288 Maine; agricultural lxplrimlnt station. 1910. 



The plan by which the seed was distributed to the growers 

 was as follows : When the 1908 ear-to-row test plots were 

 harvested the corn from each row was kept separate and sorted 

 into Ai seed, good seed and nubbins (cf. p. 266). Taking all 

 factors into account the 44 rows regarded as the best by us were 

 selected for the farm distribution test. Then after rejecting 

 the corn shelled from nubbins and ears too poor to go in as seed, 

 the A I seed and good seed from each of these 44 rows was put 

 together in a bag. Each bag then contained the seed from one 

 row of the 1908 ear-to-row tests, and the row in turn was grown 

 from one single original mother ear of the 1907 crop. One 

 such bag of seed was given to each farmer for planting, with 

 strict instructions to avoid mixing this corn with any other. 

 In other words, the farm distribution test was conducted in 

 such a way as to make it the continuation of an ear-to-row test, 

 on a larger scale. No special instructions were given as to 

 planting, each farmer being told to plant, fertilize and cultivate 

 the crop exactly as he would if he had ordinary factory seed. 



Elaborate records were taken regarding each of these farm 

 plots and the corn which grew on it. All but one of the plots 

 were visited personally by one or both of the writers at least 

 once, and in most cases twice, during the summer. It is neither 

 possible nor desirable to present here all of the detailed data 

 collected regarding these plots. All that can be attempted here 

 is to give a summary statement of what appears to the writers 

 to be the significant results of this experiment. 



In such a statement the following points are to be noted : 



I. The season of 1909 was, as has already been pointed out, 

 a very unfavorable one for sweet corn growing, all over the 

 State. The conditions, in other words, were such that the seed 

 put out in this farm distribution test could not show its highest 

 capabilities. This was quite generally recognized by the 

 growers who planted it. A great many of the reports noted 

 that the season was so poor that it was not felt that the seed 

 had a "fair chance." Since, however, the purpose of the test 

 was to compare the selected seed with the ordinary factory 

 seed under the same conditions it is perhaps just as "fair" to 

 make the test under generally unfavorable as under favorable 

 conditions. The only difficulty was that some growers may 



