18 BULLETIN 279, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The yields from the guard row that separated sections A and B 
_ proved more interesting than was anticipated. This row, which was 
not thinned at any time during the season, contained 594 plants and 
yielded more than either the nearest wide-spaced or single-stalk row. 
A section of this row is illustrated in Plate V, figure 1. The non- 
thinned row yielded 23.7 pounds of seed cotton, while the wide-spaced 
rows on either side yielded 11.4 and 11.7 pounds, respectively. The 
nearest single-stalk row, the second row distant, yielded 21.6 pounds. 
The nonthinned row yielded 104 per cent more than the wide-spaced 
rows and 9 per cent more than the single-stalk rows. The yields from 
this and other nonthinned rows in the test indicate that the full possi- 
bilities of securing advantage from leaving the plants closer together 
have not yet been obtained in the experiments with the single-stalk 
system. The fact that the nonthinned row was favorably situated 
between two wide-spaced rows should not, however, be overlooked. 
QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF FIBER. 
A careful examination of the fiber in the field resulted in the con- 
clusion that there were no perceptible differences in the quality of the 
fiber produced on single-stalk and on wide-spaced plants. The length, 
strength, luster, drag, and evenness were compared and found to be 
the same. 
That even closer spacing than that used in the single-stalk rows does 
not affect the quality of lint is shown by the fact that the fiber pro- 
duced in the guard row between sections A and B, which was not 
thinned at any time during the season, was up to the standard in 
quality. 
The abundance of the lint on the seed was determined as far as 
possible in the field and found to be the same in the single-stalk and in 
the wide-spaced rows. An actual ginning test corroborated the field 
test, proving the lint percentage to be about 32 in each case. 
RESULTS IN TIME-OF-THINNING TEST. 
The blocks of the ‘‘time-of-thinning”’ test in section C were all 
planted on April 14 and were thinned 25, 41, and 51 days after plant- 
ing, respectively. Each block contained five rows, in which the 
plants were thinned to 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 inches apart, respectively. 
It was not possible to arrange the rows in the same order in all of the 
blocks because of the poor stands in some of the rows, making it 
necessary to select the best rows for the closer spacings. On account 
of this irregular method of arrangement and also because the rows are 
so few in number, only a general statement of the results will be given. 
With respect to vegetative-branch development it was found that 
the longer thinning was delayed the greater was the restriction in the 
branch development. There was a gradual increase in the number 
