842 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Truitt Improved, Jones Improved, and Hoo-ermaii. King was the 

 earliest maturing variety. 



Twelve varieties of wheat were grown on (1) deep red sandy soil and 

 (2) light gray sandy soil. The tabulated results show an average 

 jdeld for the 12 varieties of 22.08 bu. per acre on the red sandj^ soil 

 and 12.26 bu. per acre on the light gray soil. The variet}^ Eclipse, 

 followed b}" Tuscan Island and Currell Prolitic, gave the best j'ields 

 on the red lands. 



Of 27 varieties of corn tested, Mosby Prolific, Gondy Improved, 

 and Cocke Prolific, with yields of 37, 36.7, and 31.9 bu. per acre, 

 respectively, took the lead in productiveness. Shallow level cultiva- 

 tion gave the best results in culture experiments. 



The value of irrigation water in addition to the natural rainfall was 

 tested for sugar cane, corn, cotton, sorghum, tobacco, cowpeas, and 

 watermelons. Equal areas for each crop were selected and h of each 

 area irrigated. It was assumed that the soil for sugar cane required 

 for its best growth 25 per cent of moisture, corn 10 to 12 per cent, 

 cotton and cowpeas 6 to 8 per cent, tobacco and sorghum 8 to 10 per 

 cent, and watermelons 4 to 6 per cent. As nearly as possible these 

 percentages of moisture were maintained for each crop by irriga- 

 tion. The cowpeas did not mature pods in this experiment. The 

 accompan3'ing table shows the results per acre on the irrigated and 

 unirrigated portions of the remaining plats: 



Results of irrigation. 



Sugar 

 cane. 



Corn. 



Sorghum. 



Seed 

 cotton. 



Cured 

 tobacco. 



Water- 

 melons. 



Irrigated 



Nonirrigated. 



Tons. 

 11.50 

 3.44 



BtLshels. 

 20. 85 

 10.44 



Tons. 

 3.42 

 1.98 



Pounds. 

 1, 892 

 1,548 



Pounds. 

 1,204 



751 



Pounds. 

 18, 834 

 9, 632 



The cane grown on the irrigated plat had a higher sugar content and 

 percentage purity than that grown on the unirrigated. During the 

 progress of the experiment it was found that the moisture content of 

 25 per cent was too high for the sugar cane on red sandy soil and the 

 amount was therefore reduced to 11 to 16 per cent. It is believed that 

 the difl'erence in yields between the irrigated and unirrigated plats, as 

 shown by the tai)le, would have been more strikingly in favor of 

 irrigation had fertilizers been used. 



Experiments with bright leaf tobacco consisted of fertilizer and 

 variety tests and a comparison of home-grown with Virginia-grown 

 seed. In the fertilizer test the addition of nitrogen materially increa.sed 

 the yield. Phosphates and potash used eithei" singly or coml)ined gave 

 but slightly increased yield over no manure. Sulphate of ammonia 

 was not as eti'ective as a source of nitrogen as cotton-seed meal, nitrate 

 of soda, or dried blood. Virginia-grown tobacco seed with but 1 



