TABLE I-List of localities where experiments in single-stalk cotton culture were conducted in 1915, showing cooperators therein.

1 Three experiments were conducted at this point. When the farms were visited on August 13, 1915, the conditions all appeared favorable to single-stalk culture. However, repeated requests have failed to bring any report of the final results obtained, so these experiments can not be included herein.

In the case of some of the farmers listed in the table, as will be pointed out later, relatively poor stands were obtained, for which certain allowances must be made. In most of the cases in which the stands were uniformly good, a fairly adequate comparison of methods was possible; but in others, as will be shown, thinning certainly was done too late to secure the best results, and in some instances the crop may have been injured in this way.

METHODS OF PROCEDURE.

SELECTION OF COOPERATORS.

The county agents selected from among the farmers in their respective counties (or parishes) a few of those who were most interested and gave evidence of being able to carry out instructions. They are not necessarily the best farmers in their respective counties, but they are representative of the better farmers. Their farms are so distributed as to afford conditions fairly typical of those over a large part of each State, except in the case of Arkansas, where flood damage resulted in the abandonment of most of the experiments that were begun. Although the experiments in North Carolina were confined to the eastern district, a large part of the total cotton-growing acreage of the State is represented. In Louisiana, experiments were conducted in sections typical of the larger areas of the State where cotton is grown.

PLAN OF THE EXPERIMENTS.

The county or parish agents were requested to make arrangements with the farmers for conducting the experiments on ordinary fields of cotton, planted and cultivated in the usual manner. It was suggested that a more accurate comparison of the systems of culture employed would be possible if the methods were compared in alternate rows and in alternate blocks of 4 or 5 rows. To do this it would be necessary to thin at the usual time each alternate row or block and leave the others for later thinning. In several instances this plan was followed, but in some instances comparisons were made only in alternate rows. In one case in Louisiana an entire acre, located in the center of a field of several acres, was grown by the single-stalk method.

THINNING SINGLE-STALK ROWS.

Any intelligent grower, after a little careful observation, can tell when to thin; but for the purpose of these experiments it was considered more dependable actually to demonstrate the method than merely to issue written instructions. Accordingly, some one familiar with the new system directed the thinning of the single-stalk rows in most of the experiments. The few farmers whose farms it was impracticable to visit at this time thinned according to written instructions, and these experiments were, with one or two exceptions, fairly dependable.

The general advantage obtained in applying single-stalk culture is the suppression of vegetative branches. The distance at which the plants should stand in the row is a secondary consideration and must be regulated to suit local conditions, but as a rule the largest yields have been obtained with the plants much closer together than is now customary. Accordingly, the plants in the single-stalk rows of these experiments were spaced 6 to 10 inches, the standard aimed at being about 8 inches. The plants as thinned by the farmers in the old-method rows were variously spaced, according to usual practice, 18 to 36 inches.

RECORDING THE YIELDS.

The recording of yields in each case was left with the farmer, who in some instances was assisted by the county agent. However, it was requested that the yield from each row at each picking be recorded separately, and blanks for this purpose were furnished. Row yields were reported by 17 of the 21 farmers, while only total yields were reported by 4 farmers. The general rule followed was to have the picking done from only one row at a time and have the yield of that row recorded before proceeding to the next.

RESULTS OBTAINED.

As these experiments were largely demonstrational, it is of chief importance to consider their economic phases. While more detailed reports of the flower counts, boll counts, branch measurements, etc., would be of interest from the standpoint of a scientific consideration of the factors involved, these data are treated only incidentally in this report. The interest at this time lies in knowing whether single-stalk culture increased the yield of seed cotton, whether it had any effect on the percentage of lint, and whether the quality of the lint was in any way affected.

YIELDS OF SEED COTTON.

The experiments are herein discussed by States, in the following order: Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina. In presenting the yields of seed cotton obtained, each experiment is first considered in detail, apart from the others. A summary table, bringing together the total yields of all the experiments, is then presented to facilitate comparisons.

LOUISIANA.

The nine different experiments conducted in Louisiana, all under boll-weevil conditions, are considered by parishes, as follows: Pointe Coupee, in the south-central part of the State; Madison, in the northeastern part; Bossier and Caddo, in the northwestern part.

POINTE COUPEE PARISH.

Two experiments were conducted in Pointe Coupee Parish, on the farms of Messrs. John Hebert and Alfred Robillard, near Ventress. They were about a quarter of a mile apart. Both are located on sandy soil, typical of that drained by the Mississippi River in this part of Louisiana, and in each instance the cotton was planted on low beds in rows 4 feet apart. Unfavorable weather influenced both crops early in the season, wet weather during March being followed by drought.

The Hebert experiment. Mr. John Hebert planted Sugarloaf cotton on May 10, which was considered unusually late in this section. He planted at the rate of 25 pounds per acre, which was heavier than usual. Germination was good, and an almost ideal stand was secured. Single-stalk culture was compared with the usual method in alternate rows, there being 14 rows of each.

