A NEW SYSTEM OF COTTON CULTURE. Dil 
Taste I.—Results of a thinning experiment with Durango cotton at Norfolk, 
Va., in 19712. 
| 
| Yield of seed Yield of seed 
Average | cotton ee, Average ee nae 
Num-| “ly ‘Gross eee Num- ay: Gross Tete, 
Row | ber of now ha yield of Row | ber of wees yield of 
‘ ‘ x ant 5 x + 
No. |Pl@nts| based on eee COV Ordi= plants | ,ased on ae a Ordi- 
oa counts on, a nary | Hedge- Bane counts aig nary | Hedge- 
BOW foro grams. | wide- | formed TOM for 10 grams. | wide- | formed 
days. spaced | rows. days. spaced | rows. 
rows. rows. 
i eae 176 Wo Oull Oni oe(llow asc aes ILS) Mees oe 60 68. 1 4,054 i) Ie oa sa ae 
Oe ae ike 65 79.3 4, 601 i OUZS | eee ee ae 1b eee 159 75 BW Ey Iaoaqouse olen 
Secu eee 203 Silas | 20923 0a lseeesee iS ifileel|| eli eereere 64 70.8 4, 282 942) Posse 
Bice 66 79: 9e\ 45.81645)| e500. ck eon Te ee 166 6250 OK670 | aa 1, 249 
Be cees 229 STS SAIC Oa7 rhe shoe see 14 OTe alates 61 50.8 | 3,659.5 805) Sone 
Que: 61 68.6 | 3,384 AANA reese. 
Costar 215 OB ATO O24. (5) |= ees 1, 435 AV CLAIR Chaya ps Hae eines game 909 1,391 
SCR aos 63 75.9 | 4,191.5 O70 | ree Percentage of increase in | 
Orie: 211 HOM BE GSC as ay eee ote 1, 495 hedge-formed rows......- Neeenete heyee 53 
The rate of flowering, which also serves as a measure of earliness, 
showed an advantage of 42 per cent in favor of the hedge-formed 
rows. Though the proportion of 5-locked bolls was less in the 
hedge-formed rows, a census on the basis of locks showed a difference 
of 48 per cent in favor of the hedge-formed rows. 
Many of the plants in the hedge-formed rows had no vegetative 
branches—29 out of 52 in a series that was counted. An equal dis- 
tance in the next wide-spaced row was occupied by 16 plants, all 
but one of which produced vegetative branches, most of them three 
or four. The average amount of vegetative branch development on 
the widely spaced plants was 38.6 inches; on the hedgerow plants only 
6.9 inches. 
BRANCHING HABITS OF UPLAND AND EGYPTIAN COTTON. 
The results obtained at Norfolk are in general agreement with 
those obtained from other experiments with the Durango and other 
varieties of Upland and Egyptian cotton in Texas and southern 
California. The idea of controlling the formation of the branches 
through cultural methods was first developed through a study of 
the behavior of the Egyptian cotton in Arizona and southern Cali- 
fornia. But it has now become evident that the principle has a 
vastly greater practical importance in connection with Upland 
cotton. Though the tendency to overdevelopment of vegetative 
branches is not so strong in the Upland cotton as in the Egyptian, 
the results are often worse, on account of the heavier foliage of the 
Upland cotton and the greater tendency to shedding the buds and 
young bolls. 
3 [Cir. 115] 
