The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1921-06-16
SINGLE STALK METHOD OF
COTTON CULTURE A SUCCESS

twenty-five to one hundred per
cent. increase in yield is reported by
cotton growers who have adopted the
new close-spacing system of cotton
culture, introduced, eight or ten years
ago by the United States Department
of Agriculture. Reports coming di-
rectly to the department and to
Southern agricultural journals, which
have interested themselves in en-
couraging the new system, show that
farmers throughout the cotton regions
of the country are rapidly turning to
the plan. Increased yield, less labor
and expense for the same crop, and a
lessening of >boll-weevil damage are
among the benefits recited, in hun
dreds of letters written by farmers in
various part of the South. Indica-
tions are that the system. will be
adopted far more widely the coming
season. =
The close-spacing, more commonly
known as the single-stalk method of
cotton culture, consists primarily in
spacing the cotton plants so close in
the row-a hoe width apart-that the
lower or vegetative branches do not
develop, and the growth of the plant
goes directly into the upper fruiting
branches, permitting them to begin
the development of blossoms and
bolls earlier and giving them more
nourishmeht and more light.
The cultural ideal under the new
system is cotton plant with only the
single, erect, central stalk bearing
numerous well-developed fruitfng
branches, but none of the vegetative
branches or secondary stalks. The
suppression of the vegetative branches
is easily accomplished by leaving the
young plants close together in the
rows. Thinning is deferred until the
plants are some some six to eight
inches high, or even later under con-
ditions of rank growth. If the young
plants stand less than six inches dur
ing these early stages of growth,
more of them will not produce many
vegetative branches, but will have on
.ly the upright central stalk and the
horizontal fruiting branches.
The distance between the plants is |
regulated with reference to local con-
ditions and the habit of growth of |
different varieties. the range being |
hof c;~ onI f1ualx,o ;n,ha, TLo
plants then have a narrow upright |
form and can be left closer together |
in the rows. Even with the plants |
only three or four inches apart in the |
rows there may be less injurious
crowding than with large many-stalk- |
ed plants three feet apart in the |
rows. The distance between the !
rows, usually three and half feet, |
can also be, varied with reference to
local conditions, but crowding the |
rows together, so that the sun does
not reach the ground, is undesirable
especially under weevil conditions.
In the way of production two dis
tinct advantages are gained, the
smaller single-stalked plants free
FROM any large unproductive off
shoots, proceed at once to the devel-
opment of the branches which pro-
duce cotton bolls, and in many cases
these small plants produce almost as
many bolls and better quality of
lint than large many-stalked plants
occNpvinr tho cpaca of throe Of the
smaller. The bolls also are produced
much earlier on the small plants, and
are more likely to escape injury by
the boil weevil.