118 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



the names of a number of varieties that have ranked 

 high in tests at Southern Eiq)eriment Stations. 



Yet it must be added that in tests made in the South 

 since 1899, the year of the pubhcation of Dr. Sturtevant's 

 descriptions, the most productive kinds have included a 

 number of varieties not mentioned in his list. Many of 

 these new, so-called varieties probably represent merely 

 new names for old kinds ; others are the result of such an 

 amount of selection and improvement as to deserve their 

 new and separate names. Unfortunately, in the renaming 

 of varieties of either cotton or corn, there has too often 

 been a failure to regard the rights of the originators and of 

 the public, and an unjustifiable duplication of names for 

 the same variety. 



More than 1000 names of varieties have been listed. 

 Many of these are merely names for the same variety ; yet 

 there are enough possible combinations of qualities to 

 justify the naming of several himdred varieties, each differ- 

 ing from every other in at least one easily recognizable 

 character. 



107. Yields of varieties. — An examination of the 

 yields of corn made in variety tests at the Southern Experi- 

 ment Stations shows that there is no one best variety of 

 corn for all conditions of soil and climate, even within the 

 limits of the cotton-belt. However, it appears that in 

 the greater nxmiber of experiments, but by no means in all, 

 the most productive varieties belong to the class of prolific 

 corn; that is, having a tendency to produce from 160 to 

 more than 200 ears for each 100 plants. 



For example, in four years' tests at the Alabama Experiment 

 Station, the prolific varieties averaged 33.8 bushels per acre; 



