A NEW SYSTEM OF COTTON CULTURE. ALG 
IMPORTANCE OF STIMULATING EARLINESS. 
The chief advantage of the new system of cotton culture, based on 
the improved method of thinning, is the increased earliness of the 
crop; or, in other words, the production of more cotton in a shorter 
period of time. The need of shortening the growing season of cot- 
ton has been recognized as the best solution of the problem of secur- 
ing protection against injury from the boll weevil, but is no less 
important in regions where the crop is limited by drought or by 
short seasons, as in the northern districts of the cotton belt.t 
CONFLICTING OPINIONS ON SPACING COTTON ROWS. 
Many intelligent farmers are aware of the fact that rows of cotton 
accidentally left without thinning are sometimes much more productive 
than rows that were thinned in the usual manner and have reflected 
on the possibility of securing larger crops by closer planting, but the 
underlying biological principle has not been understood. The be- 
havior of cotton in different seasons or under different conditions 
is so extremely variable that any intelligent farmer might well 
hesitate to adopt a method of culture suggested by an occasional 
occurrence like the production of a larger crop on an unthinned row. 
In each cotton-growing community there are usually some farmers 
who believe that cotton should be left closer together in the rows, 
but the tendency in recent years has been toward wider spacing, 
owing to a general recognition of the evil effects of having the 
plants too close together, especially under conditions that favor 
luxuriant growth. Those who use narrow spacing may boast of 
phenomenal yields in some seasons, but in other years they appear 
at a disadvantage with their neighbors. The possibility of making 
a safe combination of the two conflicting methods seems not to have 
been suggested. The same conflict is shown in the results of formal 
experiments to determine the best planting distances as in the popu- 
lar opinions on the subject. Wide spacing in the rows seemed better 
in some cases and narrow spacing in others, so that no definite con- 
clusions could be reached.’ 
LARGE PLANTS PRODUCE LATE CROPS. 
When the habits of the cotton plant are taken into account it 
becomes apparent that the theory of wider planting has its limita- 
tions, as well as the theory of closer planting. To reduce the num- 
ber of plants by wider spacing in the rows means that a !onger period 
1Cook, O. F. Relation of drought to weevil resistance in cotton. U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 220, 30 p., 1911. 
2 Redding, R. J. Essential steps in securing an early crop of cotton. U.S. Department 
of Agriculture, Farmers’ Bulletin 217, 16 p., 1905. 
[Cir. 115] 
