38 



BULLETIN 1320, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



In plats 5 and 6, where the April 5 and May 4 plantings were grown 

 side by side, 7 per cent more flowers were recorded from the May 4 

 planting. Owing to a high rate of boll shedding during late July and 

 in August, few bolls were matured from flowers produced during that 

 time. 



Data were obtained from 20 plants of each of the four plantings, 

 showing the number and percentage of bolls set from flowers which 

 opened during weekly periods from July 7 to August 14. Data from 

 these 80 plants are combined and presented in Table 27. During the 

 week from July 7 to 14, 80.9 per cent of the flowers were set as bolls. 

 Only 47.1 per cent of the flowers produced during the following week 

 were set and 15.2 per cent during the third week. This declining rate 

 of boll setting continued during the period from August 7 to 14, 

 when only 3.1 per cent of the flowers set. Thus, the larger numbers 

 of flowers produced by the later plantings during late July and August 

 were of little value in setting a crop under the conditions of this 

 experiment. 



Table 27. — Number of flowers recorded and number and 'percentage of bolls set on 

 80 cotton plants at Charleston during each of five weekly -periods in 1923 



Item 



July 7 

 to 14 



July 15 

 to 22 



July 23 

 to 30 



July 31 

 to Aug. 6 



Aug. 7 

 to 14 





157 



127 

 80.9 



276 



130 



47.1 



296 



45 

 15.2 



205 



14 

 6.8 



162 



Bolls: 



Number 



5 

 3.1 







YIELDS FROM SUCCESSIVE PLANTINGS AT CHARLESTON 



As a result of complete defoliation of the plants by leafworms, the 

 bolls opened rapidly during the latter part of August, and the bulk of 

 the crop was open the first week in September. The first picking was 

 made on September 10 and a small second picking on October 4. The 

 field was divided into equal sections by a line across the center of the 

 field at right angles to the rows. Each section of each row was picked 

 separately and weighed on scales graduated to one-tenth of a pound. 

 The picking results are given in Table 28 and graphically presented in 

 Figure 10. 



Plant counts for each section of row are included in Table 28. 

 Irregular stands resulted in considerable variation in the number of 

 plants per row. While higher yields would be expected in rows 

 having a perfect stand, it has been found impracticable to make cor- 

 rections in the yields on account of deficient stands. 



The yields from the four inside rows in each plat are used for com- 

 parisons between different plantings. The yields of outside rows 

 were affected by adjoining plats of earlier or later plantings. 



The total yields from the first and second plats of each planting 

 are as follows: April 5, 279.5 pounds; April 16, 244.9 pounds; April 

 25, 235 pounds; May 4, 222.4 pounds. While these figures show an 

 increase for the early-planted cotton, reference to the plat yields in 

 Table 28 indicate that most of the gain was due to better soil on one 

 side of the field. Plat 2, planted April 5, yielded 158.5 pounds, while 

 plat 6, planted on the same date, yielded 121 pounds. Plats 3 and 7, 



