COTTON IN WEEVIL-CONTROL EXPERIMENTS 



37 



plants averaged only 66.9 squares. An even greater increase occurred 

 in the April 16 planting, the stripped plants averaging 105.9 squares 

 as compared with 76 on the unstripped cotton. 



Only a slight increase in the number of internodes occurred on 

 fruiting branches of stripped plants in the April 25 and May 5 plant- 

 ings. As few squares were removed from these plants, no such stimu- 

 lation of growth would be expected as occurred on plants from which 

 a large percentage of squares was removed. 



From the foregoing data on the effect of removal of the squares it 

 would appear that no material increase in height or number of fruiting 

 branches was caused. The consistent increase in the number of 

 internodes per fruiting branch indicates, however, that the growth 

 of the fruiting branches is affected by the removal of the early 

 squares. A more continued or prolonged growth seems to result from 

 their removal rather than a faster rate of development. A somewhat 

 analogous though more extreme result of pruning is found in " boll- 

 weevil cotton" as described by Cook. 7 



FLOWERING RECORDS OF EARLY AND LATE PLANTINGS 



Flower counts were started on July 1 1 and were made twice a week 

 until August 17, a period of 38 days. These counts were made on the 

 four inside rows of two plats of the April 5 planting and on one plat 

 of the April 16, April 25, and May 4 plantings. The length of the 

 rows was 310 feet. The flower records for each plat are given in 

 Table 26 and are graphically shown in Figure 9 (p. 30). 



Table 26.- 



-Flowering record of cotton plants grown in successive plantings at 

 Charleston on four different dates 





Date 



planted, 



1923 



Thinning distance 



Date of counting (number of flowers) 



rj 



Plat 



>, 

 3 



■JD 

 >> 



3 



l-s 



>> 



3 



»-5 



CO 

 CN 



3 



o» 



>> 



3 



o 



CO 



$» 

 3 



1-5 



ti> 



3 



to 



to 



3 

 ■< 



Oi 



bi 



3 

 •< 



CO 



bi 



bi 



3 



° a 



3 

 o 



Xo.2._ 

 No.3_. 

 No. 4.. 



Xo.5.. 



Xo. 6.. 



Apr. 5 

 Apr. 16 

 Apr. 25 

 May 4 



Apr. 5 



2 plants at 12 inches. 



////.do'".'.'.."/"//. 



do 



do 



817 

 616 

 549 

 390 



728 



1,206 



1,109 



976 



841 



1 014 



1,463 



1,200 



1,095 



875 



1,184 



1,750 

 1,519 

 1,459 

 1,264 



1, 499 



1,348 

 1,400 

 1,112 

 1,087 



1,113 



1,496 

 1,428 

 1,427 

 1,358 



1,216 



1,064 

 1,260 

 1,200 

 1,158 



1,103 



1,432 

 1,593 

 1,798 

 1,689 



1,311 



1,172 



1,384 

 1,789 

 1,765 



1,286 



449 



714 



923 



1,218 



593 



120 

 282 

 335 

 384 



190 



12, 317 

 12, 505 

 12, 663 

 12, 029 



11, 237 













Although the first flowers appeared in all plantings at nearly the 

 same date, the more advanced development of the early-planted 

 cotton resulted in a higher flowering rate for this planting during the 

 first part of the flowering period. On July 11, the date on which the 

 first counts were made, 817 flowers were counted on the first planting, 

 as compared with 616 for the second, 549 for the third, and 390 for 

 the fourth. A higher rate of flowering was maintained by the first 

 planting until July 27, at which time a larger number of flowers was 

 recorded on the second planting. Beginning on August 6, the April 

 25 and May 4 plantings were flowering more profusely than the two 

 earlier plantings. 



The sudden decline in the rate of flowering which occurred during 

 the second week in August is attributable to infestation from migrat- 

 ing weevils and the defoliation of the plants by the cotton lcafworm. 



I Cook, O. F. Jloll-weevil cotton in Texas. U. 8. Dept. Agr. Bui. 1153, 20 p., illus. 1923. 



