GRAIN-SORGHUM EXPERIMEKTS IN THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS. 



41 



on the same plants. This also helps to explain some of the records 

 of prolonged periods of growth or ripening. 



There has been much popular approval of feterita as a supposedly- 

 more drought-resistant crop than either milo or Dwarf milo, based 

 on its occasional production of small to fair yields where the milos 

 have failed completely. In the observation of the writers this has 

 been due to the thinner stands, which are normal with this variety. 

 These give it an advantage over the milos in dry seasons, when til- 

 lering is largely inhibited. In only two years, 1909 and 1913, both 

 years of drought, has the proportion of suckers dropped below 50 

 per cent, or one sucker to each original plant. In 1915 there were 



Fig. 7.— a plat of feterita, C. I. No, 182, at the Amarillo Cereal Field Station, September 28, 1915; yield, 



55. 5 bushels per acre . 



69 per cent and in 1910, 75.1 per cent of suckers, or an average of 

 three fruiting suckers to each main stalk. These percentages are 

 somewhat larger than those of milo in both cases. 



The average acre yield of feterita (C, I. No. 182), in bushels of 58 

 pounds, has been 22.8 bushels in the 9-year period. This is approxi- 

 mately the same as the average acre yield of the best milo in the 

 same period, but more than 4 bushels less than the average acre yield 

 of the best Dwarf mdo, as shown in Table XVIII. In two years, 

 1914 and 1916, however, this feterita has outyielded the best milo 

 by quantities of 4 and 7 bushels, respectively. The lowest acre 

 yield from this feterita was 9.3 bushels, in 1909, when the best milo 

 made 16.5 bushels. The highest acre yield of this feterita was 52.1 

 bushels, in 1915, when the best lot of milo yielded 67.5 bushels. It 



