80 BULLETIN 698, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the vegetative period and 28 days by the fruiting period. The short- 
est vegetative period was 60 days, in 1914, and the shortest fruiting 
period 19 days, in 1909, a very dry year. The longest vegetative 
period was 73 days, in 1912, and the longest fruiting period 36 days, 
in 1910, a very dry year, and again in 1915, a very wet season. It 
is noteworthy that in 1909 three selections matured in 83 days, * 
while four others required 91 days, the difference being wholly in the 
fruiting period and caused perhaps more by the thinner stand of the 
latter than by any other reason. The average stalk space in the 
Fig. 11.—A Plat of Manchu kaoliang (C. I. No. 171) at the Amarillo Cereal Field Station, August 20, 1908 
three early lots was 3.4 inches, while in the four later lots it was 9.1 
inches. 
The stand obtained from Manchu kaoliang has been remarkably 
uniform. The closest spacing has been 3.4 inches and the widest 
25.5 inches, which occurred in 1916. In 1910 the spacing was one 
plant to each 14 inches. Only in these two years did the spacing 
exceed 8 inches. The 9-year average plant space was only 8.7 
inches. In the eight years, omitting 1916, the stalk space ranged 
from 3.4 inches to 7.1 inches. In that year, when the plant space 
was 25.5 inches, the stalk space was reduced only to 17.7 inches by 
the 30.8 per cent of suckers-produced. The average stalk space in 
the nine years was 6.5 inches. 
