294 MAINE AGRICUIvTURAI, KXPE;RIME;nT STATION. I91O. 



rows were run the short way of the piece; in each row there 

 were about 33 hihs each 18 inches apart as in all our planting, 

 the rows being 3 feet apart; beginning at one side of the piece 

 the first 8 rows were planted with 2 kernels to the hill, the next 8 

 rows with 3 kernels to the hill, the next 8 rows with 4 kernels to 

 the hill, the next 8 rows with 5 kernels to the hill, the next 8 rows 

 with 6, and the last 8 rows with 7 kernels to the hill. The whole 

 piece was evenly manured and fertilized, there being 150 lbs. 

 of fertilizer put on the 1-6 acre. All the corn was cultivated in 

 the same manner, and none of it was thinned. Every stalk that 

 came was allowed to stand. The seed used was all from the 

 same row (row No. iii) of the 1908 ear-to-row test. That is 

 it all came from one original grandmother ear (ear No. 157). 

 In other words all the conditions except the number of stalks to 

 the hill were so far as possible made the same. 



B. The effect of heavy fertilizing on earliness of maturity. 

 The most successful sweet corn growers use relatively large 

 amounts of commercial fertilizer in addition to heavy manuring. 

 Where this is done it raises the question as to whether in many 

 cases at least, the observed earliness of maturity which many of 

 these more successful growers get is not primarily an environ- 

 mental effect due to the abundance of plant food. It is conceiv- 

 able that an abundance of fertilizer may accelerate the rate of 

 growth, thus getting the corn to maturity earlier. To get some 

 reliable data on this point the following experiment was tried. 

 A piece of land 144 feet by 50 feet (= approximately 1-6 acre) ■ 

 was divided into two equal plots VIA and VIB. The soil was 

 uniform over the whole plot. It was all given a heavy and even 

 coat of manure. The rows were planted the short way of the 

 piece, 3 feet apart and the hills 18 inches apart. The rate of 

 planting was the same all over the piece, 4 kernels being planted 

 to the hill, and the corn thinned to allow 3 stalks to stand in each 

 hill. The same seed was used on both VI A and VI B. It all 

 came from the same row of the 1908 ear-to-row test (row No, 

 153) and from the same grandmother ear (ear No, 64). The 

 only difference between the plots was that when they were 

 planted (May 20,-1909) 75 lbs. of fertilizer were put on VI A 

 (being put in the hills, in the usual way), whereas no fertilizer 

 whatever was put on VI B. . 



