370 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
there from eighteen inches to two feet in height, and is said to produce 
corn fit for eating in seven weeks after planting. Seed obtained of Regent 
N. B. Van Slyke. A few hills of this variety were planted May 9; the most 
forward ears upon which were thoroughly glazed and ripe July 29, or 81 
days from time of planting. The ears are small, the grain white. It will 
be of little value, only for a very early variety in gardens. 
Hon. W. W. Field, of Boscobel, exhibited at the State Fair in 1869, a 
stalk of pop-corn bearing ten fully ripened ears. Fifty hills were planted 
with seed from this stalk to ascertain if this prolific tendency could be 
fixed by propagation. No stalk of these fifty hills bore more than three 
ears. 
Method of Saving Seed Corn, —In 1869, from the same field of the Dutton 
-variety, some of the earliest ripening ears were picked and traced up 
i mmediately. The stalks bearing others of the earliest ears, were cut and 
the ears allowed to ripen upon the stalk. And at the time of husking^ 
seed w &3 saved in the ordinary manner, with no reference to its time of 
ripening. Plats of each of these varieties of seed were planted the past 
spring, and seed again saved from each plat in the same manner as that 
from which the plat was planted. It is proposed to continue this experi¬ 
ment through a series of years to ascertain to what extent the time of 
ripening may be changed by care in selecting the earliest maturing ears 
for seed. There was no visible difference between the plats this season. 
To ascertain the relative value of seed from different portions of the ear, 
as from the tips, the .middle and the butts, adjacent plats were planted last 
spring with seed from these different parts. Seed has been saved from 
each plat, which will receive similar treatment another year, the butts of 
ears raised from butts alone to be planted, that from the middle of the ears 
raised from middle, etc.; the same treatment to be continued for several 
years. No weighed results are reported from this experiment this year, as 
the seed was purchased ,and was all poor. Even that from the middle of 
the ear did not all germinate. 
OATS. 
To compare the different kinds of oats now in cultivation, five varieties 
were sown, as follows: 
Ramsdale Norway Oats.-— One .and one-fourth bushels sown April 27, 
upon % acre of ground. One bushel weighed 8334 pounds. Sample 7. 
Harvested August 9. Yield by weight, 878 pounds. Weight of one bushel, 
24.4 pounds. Yield per acre, 23.6 bushels. 
Surprise Oats. One and one-fourth bushels sown April 27, upon 34 acre. 
Weight of one bushel, 4\% pounds. Sample 8 . Harvested July 18. Yield 
by weight, 184 pounds. Weight of one bushel 26.3 pound. Yield per 
acre, 11.6 bushels. 
White Norway Oats.— One and , one-fourth bushels sown April 27, upon 
