Apr. 8. 1918 Effect of Meteorological Factors on Sorghums 



139 



In order that the main features of difiFerence can be more easily com- 

 prehended, a summary of weather conditions for the growing season alone 

 is brought together in Table II. 



Table II. — Synopsis of weather conditions during the growing seasons'^ at Chillicothe, 

 Tex., Bard and Chula Vista, Cal., and Puyallup, Wash. 



"At Chillicothe, Bard, and Puyallup the months of May, June, July, August, and September were con- 

 sidered as the growing season. At Chula Vista the data for July, August, September, October, and Novem- 

 ber were used to make up the averages in the table because the sorghums were planted there in the latter 

 part of June. 



t> Irrigation water supplied to the crop as needed. 



In 191 5 the rainfall at Chillicothe during the growing season was much 

 above and the temperatures somewhat below the normal. Conditions, 

 except for a short period during July, were rather favorable for rapid 

 growth. 



The seasons at Bard do not vary much from year to year. The summer 

 season is characterized by heat so extreme that it seems to have a retard- 

 ing effect on the growth of the ordinary field crops. These high tempera- 

 tures are accompanied by low atmospheric humidity. The rainfall is 

 negligible, but an abundance of soil moisture is supplied through irrigation. 



The seasons dififer but little at Chula Vista from year to year, but 1916 

 happened to be about 2 degrees cooler than normal and this seemed detri- 

 mental to the sorghums. 



The rainfall at Puyallup, which averaged about i^ inches per month, 

 seems rather inadequate, but in the four months preceding the period 

 under consideration there were 15.55 inches of rainfall, which no doubt 

 left the soil full of moisture. This fact, taken in consideration with 

 the low temperatures and small amount of sunshine, makes it appear 

 probable that there was no serious deficiency in soil moisture during the 

 summer. 



EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 



COMPARISON OP THE GROWTH OF SORGHUM VARIETIES UNDER DIFFERENT 



WEATHER CONDITIONS 



A general comparison of the growth of Sumac, Red Amber, and Honey 

 sorgos, BlackhuU kafir, Dwarf milo, and feterita is given in Table III. 



