12 BULLETIN 188, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
A special point in connection with the maturing period of the 
differently spaced plants is that the plants in the six spacings fall 
into three distinct classes, based on time of maturity. In order to 
show this clearly, the lower part of Table V was compiled from the 
data in the upper part of the same table. The unthinned plants 
and those spaced to 2 inches are considered together as .one class, 
those spaced to 5 inches and those spaced to 8 inches are considered 
as a second class, and the plants spaced to 12 and 18 inches are con- 
sidered as a third class. The figures given are the averages of two 
spacings in each instance. 
As already pointed out, the heads on the close-spaced plants 
ripened earlier than those on the plants spaced to 5 or more inches, but 
the table shows that the earliness was not proportionate to the 
closeness of spacing throughout the six plats. The unthinned plants 
and those spaced to 2 inches matured their seed at practically the 
same time; the widest spaced plants, 12 and 18 inches, came next in 
time of maturity; and the plants in the intermediate spacings, 5 
and 8 inches, ripened last. This was probably due to the relative 
favorableness to tillering and to head production by the tillers result- 
ing from the different spacings. The close-spaced plants produced 
very few tillers and the heads on the main stalks grew up and ripened 
promptly and uniformly; the widest spaced plants had the best 
conditions for tillering and the heads on the tillers had a fairly good 
opportunity to develop; but the plants spaced to intermediate dis- 
tances, while producing a relatively large number of tillers, were 
sufficiently crowded to make it difficult for the heads on the tillers to 
reach maturity. 
While the widest spaced plants matured earlier than those spaced 
to intermediate distances, and in this respect produced more favor- 
able results, it is likely that the stumps left after harvest would be 
larger on the widest spaced plants, and this would be a serious 
objection, as is pointed out later. Considering the entire series, the 
results obtained with the closest spacing show that thicker seeding is 
much to be preferred. 
In the results obtained in the 1914 test, as is indicated in Table 
III, giving the yields, none of the tillers or branches produced seed. 
There was a rather severe infestation of the field with midges at the 
time the first heads (main stalks) were in flower, so that when the 
later heads (branches and tillers) flowered, the field was so badly 
infested that the heads were practically sterile. 
As is shown in Table III, close spacing resulted in only a slight 
increase in the number of stalks per row over the number produced 
by wide spacing, up to 12 inches. Table VI, a comparison of the 
1913 results of the 12-inch spacing and of the rows in which the 
plants were not thinned, shows this condition. 
