A NEW SYSTEM OF COTTON CULTURE. 19 
Numerous experiments have demonstrated the fact that the usual 
custom of giving the seedlings full exposure by thinning them to wide 
distances in the rows is a means of inducing the development of large 
numbers of vegetative limbs. Too much exposure for the young 
plants results in too little exposure for the adults by increasing the 
number of vegetative branches. The effect of exposure at wide dis- 
tances is influenced, of course, by temperature and fertility of soil, 
larger numbers of vegetative limbs being produced under conditions 
that favor the luxuriant growth of the plants. But it does not ap- 
pear that the production of vegetative branches is desirable under 
any condition. The improved method of thinning restricts the 
development of vegetative limbs or avoids their formation alto- 
gether. This permits a better development of the fruiting branches 
of the lower part of the main stalk. The plants are induced to 
fruit earlier and the crop is made larger because more of the early 
plants can be grown on the same area. 
COMPETITION BETWEEN TWO KINDS OF BRANCHES. 
The reason this possibility of cultural improvement has not re- 
ceived adequate consideration in the past is doubtless to be found in 
the fact that the distinctness of the two kinds of branches has not 
been recognized, nor the relation of this specialization to the method 
of thinning. When the plants are thinned too young, so as to stand 
more than 6 inches apart, they put forth a full quota of vegetative 
limbs, and the subsequent competition and crowding of these limbs 
with each other and with the main stalks interfere with the devel- 
opment of normal fruiting branches. As it is the low joints of the 
stalk that produce the undesirable vegetative branches, the plants 
must be allowed to grow beyond these joints before thinning. Ex- 
posure of the stalk to the hght in the early stages of growth is one 
of the factors that lead to the putting forth of the vegetative 
branches. 
EFFECTS OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS ON BRANCH FORMATION. 
The number of vegetative branches is also influenced by tempera- 
ture and soil conditions. If the weather remains cool, or if the soil 
is very dry, not many vegetative branches will develop, even when 
the young plants are widely separated. But if the conditions favor 
a luxuriant development of the young plants, early thinning will 
result in the development of a large number of vegetative branches, 
and the subsequent crowding will be great. Even in the absence of 
any disease or insect pests the crop may be ruined by crowding alone. 
Thus, the extent of the injury from crowding depends very largely 
on the conditions that obtain during the early development of the 
plant when the formation of vegetative branches is determined. 
[Cir. 115] 
