A thin cadmium rod, corresponding to a control rod in a reactor, was placed diagonally in a cylinder containing water. The change in time decay constant of the neutron flux was measured and interpreted as a change in the geometric buckling of the system. The measurements were performed for various ratios of height to radius of the cylinder. The results were compared with calculations where the effective thickness of the rods was estimated in two different ways and the total effect of the rods was obtained by a weighting procedure. The measured values fell between the two calculated curves.