8 BULLETIN" 526, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table III shows that the increase in yield from each picking 

 favored single-stalk culture by 28.8, 18.6, and 26.1 per cent, respec- 

 tively, giving a total increase of 23.9 per cent. 



MADISON PARISH. 1 



Three experiments were conducted in Madison Parish, located at 

 intervals of about 5 miles between Tallulah and Delta Point, the 

 latter bordering on the Mississippi River. Two of these were on sandy 

 alluvial soil, and the other was on heavy buckshot soil, both soils 

 being fairly representative of types found in that section, known as 

 the Delta. In all cases the cotton was planted on low beds in rows 

 about 4 feet apart. Spring conditions were unfavorable generally, 

 a wet March being followed by drought through April and May. 



The Killarney experiment. — This experiment was on buckshot soil 

 located on the Killarney Plantation, at Mounds. Owing to the poor 

 stand obtained from the first planting, a second planting of Simpkins 

 cotton was made on April 15, and a fairly good stand was secured. 

 On June 3, a few plants from the first planting were visible in the 

 single-stalk rows and it was suggested that at thinning time, about 

 a week distant, these older plants be removed, since there were 

 enough of the younger plants for single-stalk purposes. To leave 

 the older ones would have resulted in nonuniformity. Mr. T. I. 

 Watson, parish agent, directed this later thinning. 



The old-method rows were thinned on May 22, when the plants, 

 4 to 6 inches high and with 3 to 5 leaves, were spaced 18 to 30 inches 

 apart. The single-stalk plants, thinned on June 12, when they were 

 8 to 10 inches high and had 6 to 8 leaves, were spaced 8 to 10 inches 

 apart. 



In practically all of the rows of this experiment there were a few 

 skips 3 feet or more in length. Toward the end of the season the 

 skips appeared to be greater in the aggregate in the wide-spaced 

 rows than in the single-stalk rows, and this was doubtless a factor 

 in the increased yields, as often occurs with the new system. Prior 

 to the time of thinning the wide-spaced rows, the stand of all the 

 rows was so uniform that no appreciable differences in the number 

 and length of skips per row were perceptible. Any differences of soil 



1 In reporting the yields from the experiments made in Madison Parish, Parish Agent T. I. Watson 

 told of the results of an informal experiment with single-stalk culture conducted on his own initiative by 

 Mr. N. C Williamson, of Millikin, East Carroll Parish, La. Mr. Williamson applied single-stalk culture 

 on 2 acres. Of the yields obtained, Mr. Watson said: 



I was at his [Williamson's] place on November 24 and secured his yield, which was 1,300 pounds of lint 

 from the 2 acres, or an average of 6"0 pounds of lint per acre. His general crop is making about 1,280 

 pounds of seed cotton per acre, or 80 bales on 100 acres. Mr. Williamson does not consider that he carried 

 out the method fully enough to be recognized as an experiment, but thinks well of it and says he is going 

 to try it out next year. 



Mr. Williamson's crop of 80 bales of lint from 100 acres is equivalent to about 400 pounds of lint per acre. 

 Compared with this, as reported by Mr. Watson, the 2 acres of cotton grown by the single-stalk method 

 yielded an average of 650 pounds of lint. On the basis of these figures, it is seen that single-stalk culture 

 yielded 250 pounds of lint per acre, or about 62 per cent, more than the old method. 



