FIELD CROPS. 629 



Potatoes. — The 4 varieties tested, Peerless, Beauty of Hebron, Early 

 Rose, and Early Vermont, yielded 90, 93.5, 103, and 111 bu. of merchant- 

 able tubers per acre, respectively. The total yields ranged from 158.5 

 to 166.2 bu. per acre. An acre of Bunch Yam sweet potatoes yielded 

 207 bu. 



Tobacco experiments. — A one-half acre plat yielded 335 lbs. of well- 

 cm ed tobacco. General Grant and Bradley Broad Leaf and Cuban Seed 

 Leaf and Havana Seed Leaf were about equal in yield. The yield of 

 the latter two varieties was about two-thirds that of the former. 



Millet, E. 0. Chilcott and D. A. Saunders (South Dakota Sta. 

 Bui. 60, pp. 127-140, Jig. 6). — In 1897 a number of varieties of millet 

 were grown in a cooperative experiment with the Division of Agros- 

 tology of this Department. The seed was obtained from 13 seed firms 

 in various parts of the United States and was sown on land of uniform 

 quality in drills 2 ft. apart. The soil was cultivated and hoed during 

 the season. Illustrations are given of samples taken at the best stage 

 of growth for cutting for hay. All the varieties received under many 

 different names are classified under the following groups, each of which 

 is briefly described: Common millet (Setaria italica), Hungarian millet 

 (S. italica), barnyard grass, cockspur grass (Panicum crus-galli), Golden 

 Winter (S. italica), broom-corn millet (P. miliaceinn), and German millet 

 (S. italica germanica). Short notes are given on the growth of the 

 varieties. 



Forage crops of the James River Valley, J H. Shepard and E. 

 C. Chilcott (South Dakota Sta. Bui. 59, pp. 87-109, pis. 10). — The experi- 

 ments described are a continuation of work formerly reported (E. S. R., 

 9, p. 295) without any material change in the methods of work. About 

 100 varieties of forage plants, clovers, alfalfa, grasses, millets, peas, 

 rape, spurry, vetches, sorghums, fodder, field and sweet corns, and sun- 

 flowers were tested on one-fourth acre plats, and 36 varieties of grasses 

 and clovers were grown on small plats 1 square rod each for the pur- 

 pose of comparing their habits of growth and their characters. No 

 deleterious effects were produced by artesian well water used in irri- 

 gating the plats. The results on all plats are described in brief notes. 



Potato experiments, C. von Seelhorst (Jour. Landw., 46 (1898), 

 No. 1, pp. 43-49). — Twenty tubers of the Magnum Bonum variety, 

 similar in form, each having 9 eyes and weighing about 90 gm., were 

 selected and planted in 2 lots. Ten of these tubers were planted and 

 cultivated according to the Giilich method, and the eyes of the other 

 10 tubers were planted singly 20 cm. apart in rows 50 cm. apart. Of 88 

 eyes all but 2 grew. 



The Giilich method consists in planting whole tubers a meter apart 

 each way, and in bending the stems of the growing plants across each 

 other and covering them well with earth. This extensive hilling is 

 intended to favor the formation of stolons and thus to increase the 

 yield of tubers. 



