136 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



In 1880 i'rofessors 0. L. Ingersoll, of Purdue Uiiiversifcy, Indianapolis ; W. A. 

 Henry, of Wisconsin University; 0. C. Georgeson, of Texas Agricultural 

 College ; F. A. Gulley, of Mississippi Agricultural College ; and W. J. Beal, 

 of Micliigim Agricultural College, agreed to unite and perform the same 

 experiment on Indian corn. 



Professors Ingersoll, Georgeson, and Gulley, for various reasons, did not 

 succeed in the attempt. Professor Henry has not yet reported the results of 

 his experiments which he has successfully carried out. Professor Beal, the 

 writer, gives tlie results of his experiments a little further on in this report. 



"Each man in his own State shall select two lots of seed corn, which are 

 essentially alike in all respects. One should have been grown, at least, for 

 five years, (better ten years or more), in one neighborhood, and the other 

 in another neighborhood about 100 miles distant. In alternate rows plant the 

 kernels taken from one or two ears of each lot. Before flowering, thin out 

 all poor or inferior stalks. As soon as the tassels begin to show themselves in 

 all the rows of one lot, pull them out, that all the kernels on the ears of 

 those rows may certainly be crossed by pollen from the other rows. Save 

 seeds thus crossed to plant the next year by the side of seeds of each parent. 

 Seeds of one parent can be obtained from the rows not topped. Seeds of the 

 other parent should be planted by themselves to get pure seeds of the same 

 year. For the second year treat all lots alike as nearly as possible." 



For fui-ther details of the plan, consult page 287 of the Eeport of the 

 Michigan Board of Agriculture for 1880. 



In the spring of 1881 I obtained two lots of white flint corn, one from Oak- 

 land county, by the kindness of Wm. Caldwell; the other from Allegan 

 county, by the kindness of L. A. Lillie. The corn from Oakland county had 

 been raised for ten years on one farm ; that from Allegan, six years in the 

 same vicinity. 



In one lot of rows of the Allegan and Oakland county corn, all of the 

 Allegan corn was castrated. Castration, or the removal of the tassels from 

 stalks has been found to cause the ears to grow larger than they otherwise 

 would. Still, with castration in favor of the Allegan corn, it did not pro- 

 duce ears which were so large or evenly developed as did the corn from Oak- 

 land county. The Oakland county seed corn was the better of the two. 

 Owing to an accident we failed to raise any pure Allegan county seed in 1881. 

 The "crossed corn" was only compared with pure Oakland county seed 

 raised last year at the College. 



In the spring of 1882, on good soil in a portion of the vegetable garden, 

 three rows of "crossed seed" were planted in rows alternating with three 

 other rows of pure Oakland county seed of 1881. By an oversight each row 

 of each lot was not kept separate. The pure seed yielded 51-^ pounds in the 

 ear; the " crossed seed " yielded 69-i- pounds in the ear. In other words, 

 the crossed stock exceeded the pure stock as 131 exceeds 100, nearly. 



HOW EOOTS BEHAVE. 



The following is a short abstract of some experiments made in 1881 and 

 1882. Papers were read on the subject at the Cincinnati and the Montreal 

 meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: 



Darwin says roots circumnutate downwards, i. e., they swing around as they 

 descend. He placed sprouting kernels over water in the dark and on one side 



