Pedigree  Seed  Corn. 
133 
sets  of  varieties  in  1908  was  245.  There  are  therefore  twelve 
different  groups  of  comparisons  of  five  varieties,  each  group 
comprising  a considerable  number  of  separate  trials.  Most  of 
the  varieties  are  included  in  the  sets  sent  to  more  than  one 
division.  All  the  seed  of  each  variety  is  from  one  growth 
within  the  state,  and  generally  within  the  division.  From 
time  to  time  varieties  which  have  been  well  tested  and  found 
deficient  are  omitted  and  new  ones  added. 
It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  give  the  results  obtained  in 
any  detail,  but  I have  arranged  a summary  of  them  in  the 
following  table. 
The  last  report  gives  the  yields  obtained  on  each  farm  for 
three  years  1906-8,  and  it  also  gives  the  average  “ growing 
period  ” of  each  variety  in  each  division  of  the  state.  The 
table,  in  the  form  in  which  I have  arranged  it,  brings  together 
average  “ yields  ” and  “ growing  periods,”  and  justifies  a 
general  conclusion  (not  expressly  noted  in  the  report,  in  which 
the  figures  are  not  summarised  in  this  particular  way),  which 
transpires  from  a comparison  of  the  two  sets  of  figures.  ^ 
Except  in  two  divisions  of  the  state  the  variety  with  the 
longest  average  growing  period  gives  the  highest  average 
yields.  The  exceptional  divisions  are  those  in  the  extreme 
north,  near  the  shore. of  the  great  lakes.  Here  the  variety 
with  the  shortest  growing  period  gives  the  highest  yield.  It  is 
clear  from  the  general  distribution  of  maize  that  this  part  of 
the  state  is  near  the  northern  limit  of  the  maize-growing  area, 
and  it  is  pi’obable  that  either  early  or  late  frosts  rule  out  all 
the  varieties  except  those  which  require  the  shortest  period  in 
which  to  mature.^ 
This  result  accords  with  general  experience  in  the  case  of 
other  cereals,  viz.,  that  the  varieties  of  any  cereal  with  as  long 
an  average  growing  period  as  the  climate  of  the  locality 
admits  of,  are  those  which  give  generally  the  highest  average 
yields. 
The  “ average  days  growing  period  ” for  maize  in  Indiana 
varies  with  each  variety,  and  in  each  division  of  the  state. 
The  extreme  limits  being  104  days  for  “ early  yellow  Dent  ” 
(No.  1 in  Div.  1 & 2),  which  is  grown  only  in  the  four  most 
northerly  divisions  of  the  state,  and  133  dajs  for  “Johnson 
County  White  Dent  ” (No.  5 in  Div.  8 to  12),  grown  in  the 
more  southerly  divisions.  The  results  clearly  bring  out  the 
fact  that  the  determinations  of  the  average  growing  period 
of  each  variety  is  of  value  to  the  growers. 
* Purdue  Uuiv.  Agr.  Expt.  Station  Bulletin  132,  1909,  pages  4:70-4S(;. 
^ The  table  gives  the  average  yields  in  1908  only,  these  being  the  only 
strictly  comparable  figures  for  all  the  varieties  tested,  but  the  averages  of 
the  previous  years  bear  out  the  same  general  conclusions  even  more  strongly. 
