440 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Results of Cornell experiments. 



Mode of culture. 



Hills, 3x3 ft. 



Drills, 3 ft. apart 



Broadcast 



Broadcast 



Dry matter 

 Lbs. 



4,431.30 

 5,291.60 

 3,196.01 



3,488.00 



Protein. 

 Lbs. 



445.80 

 529.20 



229.80 

 263.70 



3,709.90 

 4,429.60 

 2,668.00 

 3,001.31 



Fat. 



Carbo- 

 hydrates. 



Lbs. Lbs. 



96.60 

 111.10 



77.00 

 57.20 



The last plot in the table was harrowed after the corn was up. The 

 season was an unfavorable one but the results show conclusively that 

 the yield of nutrients per acre is much less where the corn was sown broad- 

 cast and thick than where it was planted in hills or drills and cultivated. 

 The plots were small, tenth acre, and the variety of corn was a strain of 

 Sibley's Pride of the North. (Cornell Bulletin IV.) 



In 1889 an experiment was performed at the Connecticut State Experi- 

 ment Station to test the influence of the rate or distance of planting on the 

 quantity and quality of the maize crop. The rows were four feet apart. 

 On one series of plots one stalk was allowed to grow for every four feet 

 of row thus allowing 16 square feet to a plant. On the next series one 

 stalk grew for every two feet of row, on the third one stalk to a foot, 

 on the fourth two stalks to a foot, on the fifth four stalks to a foot and on 

 the sixth eight stalks to a foot, the distance between the rows being 

 maintained at four feet. The corn was cut and husked and was not put in 

 the silo. Two varieties of corn were used, one a large dent variety, the 

 other a small flint. In the case of the latter variety the greatest yield 

 per acre of dry matter, protein, N. free extract and fat was where there 

 was one stalk to a foot in the row. The large dent gave the greatest 

 yield of dry matter, protein, N. free extract and fat, wmere there were two 

 stalks to a foot of row. 



"The per cent of ash and albuminoids in the water free crop was 

 greatest where the stand of maize w T as thinnest and decreased regularly as 

 the stand was thicker, being least where the stand was closest. The 

 difference was quite small in the case of ash but very large in the case of 

 albuminoids (protein). 



" Study of the results with the flint variety of maize shows (1) the quan- 

 tity of ash or mineral matter, of albuminoids, of fiber, of N. free extract 

 and of fat, every valuable ingredient in the crop was largest when the 

 plants stood one to a foot. 



"(2) A stand of two to a foot, Plot J, produced very little more of any 

 ingredient than a stand of one to two feet, Plot H. The single exception 

 to this is N. free extract. Plot J produced 23 pounds more of this sub- 

 stance than Plot H. 



" Examining the results with the dent variety of maize it appears: (3) 

 The quantity of ash or mineral matter, of albuminoids, of N. free extract, 

 and of fat was largest when the plants stood two to a foot, Plot D, but the 

 largest quantity of fiber was produced by the thickest planting, eight 

 plants to a foot. Plot F. 



"(4) A stand of one plant to a foot produced more of every ingredient 

 except fiber than a stand of four to a foot, so the rate which would have 

 given the maximum vield was either two to a foot or between one and two 

 to a foot." (Report of Conn. State Sta. for 1889, page 30.) 



