The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-07-13
Thick SPACING IN
PLANTING COTTON
OWES BIGGER CROP. GOVERN
MFNT HAS BEEN MAKING A
SERIES OF TESTS.

lumber of state experiment sta
..ans are publishing the results of
t .l on thick spacing of cotton as
GOOD to the old system of wide
Urp without exception the ex-
priments have demonstrated the
i,oIrp of thick spacing, or the single
,to1k culture system that has been
advocated by the United States de-
nortment of agriculture for several
+oars mast. Some of the agricultural
journals are commenting on the re-
norris Of experiment stations, and,
while they advise planters to adopt
tbo tbick-spacing system, they believe
that the old system has become so
+borouohlv established that its. over
throw will be difficult. That there may
he a proper understanding of the SCI
antifc principle on which the thick
snacing method is based, department
specialists have attempted to make
that clear in a statement just issued.
Cotton produces more lint when it
&c thick in rows than when it is thin
in rows because of somewhat unu-
sual branching characteristic. The
cotton plant puts out two kinds of
branches-short lateral branches that
bear fruit. and long, heavy, vegeta-
tive branches that are, in effect, sec
ondarv stalks. These vegetative
branches finally put out lateral fruit
branches, but they require long sea-
son in which to do it. Under adverse
conditions such as drought or boil
weevil infestation they do not pro-
duce cotton, because their fruiting
season is so late that the adverse con-
dtion, whatever it may be, illustrates
it.
Grows .Fruiting Branches Only.
If cotton is sufficiently thick in the
row the plants put out only fruiting
branches. There is no room for the
vegetative branches to grow. There
fore, mere plant growth is restricted
and the vitality of the plant goes
largely into lint production. The re-
suit is that the bolls are put out and
mature much earlier and more pro-
fusely than when the plants are far
apart, and boil weevil and drought
injury are minimiZed.
Cotton persists in growing thick in
the row no matter how sparsely the
original plants may be spaced. Each
vegetative branch or secondary stalk
is essentially new stalk of cotton.
1t grows on the same root stalk, but
it takes up as much space, as much
moisture and as much soil nutrition
as if it were a separate plant. Ex-
periments conducted several years
by the department of agriculture
showed that cotton three feet apart
is, in effect, just as close together as
cotton three inches apart That is to
say, when the cotton is spaced three
feet apart it puts out enough vegeta-
tive branches or secondary stalks to
make the equivalent of one stalk
every three inches. These secondary
stalks are at the disadvantage of be-
ing several weeks later than the origi-
nal stalks and, therefore, can not
come into bearing nearly so early. This
might not reduce the yield during
long growing season, but where the
boil weevil has to be contended with.
the secondary stalks rarely succeed
in producing bolls and the entire yield
is confined to the portion of the plant
above the topmost of the vegetative
branches.
Yields Shown by Experiments.
When the plants are thick in the
row all the branches are fruiting
branches and the plant consequently
produces bolls from the bottom to the
top More than that, it produces them
early and natures them to such an
extent that they are practically boil
weevil proof before the boil weevil
infestation reaches the danger stage.
Experiments made by the depart
ment of agriculture some time ago
showed that cotton plants three inches
apart produce a great deal more lint
than plants three feet apart and that
the same is true of all intermediate
stages. In other words, the widest
spacing is the worst system and any