336 MAIZE 



CHAP, phosphatic manure, but no manure was applied directly to the 



VII. 



maize crop. 



The first " comparative " trials were put down in the season 

 1904-5. More breeds were procured for the 1905-6 planting, 

 but as they largely consisted of imported seed it would not be 

 safe to take the results of the first year's growth as a basis of 

 comparison. In this report, the comparative records are there- 

 fore dated from the season 1 906-7. During that year and the 

 previous two years the results, however, served a useful purpose 

 in the determination of breeds which could be discarded. 



The Seed. — Most of the breeds were procured by the 

 Division (jf Botany from America, Canada, and Australia, but 

 attention was also paid to local sorts from the best seed 

 procurable. 



It was soon seen that the results obtained in the first 

 two years of experiment could not be regarded as strictly 

 comparative, since the seed of most of the breeds was not 

 acclimatized. This is a further reason for only dating these 

 records from the year 1906-7. 



The Cultivations. — As a general rule the land was deeply 

 ploughed once after the potatoes or mangels were cleared. 

 Such cultivations as "cultivating," "harrowing," and " rolling" 

 were performed to procure a satisfactory tilth prior to planting. 

 Immediately after planting the land was harrowed ; subsequent 

 cultivations generally consisted of one or two harrowings, one 

 hand-hoeing, and one horse-hoeing. 



In the year 1906-7, the breeds were planted with the 

 ordinary " 2-row planter," and a special series of plates was 

 used to plant grains of such great diversity, equidistant, but it 

 was found that this did not give as great accuracy as could be 

 desired for experiment. Consequently, in succeeding years, 

 the planting for this breed test was done by hand, the grains 

 dropped in hills 3 feet apart in each direction, three to each 

 hill. 



In 1909-10 the trials were conducted on land consisting 

 of a brown loam in a very good state of fertility. 



The actual piece of land devoted to the experiment was of 

 course selected for its uniformity, and to ensure results most 

 favourable for comparison, two rows of each breed of maize 

 were planted across the lull length of the field, breeds of 



