FIELD CEOPS. 335 



If height of stalk alone had been considered instead of number of nodes and 

 internode length it might have been thought, in case of these F2 families, that 

 the unfavorable weather of early summer, by checliing the growth of the early 

 plants, and the favorable weather of late summer, by increasing the growth 

 of the late plants, had brought about an apparent rather than a real correlation. 

 But since the number of nodes is determined before the plant has made much 

 growth, this character could not have been influenced by th^ differences between 

 the weather of early and that of late summer. It is not tliat one set of condi- 

 tions made the early plants have few nodes and another set made the late plants 

 have many nodes, but rather that some of the genetic factors that caused the 

 plants to have a large number of nodes were associated with the factors (or 

 were themselves the factors) that caused prolonged growth. . . . The inter- 

 relations of such characters as number of rows per ear, circimiference of ear, 

 and breadth of seeds are obvious." 



A bibliography is appended. 



Variety tests of corn, J. L. Burgess (BuI. N. C. Dept. Agr., 34 (1913), No. 2, 

 pp. 16). — This bulletin reports cooperative tests of 29 varieties of corn, and 

 gives suggestions on the selection and preparation of seed, breeding plat, preser- 

 ^-ation of the seed, germination tests, planting, and varieties. The yields re- 

 ported in these experiments ranged from 10.5 to 45 bu. per acre. 



How to grow an acre of com, C. P. Habtley {U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' 

 Bui. 537, pp. 21, figs. 12). — This gives simple directions especially designed 

 for boys, covering the kind of com to grow, selecting the seed, the land, and 

 the fertilizer; preparing the seed bed, planting, thinning, cultivation, combat- 

 ing cutworms, seed selection, care of seed corn, and determination of yield. 



American corn growing methods in Bessarabia, J. H. Grout {Daily Cons, 

 and Trade Rpts. [U. S.], 16 (WIS), No. 19, p. J09).— This paper mentions the 

 failure of American maize to ripen a crop in numerous cooperative experiments 

 on account of an early cold wave. Italian maize, however, matured and was 

 jihocked before the cold wave with good yields. 



Local fertilizer experiments with cotton in south Alabama in 1912, 

 J. F. DuGGAR, J. T. Williamson, and L. J. Hawley (Alabama Col. Sta. Bui. 

 169. pp. S-7/2 ) .—Continuing previous work (E. S. R., 27, p. 33), it is noted that 

 of the 21 conclusive tests, in 2, "on prairie (lime) upland soil, kainit was 

 highly effective, while cotton-seed meal and acid phosphate were also im- 

 portant. In 2 experiments made on comparatively fresh sandy land (second 

 and fifth years since clearing), acid phosphate was the fertilizer constituent 

 that was most profitable. In 1 experiment on red rocky soil in Greene county, 

 no potash was needed, but both phosphate and cotton-seed meal profitably in- 

 creased the yield. 



" In 1 experiment on noncalcareous reddish soil near Greensboro, and in 1 

 test on sandy loam near Tallassee, nitrogen was the only fertilizer constituent 

 that notably increased the yield. In 14 other conclusive experiments located 

 south of Montgomery, all on old grayish sandy soils of the Coastal Plain Region, 

 kainit was needed as one constituent of the fertilizer in 93 per cent of the 

 tests; kainit and acid phosphate were about equally effective in 50 per cent of 

 these tests; and kainit was more important than acid phosphate in 43 per cent 

 of these tests ; nitrogen was highly effective as one constituent of the fertilizer 

 in 79 per cent of these experiments on old sandy land. . . . 



" It was more effective and more profitable in 1912 to apply 200 lbs. of kainit 

 in a complete fertilizer than to use only 100 lbs. of kainit. The average of the 

 conclusive experiments shows that 200 lbs. of cotton-seed meal applied before 

 planting was in 1912 very slightly more effective than 100 lbs. of nitrate of 

 soda applied after the plants were 6 in. high." 



