A NEW SYSTEM OF COTTON CULTURE? 
By O. F. Coox, Bionomist in Charge of Crop Acclimatization and Adaptation 
Investigations. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The way to secure an early short-season crop of cotton is to thin 
the plants later and leave them closer together in the rows than is 
now customary. Neither of these policies is advisable if used alone, 
but they give a real advantage when properly combined. Keeping 
the plants closer together during the early stages of growth restricts 
the formation of vegetative branches and induces an earlier develop- 
ment of fruiting branches. The new system is based on the princi- 
ple of controlling the formation of the branches, as explained in 
previous reports and publications of the Bureau of Plant Industry.? 
CONTROLLING THE FORMATION OF BRANCHES. 
The principle of branch control is more likely to be understood 
if studied as the basis of a new cultural system. Application of 
the principle will involve a reconsideration of all current opinions 
regarding such questions as distances between rows, times of plant- 
ing, methods of cultivation, and the values of different varieties. 
The spacing of the plants and the stages at which thinning should 
be done will depend upon the local conditions and the habits of the 
varieties that are being grown, so that it will not be possible to give 
1Tssued Mar. 1, 1913. 
2 Cook, O. F. Weevil-resisting adaptations of the cotton plant. U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 88, 87 p., 10 pl., 1906. 
Cotton selection on the farm by the characters of the stalks, leaves, and 
bolls. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Circular 66, 28 p., 
1910. 
Dimorphic branches in tropical crop plants: Cotton, coffee, cacao, the Central 
American rubber tree, and the banana. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of 
Plant Industry, Bulletin 198, 64 p., 9 fig., 7 pl., 1911. 
and Meade, R. M. Arrangement of parts in the cotton plant. U. 8S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 222, 26 p., 9 fig., 1911. 
Cotton improvement under weevil conditions. U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture, Farmers’ Bulletin 501, 22 p., 1912. 
Results of cotton experiments in 1911. U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Bureau of Plant Industry, Circular 96, 21 p., 1912. 
Morphology of cotton branches. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau 
of Plant Industry, Bulletin 256, 113 p., 19 fig., 6 pl., 1913. 
Heredity and cotton breeding. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of 
Plant Industry, Bulletin 256, 113 p., 19 fig., 6 pl., 1913. 
[Cir. 115} weilley 
