The Bulletin. 43 



cereal like corn, which crosses so readily, variety does not signify 

 much unless proper precautions 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. 



EARLY MATURING VARIETIES. 



Iowa Silver Mine, Riley's Favorite, Leaming Yellow, Eeid's Yel- 

 low Dent, Boone County Special and Boone County White are six 

 of the earliest varieties in maturing that have thus far been tested on 

 the farms of the Department. These were all originated in the north- 

 ern central States, where they have been accustomed to a compara- 

 tively short growing season, which accounts largely for their inherent 

 tendency to early maturity when grown under North Carolina condi- 

 tions. Earliness, however, we do not consider an important requisite 

 with corn for this climate, except, possibly, where corn is grown in 

 the mountainous section of the State, or where corn, of necessity, has 

 to be planted late, after the maturity of some crop like Irish potatoes 

 or other truck crop. Under these circumstances it may be well to use 

 one of the varieties mentioned above, especially if experience has 

 taught the farmer that local varieties do not thoroughly mature before 

 frost. 



MEDIUM MATURING VARIETIES. 



Biggs' Prolific, Craig's Prolific White, Cocke's Prolific, and Craig-'s 

 Prolific Straw^berry mature at a medium date in the fall, and some 

 of these are our most prolific varieties. All these will mature on the 

 difi'erent types of soil of the State, if planted before July 1. 



LATE MATURING VARIETIES. 



It has been found that Holt's Strawberry, Marlboro Prolific, San- 

 ders' Improved, Weekley's Improved, and Mosby's Prolific are the 

 latest maturing varieties tested during the past four years. These 

 varieties generally produce a large and tall stalk when grown under 

 conditions as represented by the Iredell Farm, i. e., the results of 

 the past four years' tests at that place indicate as much. 



