The Bulletin 17 



THE WASHINGTON BRANCH STATION 



The Wasliiugton County Branch Station is located in the northeast- 

 ern portion of the Coastal Plain, about 11 miles north of Belhaven. 

 The rainfall for the year was 48.61 inches. Sixty per cent of this fell 

 uniformly throughout the growing period. The Washington Station is 

 on the newly cleared muck lands of this section. The muck extends 

 down two or three feet to a fine sandy clay subsoil. 



It is somewhat difficult to obtain a fair comparison of varieties here 

 as there are certain spots in the plat which will not grow corn. 



There were eighteen varieties tested on the "Washington Farm in 

 1916, four of which are local varieties. The yields ranged between 21.2 

 and 45.8 bushels per acre, a difference of 24.6 bushels. The local corns 

 Tom Green, Horse Tooth, Latham's Double, and Kadcliff, all ranked 

 among the nine highest. 



On this same type of muck soil a cooperative test was made with Mr. 

 K. "W. Howell at Terra Ceia, The test here was uniform throughout 

 and a good stand was secured with all of the varieties. The yields 

 ranged between 57.2 and 71.2 bushels per acre. The two leading 

 varieties listed in Table XII are local varieties. The other local 

 variety, Tom Green, ranked fifth Avith a yield of 62.2 bushels. 



The results obtained at the "Washington Test Farm and at Terra Ceia 

 show that Latham's Double, Wannamaker, Marlboro Prolific, Horse 

 Tooth, and Tom Green do well on this muck soil. 



A cooperative test was also conducted with Mr. Joseph Berry at Eliza- 

 beth City, on the farm of Dr. J. H. "White. Two of the eight varieties 

 tested were local. The four leading Varieties in their relative order are 

 Latham's Double, Perry's Improved (local). Biggs' Seven-Ear, and 

 Cocke's Prolific. 



COMPARISON OF CORN VARIETIES FOR SILAGE 



The best variety of corn for silage in any community is the corn: 

 which produces the largest quantity of digestible food per acre. This 

 may or may not be the variety which produces the largest quantity of 

 silage. It is a common practice to judge silage corns by the quantity 

 produced rather than by the quantity of digestible food produced per 

 acre. The food value of silage depends, to a large extent, upon the 

 quantity of ears cut. According to Henry* the ears contain 63 per cent 

 and the stalks and leaves 37 per cent of the total digestible nutrients in 

 silage. This means that 100 pounds of ears cut into silage is equal in 

 food value to 170 pounds of stalks and leaves cut for silagei 



In the study of corn varieties one finds certain varieties which make, 

 a large growth of stalks and leaves and j)roduce a small quantity of 

 grain. Some of these varieties have become popular as silage corns. 

 Among the corn varieties studied during the past season were some 



*Henry, W. A., "Feeds and Feeding," p. 169. 