The old-method rows were thinned on May 25, when the plants, 3 to 4 inches high and with 2 to 3 leaves, were spaced about 18 inches apart. When the single-stalk rows were thinned on June 6, the plants were 10 to 12 inches high and had 6 to 8 leaves. They were spaced 6 to 10 inches apart. Had the thinning of the single-stalk rows been done a little earlier, it is likely that it would have been

better, but, as Table II shows, significant differences in yield were obtained. Only the total yields of each picking were reported.

TABLE II.— Yields, obtained in a single-stalk culture experiment with cotton conducted in 1915 by John Hebert, Ventress, La.

Table II shows single-stalk culture to have had a marked advantage from the standpoint of earliness as well as of total yield. Singlestalk culture yielded 32.9 per cent more cotton at the first picking than the old method, and 16.7 per cent more at the second picking. This gave an increase in total yield of 25.7 per cent.

The Robillard experiment. Mr. Robillard planted Bank Account cotton on May 6, using only 15 pounds of seed per acre. Only a fair stand was obtained; the seedlings were somewhat scattered and in some rows there were short skips. This made it impossible to apply single-stalk culture to the best advantage. Moreover, Mr. Robillard spaced the plants in the single-stalk rows farther apart than was recommended. There were 20 rows in the experiment, the two systems of culture being compared in alternate rows.

The old-method rows were thinned on May 19, when the plants were 4 to 5 inches high and had 2 to 3 leaves; the single-stalk rows were thinned on June 8, when the plants were about 10 inches high and had 7 to 8 leaves. The plants in the old-method rows were spaced 18 to 24 inches apart, and in single-stalk rows 10 to 12 inches.

Three pickings were made in this experiment, and the yields are reported in Table III. Only the total yields of each picking were reported.

TABLE III-Yields obtained in a single-stalk culture experiment with cotton conducted in 1915 by Alfred Robillard, Ventress, La.

Table III shows that the increase in yield from each picking favored single-stalk culture by 28.8, 18.6, and 26.1 per cent, respectively, giving a total increase of 23.9 per cent.

MADISON PARISH.1

Three experiments were conducted in Madison Parish, located at intervals of about 5 miles between Tallulah and Delta Point, the latter bordering on the Mississippi River. Two of these were on sandy alluvial soil, and the other was on heavy buckshot soil, both soils being fairly representative of types found in that section, known as the Delta. In all cases the cotton was planted on low beds in rows about 4 feet apart. Spring conditions were unfavorable generally, a wet March being followed by drought through April and May.

The Killarney experiment. This experiment was on buckshot soil located on the Killarney Plantation, at Mounds. Owing to the poor stand obtained from the first planting, a second planting of Simpkins cotton was made on April 15, and a fairly good stand was secured. On June 3, a few plants from the first planting were visible in the single-stalk rows and it was suggested that at thinning time, about a week distant, these older plants be removed, since there were enough of the younger plants for single-stalk purposes. To leave the older ones would have resulted in nonuniformity. Mr. T. I. Watson, parish agent, directed this later thinning.

The old-method rows were thinned on May 22, when the plants, 4 to 6 inches high and with 3 to 5 leaves, were spaced 18 to 30 inches apart. The single-stalk plants, thinned on June 12, when they were 8 to 10 inches high and had 6 to 8 leaves, were spaced 8 to 10 inches apart.

In practically all of the rows of this experiment there were a few skips 3 feet or more in length. Toward the end of the season the skips appeared to be greater in the aggregate in the wide-spaced rows than in the single-stalk rows, and this was doubtless a factor in the increased yields, as often occurs with the new system. Prior to the time of thinning the wide-spaced rows, the stand of all the rows was so uniform that no appreciable differences in the number and length of skips per row were perceptible. Any differences of soil

1 In reporting the yields from the experiments made in Madison Parish, Parish Agent T. I. Watson told of the results of an informal experiment with single-stalk culture conducted on his own initiative by Mr. N. C. Williamson, of Millikin, East Carroll Parish, La. Mr. Williamson applied single-stalk culture on 2 acres. Of the yields obtained, Mr. Watson said:

I was at his [Williamson's] place on November 24 and secured his yield, which was 1,300 pounds of lint from the 2 acres, or an average of 6.50 pounds of lint per acre.. His general crop is making about 1,280 pounds of seed cotton per acre, or 80 bales on 100 acres. Mr. Williamson does not consider that he carried out the method fully enough to be recognized as an experiment, but thinks well of it and says he is going to try it out next year.

Mr. Williamson's crop of 80 bales of lint from 100 acres is equivalent to about 400 pounds of lint per acre. Compared with this, as reported by Mr. Watson, the 2 acres of cotton grown by the single-stalk method yielded an average of 650 pounds of lint. On the basis of these figures, it is seen that single-stalk culture yielded 250 pounds of lint per acre, or about 62 per cent, more than the old method.