FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 531 



of Mondamin, to be tested by the farmers' institute, free of charge.) The 

 season of 1903 was not a favorable one for experimental work, owing 

 to the superabundance of moisture. 



We bought one half bushel of "Reid's Yellow Dent Corn" from James 

 Reid. Our aim was to test this corn on our own soil. A plot of ground 

 was selected on creek bottom; the previous crop was rye. The ground 

 was manured with a manure spreader, twelve four-horse loads to the 

 acre, then plowed with a riding plow about five inches deep. On ac- 

 count of the heavy showers it was found necessary to disk this ground 

 five times before planting. The corn was drilled in but the stand was 

 not what it should have been, though the corn tested well in the house. 

 The corn was bought in the ear and the ears averaged one pound each. 

 After planting, the plot was harrowed frequently, until the corn was up 

 two or three inches, but during this period the heavy rains made the 

 ground so w^et that water stood on it part of the time. The plot was 

 cultivated four times and run over with the weeder once and was kept 

 fairly clean. The stalks made a fine growth and promised to ear well, 

 but a local hailstorm on the sixth of August cut off nearly all the leaves 

 and injured the stalks and silks and probably cut down the yield one 

 half. We only got about thirty bushels per acre and only secured a 

 limited amount of seed corn, but enough excellent seed was secured to 

 give it a fair test next year. 



As it appears to us. here is a large field of operation open for the 

 farmers' institute. "One swallow does not make a summer," neither 

 does one or two experiments prove this, or that. It is only by a suc- 

 cessive series of tests on different soils and under different conditions 

 that anything like a positive result can be obtained. This can be done 

 through the medium of the county farmers' institute working with the 

 individual farmer on one hand and with the Department of Agronomy on 

 the other. A good beginning has been made by getting Professor Holden 

 and his assistants at our institutes to show the farmers the possibilities 

 of the corn crop of Iowa. This good work should be kept up' until not 

 only corn but every other field crop has been tested, improved and made 

 to produce to the fullest extent of their possibilities. To this end every 

 farmer can afford to experiment with some particular crop every year. 

 This will not only be of value to the cause of agriculture, but the one 

 who makes the experiments will have gained a vast amount of knowl- 

 edge which to. him will be valuable. It will be impossible in this short 

 paper to enumerate all the different crops the ordinary farmer should 

 experiment with. 



Horticulture, forestry and feeding should also be included in the 

 list, but each one of them will give material enough for another paper. 



There iH one experiment we would speak of before closing and that 

 is the "weeder" in the com field. We have given this implement a fair 

 test for two years and have no hesitation in pronouncing it a very valu- 

 able tool in the corn field when handled right. In a dry season we would 

 recommend the use of the "weeder" until the corn is knee high. We 

 have found it a good plan when the ground is dry to use the "weeder" 



