THICK SEEDIjSTG OF MILO IX THE SAN ANTONIO REGION. 17 



was approximatelv one week. This is of profound importance in 

 escaping injury from the sorghum midge. It has been found at the 

 San Antonio Experiment Farm that a few days' delay in the time of 

 flowering may result in the ahnost complete destruction of the crop 

 by this insect. This is strongly emphasized in the 1914 results. 

 Thick seeding, then, by insurmg that the plants will be close together 

 within the row, is favorable in its effect upon the maturity of the crop. 



THICK SEEDING AND CROP YIELD. 



From what has been stated about the favorable effect of thick 

 seeding upon the stand and maturity of the crop, it would be expected 

 that the yield would be favorably affected also. This expectation 

 was fully realized in the 1913 experiments and strongly emphasized 

 again in the 1914 experiments, as indicated in Table III, which shows 

 that the yield increased consistently as the spacing of the plants 

 within the row decreased from 24 inches to 2 inches. 



THICK SEEDING AND RAINFALL. 



It has been supposed by many that the rate of seeding of grain 

 crops should always be greatly decreased m regions of low rainfall. 

 This supposition is probably not always well founded, because most 

 grain crops tend to offset thm seeding by tillering. Early and uniform 

 ripening is frequently of great importance in dry regions, because it 

 assists the crop in evadmg midseason droughts and also, in many 

 cases, in escaping insect injury. It seems that thm stands promote 

 excessive tillering of milo, with resulting lateness and lack of uniform- 

 ity in ripening. (See figs. 5 and 6.) It has also been shown in Table 

 II that increasing the distance between rows has little, if any, effect 

 .on the production of tillers. It seems, therefore, that where the 

 question of moisture is an acute one, the conditions should be met 

 by increasing the distance between the rows rather than that between 

 the plants within the row. 



If the moisture supply could be controlled so that it would be 

 uniform from year to year, there is a certain distance apart that the 

 rows might be planted to get the maximum yield, which in no way 

 has any connection with the distance apart of the plants within the 

 row, even where th(^ rainfall is limited. Large plants with several 

 tillers may actually suffer more during a dry period than several 

 plants each with only a single stalk occupying the same space, 

 because where each stalk has its own rooting system it can use the 

 moisture more effectively. 



TIME OF THINNING. 



For the purpose of (Ictci-riiinin^ tlic cfrccl, of lliinniiig to 12 inches 

 apart at various dates on th(^ nunihcr of tillers and hDuichcs, a siiiall 

 ar(!a was devoted to this test. Tlu^ rate of seeding us(^(l in this test 



