Feb. io, 1923 Influence of Fertilizers Containing Borax on Cotton 439 
Table IV records the weekly rainfall and temperatures at Florence, 
Ala., 2 miles from United States Nitrate Plant No. 2, so that the relation 
of rainfall to the degree of harmfulness of borax in the different series of 
the Muscle Shoals experiments may be correlated. 
Table IV. —Temperature and rainfall at Florence , A la., June to September, 1920 
Week of — 
Rain¬ 
fall. 
Temperature. 
Week of — 
Rain¬ 
fall. 
Temperature. 
Maxi¬ 
mum. 
Mini¬ 
mum. 
Maxi¬ 
mum. 
Mini¬ 
mum. 
Inches. 
° F. 
°F. 
Inches. 
0 F. 
°F. 
June 6 to 12. 
O 
97 
53 
August i to 7. 
O 
94 
60 
June 13 to 19. 
•52 
98 
63 
August 8 to 14. 
5. IO 
90 
66 
June 20 to 26. 
•58 
92 
56 
August 15 to 21. 
4. 46 
9 i 
64 
June 27 to July 3 . . . 
.08 
93 
61 
August 22 to 28 . 
•59 
9 1 
56 
July 4 to 10 . 
.76 
94 
62 
August 29 to Septem¬ 
July 11 to 17 . 
.98 
93 
61 
ber 4 . 
.42 
96 
61 
July 18 to 24 . 
i- 5 ° 
98 
63 
September 5 to 11 .. . 
2. 17 
93 
55 
July 25 to 31 . 
. 06 
95 
57 
September 12 to 18. . 
•32 
93 
55 
September 19 to 25.. 
•54 
92 
55 
September 26 to Oc¬ 
tober 2. 
0 
92 
37 
From the results of series A it will be observed that 5 pounds of borax 
per acre produced some injury to cotton when applied in the row. 
Larger quantities showed even greater toxic effects. From the figures 
showing the average height of plants it will be seen that the injury was 
the greatest when the plants were small. A marked recovery followed, 
but the initial retarding was not entirely overcome. The green weight 
of plants was decreased 7.6 per cent by 5 pounds of borax per acre and 
52.7 per cent by 20 pounds. The boll formation was decreased in about 
the same proportion or to an even greater extent, and in addition ma¬ 
turity was delayed. The cotton in series A was planted when the soil 
was too dry to germinate the seed. On June 18 a light shower fell, ap¬ 
proximately 0.34 of an inch, which was sufficient to cause germination, 
and for three weeks following but little rain fell. As seen in Table IV, 
0.52 of an inch of rain fell the week of June 13, 0.58 of an inch the week 
of June 20, and 0.08 of an inch the week of June 27. The season for the 
three weeks following the planting of the cotton in series A was rather 
dry. 
The cotton in series B was planted just subsequent to a light shower 
and germinated in minimum time. The rainfall during the early period 
of growth was rather light. In the first week after planting 0.58 of an 
inch of rain fell, the second week 0.08 of an inch, and the third week 
0.76 inch. The growth was about the same as in series A, except that 
in series B, 5 pounds of borax caused a relatively greater injury and 20 
pounds less injury than in series A. The same general tendency pre¬ 
vailed, however, and the same visible effects on the young plants were 
in evidence. The retarding effects of the borax continued throughout 
the growing season. 
At the time of planting series C the soil was very moist, but for more 
than a week after planting no rain fell and the soil became very dry. In 
