128 INDIAN CORN. 



than any other area. 'Now a distribution of hills, 

 three feet apart, with three grains in the hill, would 

 satisfy this condition. So also an arrangement of 

 drills three feet asunder, with stalks twelve inches 

 apart in the drill, would equally fulfil the condition. 

 But the product per acre of these two methods would 

 not be the same. Here, then, arises the other in- 

 quiry : 



2d. "With a given area to each grain, what is the 

 arrangement or distribution of the grains that will 

 give the largest product per acre ? 



This problem deserves the attention of every agri- 

 culturist, for it determines, as elsewhere stated, the 

 limit of possible yield. The solution of it can un- 

 doubtedly be unfolded by the method of experiments, 

 if they are well planned and carefully executed. 



The intelligent and thoughtful farmer understands 

 that, as there are many modes of distributing the 

 grain in planting, he cannot expect to adopt the best, 

 without knowing which it is, and this he cannot know 

 without making a trial. He therefore determines to 

 vary his modes of planting, remembering that the 

 greater the number of plans he tries the more certain 

 he will be of finding out the best. Accordingly, he 

 plants a part of his field in hills, and part in drills. 

 The former he places at different distances asunder, 

 varying at the same time the number of grains in 

 each. The drills are in like manner placed at differ- 

 ent distances, and the intervals between the grains are 

 also varied. In all this there is no great intricacy and 

 no real difficulty. He thus examines, with but little 



