42 BULLETIN 1320', U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



planting, more remote from other cotton, was made on May 12 and 

 was not protected by poison or square stripping. 



In the successive plantings at San Antonio the squares were 

 removed from plants of the first two plantings, and poison was 

 applied to the entire field on June 12. Reinfestation was found two 

 weeks afterwards, probably from weevils bred in early squares which 

 had been shed before the control measures were used. 



At Charleston the squares were removed from the plants and poison 

 was applied on June 20. No trace of weevil injury was found until 

 July 12. 



At Gainesville the squares were removed on June 6. Abnormally 

 late emergence of weevils caused reinfestation after control measures 

 were applied. 



Infestation from overwintered weevils was avoided in the separate 

 late planting made on May 12 at San Antonio. This planting became 

 infested early in July, however, probably from weevils migrating 

 from near-by plantings. 



Comparisons of plants from which the squares were stripped with, 

 unstripped plants were made at Charleston. No increase in height 

 of plants or number of fruiting branches resulted from the removal 

 of squares. More nodes developed on the fruiting branches of 

 stripped plants, indicating that removal of early squares tended to 

 prolong the period of growth of fruiting branches. (Tables 22, 23, 

 24, 25.) 



At San Antonio and Charleston late-planted cotton grew more 

 rapidly during the seedling stage. Nodes were produced on the main 

 stalk at a faster rate, and the internodes were longer than on the 

 early-planted cotton. The first squares on the later plantings were 

 produced in fewer days after planting. (Tables 2, 3, 9.) 



The last of the successive plantings at San Antonio on May 12 

 produced nearly as many fruiting branches as the first planting on 

 April 19. The lower fruiting branches of the later plantings pro- 

 duced more nodes than the early plantings. (Tables 6, 7, 8; figs. 3 

 and 4.) 



At Charleston the growth of the early-planted cotton was checked 

 about the middle of July, while the later plantings continued normal 

 growth. By August 11 the average number of fruiting branches was 

 practically the same on all plantings. (Table 20.) 



Owing to the production of more nodes on the lower fruiting 

 branches, the later plantings produced a larger total number of 

 floral buds than the early-planted cotton. (Table 21.) 



The later planted cotton at San Antonio and Charleston continued 

 a high rate of flowering later in the season and produced a slightly 

 larger total number of flowers than the early-planted cotton. 

 (Tables 9, 26; figs. 5 and 9.) 



In the separate late planting on May 12 at San Antonio plants in 

 unthinned open-stand rows when compared with plants left two in a 

 hill showed that 38 per cent more flowers were produced in the 

 unthinned cotton than where the plants were left in hills. More than 

 twice as many flowers were recorded on the unthinned plants during 

 the first 10 days of the flowering period. (Table 15.) 



Data on flower production and boll shedding during the period 

 from June 25 to August 2 indicated that the proportion of shed bolls 



