A NEW SYSTEM OF COTTON CULTURE. 19 



Numerous experiments have demonstrated the fact that the usual 

 custom of giving the seedlings full exposure by thinning them to wide 

 distances in the rows is a means of inducing the development of large 

 numbers of vegetative limbs. Too much exposure for the young 

 plants results in too little exposure for the adults by increasing the 

 number of vegetative branches. The effect of exposure at wide dis- 

 tances is influenced, of course, by temperature and fertility of soil, 

 larger numbers of vegetative limbs being produced under conditions 

 that favor the luxuriant growth of the plants. But it does not ap- 

 pear that the production of vegetative branches is desirable under 

 any condition. The improved method of thinning restricts the 

 development of vegetative limbs or avoids their formation alto- 

 gether. This permits a better development of the fruiting branches 

 of the lower part of the main stalk. The plants are induced to 

 fruit earlier and the crop is made larger because more of the early 

 plants can be grown on the same area. 



COMPETITION BETWEEN TWO KINDS OF BRANCHES. 



The reason this possibility of cultural improvement has not re- 

 ceived adequate consideration in the past is doubtless to be found in 

 the fact that the distinctness of the two kinds of branches has not 

 been recognized, nor the relation of this specialization to the method 

 of thinning. When the plants are thinned too young, so as to stand 

 more than 6 inches apart, they put forth a full quota of vegetative 

 limbs, and the subsequent competition and crowding of these limbs 

 with each other and with the main stalks interfere with the devel- 

 opment of normal fruiting branches. As it is the low joints of the 

 stalk that produce the undesirable vegetative branches, the plants 

 must be allowed to grow beyond these joints before thinning. Ex- 

 posure of the stalk to the light in the early stages of growth is one 

 of the factors that lead to the putting forth of the vegetative 

 branches. 



EFFECTS OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS ON BRANCH FORMATION. 



The number of vegetative branches is also influenced by tempera- 

 ture and soil conditions. If the weather remains cool, or if the soil 

 is very dry, not many vegetative branches will develop, even when 

 the young plants are widely separated. But if the conditions favor 

 a luxuriant development of the young plants, early thinning will 

 result in the development of a large number of vegetative branches, 

 and the subsequent crowding will be great. Even in the absence of 

 any disease or insect pests the crop may be ruined by crowding alone. 

 Thus, the extent of the injury from crowding depends very largely 

 on the conditions that obtain during the early development of the 

 plant when the formation of vegetative branches is determined. 



[Cir. 115] 



