86 



MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



TABLE III. 



EFFECT OF MULCHING. 



Variety and Treatment. 



w b 



a; g 



•S.5 

 S c 



Lupton : 



Mulched . . . 



Cultivated . 

 Sureliead : 



Mulched — 



Cultivated . 

 Harvest Home : 



Mulched . . . 



Cultivated .. 



9.5 

 8.9 



9.1 

 S.l 



11.2 



9-8 



2.8 

 1.5 



2.6 

 1.0 



3.6 

 3.1 



6.0 

 6.0 



6.1 



5.7 



6.S 



5.3 



.0 



31.3 



12.5 



5.9 



11.8 



5.3 



.0 



21.1 



15.8 



25.0 



5.0 



.0 

 6 2 



.0 

 5.3 



1.00 

 1.00 



1.07 

 1.00 



1.13 

 1.00 



The facts exvjressed in the above table are not at all conclusive. 

 By referring to the figures relative to the maturity of the heads, it 

 will be observed that of the first variety about five per cent of the 

 mulched and thirty-one per cent, of the heads from the cultivated 

 plants were cracked at the time of cutting. As the cracking occurs 

 as a result of over maturity, the comparison last made,would of itself 

 seem to indicate that the difference in results was due to the differ- 

 ent treatment, but when studied in connection with other facts it 

 loses its significance. This is shown in the case of the second variety 

 ■which gave nearly the same percentage of cracked heads in both 

 lots of plants. The difference between the two lots of the third 

 variety was not great- — less than three per cent. The sixth column 

 gives the percentages of immature heads at the time of cutting. Of 

 the first variety, all of the heads from the mulched plants were fully 

 mature while about twelve per cent, of the cultivated were immature; 

 in the second case, the conditions are just reversed; in the third case, 

 the difference was nearly the same as in the former, but five per cent, 

 of the heads from the cultivated plants were immature. Comparing 

 the observations in the three instances, we find the greater number 

 of immature heads were obtained from the mulched plants, while all 

 of the plants which failed to head were from the cultivated lots. 



The most uniform difference between the results of the two 

 methods of culture was in the size of the heads. This difference was 

 not striking, however, and may have been the result of other causes, 

 though the conditions were as nearly uniform as possible aside from 

 the special treatment given. The average weights of the Lupton 



