COTTON CULTURE 43 



six feet wide ana' the plants one foot apart. In all these 

 cases the space assigned to each plant was exactly equal, 

 being six square feet. It was also noticeable that the per- 

 centage of a full stand was higher in proportion as the 

 plants were more nearly "on a square. " 



From other carefully conducted experiments it is safe 

 to conclude that, with one plant to every four square feet, 

 the yield will be greater than from any larger plant area, 

 and that the four square feet should approximate a square 

 shape as closely as consideration of increased cost of cul- 

 tivation may permit. With rows three feet wide this 

 area of four square feet would be secured by having one 

 plant every sixteen inches. 



It should be borne in mind that the soil upon which 

 the experiments were performed was typical middle- Geor- 

 gia "upland," brought up from a worn, almost-exhausted, 

 condition to a yield of one to one and a quarter bales of 

 cotton per acre with the aid of judicious fertilization and 

 rotation. On similar soils not so improved, but capable 

 of a yield of one-half bale per acre (aided by fertilizers), 

 the rows should be three feet wide and the plants spaced 

 at ten to twelve inches in the rows. It is well to bear in 

 mind that an imperfect stand, either from frequent missing 

 places, or from too wide spacing, is one of the commonest 

 faults of upland-cotton culture and probably causes a greater 

 loss than does any defect of cultivation. 



Varieties. There is practically "no end" to the num- 

 ber of so-called varieties of cotton, very few of which possess 

 any distinctive and peculiar characteristics. King's Im- 



