The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-10-09
THICK SEEDING.
Interesting and Valuable Experiments
Made on the Kansas State Farm.

Interesting and Valuable Experiment.
Made on tho Kansas State Farm.
Thick seeding, subsoiling and ma
nuring for corn formed the subject
for experiments of the Kansas State
Farm in 1888 and again in 1884 and
1885. Prof. Shelton, of the State Ag-
ricultural College, in a recent report
on the last experiments, explains that
the subSoiling was performed by the
ordinary subsoil plow, working at a
depth of four inches in the furrow left
by the ordinary pillow turning 63-inch
deep furrow slice. The MANFRED plats
received one and half two-horse loads
equal to thirty loads per acre-of
manure, only partially rotted. The
thick seeding of this experiment con-
sisted in planting the corn in drills .
feet apart elsewhere the drills were
81 feet apart) and d oubling the ordinary
amount of seed used in each drill, so
that the corn plants stood five inches
apart in the rows. The ordinary cul-
tivation necessary to keep the ground
properly porous and free from weeds
was given all the plats.
The subsoiling, always costly work,
was of no advantage to the growing
crop in this trial. and this is strictly in
line with the results obtained in the
previous experimental work and con-
siderable general experience had at
various times on the college farm. Sub
soiling has been tried on clay lands of
almost every degree of fertility; upon
lands that had been in cultivation a
considerable number of years and with
comparatively new lands; but in no
case was there any considerable in
crease in the yield of the SUBSIDIZED plats,
certainly none at all commensurate
with the cost of subsoiling. Results
from last seasons experiment in ma
nuring did not show any material in
crease in the yield either of grain or
stalks from the application of barn
yard manure. This result is in harmony
with previous experiments. In Prof
Shelton's experience manure made
during the winter months and hauled
on the field the following spring is
rarely of much benefit to crops grown
the first year after such application.
The second and third years, however.
have generally shown very decidedly
the beneficial results of a dressing OF
barn-yard manure. The true policy of
Kansas farmers, Prof. Shelton says, sis
to maintain the condition of the farm
by judicious cropping, thorough cult
walton and pasturing, so that general
ha lad ha
nual yield of manure applied to par
ticular crops and easily accessible
fields"
The results from plats thickly seeded
was yield of II bushels of shelled
corn and PIP tons of stalks per acre, a
gain, as compared with the adjacent
plats plowed in the ordinary way oil
16 bushels of corn and one-half ton OF
fodder. While the quantity of the fod-
der was improved by thick seeding,
the quality of the corn by the same
course was injured. The ears of corn
obtained from the thick-seeded plats
were generally small, though sound,
and the proportion Of 'nubbins' to
sound ears was great Nevertheless,
this plan of thick seeding is well worth
the attention of that large number OF
Kansas farmers who find themselves
each year obliged to look to unusual
sources to supplement their ordinary
fodder supply.
Fodder obtained by the ordinary
methods of field culture is coarse
and not very valuable feed, but corn
thickly planted, as in these expert
mental flats, of necessity grows fine;
the proportion of stems to leaves and
foliage is greatly reduced; on this ac-
count it may be easily harvested and
stored, while the waste in feeding,
from its superior quality, is very light.
Such fodder, when freed from the corn,
is excellent for nearly all purposes for
which ordinary hay is used, but when
fed unhusked, directly from the feed
cutter, it is an unsurpassed feed for
cattle in course of preparation Tor the
shambles.-N Y. WOrI1.