Revised edition. This bulletin discusses the cultivation of muscadine grapes in the southern United States. Topics discussed include propagation, pruning and training, soil management, fertilizers, harvesting, common diseases, and varieties.

"Chestnut blight, caused by a fungus brought into this country from Asia before 1904, is responsible for the death of millions of acres of chestnut growth in New England and the Middle Atlantic States. The disease spread rapidly to nearly all parts of the range of the native chestnut, and the remaining stands of the southern Appalachians face certain destruction. The present known distribution, its symptoms, and the fungus that causes the disease are described. The blight fungus itself does not have any effect upon the strength of chestnut timber, and blight-killed trees can be utilized for poles, posts, cordwood, lumber, and extract wood. Search is being made for native and foreign chestnuts resistant to the disease in the hope of finding a tree suitable for replacing the rapidly disappearing stands. Seedlings of Asiatic chestnuts, which have considerable natural resistance even though not immune, are being tested in the United States." -- p. ii

"The use of lespedeza as a farm crop has rapidly increased during the past few years. The increase in the use of lespedeza is due partly to the excellent results that have been obtained by the farmers who have been growing the Common variety, for hay and for pasture and soil improvement, but more particularly to the introduction of some new varieties that produce better yields, are adapted to a wider range of climatic conditions, and are generally better suited to the needs of the average farm than is the Common variety. This bulletin is based on information collected from farmers located in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky who are growing lespedeza regularly as a farm crop. The information includes methods of seeding, varieties used, the place in the cropping system usually occupied by lespedeza, and practices that have developed in connection with the production and use of the crop in these States." -- p. 1

"Muscadine grapes are indigenous to the southeastern section of the United States, where they grow in greater or less profusion in the wild state. Through careful selection from the wild grapes and scientific breeding there have been developed a considerable number of varieties particularly adapted to the home needs in the Southeast, both as table grapes and as raw material for a variety of food and beverage products. Not being resistant to low winter temperatures they do not thrive in the northern grape districts. Muscadines are relatively resistant to grape diseases and insect pests and do well with a minimum of care, but, like most fruits, respond favorably to good cultural treatment. This bulletin sets forth in nontechnical form the information accumulated by the Department [of Agriculture] over a considerable period of years on muscadine grape varieties, their bleeding, culture, and uses." -- p. ii

Revised edition. "Muscadine grapes, which are native to the southeastern part of the United States, thrive in most soils of that region. They can be grown successfully in the Southeastern States, where American bunch grapes do not thrive. furthermore, they are suitable for home gardens as well as for commercial use. In fact they are perhaps the most satisfactory of all fruits for the home garden in this region. They cannot be grown, hoever, where temperatures as low as 0 °F occur habitually and may be injured at somewhat higher temperatures. Muscadine grapes are relatively uninjured by diseases and insects and produce well with a minimum of care, but they resopnd favorably to the good cultural practices recommended in this bulletin. The varieties described or listed produce fruit suitable for making unfermented juice, wine, jelly, and other culinary products and for eating fresh over a long season." -- p. ii

"Erosion has left scars on a majority of farms in the Southeast. Too poor to produce crops, the eroding spots are usually abandoned. Unless they are treated to stop further washing of the soil they grow steadily larger and continually rob the farmer of more of his land. Fortunately, soil conservation and wildlife management can be effectively combined, and otherwise worthless areas made to produce a crop of game, fur bearers, and other desirable types of wildlife. The general principles of wildlife management on the farm are described in Farmers' Bulletins 1719 and 1759. The purpose of this bulletin is to show how gullies, terrace outlets, waterways, eroding field borders, pastures, and woodlands in the Piedmont region may be protected against erosion through the use of vegetation that will also provide food and cover for wildlife." -- p. ii

This bulletin describes how farmers can build a Nichols terrace, which is an improved channel-type terrace. Maintenance suggestions are also provided.

"There are nearly 7,500 recognized species of ferns in the world, of which number over 200 are known to be native to the United States. A few species have become weed pests in this country, and it is to a discussion of the control of these weedy ferns that this bulletin is devoted. The parts of the United States in which ferns are bad weeds are, principally, (1) the hill country of the Northeastern States and the higher portions of the Appalachian Mountain region as far south as Georgia, and (2) the Pacific coast country west of the Cascade Mountains.... This publication deals only with fern eradication in the Eastern States." -- p. 1-2

This report discusses the cultivation of bur clover, which is an annual legume that serves as a winter cover crop and as pasturage. The best practices for and uses of bur clover are discussed in detail.

"The southern mountain farm often produces no more than a scant living for the family. Corn is the chief crop grown. Often part of the farm lies idle, being 'rested' while corn is grown on another part year after year until the land is worn out. By growing three or more crops in rotation, including clover, the farmer will be able to produce larger crops, make more money, and keep all crop land under cultivation all the time. Cattle, hogs, and sheep will not only add to the cash income, but will help to increase the fertility of the soil, and render larger crops possible. This bulletin describes crop rotations for small mountain farms in the southern Alleghenies, and gives complete directions for starting a crop rotation that will make poor mountain land more productive." -- p. 2

"The soils of the coastal plain section of the Central Atlantic States, as a rule, are light in character, have been farmed for generations, and need first of all a liberal supply of organic matter. This need should be met by growing such legumes as crimson clover, cowpeas, soy beans, red clover, and hairy vetch. Rye, buckwheat, and the grasses are also valuable in this connection. Commercial fertilizer and lime should be used freely when necessary to stimulate the growth of these soil-improving crops. By arranging the cropping system to include one or more legumes that supply the land with nitrogen and humus, crop yields have been greatly increased on many farms scattered throughout this region. The systems followed on a few of the more successful of these farms are described in detail in the following pages." -- p. 2

This bulletin discusses ways that soybeans may be used in systems of farming in the Cotton Belt of the United States. Soybeans are a legume that may be used as a fertilizer, livestock feed, oil, or human food.

