24 BULLETIN 742, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
secure a better development of. the lower fruiting branches, those 
that contribute to the production of an.early crop. 
This new method of delayed thinning and of closer spacing of the 
plants has resulted in 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 per- 
sonal 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 and California are often mild 
enough to allow many ofthe 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. Ratoon- 
ing was formerly practiced in Egypt, but the system was discon- 
tinued in that country because of the poor quality of the fiber pro- 
duced. 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. Itis 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. Finally, 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 re- 
planting 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 
nearly related to the cotton plant.t_ Neither this weevil nor the true 
Mexican boll weevil has as yet been observed in the cotton fields 
1Cook, O. F. A wild host plant of the boll weevil in Arizona, Jn Science, n. s., v. 37, 
no. 946, pp. 259-261. 1913. 
