132 [ ASSEMBLY 
other kernels. ‘The corn was planted May 17, and commenced to vege- 
tate May 28. Of three thousand four hundered and twenty kernels of 
each planted, one thousand and thirty-one of the butt kernels, one thou- 
sand one hundred and fifty-four of the central kernels and one thou- 
sand two hundred and ninty-four of the tip kernels were out of the 
ground on May 29, and at the final count, June 8, two thousand seven 
hundred and fifteen, or seventy-nine per cent of the butt kernels, two 
thousand eight hundred and eighty- nine, or eighty-four per cent of 
the central kernels, and two thousand nine hundred and sixty-five, or 
eighty-six per cent of the tip kernels had formed plants. 
Certainly the coincident results of two years’ trials would seem to 
justify the recommendation on our part for farmers to use for seed all 
the kernels from well tipped ears of flint corn. 
In experiments carried on in the garden with very many kinds of 
seed, it was found that the small kernels selected for their diminutive 
size from a normal ear, yielded plants and crops not only equal but 
curiously enough often superior to those grown from kernels of nor- 
mal size. In one case where very small shrivelled kernels of Wausha- 
kum corn were collected from a tassel where abnormally borne, and 
used for seed, the crop was very superior in quality and yield, and every 
ear perfect in type. Sixteen seed yielded eighteen good ears from six 
to nine inches long, and four unmerchantable ears. So far as our ob- 
servations at present extend, the small size of the tip kernels offers no 
objection for certainty of growth or yield, but the hybridization from 
plants from large seedgmay possibly vitiate our trial. 
CULTIVATION. 
Curiously enough we have found no evidence in favor of cultivating 
corn, as distinct from the removal of weeds. It is more than probable, 
as indicated by the lysimeter observations, that in case of severe drought 
the cultivation would have been very beneficial through its agency in 
conserving moisture to the land. The season this year was a wet one. 
Rains were not only frequent, as may be seen from our table of rain- 
fall, but the coolness of the temperature retarded evaporation, and 
thus saved water to the soil. 
To fully understand our this year’s figures, it is necessary to recall | 
the fertilizer applied to these plats last year. One A. one received no 
fertilizer, one A. two, two hundred pounds superphosphate, one A. 
three, four hundred pounds, one A. four, eight hundred pounds, and 
one A. five, one thousand six hundred pounds. ‘The tenth of an acre 
plats were treated as two, the upper half having the weeds removed by 
superficial hoeing, the lower half cultivated. The yields in 1882 were, 
calculated to the acre: 
Yield per acre of sound corn. 
Uncultivated Cultivated 
P half. half. 
1A) 1s monber pli zeniin ens ch cigeh theon 6 oe 54.7% bush. 49.9 bush. 
1 A. 2, 200 pounds of fertilizer ......... 53.8 a" 45.0 < 
1 A. 3, 400 pounds of fertilizer.......... A art lien 3 
1 A. 4, 800 pounds of fertilizer.......... 58.5 06 Pe 
1 A. 5, 1,600 pounds of fertilizer........ Ay fe fect de 3) eae Bel: 
oe oe 
FAWELALG e's 'o aa pst wininle ie cthib sa) caine iy, OO UaEEe S1UG irs 
