DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 



45 



potatoes, one in a hill, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the eyes on the 

 lower side of the tuber will grow as well as those on the upper side. After 

 twenty days these were dug up, and in every case only those "eyes" on the 

 upper side, and about one-half the distance from the tip end of the tuber, 

 grew. The others remained dormant. After breaking oS these branches, 

 some of the tubers were reversed and put back, while others were replaced 

 with the stem endup. In every case the "eyes" that remained dormant before, 

 all grew and produced potatoes; but they were all small. 



DEEP AND SHALLOW EYES CUT FROM SAME TUBER. 



In this experiment the "deep" and "shallow eyes" were cut from the 

 same tuber, and in the same manner as those given above. The Early Rose 

 potato was used for this, and the hills containing deep cut eyes alternating in 

 the row with the shallow eyes. The number of tubers is given instead of the 

 number of pounds : 



CORN MIXED WITH SMUT. 



A plat of four square rods was planted to corn with the seed of every 

 alternate row soaked in a solution of corn smut before planting, and beside 

 this smut was placed in the hill with the kernels. The purpose of this experi- 

 ment was to show whether corn treated in this way would be any more liable 

 to be affected by this fungus than that which was perfectly clean when 

 planted. Observations taken at different periods throughout the season 

 showed no perceptible difference between the rows treated with smut and those 

 without it. A heavy frost on September 9th killed the whole of it. 



IMPROVED DENT CORN. 



For the past three years Professor Beal has been improving Dent corn by 

 selecting the most promising stalks and cross-fertilizing the ears with pollen 

 from other good, promising stalks, then selecting ears for seed from those 

 stalks which bore two good ears. The attempt was made to carry this still 

 further this year, but this, as well as all the other experiments, suffered from 

 tlie effects of the extreme wet and cold weather, and the early frost. It was 

 observed, however, that an unusual number of the stalks would have pro- 

 duced two or more ears, had the conditions proved favorable for ripening. 



