82 



THE 



CJive gathered three parcels of corn, 18 ears 

 each, from three portions of corn : 



Fust parcel, 1 stalk in the hill l£ feet apart, 

 gave 8 lbs. 



Second parcel, 2 stalks in the hill 3 feet apart, 

 gave 6^ lbs. 



Third parcel, 3 stalks in the hill 4^ feet apart, 

 gave 6 lbs. 



3. About the 1st April, 1842, Mr. William 

 W. Minor planted four rows of corn on a hill 

 side on land of uniform fertility : 



The row lowest down the hill was left with 

 1 stalk in the hill at 2 feet apart, product, 73^ lbs. 



The row next above was left with 2 stalks in 

 the hill, 4 feet apart, product, 1\\ lbs. 



The next row above, 3 stalks in the hill, 6 

 feet apart, 57 lbs. 



The row next above, and highest up the hill, 

 like the lowest was left 1 stalk in the hill, 2 

 feet apart, product, 70 lbs. 



This last row was added that the experiment 

 might be equalized as it respects the fertility of 

 the land. 



TOBACCO. 



1. Mr. Richmond Terrell, one of a committee 

 to ascertain what difference occurs in the weight 

 of tobacco from the difference of its order, re- 

 ported the following experiment: On the 3d of 

 April, 1843, I weighed two parcels of tobacco 

 in good, soft stripping order; one of good qua- 

 lity comprising 31 bundles ; the other of inferior 

 quality comprising 36 bundles. The first parcel 

 weighed, in the order mentioned above, 8-| lbs. ; 

 the latter, 8£ lbs. When thoroughly dried, (5 

 days after,) that of best quality weighed 8 lbs. ; 

 that of the second quality weighed 1% lbs. 



2. Dr. William G. Carr, a member of the 

 same committee, made the following report: — 

 Lugs, 1st rate, weighed when dry 3 lbs. 10 oz. 

 In good prizing order, 4 lbs. 2 oz. — gain 8 oz., 

 equal -]- nearly. Lugs, 2d rate, not thoroughly 

 dry, weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. In good prizing or- 

 der 8 lbs. 15 oz. — gain 12 oz., equal yy nearly. 

 A parcel of first rate tobacco, dry, weighed 1JH 

 lbs. — in stripping order, 201 lbs. — gain 16 oz., 

 equal T ^ ; in rather high prizing order 22 lbs. 

 gain on 19| lbs. 2\ lbs., equal \. This last 

 parcel was hung up on the 3d April, where it 

 remained till the 10th May, when it was found 

 to have lost one pound by evaporation. 



WHEAT. 



1. Report of an experiment to test the rela- 

 tive advantages of cutting wheat when first 

 taken with the rust, and letting it stand to ripen, 

 by Mr. Franklin Minor: On the 3d July, 1843, 

 I cut a parcel of wheat on which the rust had 

 just begun to appear. The straw was bright 

 and the grain fully ripe, but not entirely hard. 

 374 grains of this wheat weighed 2 drachms, 

 2£ scruples and 3 grains. On the 15.th July, I 

 cut another parcel of wheat immediately ad- 



joining the above, very much rusted, the straw 

 almost black with rust and the grain dry. 369 

 grains filling the same measure with the first 

 parcel, weighed 2 drachms, 2£ scruples and 2 

 grains. The difference in the number of grains 

 required to fill the measure was 5 in favor of 

 the wheat that stood longest after it began to 

 rust, and the difference by weight of the same 

 measure only 1 grain in favor of that cut first. 

 Both samples were ripe, however, before the 

 rust, attacked them. 



2. Report of Dr. William G. Carr on the 

 same subject : On the 3d July, I cut two parcels 

 of wheat from different spots in the field just 

 beginning to rust, the straw and blades green, 

 the head turning white and the grain in the 

 dough state, but very soft; some of the heads 

 were in the milk state. On the 14th July, I 

 cut from the same spots the wheat that was 

 left. The result was that the unripe wheat 

 weighed most, but it also required more grains 

 to fill the same measure. 



TOBACCO PLANTS. 



1. Experiment of Mr. William W. Minor on 

 raising tobacco plants in hot beds: On the 21st 

 April, 1843, a hot bed containing twent}^five 

 square yards was prepared, and sowed the next 

 day with tobacco seed just beginning to sprout. 

 Plank was laid over it to retain heat and mois- 

 ture : and while the plank remained, it needed 

 no watering. The plants began to come up in 

 three days from the sowing, and when most of 

 them were up the plank was removed. The 

 bed was watered, on an average, twice a day, 

 though in this respect it was somewhat neglected. 



There were a few plants in this bed large 

 enough for new ground planting in one month 

 from its sowing, though they did not grow as 

 fast after three or four weeks as plants grown in 

 beds prepared in the ordinary waj% though they 

 had decidedly better roots, and lived better, and 

 grew off better than those drawn from my other 

 beds. This bed yielded 9,200 plants, and would 

 have yielded one or two thousand more had they 

 not been literally burned up from neglect of wa- 

 tering for the space of a week. I think I haz- 

 ard nothing in saying that it would have yielded 

 20,C00 plants had they been in the bed and dis- 

 tributed with tolerable regularity. The plants, 

 however, were not thick enough, nor were they 

 equally distributed, which was owing to the 

 circumstance that I had to make an uncertain 

 guess at the quantit}' of seed, they being in a 

 sprouting state; and also, for that reason, more 

 difficult to sow with regularity. 



The action of poudrette on tobacco plants 

 was very decided and beneficial in all my beds; 

 on the hot bed, especially, I made an accurate 

 experiment with -it, and with most unquestiona- 

 ble advantage. - I never saw a greater effect 

 produced by gypsum 



