News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-08-23
Saving Seed Corn.

The growing of good, sound seed corn
that will yield a maxium crop, properly
begins year beforehand in the shaping
OF the character of the seed. Therefore
select the seed Of 1884 and 1885 from
the ears already growing Ill the field,
and give it special care. As rule, any
thrifty farmer can raise better seed than
he can buy, and it should be III his pro
gramme every year to give his personal at
tention to the growing of his own seed
corn. There is money in it. The aver
age yield of Indian corn for the whole
country is not far from twenty-five bush
els to the acre, and the total yield some
! times reaches one billion seven hundred
million bushels. With the best hus-
bandry, which means good seed, good
soil, manure and tillage, it is not diff
cult to raise soventy-fye bushels to the
| acre. If fine, sound seed corn, with a
good pedigree, would add only ten per
| cent. to the the yield Of this crop, it
would increase the annual yield one
hundred and seventy million bushels,
worth eighty-fve million dollars. Every
thinking farmer must see that he has
a money interest i'll securing sound seed
corn and in knowing just what he
plants. He is suffering loss every year,
probably from want of little timely
attention to this matter. He uses I'M
sound corn, possibly, for seed, selects
from the corn-crib the best he can find,
or borrows from a neighbOr as careless
as himself about the seed that he plants
A part Of the corn rOts in the field, and
he has to plant over, which makes extra
expense. The late planted corn is caught
by the frost, and he suffers loss in the
large proportion of soft corn that he
harvests. The stover is not as well
cured for fodder, and cattle refuse the
mouldy mass. Heredity counts for as
much in vegetable as in animal life. To
get maximum crops, you must have seed
perfect after its kind, with the normal
quantity of starch, gluten, oil, and other
constituents that belong to it. The
plant must be well fed, cultivated, and
ripened in its appropriate season to ma
ture this kind of seed
We say, then, select your ears for seed
corn, as they stand upon the stalk, in
August Or September-perfect ears, well
capped Put a string upon them, or
some mark, by which they can be iden-
tilted, and let them mature upon the
stalk. To make sure of perfect drying,
hang them up in punches upon the
south side Of a building, OF in a we'll
ventilated loft, or room with fire in it.
The perfect driving of seed corn is an
important item. The corn should not be
shelled until the cob is thoroughly
dried. When you are ready for plant
ing, pour the seed corn into a vessel of
water, and skim off every kernel that
floats. That which sinks to the bottom
of the water is the best, and, with suit
able conditions of soil and climate, will
eerminato and bear frrit aff =. ii- kind
Corn yields very kindly to all intelligent
efforts to increase its productiveness and
improve its quality. By selecting ears
from stalks that bear two or more ears,
you can increase the number of ears. |
By selecting ears of twelve or more rows, |
YOU can increase the number of kernels |
upon the cob, always provided that you
give the corn plant food enough to do
its best in the harvest. Farmers who
look carefully after their seed corn, and
raise seventy-fve bushels to the acre, DO
not doubt that it is a paying crop
American Agriculturist iOr Augaest.