The log cabin Democrat., 1921-05-14
ADVOCATE CLOSE
 SPACING COTTON BIG INCREASE IN YIELD Is Claimed by L. s. Department as Result of ''Single-Stalk" Method
 NOf Cotton Culture.
lBy the Associated PressN.

or 10 years ago by the United State.
 department of agriculture, the de
 partment announced today Report. coming directly to the departmen
 and to southern agricultural journals which have interested themselves ir encouraging the new system, show that farmers throughout the cottor Fregions of the country are rapidly turning to the plan. increased yield less labor and expense for the same crop, and a lessening of boll-weavi damage are among the benefits cited in hundreds of letters written by far mers in various parts of the South Indications are that the system will be adopted far more widely the com- ling 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 earlies and giving them more nour- ishment and more light.
 The discovery that the cotton plant, in common with coffee, cacao and a | number of other species, produces different sets of branches was an- nounced by specialists of the depart bent about 1911, and has given direc- tion to a series of useful experiments in cultivation. By taking account of the specialized habits of branching it was found possible to exercise much more effective control of the develop ment of the plants so as to secure earlier crops, larger yields, and great CT protection against injury by the boil weavil.
 The suppression of the vegetation branches avoids the excessive crowd ing of large plants and injurious com petition between the two kinds of branches. The cultural ideal under the new system is cotton plant with | only the single, erect, central stalk bearing numerous well developed l fruiting branches, but none of the veg etative branches or secondary stalks. The suppression of the vegetative branches is easily accomplished by leaving the young plants close togeth- CT in the rows. Thinning is deferred until the plants are some to inches high, or even later under condition of rank growth. If the young plants | stand less than 6 inches during these early stages of growth, more of them will not produce many vegetative branches, but will have only the up right 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 diff ferent varieties, the range being be- tween 6 and F inches. The plants then have a narrow upright form and can be left closer together in the rows Even with the plants only 3 or inch es apart in the rows there may be less injurious crowding than with the large many-stalked plants 3 feet apart in the rows. The distance between the rows, usually 1-2 feet, can also 1 be varied with reference to local con- ditions, but crowding the rows to- gether, 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-stalk plants free from any large unproductive offshoots pro- ceed at once to the development of the and in many cases these small plants branches which produce cotton bolls, produce almost as many bolls and a better quality of lint than large many-stalked plants occupying the space of three of the smaller. But even with very small plants that bear only a few bolls apiece the yields may be much larger than from large spreading plants. The bolls also are produced much earlier on the smal plants, and are more likely to escape injury by the boil weevil.
 The Egyptian cotton industry of the southwest, an achievement of the de- partment of agriculture which has added S2O,OOO,O0O year to the an- nual agricultural income of the coun- try, could not have been accomplished without the new close-spacing system for controlling the vegetative branch es. The benefits to the S2,00O, ,O0O, ,00O cotton crop of the country at large, with continued extension ol the new method, can only be faintly estimated