1892.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 207 



6. Experiments with a Western Variety of Dent 

 Corn, Pride of the North, for Ensilage. 



Field G. 



This field is a part of a former meadow. Grass has been 

 raised here for more than fifteen years in succession. A 

 moderate top-dressing of barn-yard manure has kept the 

 land in a fair condition for the production of hay. Eight 

 years ago a row of drain pipes four inches in diameter was 

 laid along its whole length. Branch drains pass into it in 

 several places, to prevent the accumulation of water from 

 surrounding localities. The land is nearly a level, and the 

 soil a loam several feet in depth, here and there underlaid 

 with a hardened clay. The area is 700 feet long and 75 

 feet wide, running from north to south to the east of Field 

 A. During the fall of 1890 the sod was turned under and 

 left over winter to disintegrate. During the late spring 

 the soil was again ploughed and the remaining sod cut up 

 with a wheel harrow. After subsequent harrowing it was 

 planted May 13 with a dent corn variety, Pride of the North, 

 in rows three feet three inches apart, the hills being two feet 

 apart in the row. No manure was applied on that occasion, 

 the object being to reduce the stored-up plant food, and 

 thereby prepare the soil for future field experiments with 

 special fertilizers. 



The young plants came up well and made a handsome 

 growth. At the time when the kernels began to glaze ten 

 and two-thirds tons were cut to be converted into ensilage 

 September 10. The remainder of the crop was cut Septem- 

 ber 16, to secure matured ears and corn stover. The air- 

 dried stover thus obtained weighed, October 19, 4,185 

 pounds, and the ears 2,500 pounds. 



The area used for ensilage corn, 25,650 square feet, 

 yielded at the rate of eighteen tons and three hundred 

 pounds per acre. The area turned to account for ears and 

 stover, 26,850 square feet, produced at the rate of 4,056 

 pounds of ears and 6,782 pounds of stover per acre. 



