18 



ill Bulletin No. 4 are recorded in notes and a table. It wa.s found 

 that — 



Rather more than three lourths of the roots would not have heeu broken by root 

 pruning or eultivatiug 3 inches deep ; nearly two thirds would have been broken at 

 4 inches deep. Over one third were 4 inches deep at G inches from their base. 



Another point brought out by these examinations was that the roots (except the 

 seminal ones, those at the seed, which afterwards die), start usually at from 1 to 2 

 inches from the surface without reference to the depth at which the seed has been 

 planted. In case the seed is planted deeper than this, the stem is simply elongated 

 between the lirst or seminal whorl and the second or lirst nodal whorl. The stem 

 between these points is usually about 1.16 inches in diameter, while above the second 

 whorl the stem is oval, and in plants 15 inches high is about half au inch in diam- 

 eter. 



Experiments Nos. 23, 11, and 24 — Corn, cffeet of fertilisers. — The effects 

 of the use of the common commercial fertilizers and stable manure on 

 corn i^lanted continuously and in rotation with other crops for fourteen 

 years, and on corn for 1888 and 1889 are reported. "The conditions of 

 soil, climate, and culture under which these triads were made were not 

 very diHerent from those under which the bulii of this great croi) is 

 raised in the United States." Of course, the results obtaiiied in the 

 Mississippi aid Missouri Valleys do not apply to the Atlantic and 

 Southern States, where the soil has been reduced by longer cultivation, 

 and the same may be said of many regions in the eastern part of the 

 Mississipi)i and the Ohio Valleys. 



Nothing. can be more conclusive than that in the trials uuide during the past two 

 seasons, no practical benefit was obtained from the use of commercial fertilizers when 

 applied 'to corn ; and, moreover, but very little olfeot of any kind. 



The increased yields from the use of stable manure, taken as a whole, iirobably 

 repaid the cost of application and left some profit. Clearly the value of stable manure 

 was not equal to the estimates often made, based upon the cost of commercial fertili- 

 zers. It should be recognized that the overwhelming testimony derived from experi- 

 ments so far conducted is that for those States which raise one half or more of the 

 corn of the United States the application of commercial fertilizers for the production 

 of corn is not generally profitable at the present time ; and that to base the value of 

 stable manure for those States on the price of the constituents of conmiercial fertili- 

 zers is misleading. 



A summary of the experiments with corn at this station, j)reparedby 

 G. E. Morrow, M. A., is appended to this article (pp. 272-274). Among 

 the conclusions stated are the following : 



There are many good varieties of Indian corn for this latitude. No one variety 

 tested was noticeably superior to all others. 



Such phrases as "ninety-day" or "onehundred-day " corn are misleading, if meant 

 to teach that ordinary field corn will fully matui'e in average seasous in this latitude 

 in the number of days named. The early maturing varieties required one hundred 

 and twenty-five days or more to mature fully. 



The medium maturing varieties, or those maturing about September 25, gave larger 

 yields of well dried corn than either earlier or later varieties. 



Thoroughly air-dried corn contains about 11 iiercent of water in the shelled grain. 

 The loss in weight after husking is greater than is gen(!rally recognized. It may be 

 from 10 to 20 per cent. Eighty pounds of car corn, as husked, of the medium matur- 

 ing varieties would not make more than a bushel of air-dry corn. 



