III. Analyses of agricultural yield. Part I.—The spacing experiment with Egyptian cottom, 1912

Abstract

The aim of the investigations here entered upon is statistical analysis of the yield of agricultural crops in terms of the stages of the plant’s development. When the yield is a fruit, then precedent stages determining the yield must be the flower and, before this, the development of flowering branches. In such a case, for full analysis of the final yield, careful records of these stages must first be taken all through the development season of the crop. The senior author has elaborated, during experiments on cotton in Egypt, the procedure for carrying out such analysis and the points to be attended to. Armed with this method of analysis the effects of environmental conditions on the development of the crop can be satisfactorily distinguished. The chief factors of environment capable of control in field work are—the space allowed to each plant, the date of sowing, the supply of water, of manures, and the choice of the year in which the crop is grown.