Z 
PLANT Coors IN MaIzeE 19 
higher land showed only the slight red at the base of the culms character- 
istic of young dilute sun red plants. 
For a study of the effect of soil moisture on color development under 
controlled conditions, plants of well-known stocks of purple Ia, sun red 
IIa, dilute purple IIIa, dilute sun red [Va, brown V, and green VIec and 
IVe, were grown in rich soil in earthen jars in the greenhouse during 
the summer of 1914. When the plants had reached a height of from 
10 to 15 centimeters, the jars were separated into three lots— one with 
dry soil, another with moist soil, and a third with wet soil. The dry-soil 
lot received only sufficient water to keep the plants growing slowly and not 
enough to prevent wilting during the hotter part of the day. The moist- 
soil lot received just sufficient water to insure normal growth. The wet- 
soil lot was kept constantly in saturated soil with some free water above the 
soil surface. The test was continued until the plants of all lots reached 
the flowering stage. 
The plants in moist soil made the most rapid growth and flowered some- 
what earlier than the plants of the other lots. Their leaves were of normal 
green color and they showed the colors characteristic of the several color 
types. The plants in dry soil were smaller and very dark green. The 
development of purple, red, and brown color was practically the same as 
with the plants in moist soil. The plants in wet soil grew less rapidly than 
those in moist soil, but more rapidly than those in dry soil. Their leaves 
were somewhat lighter green than those of the moist-soil lot, but they 
showed practically the same amount of purple, red, and brown color. In 
fact the only differences between the three lots with respect to color at 
any time during the test were such as might well be related to the stage of 
development of the plants. All color types show more color in the later 
stages of growth. The moist-soil lot developed somewhat more rapidly 
than did the others and for a time showed slightly more color, but ulti- 
mately all lots had practically the same amount of color. Evidently the 
reddening of plants in flooded fields is not due directly to the excess of 
soil moisture. 
TEMPERATURE IN RELATION TO COLOR 
Since moisture is not the direct cause of the reddening of maize plants 
in flooded fields, tho certainly connected with the phenomenon in some 
way, it follows that the effect must be produced by some indirect action 
