FIELD CROPS 145 
3. A temporary exhibit. — Bring exceptionally fine specimens of 
potatoes, carrots, beets, rutabaga, cabbage, cauliflower, salsify, and 
other vegetables produced in the vicinity. 
4. Description of exhibit. — Each pupil should discuss the merits of 
his own contribution to the exhibit; for example, the advantages of his 
particular variety of wheat, corn, or potatoes as compared with other kinds. 
5. Harvesting corn. — (a) Is corn husked in your vicinity without 
cutting the stalks? (8) If cut, is it bound, or is it shocked without bind- 
ing? What machinery, if any, is employed? (c) Is it husked by hand 
or husked and shredded by machinery? (d) Is it put into a silo? 
Cornstalks have about as much feeding value as hay and should be 
utilized. Which of the above methods is the most wasteful? Give a 
full description of the various methods employed in your vicinity in 
harvesting corn, and explain the advantages claimed for each. 
6. The yield. — What was the ordinary yield per acre of wheat, oats, 
barley, corn, potatoes, and other crops in your vicinity last year? What 
was the largest yield that was produced? Discuss these questions quite 
fully: (a) Why was the average yield so much lower than the best 
yield? (6) How could the ordinary yield be brought much nearer to 
the best record? 
7. Some problems. — (a) What is the cost of raising 160 acres of 
wheat, counting the value of the seed and all labor and material from 
the plowing to the marketing? Figure the yield at 14 bushels per acre 
and use current prices for all items. (6)-What is the profit of this crop 
at current prices? (c) What would it cost to raise this crop if the yield 
were 20 bushels to the acre? What would the profit then be? 
8. Plowing. — When is most of the plowing done in your vicinity? 
Does fall or spring plowing produce a better crop of wheat? Oats? 
Barley? Corn? Is early or late fall plowing better? 
9. How much seed? — How much seed wheat per acre is used in 
your section? Oats? How many kernels of corn are planted in each 
hill? How far apart are the hills? How much seed of other leading 
crops is used? 
10. Vitality of seeds. — (a) Is wheat from an earlier crop than the 
previous season’s good for seed? How long does wheat retain its 
vitality? (b). Answer the same questions for other important seeds of 
your section. (c) How do the farmers in your vicinity store their seed 
corn? Is the method satisfactory? 
