36 BULLETIN 976, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



the rows spaced 7 feet apart, or approximately 9,000 plants to the 

 acre. This rate continued through the 6-year period from 1914 to 

 1919, inclusive. Averages are made for a 3-year period, a 4-year 

 period, three 5-year periods, and a 6-year period. The'average yields 

 are approximately the same for both methods in the 3-year and 4-year 

 periods. In the three 5-year periods and the 6-year period the aver- 

 age yields are in favor of rows 3^ feet apart. 



Group E shows a stand of 21 to 26 inches of row space to the plant 

 in rows spaced 3^ feet apart and 10 to 15 inches where the rows are 

 spaced 7 feet apart, or an average of approximately 7,000 plants to 

 the acre. This rate was obtained in three years in the 3^-foot rows 

 and in five years in the 7-foot rows. The average yield for this rate 

 in the three years 1915, 1917, and 1919 is decidedly in favor of the 

 rows spaced 3^ feet apart. 



These data show that in favorable seasons, such as 1915 and 1919, 

 the rows spaced 3^ feet apart produced a higher yield in all rates with 

 one exception than where the rows were 7 feet apart; but in the poor 

 seasons of 1916, 1917, and 1918 the high yields are from the 7-foot 

 rows in practically all cases. This tends to show that the method 

 with rows spaced 7 feet apart is a surer way to grow a grain crop in 

 localities which are likely to have unfavorable seasons. The 6-year 

 average yields indicate that a row space of 8 to 9 inches to the plant 

 is the best rate when the rows are spaced 7 feet apart. 



ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERIMENTS. 



Environmental experiments were conducted at the Cereal Field 

 Station, Amarillo, Tex., at the Plant Introduction Field Station, 

 Chico, Calif., and at Arlington Experimental Farm, Rosslyn, Va., the 

 objects of which were to determine the effect of different climatic con- 

 ditions on plant growth and on chemical composition and to determine 

 the comparative productivity of home-grown and imported seed. 



These experiments included three of the best commercial varieties, 

 viz, Dwarf milo (C. I. No. 332), feterita (C. I. No. 182), and Dawn 

 kafir (C. I. No. 340). In 1913 all varieties were grown at the Cereal 

 Field Station, Amarillo, Tex. Seed from that crop was sent to the 

 other points for sowing in 1914. Beginning with the 1914 crop seed 

 was exchanged between all three points each year for sowing the fol- 

 lowing season. It was not practicable to get yield data on the crop at 

 either the Plant Introduction Field Station or at the Arlington Ex- 

 perimental Farm, owing to the eating of a large percentage of the 

 immature kernels by birds. The damage from that source at these 

 points was so great that enough seed for chemical analysis and for 

 sowing the next season could be obtained only by protecting a number 

 of the heads with paper bags. 



