Excerpts from the report: Insecticides, fertilizer, herbicides, and defoliants are becoming increasingly important in producing cotton in the United States. To aid in determining the extent cotton growers use these chemicals, and the costs, the Economic Research Service conducted a survey in the summer of 1962. Information on practices used in 1961 was collected from about 2,200 farmers in 15 areas where boll weevils caused significant damage. Totals and averages for all areas as well as data for each area are presented. The major purposes of this survey were: (1) To determine, for selected areas, the proportion of the cotton acreage on which insect control practices were used and to ascertain the kind and quantity of materials used, the method of application, and to develop estimates of costs of insecticides and their application; (2) to obtain similar information for pre-emergence and post-emergence herbicides, defoliants, and fertilizer.