The Bulletin. 27 



Fry's Improved ranked twentieth in 1907 and twenty-eighth in 1908 

 at Edgecombe; seventeenth in 1907 and thirteenth in 1908 at Iredell; 

 and eleventh in 1908 at Buncombe. 



Bradbury' s Improved ranked twenty-seventh in 1907 and sixteenth 

 in 1908 at Edgecombe; twenty-eighth in 1907 and sixteenth in 1908 at 

 Iredell; and twenty-second in 1908 at Buncombe. 



Henry Grady ranked twenty-eighth in 1907 and twenty-third in 1908 

 at Edgecombe; eleventh in 1907 and tenth in 1908 at Iredell and fif- 

 teenth in 1908 at Buncombe. 



Goodman's Prolific ranked fifteenth in 1908 at Edgecombe ; ninth in 



1907 and ninth in 1908 at Iredell; and twenty-fifth in 1908 at Bun- 

 combe. 



White Dent ranked twelfth in 1908 at Edgecombe and twenty-second 

 in 1908 at Iredell. 



Yellow Dent ranked second in 1908 at Edgecombe; twenty-third in 



1908 at Iredell, and seventeenth in 1908 at Buncombe. 



Peele's ranked ninth in 1908 at Edgecombe; eleventh in 1908 at Ire- 

 dell, and thirteenth in 1908 at Buncombe. 



Weekley's Improved (Cherokee) ranked fourteenth in 1908 at Bun- 

 combe. 



Patton ranked twenty-third in 1908 at Buncombe. 



STUDY OF COMPILED RESULTS OF VARIETY TESTS OF CORN. 



During the past nine years on the test farms of the Department 

 something over fifty varieties of corn have .been studied in comparative 

 field tests. The number of varieties in the different tests has ranged 

 all the way from eight in 1900 to thirty-seven in 1907. The different 

 tests of varieties at the several farms were grown 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 sepa- 

 rate rows, arranged consecutively, and this plan was repeated from 

 three to four 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 valuable. 



WHAT IS A VARIETY? 



A variety is supposed to represent in a general way a class of plants 

 with one or more distinguishing characteristics, but with a 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 adjacent 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 empha- 

 sizes the importance of securing seed from reliable parties. 



