The Bossier banner., 1921-07-07
SINGLE-STALK METHOD
OF Cotton Culture Gains Favor With
Many Growers of Staple.

U. s. Department Of Agriculture reader.1
twenty-five to 100 per cent increase
in yield is reported by cotton growers
who have adopted the new close-spac-
ing system of cotton culture, intro
duced some eight or ten years ago by
the United States Department of Agri-
culture Reports coming directly to
the department and to Southern agri-
cultural journals, which have inter-
ested themselves in encouraging 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 less
ening of boil weevil damage are among
the benefits recited in hundreds of let
ters written by farmers in various
parts of the South. Indications are
that the system will be adopted far
more widely the coming season.
SPACE PLANTS A HOE WIDTH APART.
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 or fruiting
branches, permitting them to begin the
development of blossoms and hollis
earlier and giving them more nourish-
ment and more light.
The cultural ideal under the new
system Is cotton plant with only the
single. erect. central stalk bearing num-
erous well-developed fruiting branches,
bat none of the yegetative branches or
secondary stalks. The suppression of
the vegetative branches is easily accom-
plished by leaving the young plants
close together in the rows. Thinning is
deferred until the plants are some G
| to 8 inches high, or even later under
conditions of rank growth. If the
young plants stand less than 6 inches
| during these early stages of growth
more or less of them will not produce
many regetative branches. but will
have. only 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 diff
ferent varieties. the range being. be
/ tween 6 and IL 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 4 inches
apart in the rows there may he less
| Injurious crowding than with large
! many -stalked plants feet apart in the
rows. The distance between the rows
usually 31a fleet, can also be varied
with reference to the local conditions
but crowding the rows together. so thai
the sun does not reach the ground, i.
undesirable, especially under weevi
conditions.
SMALL PLANTS GIVE BIG YIELDS.
4 In the way of production two distincl
advantages are gained. the smaller
single-stalked plants free from any
large unproductive offshoots, proceed
at once to the development of tht
branches which produce cotton hollis
and in many cases these small plant.
produce almost as many bolls and {
better quality of lint than large many
stalked plants occupying the space o.
three Of the smaller. The hollis alst
are produced much earlier on the slnal
Il plants, and are more likely to escape
injury by the boil weevil.
4 The Egyptian cotton industry of tn,
Southwest, an achievement of the De
partment Of Agriculture. which ha.
added $40, ,OO0. 900 a year to the annua
/ agriculture income of the country
could not have been accomplished, ii
the opinion OF department specialists
without the new close-spacing system
for controlling the vegetative branches
The benefits to the $1,000. 100000 cot
ton crop of the country at large, will
continued extension Of the new method
can only be family estimated.
|