GKAIN-SOKGHUM EXPERIMENTS IN THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS.. 35 



tion as those of Dwarf milo in these two years. The total growing 

 period of both varieties was made to appear very short in 1914, 

 owing to the drought, which inhibited the production of all but a 

 few early heads. 



In 1915 the vegetative period was about normal and the fruiting 

 period greatly lengthened in both, and in 1916 both periods were 

 somewhat prolonged in both varieties. 



Table VIII shows that the average driU-row space per plant of 

 Dwarf milo in all plats during the whole nine years has been 10.3 

 inches. The variation from year to year has not been quite so great 

 as it was in the milo. The annual averages range from 4.8 inches 

 in 1913 to 18.8 inches in 1910. The next poorest stand was in 1915, 

 when each plant had 13 inches of space. Milo had a stand of one 

 plant to each 15.7 inches in the same year. In 1911, when milo 

 had only one plant to each 20.9 inches, Dwarf milo had one plant 

 to each 10.8 inches, or nearly twice the stand of milo. No reason 

 for the difference is known". 



The average stalk space in the total of 90 plats grown in the nine, 

 years was 4.7 inches, compared with 5.7 inches for all milo plats. 

 The average plant space in the same period was 10.3 inches for Dwarf 

 milo and 13.7 inches for milo. These bear about the same propor- 

 tion to each other as the respective stalk spaces. Of aU Dwarf milo 

 stalks in aU years, 49.5 per cent were suckers, while 52.3 per cent of 

 the milo stalks were suckers under the same conditions. In short, 

 the milo plants on the average had 3.4 inches, or about 35 per cent, 

 more space than the Dwarf milo plants, but produced only about 

 5.6 per cent more suckers. In the different years the stalk space 

 varied from 3.2 inches, in 1912, to 7.3 inches, in 1909. It is of in- 

 terest that the total failure of 1913, the average acre yield of 41.3 

 bushels in 1908, and the bumper acre yield of 68.4 bushels in 1915 

 should be associated with stands of one stalk to each 3.3, 3.9, and 

 4.1 inches of space, respectively. In the latter year exactly two- 

 thirds of the stalks were suckers. In other words, with a stand of 

 one plant to each 13 inches each stalk produced two suckers on the 

 average under the influence of the very favorable wet season. 



On all plats in all years the average percentage of erect heads was 

 89.8 per cent, compared with 86.9 in milo. In five out of the eight 

 years in which heads were formed, more than 97 per cent were erect. 

 In the favorable season of 1908, only 63.1 per cent were erect, while 

 in the very favorable wet season of 1915, 91 per cent were erect. 

 This increased erectness in 1915 probably was due to the continued 

 selection for erect heads and the effect of the extremely heavy seed 

 crop in suppressing what otherwise would have been excessive vege- 

 tative viofor. 