This bulletin describes Bermuda grass, a plant that is both highly valuable to pastures and also invasive in the southern United States, and gives suggestions for its control. Possible methods for eradication include the strategic use of shade, winterkilling, fallowing, hog grazing, and tilling practices.

"Of all corn pests in the South one of the most serious is the larva, or young, of the 12-spotted cucumber beetle -- the so-called southern corn rootworm. True to its name, it feeds on the roots, but in young corn it also drills a small hole in the stem just above the first circle of roots, boring out the crown and killing the bud.... Progressive farming methods, as described in this bulletin, will reduce the ravages of this insect. Burn over waste places to destroy dead grass, weeds, and rubbish in which the beetles winter. If possible, avoid planting corn in fields which contained corn the year before. Enrich the soil by planting legumes so that the corn will have a better chance of recovering from rootworm injury. Protect the bobwhite. This bird destroys many beetles of the rootworm. By careful observations, extending over a period of years, find out the dates between which the rooworm does the most damage; then time your planting so that it will fall either before or after these dates, taking into consideration, of course, other important factors in crop production." -- p. 2

This bulletin describes how farmers in the southern United States can cultivate pastures for hogs using forage crops. Among the crops recommended are corn, sorghum, winter grains, alfalfa, several varieties of clover and beans, cowpeas, peanuts, chufas, sweet potatoes, mangels, and rape.

"In the limestone and mountain districts south of the Ohio River there is much land that has been run down by continual cropping without rotation. In some places run-down land is left to grow up in weeds, wild grasses, and brush, a practice known as 'resting' the land. Where this sort of farm management is followed farm manure is largely wasted, little or no attention is paid to green-manure crops or other means of putting humus into the soil, and crop yields are very low. However, progressive farmers throughout the region who have built up run-down lands are now getting heavy yields. In the following pages are described some of the methods by which these farmers get results by making good use of farm manure and crop refuse, using legumes and grasses in regular rotations, and applying lime and commercial fertilizers." -- p. 2

"Gulf Coast region upland soils are ordinarily deficient in nitrogen and need to be supplied with liberal quantities of organic matter if profitable crop yields are to be produced. This condition is most easily and cheaply remedied by growing such legumes as velvet beans, cowpeas, soy beans, bur clover, crimson clover, hairy vetch, and beggar weed, and by carefully utilizing all farm manures, crop residues, and other sources of humus. By a simple readjustment most of the cropping systems followed in this region may be made to include one or more legumes which will increase the supply of nitrogen and humus in the soil and greatly increase crop yields. Systems by means of which crop yields are being increased in the region are discussed in the following pages." -- p. 2

Revised edition. "The wheat jointworm is a very small grub which lives in stems of wheat, sucking the juices of the plant and causing a swelling in the stem. The egg from which it hatches is laid in the stem by an insect resembling a small black ant with wings. This insect attacks no other kind of plant. The injury which it does to wheat is very distinct from that caused by the Hessian fly, yet the depredations of these two insects are often confused by farmers. This paper is intended, therefore, to give a brief outline of the life history and the nature of the injury to the plant by the jointworm so that any farmer may readily recognize its work and be able to apply the measures of control herein recommended." -- p. 3-4

Revised edition. "The wheat jointworm is a very small grub which lives in stems of wheat, feeding on the juices of the plant and causing a slight swelling or distortion of the stem above the joint. The egg from which it hatches is laid in the stem by an insect resembling a small black ant with wings. This insect attacks wheat only. The injury which it causes to wheat is very distinct from that caused by the Hessian fly, yet the effects caused by these two insects are often confused by farmers." -- p. 1-2. This bulletin gives a brief outline of the life cycle and the nature of the injury to the plant by the jointworm so that any farmer may readily recognize its work and be able to apply the measures of control herein recommended.

"Within recent years an increasing number of reports of serious damage to the corn crop by a robust black beetle have been received from most of the Southern States. A noteworthy outbreak occurred during the early summer of 1914 in the tidewater section of Virginia. As very little was known regarding the natural history of this pest, this bulletin has been designed to supply this information. By following the control measures recommended herein it is hoped that the ravages of this pest may be largely overcome in the future." -- p. 3

"For the best results, fall-sown grains in Maryland, Delaware, and the Virginias require -- A well-drained, fertile soil, well-supplied with humus and lime. An abundance of available plant food, supplied by the use of stable manure, green crops turned under, and commercial fertilizers. A rotation which includes at least one cultivated crop and one or more legumes. A seed bed with the surface 2 or 3 inches loose and finely pulverized, while the soil just beneath is firm and moist. Good, pure, cleaned, and graded seed which has been treated for smut, sown with a drill at the proper time and rate. Varieties which are adapted to the locality and which produce high yields of grain of good quality. The best varieties are listed on page 23." -- p. 2

This report discusses the tobacco budworm, a destructive insect prominent in the southern United States, and measures for its control, including poisons. Topics discussed include the insect's life cycle, diet, and enemies.

This report discusses the red spider, an insect which destroys cotton plants, and measures for controlling it. Topics discussed include its breeding patterns, life cycle, and natural enemies.

This report discusses birds commonly found in the southeastern United States with special regard to their diets and the impact these birds have on agriculture and insects in this region.