The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-02-19

ears the tassel should be broken because
in every corn field there are always mary
barren stalks, and unless the tasscls are
removed early from these, the ears on
the fertile stalks will be fructified by
their worthless pollen, and every grain
that receives through its own strand of
silk this paternal stimulant, will inherit
the characteristic of its father, and in its
turn produce barren stalk.
Seed can not be reliable unless it is the
offspring of fruitful parents. A stock
raisers never allows worthless or inferior
male to breed, so producers of corn, in
selecting their seed, should never let
barren stalk propagate its kind. 1t can
not escape an intelligent observer, that
the tassel is ready for qualification before
the ear on the same stalk is ready to re-
ceive the pollen. This is a provision of
nature against in-and-in breeding.
Moreover, if the tassel of any stalk IS
removed at its first appearance, the ear
on that stalk will not be injured, but "a
ther benefited; for as it will have been
fertilized only by pollen from other tas-
sells, it will sustain no loss by the reno.
val of its own, and the entire energy of
the plant will be utilized in maturing the
grain, and actually mature better ear
than it would naturally have done. Un-
der no circumstances should fodder be
pulled from corn set apart for seed, bt-
cause when the blades are allowed to
remain and dry on the stalks, they assist
in the nourishment of the ear, and add
from 10 to - per cent. to the weight of
each grain. >,
At the time of harvest, the seed should
be selected only from such stalks as pro-
duce not less than two good ears, and of
such two, only the top one should be ia
ken, as this is the first matured, and
proves the most reliable seed. at the
planting season only the largest, best
formed ears should be shelled, preference
being given to those containing the great
est number of rows. The degenerate
corn now generally planted throughout
the South does not average more than lO
rows. or about 400 grains to each ear;
but if ears having l6 or IS rows, or 200
of 500 grains each are secured, the yield
will manifestly be greatly increased by
this method alone.
This is the system ofselcction by which
the we'll known varieties of prolific corn
are produced and by its pursuit every
farmer can, in a few years, make his own
seed as prolific as any that he can buy.
In the late autumn or early winter,
the land designed for the corn crop should
be plowed very deeply with two horse
plow' followed, if practicable, by subsoil:
Deep plowing is essential to successful
corn culture; good crop cannot be made
without it, except in places where the
soil is so very fertile that crops thrive in
spite of neglect. :,
The more deeply the soil is broken and
pulverized by the plow, the greater num-
ber of stalks it will support per acre, the
deeper the roots will penetrate, and the
more protection they will have from the
heat of the sun. The roots of corn will
penetrate directly downward from two to
three feet if the soil is sufficiently broken
to allow of their doing so. But where
the soil is loosened by the plow to the
depth of only three or four inches, as is
generally the case in the South, the roots
soon strike the hard foor-like bottom,
and being unable to penetrate it, strike
out latcrally; and having no depth of
earth as a protection, are exposed to the
heat of the sun. And consequently, un-
der a protracted drought and the intense
heat of summer, the crop has a tendency
to fire.
All of the field trash-grass if any, and
most particularly v all of the COW pea vines
THAT should, in the South, be grown be-
tween all the summer crops)-should be
carefully turned under. This vegetable
matter will decompose during the win
tow months and be transformed into
humus by the spring and early summer,
in due time to afford the needlul nourlsh-
ment to the young plants.
The ordinary Southern farmer, plant
ing from forty to sixty acres in corr, cIn-
not obtain stable manure, nor compost IN
sufficiently quantity to be of much service,
particularly when his supplies of these
manures are always devoted to the cotton
fields; but he can fertilize his corn-heid
with vegetable matter if he carefully
turns his attention to doing so.
Vegetable matter in the soil not only
is productive of fertility, but retains
large amount of moisture, and ifthe crops
are expected to stand the heat of our
climate for from six to nine weeks, and
remain uninjured, the soil must be we'll
supplied with this matter and in addition
the roots must be allowed to penetrate
into it by deep blowing thus roots will
have greater range into which to seek
food; and be protected from the heat of
the sun. Deep culture and vegetable
matter in the soil are the surest preven-
tatives against firing.
In my next will relate my own ex-
pericnce during the past two years.
A. P. ford, BarnweN County, S. c., in
IIo,ne ouI Enrnl