16 BULLETIN 1030, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
all hybrids or off-type plants may be removed, to prevent cross-polli- 
nation in the field. Later on in the season inferior plants producing 
off-type bolls may still be found, and these plants also should be re- 
moved. 
Like all long-staple cottons the Meade variety must be picked with 
extreme care to keep the fiber as clean as possible. 9 The seed cotton 
must be thoroughly and uniformly dried before ginning. There are 
a number of ways by which this may be accomplished, such as the use 
of protected platforms, or the lofts of the gin houses, or, if the 
weather permits, the seed cotton may be spread upon straw mats upon 
the ground. The cotton must not be more than a few inches in depth 
and should be turned frequently to allow uniform drying. 
It is the belief among farmers that cotton is ready for ginning 
when the seed cracks between the teeth. Under favorable conditions 
from two to three weeks should be sufficient, although many of the 
old Sea Island growers, after thoroughly drying their cotton, store 
it away until January or February before ginning. By so doing it 
is claimed that the fiber is given greater luster and strength. Meade 
cotton must be ginned on a roller gin and the fiber given complete 
protection in the bale. (PL VIII.) 
CLOSER SPACING WITH MEADE COTTON. 
It has already been demonstrated that profitable crops of Meade 
cotton can be produced in the presence of the boll weevil and under 
the usual methods of growing cotton as practiced in the Southeast ; 
but in order to produce the largest possible yields, as well as to 
induce the plants to set a crop from 10 days to two weeks earlier, the 
new single-stalk method of culture is being applied to Meade cotton 
on a farm in southern Georgia. 
The new method of culture is based upon the fact that the cotton 
plant has two kinds of branches, the vegetative branches, usually 
called " wood limbs " in the Southeastern States, and the fruiting 
branches that bear the flowers and fruits. The wood limbs are like 
the central stalk, bearing no bolls directly, the bolls being borne on 
fruiting branches which are later than those of the main stalk. By 
chopping the cotton a little later and leaving the plants closer to- 
gether in the rows the wood limbs are suppressed, thus allowing 
more plants to stand in the rows without crowding and allowing 
more fruiting branches to develop and mature an early crop (4) . Grow- 
ers of Meade cotton will be interested in the following summary {12 ) 
of the single-stalk method and the results that are being obtained. 
Twenty-five to 100 per cent increase in yield is reported by cotton growers 
who have adopted the new close-spacing system of cotton culture, introduced 
Bales of long-staple cotton containing dirt or trash are more heavily penalized in 
the market than bales of short cotton. 
