325 
Preparation of soil—The land used is a sandy loam, with a sub- 
soil of clay, and slopes slightly to the northwest. It was plowed the 
previous August to a depth of 6 inches, and thoroughly harrowed in 
the spring ‘just before planting. It had produced two crops of small 
grain, and had never been manured. 
Planting —The rows were made with a marker 3 feet 6 inches each 
way. Part of the corn was dropped by hand and covered with the 
hoe, the rest being put in with hand planters. Of the Dent corn, 
the hills contained 3 and 4 grains; of the Flint, 4 and 5. 
The stand.—The early part of the season was not favorable for 
corn growing, being cold and wet. The coming up was quite irregu- 
lar, from six to ten days frequently elapsing between the appearance 
of the first and last hills in a row. This was especially true of the 
first fifteen days’ planting. 
The stand in general was poor, resulting in part from unfavorable 
weather and bad seed, but principally from the work of ground 
squirrels. This latter evil was the most persistent and damaging one 
with which the corn experiment had to contend. The per cent taken 
depended upon location of the variety, whether more or less remote 
from the unbroken prairie. Notwithstanding all efforts to destroy 
the squirrels, the damage done was very great. For several succes- 
sive days previous to planting poisoned corn was placed in every 
squirrel hole that could be found. This was done not only on the 
experiment ground, but also on the whole 80 acres and on the edges 
of the land immediately surrounding it. This work, reenforced with 
the trap and shotgun, was continued throughout the whole plant- 
ing season. 
Cultivation.—All the plats were given four different cultivations, 
a six-shovel corn plow and a double spring-tooth cultivator being 
used for the purpose. In addition to this they were twice hoed. 
Cultivation began on the 11th day of June and ended on the 17th 
day of July. 
General remarks.—tIlt was observed in all the plats that the earlier 
plantings grew larger and stronger than the after ones and that the 
silks and tassels made their appearance more regularly. 
The ears of nearly all varieties of the Flint corn were infested 
with a species of worm. These did but little damage beyond mar- 
ring the appearance of the ears. The Dents were not disturbed by 
the worms. 
Immediately after the killing frost on the night of September 11 
the corn on all the plats was cut and shocked. It was allowed to 
stand a few weeks before husking. 
The results of a single season’s work are only entitled to the pub- 
lic attention as showing the scope of the experiment undertaken. 
Definite results of any practical value to the farmer can only be 
obtained by a continuance of the same experiment under a system 
of careful observations extending through a number of years. Of 
this a beginning has been made. 
Tabulated statement—In the following table that date of plant- 
ing is taken which shows the least number of days from time of 
planting to maturity.. The first seven to ten days planting came up 
and matured at the same time, while the coming up of the rest varied 
quite regularly with the time of planting. 
The items in the columns headed “ Ups Invtassel,””: “In silk” 
