18 BULLETIN 279, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The yields from the guard row that separated sections A and B 

 proved more interesting than was anticipated. This row, which was 

 not thinned at any time during the season, contained 594 plants and 

 yielded more than either the nearest wide-spaced or single-stalk row. 

 A section of this row is illustrated in Plate V, figure 1. The non- 

 thinned row yielded 23.7 pounds of seed cotton, while the wide-spaced 

 rows on either side yielded 11.4 and 11.7 pounds, respectively. The 

 nearest single-stalk row, the second row distant, yielded 21.6 pounds. 

 The nonthinned row yielded 104 per cent more than the wide-spaced 

 rows and 9 per cent more than the single-stalk rows. The yields from 

 this and other nonthinned rows in the test indicate that the full possi- 

 bilities of securing advantage from leaving the plants closer together 

 have not yet been obtained in the experiments with the single-stalk 

 system. The fact that the nonthinned row was favorably situated 

 between two wide-spaced rows should not, however, be overlooked. 



QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF FIBER. 



A careful examination of the fiber in the field resulted in the con- 

 clusion that there were no perceptible differences in the quality of the 

 fiber produced on single-stalk and on wide-spaced plants. The length, 

 strength, luster, drag, and evenness were compared and found to be 

 the same. 



That even closer spacing than that used in the single-stalk rows does 

 not affect the quality of lint is shown by the fact that the fiber pro- 

 duced in the guard row between sections A and B, which was not 

 thinned at any time during the season, was up to the standard in 

 quality. 



The abundance of the lint on the seed was determined as far as 

 possible in the field and found to be the same in the single-stalk and in 

 the wide-spaced rows. An actual ginning test corroborated the field 

 test, proving the lint percentage to be about 32 in each case. 



RESULTS IN TIME-OF-THINNING TEST. 



The blocks of the " time-of-thinning " test in section C were all 

 planted on April 14 and were thinned 25, 41, and 51 days after plant- 

 ing, respectively. Each block contained five rows, in which the 

 plants were thinned to 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 inches apart, respectively. 

 It was not possible to arrange the rows in the same order in all of the 

 blocks because of the poor stands in some of the rows, making it 

 necessary to select the best rows for the closer spacings. On account 

 of this irregular method of arrangement and also because the rows arc 

 so few in number, only a general statement of the results will be given. 



With respect to vegetative-branch development it was found that 

 the longer thinning was delayed the greater was the restriction in the 

 branch development. There was a gradual increase in the number 



