tropical America. Peanuts were introduced into the United States during the earlier days of colonization, but did not become of commercial…

Peanut Growing in the Cotton Belt

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The value of the peanut, both as a money crop and for feeding on the farm, makes it especially desirable in the cropping system in some parts of the cotton belt. The commercial value of the crop increased from $7,270,515 in 1899 to $18,271,929 in 1909, and the increase since 1909 has been even greater than before that year. These figures do not…

The Varieties of Plums Derived From Native American Species

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The development from the wild condition and the introduction into cultivation of the varieties of plums enumerated in the following pages have taken place within the last hundred years, much the larger proportion even within the past fifty years. For various reasons many of the varieties never attained more than a local reputation, while others did…

The Sweet-Potato Weevil and its Control

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IMMENSE LOSSES of sweet potatoes in the Gulf States are being caused by the sweet-potato weevil. This foreign pest, introduced into the United States years ago, has become very destructive recently and now threatens to invade all States in which sweet potatoes are grown.

The slender, metallie-blue weevil, about a quarter of an inch long with…

The Sweet-Potato Leaf Folder

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The larva of Pilocrocis tripunctata Fab. (fig. 1 c, d), a member of the lepidopterous family Pyralidae, was noted first as an enemy of sweet potatoes in Louisiana by the writer while cooperating with the Louisiana Experiment Stations in the fall of 1914. Since that time the species has been kept under observation at Baton Rouge, La., and has been…

Sweet-Potato Storage

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THE PROPER storage of sweet potatoes is one of the most important food conservation measures that can be put into effect in the Southern States. No perishable product produced in the South is of as great importance as the sweet potato, and none is so poorly handled.

This bulletin describes in considerable detail the types of storage houses that…

Cowpeas: Utilization

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THE COWPEA PLANT may be fed to live stock as pasturage, hay, or ensilage, and the seed may be used as human food. Cowpeas are not grown for seed more generally because of the uncertainty of the crop, the expense of harvesting, and the low yield commonly obtained. These factors have created a relatively high price for the seed.

In localities well…

Agricultural Varieties of the Cowpea and Immediately Related Species

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The cowpea is now the most important legume grown in the cotton States. At the present time about 15 varieties of this crop are in common cultivation in these States. The varieties grown in a small way number perhaps twice as many more. Owing to the fact that the seed is still largely hand picked, the tendency is for whatever variety was first…

Bean and Pea Weevils

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BEANS, PEAS, AND COWPEAS are often damaged seriously in storage and in the field by weevils. Velvet beans and soy beans are rarely infested in this country. Bean and pea weevils not only destroy much of the Nation's food in the form of leguminous crops hut are responsible for a curtailment in the acreage planted to these crops. They never attack…

Cowpeas

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A system of agriculture without the use of a leguminous crop tends to lessen the productivity of the soil and makes necessary large outlays for nitrogenous fertilizers. With a leguminous crop grown at frequent intervals, the productivity may be maintained or even increased. The cowpea (fig. 1) is at the present time, and probably will continue to…

Beans

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The cowpea (Vigna sinensis), because of its bean-like seed and habit of growth, its great economic importance as a forage crop for the production of hay and silage, and its great value as a green manure, should be mentioned in connection with the other plants to which it is so closely related both botanically and economically.

Leguminous Crops for Green Manuring

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The cowpea (fig. 5) is used more than any other crop as a soil renovator in the South. Its use is rapidly increasing, but is yet far from general. During the past few years the high price of the seed has tended to discourage more extensive growing. Recent progress in the harvesting of cowpea seed by machinery will doubtless materially reduce its…

Cowpeas

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The chief functions of this crop, then, are to furnish large amounts of nitrogen abstracted from the air and fixed in the roots and stubble in a conveniently available form for the use of succeeding crops; second, to produce a large yield of vines and peas rich in digestible protein, which, either as hay or for soiling purposes, will take the place…

Cowpeas: (Vigna catjang)

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The cowpea is to the South what alfalfa is to the West and red clover to the North — a forage plant perfectly adapted to the needs of the region where it grows. The cultivation of this crop in America dates back to the early part of the eighteenth century. A South Carolina planter received a quantity of seed from a foreign source, which, according…

Cowpeas: Culture and Varieties

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THE COWPEA is the best known and most extensively grown leguminous crop in the Southern States. It is grown mainly for forage and to improve the soil, but the seeds are rather commonly used for human food.

The cowpea is of the greatest value in the cotton belt, although it can be grown profitably much farther north.

The cowpea will do best on…

Marketing the Cowpea Seed Crop

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The annual farm value of cowpeas produced in the United States during recent years averages over $18,000,000. On most farms, however, the cowpea is grown largely as a catch crop, is considered of secondary importance as a money crop, and in many instances is handled in an unbusinesslike manner. This results not only in a direct monetary loss to the…

Sweet-Potato Diseases

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DISEASES of sweet potatoes are divisible into two classes, (1) field troubles and (2) storage rots. Field troubles are divisible into root and stem diseases and leaf diseases.

