166 



CORN 



would be sufficient. Three kernels to the hill is generally considered 

 as the standard, and it may be said that there is very little good corn- 

 producing land that can not maintain three good stalks to the hill. 



If corn is planted thick on land of poor fertility, the result is 

 stover and not ears. On the other hand, two or three kernels are often 

 planted to the hill on land so rich in fertility that much greater yields 

 would have been secured by planting four and possibly five kernels. 

 In the latter case, with two and three kernels a great many suckers 

 are produced, sometimes as many as two to three per hill. Had there 

 been four or five kernels to the hill in this case, the fertility of the 

 ground would have been utilized in producing stalks of corn bearing 

 ears, rather than suckers. 



On average good corn land, the yield per acre in shelled corn in- 

 creases with the number of stalks per hill up to four or five. After 

 this the amount of stover increases and the amount of grain decreases. 

 As the number of stalks increases to the hill, the number of good, 

 strong seed ears will decrease after two and three stalks to the hill, 

 and there will be found more inferior ears and nubbins. 



TABLE NO. 35 

 SHOWING RELATION OF THICKNESS OF PLANTING TO YIELD 



The foregoing table gives a summary of the tests conducted in 

 various states of the Corn Belt for a period of years. The foregoing 

 statements have been well substantiated by these tests. In the most 

 favorable seasons and on the more fertile soil, the thicker planting 

 has produced the higher yields, but in less favorable years and on 

 thinner soil, the lower rate of seeding has given the better yield. Take 

 the results from Oklahoma for instance. The year 1910 was an es- 

 pecially good corn season. The respective yields from 2, 3 and 4 

 stalks per hill were 72, 90.4 and 98.4 bushels per acre. The following 

 year, 1911, was very dry. The respective yields were 31.1, 25.8 and 



'Nebraska Bulletin No. 112 

 "•Ohio Bulletin No. 282. 

 "••Kentucky Bulletin No. 163. 



For Nebraska, Ohio and Kentucky, the results given represent number of plants per hill. Ohio 

 yields arc figured on basis of shelled corn. 



