») 
GRAIN-SORGHUM EXPERIMENTS IN THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS. 30 
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. 
» 111915 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 drill-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 all Dwarf milo 
stalks in all 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. Itis 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 vigor. 
