The Bulletin. 5 



one uf the Jcadiiig varieties grown in the Slate lia.s been made lu 

 average, as a result of three years' tests, 5.8 bushels of shelled eorn 

 per acre more than seed of the same variety secured from a ditlcrc nt 

 locality and possibly selected in a different way from that which has 

 yielded such gratifying results in the work of the Department. 



TESTING VAKIETIES. 



The testing of varieties of all agricultural crops is of the most 

 fundamental importance, as is evidenced by the differences in yiehl 

 of different varieties grown side by side in the same .field on the same 

 type of soil with identical cultivation and fertilization, these differ- 

 ences. being due largely to the inherent qualities of the seeds of the 

 individual varieties which have been transmitted from parent to 

 progeny. 



During the past six years on the Test Farms of the Department 

 something over fifty varieties of corn have been studied in compara- 

 tive field tests. The number of varieties in the different tests have 

 ranged all the way from eight in 1900 to thirty-one in 1905. The 

 different tests of varieties at the several farms were gTown as nearly 

 under the same conditions of soil, fertilization and cultivation as it 

 was possible to provide. To eliminate all inequalities in the character 

 of the land, if any, the varieties at the different farms were planted 

 each in separate rows, arranged consecutively, and this plan was re- 

 peated from three to five times, varying with the length of the rows, 

 in order to give the desired acreage to each variety. By taking these 

 precautions the results obtained should be reliable and highly valu- 

 able. 



WHAT IS A VARIETY. 



A variety is supposed to represent a class of plants with one or 

 more distinguishing characteristics, but with a cereal like corn, which 

 mixes so freely, variety does not mean much unless proper precau- 

 tions have been exercised in its growth. 



Take some variety of corn, say Cocke's Prolific, that has been 

 bred carefully and intelligently through a number of. years for high 

 yield of shelled corn per stalk, and grow it continuously in or adja- 

 cent to a field of inferior corn, and in a very short time, especially 

 if proper seed selection is not practiced, it will give much smaller 

 yields, when grown under the same conditions, than the original 

 pure-bred corn ; this being due to the fact that you no longer have 

 pure Cocke's Prolific, but a mixture of "scrub'' and Cocke's Prolific 

 corn. This fact emphasizes the importance of securing seed from 

 reliable parties. 



-Aue". 



