COTTON CULTIVATION 359 



337. Distance between plants in the row. — Much of 

 the cotton grown in the United States is unduely crowded 

 in the row. A distance of 12 inches may be regarded as 

 the minimum even for very poor land. With almost any 

 character of medium or fair soil, capable of producing one 

 half bale of cotton or more per acre, it is usually better 

 to space the plant at least 18 inches apart. 



To increase this distance beyond 2 feet is usually unwise, 

 except when the soil is very rich ; in this latter case, it is better 

 to increase the width of the rows than to space the plants much 

 more than 2 feet apart. 



By giving ample distance between plants in the drill, the num- 

 ber of bolls per plant is greatly increased. Thus on well-fertilized 

 land, plants spaced 1 foot apart averaged 12.6 bolls per plant, 

 while with double this space, there was an average of 40 bolls 

 per plant. (S. C. Expr. Sta., Bui. No. 140.) In this case the 

 number of bolls per acre and the yield were much greater with 

 the thinner planting. 



338. Results of distance experiments with cotton. — 



Most of the experiment stations in the Southern States 

 have conducted experiments on this subject. Naturally 

 the results have varied greatly as influenced by differences 

 in soil, in fertihzer, in rainfall, and in the variety of cotton 

 under observation. In a series of experiments at the 

 Georgia Station, where the yield was a little more than a 

 bale per acre,- slightly higher yields were made where the 

 plants stood 1 foot apart than where they were 2 feet 

 apart ; a distance of 3 feet between plants afforded a sHght 

 reduction in yield; and where the space between plants 

 was increased to 4 feet, the yield was notably decreased. 



In the Piedmont region of North Carolina the King variety 

 made as the average of a five years' test the greatest yield when 



