34 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RAW COTTON 



harder to keep a uniform moisture-content. While dis- 

 cussing this soil question, it may be worth while to note 

 that the effect of spacing upon yield is worth considerable 

 attention by new cotton-growing countries. The author 

 showed in Egypt somewhat to the disappointment of 

 reformers that the native cultivator is exactly right in 

 the spacing he adopts (Fig. 5). If more plants were 

 crowded on the area, they would, roughly speaking, 

 interfere with one another's roots before they came into 



FIG. 5. ARRANGEMENTS or THE SPACING IN FIELD CROP. 



Plans showing on a scale of Tj-W the typical conventional arrangements of 

 the plants in the field in Egypt (left), and the U.S.A. (centre), together 

 with (right) an arrangement which would be ideal if it were not im- 

 possible to hoe, irrigate, and pick, such closely sown ridges. 



The Egyptian arrangement is only possible because the crop is entirely 

 cultivated by hand. In the U.S.A. the rows must be set wider, to pei - 

 mit of the use of horse-hoes (cf. PI. XII.). 



flower, and would suffer more under the water -strain of 

 the early autumn, and from the rise of the water-table. 

 If fewer plants were employed, the gain in yield per plant 

 from the diminished effect of these same causes could 

 not make up for the decreased number of plants actually 

 at work. At the spacing which the Fellah employs in 

 each district, the effects of root -interference are delayed 

 till the first few flowers have formed, and the gain thus 

 obtained in the early picking (Fig. 6) through having 



