COTTON EST WEEVIL-CONTROL EXPERIMENTS 



33 



Table 20.- 



-Rate of nodal growth during the fruiting stage of cotton- grown in suc- 

 cessive plantings at Charleston on four different dates 



Date planted, 1923 



Average date of appearance of fruiting 

 branches 



First branch 



Twelfth branch 



Average number of 

 days for production 

 of fruiting branches 



For 11 

 branches 



Per 



branch 



Total 



fruiting 



branches 



on Aug. 



11 



Apr.5_ 

 Apr. 16 

 Apr. 25 

 May 4. 



May 26- 

 May 30. 

 :June 4... 

 June 11. 



June 26. 

 do- 

 July 3... 

 July 9... 



2.82 

 2.45 

 2.63 

 2.54 



20.3 

 21.5 

 21.2 



20.5 



While the rate of fruiting-branch production remained fairly con- 

 stant under conditions of uninterrupted growth during June and early 

 July, the rate of growth in the older cotton was checked about the 

 middle of July, making it possible for the younger cotton to overcome 

 the lead established earlier in the season by the early-planted cotton. 

 The final measurements on all plantings, made on August 11, showed 

 very little difference in the number of fruiting branches. The April 

 5 planting averaged 20.3 fruiting branches per plant, as compared 

 with 21.5 for that of April 16, 21.2 for that of April 25, and 20.5 for 

 that of May 4. 



Each node on a fruiting branch provides for the development of 

 a floral bud or square. Thus, the theoretical fruiting capacity of 

 the plant may be measured by the total number of its fruiting nodes. 

 The average per plant of the total number of squares formed on 10 

 plants of each planting on June 20, July 2, July 13, and August 11 

 are shown in Table 21. The data in this table were afforded by 

 normal unstripped plants. 



Table 21. 



-Total number of squares per plant on given dates on cotton grown in 

 successive plantings at Charleston on four different dates 



Date planted, 1923 



June 20 



July 2 



July 13 



22.5 



41.1 



52.6 



20.6 



39.0 



53.3 



13.6 



30.4 



45.6 



8.3 



26.6 



42.2 



Aug. 11 



Apr. 5. 

 Apr. 16 

 Apr. 25. 

 May 4 



66.9 

 76.0 



77.4 

 82.7 



On June 20 the average number of squares on the plants in each 

 planting was as follows: April 5, 22.5; April 16, 20.6; April 25, 13.6; 

 and May 4, 8.3, a difference of 14.2 fruiting nodes per plant be- 

 tween the first and fourth plantings. The greater fruiting capacity 

 of the April 5 planting was maintained until July 13, at which time 

 it had been passed by the second planting. Final measurements 

 of fruiting capacity were made on August 11. While the total num- 

 ber of fruiting branches per plant in all plantings was practically 

 the samc> on this date, the fruiting capacity of the different plantings 

 increased progressively with later plantings. The total number of 

 squares produced on the April 5 planting was 66.9, as compared 

 With 82.7 on the May 4 planting. Partial cessation of the growth 

 of the lower fruiting branches in the older plantings rather than a 