Root and stem diseases include stem rot, black rot, foot rot, scurf, root rot, mottle necrosis, and soil rot; and leaf diseases include leaf blight, white rust, and leaf…

Cowpeas in the Cotton Belt

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The cowpea is at the present time the best known and most extensively grown leguminous crop in the cotton belt. Its value for hay, grazing, catch and cover crops, and for soil improvement is well known and thoroughly appreciated by farmers. The feeding value of the forage has long been recognized, and it is used for all kinds of live stock. Cowpea…

Sweet-Potato Growing in the Cotton Belt

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The sweet potato is one of the most important food crops grown in the South, and the acreage could be greatly increased without reducing the unit value of the crop. Thousands of southern farmers do not have enough sweet potatoes for home use throughout the year, and very few of the small cities and towns in the South have a continuous or sufficient…

Sweet Potato Growing

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A SUFFICIENT QUANTITY of sweet potatoes for home use can be grown under a wide range of conditions, but when the crop is to be produced commercially the soil, climate, and market should be carefully considered.

Sweet potatoes work in well with a rotation of farm or truck crops, and if improved methods of growing and storing the crop are employed…

The History of the Cowpea and its Introduction Into America

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The purpose of this paper is to give a brief history of the introduction of the plant known as the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) into America, to establish as nearly as possible the time at which it was introduced, and to ascertain the region to which it is native.

Although the cowpea is the chief leguminous crop of the southern United States, the…

How to Grow the Cow Pea and 40 Ways of Preparing It as a Table Delicacy

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Among the many rich blessings especially given to the South, there are but few, if any, that stand out more prominently than the cow pea, for the following reasons:

1. It is a legume (pod-bearing plant), and brings fertility to the soil. In this it has but few equals, and still fewer superiors.

2. As a food for man and beast the peas are…

43 Ways to Save the Wild Plum Crop

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Nature endows or blesses each State or section with an indigenous flora and fauna best suited to that particular soil and climatic conditions.

Applying the above to Alabama, Macon and adjoining counties have been unusually blessed in the quantity, variety and quality of its wild plums. They vary in size from a half to one inch in diameter, and…

Alfalfa: The King of All Fodder Plants, Successfully Grown in Macon County, Ala.

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For many years we have been testing in one way or another almost every variety of legume that seemed in the least promising, with the view to finding one or more that would succeed in this section and give us a permanent pasture without having to prepare and re-seed the ground each year.

Alfalfa has really gone beyond the high standard set by…

A New and Prolific Variety of Cotton

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Sixteen years ago the Experiment Station undertook the production of a type of cotton that would possess the following characteristics:

1. A longer and finer staple.

2. A more prolific variety.

3. A disease resistant variety.

4. A cotton that produces well on light, sandy soils.

5. An early maturing variety that would escape…

Some Possibilities of the Cow Pea in Macon County, Alabama

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The cow pea is rightfully looked upon by many as the poor man’s bank or mortgage-lifter. I think I am safe in the assertion that there is no crop grown in the South which possesses so many good qualities and is so easily grown as the cow pea.

It is a matter of much regret that every colored farmer in Macon County does not plant at least three…

Possibilities of the Sweet Potato in Macon County, Alabama

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If there is one crop more than another, that Macon County can produce year by year and with almost unerring certainty, it is the sweet potato crop.

Now what is true of Macon County is true of the adjoining counties, and is more or less true of the entire South.

HISTORY

It is said that the early navigators of the sixteenth century…

Increasing the Yield of Corn

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When we consider that Alabama alone cultivated, in 1907, 2,961,000 acres in corn with an average of only 15 1-2 bushels to the acre, it at once becomes apparent that something must be done to bring up this unfortunately low yield per acre. It is further accentuated from the fact that within the last ten years the average has never been higher than…

Successful Yields of Small Grain

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This bulletin, also, is a continuation of 6 and 7 and endeavors to thwart the very prevalent idea that small grain cannot be profitably raised in this section.

THE CAUSE

It is just as applicable to apply the cause and effect rule to every operation of the farm as to the various branches of mathematics, there being no cause without an effect…

Cotton Growing on Sandy Upland Soils

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This bulletin, in some degree is a continuation of No.6, on Soil Building, and emphasizes rather emphatically the possibilities of such soils in the production of cotton.

We have maintained that every acre of land in Alabama capable of being grown in cotton, could and should be made to produce at least one bale to the acre. The experiment…

Cow Peas

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Every year the demand for an increased quantity and better quality of nutritious forage for animals, and a wider range of food stuffs for man has suggested a basis for some very careful and interesting study. Experiment Stations, as well as individuals, have devoted much time and means to this line of investigation. Plants of many different genera,…

Some Cercosporae of Macon County, Alabama

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The wide distribution and the economic importance of the Cercospora in this county has prompted the writing of this paper. This list by no means represents all of the species of this county, as no special effort has been made to collect Cercospora only. These collections were made while passing to and from other duties. With few exceptions, the…

Experiments With Sweet Potatoes

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In summing up and drawing conclusions from this experiment, I think it quite safe to conclude that, with the proper management, 500 bushels of sweet potatoes can be produced on one acre of our ordinary potato soils ; since 266 bushels were produced under the following trying conditions:

First — Abnormally poor soil, physically, mechanically and…