CORN INVESTIGATIONS 
By T. A. Kiesselbach 
INTRODUCTION 
The purpose of the investigations reported in this bulletin 
has been primarily to determine some of the underlying princi- 
ples involved in corn improvement. The work comprises a study 
of some of the physiological characteristics of the crop together 
with a comparison of various selection, breeding, and cultural 
practices in their relation to grain yield. The experiments were 
made largely on the Agricultural Experiment Station farm or 
within its immediate vicinity, at Lincoln, Xebraska, except in a 
few instances where the nature of the investigation required 
other designated locations. 
The investigations reported herein are in part a continua- 
tion and extension of work done by Lyon and Montgomery prior 
to 1911 and reported by them in earlier publications. There 
has been perfect continuity in some of these experiments for the 
last eighteen years. This has been made possible by the com- 
plete records kept thruout their progress, and also by the fact 
that Montgomery and the writer were each in turn associated 
for a number of years with their predecessors in these corn ex- 
periments. 
The acreage devoted to these studies during the last ten 
years has varied from thirty to sixty acres annually. The 
seasons of 1918 and 1919 were so dry at the Station that the 
corn grown in these experiments was virtually a failure both 
years and was used for silage without yield determinations. 
Thus, many of the data in the following tables terminate with 
the 1917 crop. 
Acknowledgment for efficient assistance at various times during the course 
of these experiments is made to Messrs. J. A. Ratcliff, C. A. Helm, F. D. 
Keim, H. G. Gould,. Arthur Anderson, W. E. Lyness, H. A. Jones, and Enoch 
Nelson. 
