24G BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



new. Bat seedsmen do the very best they know how to do. 

 They keep right up in advance, and any shmder upon seeds- 

 men receives no endorsement at the experiment station. 

 We have had over a thousand varieties of diflerent vegeta- 

 bles growing each year. They are carefully examined, and, 

 as a rule, we believe that the garden seeds we buy are pure ; 

 and if they arc not pure, it is simply on account of the igno- 

 rance of the seedsmen, in which we share, and not from ;:ny 

 intent to defraud the public. The germinating quality and 

 uniform character of the seeds obtained from our leading 

 dealers arc perfectly surprising. They are deserving of 

 praise. This idea of taking the results of foreign investiga- 

 tions and applying them to our seedsmen is ungenerous and 

 uncalled for, because we have no facts recorded in this coun- 

 try which afford any justification for that coui'se. 



Now, this early eight-rowed sweet corn, bought of one of 

 the leading seedsmen last year, Avlien we came to harvest, 

 October 16th, gave us ears thoroughly ripe ; other ears whiJi 

 were just in the condition avc ordinarily gather sweet corn 

 for seed, not dry, but sticky; and other ears just in con- 

 dition for the table, and still other ears which were not yet 

 fit for the table. Here we had all those dilferent varieties of 

 earliness within the same seed, very likely coming from ker- 

 nels taken from the same ear. Whether you take the seed 

 from one ear or a dozen ears, it will probably make no difler- 

 encc in that respect. Now, if you will look into this sub- 

 ject, you will find that all these very early eight-rowed corns 

 have cars eighteen or twenty inches from the ground, while 

 the later kinds have ears thirty inches or more from the 

 ground. If you will take the earliest known variety of corn 

 you will find the ears coaling out at the surftice of the ground ; 

 and if you will take tha latest variety, you will find the ear 

 clear up on the stalk. Take some of the South American 

 corns, and you have got to almost use a step-ladder to reach 

 the ears. Now, if you want early seed-corn, you can pick 

 out those plants which bear ears near the ground; and in 

 doing that you will work upon a definite plan, which, if 

 wisely followed out, will bring about the result desired. 



The CiiAiiiiivx. Dr. Sturtevant, as I told you in intro- 

 ducing him, is the director of the New York Experiment 

 Station; and, as you all know, we have an experiment sta- 



