NURSE PLAXTIXC SliLKCT COTTON SKKO. 



11 



Table I. — Comparative seed increase of cotton when planted \n progeny rou 



the number of seed* in a hill being varied from om to six. 



Kate of planting. 



Number 



of hills. 



Seed pro- 

 duced. 



Rato of planting. 







Seed |. re- 

 duced. 





100 

 120 

 150 



Pounds. 

 17 

 20 

 25 





200 

 800 















ii)i) 









In carrying the example farther, it is sufficient to compare only the 

 ■i-seed and 2-seed rates. In the one case, GOO cotton seeds tnighl be 

 planted four in a hill in the usual manner, making a total of L50 

 hills. In the other, 600 cotton seeds, if nurse planted two in a hill, 

 would give 300 hills in all. After thinning out the surplus plant- in 

 each hill, there would remain, therefore, 150 cotton plants in the first 

 instance and twice that number, or 300, in the second. The total pro- 

 duction of seed from the 150 plants would be 25 pounds, as compared 

 with 50 pounds from the 300 plants, a gain of 100 per cent. T f nurse 

 planting were practiced the second year, the gain would become 400 

 per cent. The 25 pounds of seed produced by the progeny row 

 planted in the usual way would, for example, plant 1 acre if planted 

 with a cotton planter, while the 50 pounds from the nurse-planted 

 progeny row would plant -1 acres if delinted, mixed in equal propor- 

 tion with beans or peas, and planted with a corn planter. By carry- 

 ing this procedure through the third year, as shown in Table II. it 

 would be possible to plant in the fourth year only 3,01:0 acres with 

 the stock of seed increased in the usual manner, while with the nurse- 

 planted stock it would be possible to plant 16 times as much, or 

 48,616 acres. 



Table II.- 



-Comparative increase of seed when select cotton is planted in the 

 ■usual way and under nurse planting. 





First year (progeny 

 row). 



Plantings at the rate of 25 



pounds per acre. 



Method of planting. 



Second year. Third year. F y££ h 



seocls ber of 



m a i hills 



hill. ! mm - 



Seed 



pro- 

 duced. 



Area 

 planted. 



Seed 

 pro- 

 duced. 



Area go* Area 

 planted. d \ Kcd planted. 





4 j 150 

 2 | 300 



Pounds. 

 25 



50 



Acres. 

 1 



4 



Pounds. 

 1,382 



5.52S 



Acres. 

 55 



440 



Pounds. Acres. 

 70,010 3JM0 



Nurse (half cotton and half nurse 



|n. .',4,, 







It is reasonable to believe, therefore, that at least one and prob- 

 ably two or three years could be gained in increasing select cotton 

 seed if the method of nurse planting herein described were followed. 

 Such a gain would more than repay the extra time and labor ex- 

 pended, as well as the cost of the beans or peas. This would often 

 be true even if the saving of seed were much less, for there is no 

 basis for estimating the value of a particularly desirable selection 

 of cotton. 



