The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-01-28
FARM NOTES.
Edited by John c. Edgar, Duval to whom all
communications for this column should be ad-
I
WEEVIL-PRooF CORN.

To the Agricultural Editor of The Statesman
| have been looking for your report
about weevil-proof corn, which you
said you were testing. lfit is what it
is called it will certainly be q great
boon to Texas farmers. Please say
where the seed can be bought. Hop,
ing you may be able to give US ia
vorable report in time for planting.
Respectfully, L. Is. Brown.
On receipt of the above Inlade an
inspection of my "weevil-proo.' corn,
which 1 had placed in one corner of
my crib, under the same conditions as
my main crop, and 1 have now to re-
port that it is an utter failure in its
weevil resisting power. In fact, it is,
if anything, more damaged by Weevil
than the balance. 1t being softer
grain may account for this, though l.
have not found the hardness or soft
ness of corn to make any difference in
season when weevils are in
force. The gentleman who sent
me seed for trial, said his corn was
rarely if ever injured by weevils and
attributed its exemption to the fact
that it was enclosed in a very thick
shuck which projected well beyond
the end of the ear and closed it in eff
fectually. found it exactly as he
described, except its weevil-detying
quality.
LONG STAPLE COTTON.
Last week | referred to the cultiva-
tion of long staple cotton as possibly
being an Improvement on the short
staples now universally planted in
Texas. | wrote to friend, a large
Mississippi planter, asking his eXpe-
rience, whose very interesting and in
structive reply will be found below.
JEFF Welborn, the well known cot
ton boomer, affects to despise long
>~iints, and, indeed, any other grade of
lint not grown on his "pet" stalks.
AS most of my readers know, the
"petn is cluster cotton of the
"Cheathamu variety. 1t may have
some advantages for machine picking,
but finds no favor with hand pickers.
| shall try two varieties of long
staple after my friends very strong
endorsement, and hope for success. 1t
is only by intelligent experiment that
we can have improvement.
Agricultural Editor of the Statesman.
Your esteemed favor of the 18th
came to hand yesterday. 1t is with
pleasure that | attempt to answer
your inquiry about long staple cot
tons. All long staples are more or less
late in maturing, are vigorous and
rapid growers; the plant is large and
branching. The Allen Cook and
Southern Hope are large boil, large
seeded varieties, open much better
than ordinary cotton, are the earliest
picked, but will hang in the boil in
definitely; do not waste. The Eureka
is the latest maturing long staple, is
more prolific than any other staple
cotton, in fact is as good in this re-
spect as any of the short staples; it is
the Peterllin of lor g staples. 1t re-
sembles the Peterkin in many respects.
Bolls and seed are small, little more
tedious to pick than the three above
described, in fact is much the same as
Peterkin. All of our cotton is ginped
upon the ordinary saw gins of the
latest improved patterns. No more
care in handling than we use with
short staples. Handled very care
fully, any of the above varieties would
sell for two cents per pound more.
have sold Eureka and Southern
Hope, this crop, at u II and Is cents,
handled like other cottons, and the
yields has been about the same per acre
as Peterkin. The per cent of lint
from seed is, however, less than Peter
kin. Southern Hope averages 29.S6,
and Eureka 1886. For your soil /
think Eureka wilh give best results.
Would advise trying both. Welborn's
idea of long staple cotton seems to be
limited to Sea Island, for he classes
ours as grade Sea, Island, when as q
fact they are as distinctly upland as
mis- Pet. They have been produced by
selection fl ON upland varieties. Any
one familiar with hybrid cottons can
tell "Jef7' that it is nearly impossible
to fix the type Or to establish to any
standard. Seeds from a stalk (bolD of
hybrid will produce a dozen varieties,
none of which can be made to come
true to type. L notice that Jeff
charges that the prices named last
A0'ii NV hAioAOo IiuS DOCttuSo 6uCA W6T6
paid in rarP instances for nicely
handled and roller-ginned cotton.
Thousands of bales have been sold
at l3 to 15 cents (crop 1917 handled
the same as short staples, ginned on
saw gins.
We sell in New Orleans, Memphis,
Greenville and Vicksburg. Our sales
of all cotton grown in this Delta show |
an advance of Is to 5.S cents per
pound above quotations. Quotations
are based ON uplands. Our cotton |
classes and sells every year above |
published quotations. 1t is of course |
best to test t these varieties on q mod |
crate scale, and if suited to your soil,
increase the crop. But I am satisfied |
results with Eureka will be satisfac-
tory.
We have long since abandoned the
Pet cotton as 4. G. Drake's Chester
is far superior to Jefi7s in every re-
spect. L doubt the benefit we shall |
derive from the coming cotton picking
1t means further enslave. |
ment of the working classes, and |
practically gives to syndicates a mo-
nopoly of the cotton business.
n