The Bulletin. 15 



with large yield will be taken np somewhat in detail for considera- 

 tion : 



Numher of Ears per Stalk. 



In variety tests on the Test Farms of the Department during the 

 past six years, it has been found to be a pretty general rule that those 

 varieties yielding the greatest number of bushels of shelled corn per 

 acre were usually those that possessed a decidedly strong tendency 

 to produce more than one ear per stalk. Notwithstanding these strik- 

 ing and pretty uniform results, because of the claim made by some 

 that if distance is given the better one-eared varieties they would pro- 

 duce larger yields than the prolific ones, comparative tests were, in 

 the spring of 1905, put out on the Edgecombe and Iredell farms with 

 one large-eared and two prolific varieties. For the tests, Holt's 

 Strawberry, one of the best one-eared varieties grown in the State, 

 was compared with Cocke's Prolific and Weekley's Improved. The 

 latter two varieties gave larger yields than Holt's Strawberry at both 

 the farms an4 at all the different distancing of the hills in four-foot 

 rows that were tried. At the eastern farm, Cocke's Prolific produced 

 the following increase of bushels of shelled corn over Holt's Straw- 

 berry: At 20 inches, 9,6; at 24 inches, 12.1; at 30 inches, 14.0; at 

 36 inches, 3.9; and at 40 inches, 4.0 bushels; while at the western 

 farm the increased yields were 11.7, 3.4, 6.2, 9.9 and 3.0 bushels 

 per acre at the respective distances. 



Weekley's Improved increased yields over Holt's Strawberry were, 

 at Edgecombe: 10.8 bushels at 20 inches, 9.2 at 24 inches, 16.4 at 

 30 inches, 15.6 at 36 inches, and 9.0 at 40 inches; while at Iredell 

 the increases were 5.9, 6.7, 8.6, 9.9 and 1.0 bushels, respectively. 



In the light of these results, coupled with six years' observation 

 in variety testing, it is quite evident that the largest yields on any 

 type of soil is going to generally result from the growth of the more 

 prolific varieties, because they produce more shelled corn per stalk, 

 .and as the stalks are generally smaller and can be planted closer in 

 the rows, will have more stalks per acre without crowding. 



When corn is planted wide apart in the row and in wide-apart 

 rows — matters not if the best one-eared varieties are used — the land 

 will not be able to produce the maximum yield it is capable of pro- 

 ducing, for the simple reason that there is not a sufficient number 

 of stalks standing on an acre. 



Cocke's Prolific and Weekley's Improved, at both the Edgecombe 

 and Iredell farms, produced their largest yields last year at the dis- 

 tancing centering about 30 to 36 inches between the hills in four- 

 foot rows ; while Holt's Strawberry did its best at the greatest dis- 

 tancing tried — 40 inches between the hills. At its most favorable 

 distancing, at both the farms, Holt's Strawberry yielded less by 12.6 

 and 4.2 bushels of shelled corn per acre respectively, than Cocke's 

 Prolific at the distancing best suited to it. Weekley's Improved, 



