COTTON 381 



menced a few days after the first flowers opened. This 

 shedding of both buds and bolls continued as long as any 

 were being formed. 



During the early part of the flowering period the 

 shedding of buds was higher than the shedding of bolls, 

 but towards the end of the period this was reversed, and 

 a larger proportion of bolls were shed. 



Almost all the buds shed were only about a quarter of 

 an inch across the widest part of the bracts, and the bolls 

 were mostly shed within a few days of the opening of the 

 flowers. After the bolls were about a week old very 

 few were shed; it was always found that when older bolls 

 were shed the tissues at the bottom of the bolls had 

 turned black, which indicated the presence of disease, or 

 that they had been damaged by the boll worm. 



The maximum shedding took place during the wet 

 period, and shortly after the dry season commenced there 

 was a great decrease in the number of sheddings. A 

 decreased shedding continued for about ten days, and 

 then it commenced to increase again, and this increased 

 shedding continued for about three weeks. During this 

 latter heavy shedding period the leaves were also shed. 



This latter increased shedding commenced three weeks 

 after the dry season began, and it was evident that the 

 plants were suffering from a decreased water supply. 

 This is what one would naturally expect; the plants had 

 been developed under more moist conditions, and when 

 there was a shortage in the supply of water the plants 

 had to reduce the transpiration area, and the leaves 

 were shed. 



After these three weeks of increased shedding new 

 growth again commenced, a new flowering period was 

 begun with the exotics, and the proportion of sheddings 

 rapidly decreased, and this reduced shedding continued 

 until the plants were approaching the end of the flowering 

 period. 



The shedding was therefore of two kinds. During the 

 wet period the leaves were not shed with the flower-buds 

 and the bolls, but during the dry season the increased 

 shedding of buds and bolls was accompanied by the 

 shedding of leaves. 



