22 BULLETIN 142, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



permits econom} T of the- water supply may permit the ultimate exten- 

 sion of the irrigated area,. 



Another advantage of cotton as a crop- for the irrigated Southwest 

 is the fact that the product is a staple and nonperishable commodity. 

 Practically all of the other crops yielding high cash returns per acre 

 are perishable and involve the hazard of deterioration or total loss 

 if the market is temporarily oversupplied. Cotton, on the other 

 hand, is not subject to -rapid deterioration if properly protected and 

 need not be sold while prices are unsatisfactory. 



TILLAGE METHODS. 



Methods of preparing the land for Egyptian cotton and of irrigat- 

 ing and cultivating the crop have been described in an earlier pub- 

 lication of the Department of Agriculture." 1 The essential features 

 of these methods are : Early and thorough preparation of the land ; 

 careful leveling, so that the entire field can be irrigated uniformly ; 

 early planting, with precautions for getting* the seed into moist soil, 

 so that prompt germination and good stands* can be secured; 2 late 

 thinning, leaving the plants close together in the row; the sparing 

 use of irrigation water until the plants blossom ; thorough cultivation 

 as long as the size of the plants permits ; and frequent light irriga- 

 tion after blossoming begins until the 'crop is fully matured. 



Unless the land is properly leveled satisfactory control of irriga- 

 tion is out of the question. In some parts of a field the cotton may 

 fail to germinate or may remain stunted by drought, while elsewhere 

 in the same field the crop may suffer for the opposite reason, over- 

 watering of the plants, which results in too luxuriant growth, late 

 opening of the bolls, greater damage from frost, and more difficult 

 picking. Planting early is desirable not only to secure the advantage 

 of the longer season but because the young plants are likely to show 

 more normal ha,bits of branching and fruiting if very hot weather is 

 not encountered during the early stages of growth. Withholding 

 irrigation from the young plants has the same object of avoiding too 

 rapid growth, and the methods of thinning and spacing permit ad- 

 ditional control of the behavior of the plants in the interest of early 

 and abundant fruiting. Overluxuriance and late bearing are among 

 the most frequent causes of low yields. 



LATE THINNING AND CLOSE SPACING. 



The Egyptian-cotton plant makes a very luxuriant growth on the 

 irrigated lands of the Southwest. Because of this fact, it was 



1 Hudson, E. W. Growing Egyptian Cotton in the Salt River Valley, Arizona. U. S. 

 Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bui. 577, 8 p. 1914. 



2 A method of accomplishing this has been described. See Hastings, H. IT.. A lister 

 attachment for a cotton planter, U. S. Dept. Agr., C. P. & B. I. Cir. 2, 3 p.. 1 fig., 1917. 



