40 
We thus infer that a cool temperature of the soil is ad-— 
vantageous to the yield of potatoes, and that a cool season 
is favorable to this crop. 
So far as our present experience justifies, we can assert 
that the character of the season is more determining in its 
effects, than the quantity of fertilizer used. 
SEED CORN. 
Last year we determined the fact that in our trials the 
kiln drying of seed corn increased greatly its value and cer- 
tainty for seed purposes. Other experiments at that time 
indicated a larger germinating quality in corn that was 
kiln-dried in the best selected corn of the same variety from 
the crib. 
This spring, experiments in the same line did not indicate 
the same difference in germinative properties, the seed 
having been dried only immediately preceding the trial, but 
what is more important, they have indicated the greater 
vigor of the plant which is grown from kiln-dried seed. 
While in germination, in one trial, the vitality as expressed in 
per cents was precisely the same as between two lots of 500 
seeds each, the one corn from the crib, and the other thor- 
oughly dried over a radiator, viz. 94 per cent., yet when 
this same corn was planted in the earth the difference 
became very marked, the corn from the crib giving but twenty 
per cent. vegetation, and the same corn kiln-dried giving 80 
ercent. vegetation. The difference was even more marked 
in the growth, the corn from the crib only attaining a 
height of three inches, while that from the kiln-dried seed 
had reached the height of five inches in the same time. 
While it is not safe to generalize from single instances or 
from few trials, yet these results are sufficiently striking to 
justify us in calling the attention of farmers to this point, 
as there is always a large loss in practical farming arising 
from the non-germination of seed and vacant spaces which 
would have been filled provided the seed had been of the 
best quality. 
The advice so frequently given in our press, of selecting 
seed corn is very proper, as selection is one of the most im- 
portant agencies we have toward improving the quality of 
our cereals and vegetables, but it is an experience of ours 
whose truth cannot be questioned, that as between two 
samples of equally fresh seed preserved under different. cir- 
cumstances, there may be a very wide difference in germin- 
ative and vegetative properties, and that freshness of seed 
alone, and careful selection alone, is not sufficient in every 
case to furnish the best results. In addition, the method 
of preserving the seed must be considered as of importance, 
for our trials with seeds of primarily equally good quality 
ans nite 


