144 



They were porfornied on one-twentieth-acre plats of old sod land. 

 No fertilizer was used. The varieties tested were : (1) Silage corn — ■ 

 Breck's Boston Market Ensilage, Blount's Prolific. (2) Dents — 

 Chester Connty Mammoth, Golden Beanty. Golden Dent. Mammoth 

 ^Vliite Surprise, Pride of the Xortli, Smedley, and White Giant Nor- 

 mandy. (3) Flints — Self-Husking, Thorburn's Golden Yellow, Tus- 

 carora. '' Samples for chemical analysis were taken at four ditf'erent 

 stages of growth: (1) When fully tasseled; (2) ears beginning to 

 fill out; (8) kernels beginning to glaze; (4) fully ripe." Eesults 

 are stated in tabular form, including yields per acre at the different 

 stages of growth (as computed from yields of single rows), of corn 

 as harvested and weighed, and of dry matter as indicated by analysis. 

 This season's work implies : 



That for field rrops such varieties as the Golden Beanty, Golden Dent. Suied- 

 ley, and Pride of the North are the best adapted for this and the northern sec- 

 tions of the State. The Chester County Mammoth. .Mammoth White Surprise, 

 and White Giant Normandy may be used successfully in the southern portion 

 as a field crop. With us they did not mature, and could only be used for fodder. 

 The question of merit would then largely turn on the palatability of the stalks 

 and their digestibility. The facilities of the Station would not allow the deter- 

 mination of the latter. 



As the increase of total weight of dry matter should include all the 

 nutritive materials and all watei- from period to period, the figures 

 show that with these experiments, (1) while the percentage of water 

 decreases as the plants advance in growth the absolute amount of 

 water increases ; ( 2 ) as the plants approached maturity there was a 

 rapid increase of dry matter per acre, in many instances the amount 

 of dry matter in mature stover alone being eqnal to or more than that 

 of the total crop at any other period of the growth; (3) by allowing 

 plants to mature there is considerably less water to be handled in . 

 proportion to the amount of actual food material than there would 

 be if they were cut and used when the kernels began to glaze. At 

 the same time the amount of valuable material (dry matter) is much 

 greater. 



The following points are given for '' guidance in the culture of the 

 corn crop : " 



Good seed, purchased of reliable dealers or judiciously selected from previous 

 season's crop. 



Thorough plowing and pulverization of the groimd. 



Not too close and heavy planting, as for success there is needed exposure to 

 sunlight and air. 



Frequent cultivation and with as little manual labor as possible. 



Not too much haste in harvesting, as it is shown from the results of this year's 

 experiments that if the crop is allowed to mature there will be a considerable 

 gain in valuable material for feeding jnu-poses. At the same time, the economy 

 of harvesting will be greater, as there is relatively less water to handle. 



Remarks on the foregoing experiments. — These are b}' the director 

 of the Station. Corn is shown to be one of the most important crops 

 in Pennsylvania. According to the census of 1880 it occupied almost 



