176 REPORT OF THE HORTICULTURIST OF THE 
CULTIVATION WITH REsPEcT TO Root MUTILATION. 
Object of the Experiment: To ascertain if that cultivation which 
secures the most thorough stirring of the soil with the least 
possible injury to the roots is not most conducive to the 
crop. ; 
In this experiment three methods of treatment were compared, 
viz.: no cultivation, ordinary cultivation and what I will term 
ideal cultivation. In the first, the weeds were to be kept 
down by hand or with the scuffle hoe, but no further stirring of 
the soil permitted; in the second, the spaces between the rows 
were to be traversed twice in a place and at two different times 
with the ordinary corn cultivator in ordinary condition; that is to 
say, the cultivator not to be of the latest improved style nor in 
the best condition ; in the third the soil to be stirred thoroughly 
to the depth of 5 or 6 inches in the parts of the spaces not occu- 
pied by the roots, but to the depth of only one inch where the 
roots were present. In the last method the shallow cultivation 
was to be accomplished by the garden rake, and the deep by 
means of the one-horse plow. At the first cultivation the plow 
was to be passed 4 times through each space, keeping at least 8 . 
inches from the hills; at the last it was to be passed only twice 
through each space, keeping carefully at the center. 
The experiment was carried out as planned. It occupied 12 
plats of one-twentieth acre each, designated on the Station chart 
as C 1-11 inclusive, and D1. As in the preceding experiment, 
individual rows were compared rather than individual plats. A 
portion of the rows, however, had to be rejected from the experi- 
ment, as those falling between the two methods of cultivation 
could not be treated alike on both sides. The tests were made in 
three series, as follows: 
First series. Nocultivation contrasted with “ordinary” cultivation. 
Second series. No cultivation contrasted with “ideal” cultivation. 
Third series. “Ordinary” cultivation contrasted with “ideal” 
cultivation. 
The plats, on which no fertilizer was used, were planted May 21, 
the corn being dropped 2 kernels in a hill, the hills 2 feet apart 
in rows 4 feet apart. The first cultivations were performed June 
8, when the corn was 4—5 inches tall, and the second and last 
