66 



INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON SWEET CORN. 



nine in thirteen days with a total precipitation of 7.6 inches is next 

 recorded, and two days prior to the harvesting time there was another 

 rainfall, amounting to 0.95 inch. 



In 1907 two rains in the tasseling period gave a precipitation of 

 1.52 inches; the next week 0.15 inch fell in two days followed by ten 

 days with no rainfall, when 0.75 inch is recorded. Again five clear 

 days occurred and in the ten days before harvest five additional 

 rains are recorded, aggregating a total of 1.95 inches. The charted 

 data shown in figure 9 indicate much less rainfall than in 1906, espe- 

 cially during the latter part of the season, although a sufficient 

 quantity fell to meet the needs of the growing plant. The sugar 

 content, as would be expected, is much higher than in the previous 



FIG. 10. Daily distribution of rainfall by periods for 1906, 1907, and 1908 at the Connecticut station. 



year, and furnishes another striking example of the effect of frequent 

 slight precipitations. 



The record for 1908 shows two light rams during the tasseling 

 period; three rains (1.92 inches) occurred in the second week there- 

 after, and one more (0.42 inch) a few days before the harvest. The 

 sugar content of the corn for this year compared very favorably with 

 that of 1907, being only slightly less, and the rainfall data parallel 

 each other closely. 



At the Connecticut station (fig. 10) the 1906 and 1908 data are 

 comparable until the fourth week after tasseling, when the chart 

 for 1908 shows two rainfalls in one week of over 2.9 inches each. 

 The Stowell Evergreen corn shows markedly the disastrous effects 

 of these heavy rainfalls, being 7 per cent lower in sugar than in 1907 



