COMMUNITY PRODUCTION OF EGYPTIAN COTTOK. 25 
states that on rich alfalfa land and with irrigation properly managed 
6 to 8 inches is about the right distance, while on new land the plants 
can safely be left 4 inches apart. The thinning should be done in such 
a way as to result in suppressing practically all of the vegetative 
branches without stunting the growth of the central stem or shading 
too much the lower fruiting branches. 
This new method of delayed thinning and of closer spacing of the 
plants has resulted in securing a much earlier development of the 
crop, as well as in making the picking much easier and cheaper. The 
time and manner of thinning are so important that they merit the 
closest personal attention of the grower, the more so as it is impossible 
to lay down general rules which will be equally well suited to each 
type of soil and to each season. 
UNDESIRABILITY OF RATOONING EGYPTIAN COTTON. 
The winters of southern Arizona are often mild enough to allow 
many of the old cotton stumps to remain alive in the ground, and it 
is possible to grow a second crop from them. This has suggested the 
ratooning of Egyptian cotton, a practice which has recently had some 
advocates in the Salt River Valley. Ratooning was formerly prac- 
ticed in Egypt, but the system was discontinued in that country be- 
cause of the poor quality of the fiber produced. The practice has also 
been thoroughly tested with Durango cotton in the Imperial Valley, 
where the results were unsatisfactory. 
While ratooning saves the labor of spring planting and results in 
the earlier maturity of the crop, it has no other advantage. A perfect 
stand can rarely be had, and the seedling plants with which the gaps 
must be filled ripen later than the ratooned plants and produce fiber 
of different length and quality, making it impossible to obtain a uni- 
form product from the field. It is questionable whether the very early 
ripening of the ratooned cotton is really a benefit, since it necessitates 
picking during the hottest season of the year. It would also be 
difficult to keep the land from becoming weedy if this method were 
followed. Finalfy, the practice of leaving the old stumps in the 
ground would favor the increase of such injurious insects and fungi 
as might gain a foothold in the locality. The advisability of replant- 
ing the fields each year with the best seed obtainable can not be too 
strongly urged. 
ENEMIES OF THE CROP. 
Fortunately no very serious diseases or insect enemies of the crop 
have yet appeared in the Salt River Valley. A weevil, very closely 
related to the Mexican cotton boll weevil and capable of feeding 
upon and depositing its eggs in the bolls of cotton, is native to the 
mountains of southern Arizona, occurring on a wild plant somewhat 
