. 20 BULLETIN 279, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
April and May. No rain fell between the first of June and early in 
August. These abnormal conditions caused a restriction in the 
development of vegetative branches. That the single-stalk system 
was effective in still further reducing vegetative growth is shown by 
the fact that even though the average number of vegetative branches 
produced on plants in wide-spaced rows was only 1.6, on single-stalk 
plants it was reduced to 0.53 branch per plant. 
More flowers were produced daily on the single-stalk rows than on 
_the adjoming wide-spaced rows. At the end of 40 days single-stalk 
rows alternating with wide-spaced rows had produced 84 per cent 
more flowers than the latter. In alternating blocks single-stalk rows 
had produced 78 per cent more flowers than wide-spaced rows in the 
adjoining block. 
Single-stalk rows produced an average of 5.5 bolls per plant and 
wide-spaced rows 8.6 bolls per plant. The difference in the number 
of bolls per plant was much more than offset by the greater number 
of plants in the single-stalk rows, so that the simgle-stalk rows set 
from 50 to 150 per cent more bolls in the same row space. 
A larger percentage of 4-locked bolls was produced in single-stalk 
rows and in rows close together than in wide-spaced rows where the 
plants were set either close together or far apart. 
The bolls in the single-stalk rows were slightly smaller than those 
in the wide-spaced rows. Nineteen 4-locked bolls from single-stalk 
rows were required to equal the weight of eighteen 4-locked bolls from 
wide-spaced plants. The ratio of weight for 5-locked bolls is 11 to 10 
for single-stalk and wide-spaced rows, respectively. 
The plants in single-stalk rows were taller than those in wide- 
spaced rows. The single-stalk rows were spreading at the top, while ~ 
the wide-spaced rows were broader near the ground. 
In all cases single-stalk rows yielded more than the adjoining wide- 
spaced rows, regardless of the distance between the rows. 
An examination of the fiber in the field showed that there was no 
perceptible difference in the quality or quantity of lint produced in 
single-stalk and in wide-spaced rows. 
Plants thinned to a few inches apart in the row had fewer vegeta- 
tive branches than plants spaced farther apart, the thinning haying 
been done at the same time in each case. Late-thinned plants had 
fewer vegetative branches than plants thinned earlier to the same 
distance. 
Early thinning and late thinning gave higher yields than very late 
thinning. 
WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1915 
