SINGLE-STALK COTTON CULTURE AT SAN ANTONIO. 5 



CHOPPING WIDE-SPACED ROWS. 



In the region of San Antonio the general practice is to chop the 

 plants when they are still very small, leaving one or two plants every 

 18 to 24 inches apart. This is usually done as soon as possible after 

 germination, depending generally on weather conditions or when the 

 choppers are best able to do the work, rather than on the stage of 

 the plants' development. In the San Antonio test an attempt was 

 made to approximate this practice in the wide-spaced rows. The 

 plants were spaced to 2 feet, but owing to ram the chopping was 

 delayed until May 6, 22 days after planting. At this time the plants 

 were about 3 or 4 inches high and had one or two foliage leaves in 

 addition to the seed leaves. 



THINNING SINGLE-STALK ROWS. 



In the single-stalk rows it was planned to leave the plants from 6 

 to 8 inches apart, and except in the short skips it was possible to 

 secure the spacings desired. In order to have the spacing as accurate 

 as possible and to leave the most promising plants the thinning was 

 done by hand. 



Care was exercised near the skips to leave the plants slightly 

 closer together, in order that the effect of the open space might to a 

 degree be overcome and that the development of vegetative branches 

 might be prevented. Later observation showed, however, that one 

 or two vegetative branches generally developed on plants next to 

 skips or at the ends of rows. 



The plants developed slowly during the cool, cloudy days of April 

 and early May, so that it was late in May before they were in the 

 proper condition for thinning. Because of continued rains the thin- 

 ning was not done, however, until June 2. At this time the plants 

 were about 12 inches high and had about eight full-grown leaves. 

 On some of the most precocious plants fruiting branches had begun 

 to develop. It is believed that had it been possible to do the thin- 

 ning a week or 10 days earlier, when the plants had but five or six 

 full-grown leaves and were only 8 or 10 inches high, it would have 

 been more effective. 



RESULTS OF THE TEST. 



In comparing the wide-spaced and single-stalk systems of culture 

 the following points were considered: Development of vegetative 

 branches, rate of flowering, number of bolls set, number of locks in 

 bolls, size of bolls, the form of rows, yields of seed cotton, and 

 percentage and quality of lint. 1 



> The writer was greatly assisted in securing the data at different times during the season by Messrs. 

 Robert E. Kerr, James Taylor, H. Gregory McKeever, G. B. Gilbert, and G. W. R. Davidson. There 

 was at all times close cooperation with the staff of the United States experiment farm at San Antonio. 



