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EXPERIMENTS WITH INDIAN CORN, IN HILLS AND IN DRILLS.

Twenty-four plats, each two rods square, were staked out on the east side of field No. 2, as shown in the following plan, for the purpose of ascertaining the relative advantages of planting corn in hills and in drills. The plats were arranged in two series, designated by the letters M and L, with a strip of beans planted between, to facilitate the equal distribution of labor in the cultivation. The ground was ploughed May 5th, and the manure applied evenly over the surface, was worked in by the cultivator and harrow. Yellow Dent corn was planted on all the plats May 21st, in rows four feet apart. The plats were all cultivated and hoed on the 15th of June, and again on the 7th of July, the plants being thinned so as to leave the same number of stalks on each piece.

The M plats, planted in drills, were cultivated twice in each row at the time of hoeing, while the L plats, planted in hills, were cultivated once in a row each way, at the time of hoeing. In the cultivation of the crop, it was proposed to expend, as far as possible, the same amount of labor on each series of the plats.

On the 17th of September the stalks were cut up at the bottom, and secured in "stooks" in good order. The corn was husked and weighed in the plats numbered 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, in each series, on the 6th of October, and in plats numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, in each series, on the 9th of October, the stalks being bound and carefully set up again in "stooks." On the 12th of October the stalks were hauled to the barn, in good condition, a separate weighing being made for each plat. The weight of corn in the ear, and for the stalks for each plat is given, in the following plan of the experiment.

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PLAN OF EXPERIMENTS WITH CORN IN HILLS AND IN DRILLS, SHOWING THE YIELD OF CORN AND STALKS FOR EACH PLAT, IN POUNDS AND DECIMALS OF A POUND.

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The north plats in each series were nearly level, the soil containing considerably more clay than the plats at the south end of the series. In comparing plats of the same number in each series, there was, apparently, no difference in the character of the soil. The quality of the corn was rather better on the plats planted in hills. In the following tables the results are given for each plat, as estimated by the acre. In the column of shelled corn, seventy pounds of ears has been estimated as equal to a bushel (of 56 lbs.) of shelled corn.

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