Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1885-11-13
Experience with Seed Corn.

The experience of farmers with corn this
year, says correspondent of the Weekly
Iress, is worth putting on record. In gem
eral the seed was good, because the corn
matured well last fall before frost came.
These who selected seed from the field in
september had the best of seed, and better
than 1t is possible to secure by trusting to
the old plan Of selecting from the crib at
planting time. Careful observers have long
been of the opinion that corn cut as soon as
glazed and hung up in loft to dry out
thoroughly before freezing weather germi-
mates with the greatest vigor. The differ
ence in favor of the early selection is always
apparent in the growth. Last fall the sea-
son favored drying, so that ears hung up in
the courthouse loft in September became
thoroughly dry before winter set in. Every
grain tested in April between sods, out of
doors, terminated.
The reason for preferring full-dried seed
corn is usually supposed to be that it is not
damaged by intense cold as readily as is corn
which contains large per cent. Of moisture.
Corn in the crib does not dry so thoroughly,
and when an intensely cold spell catches it
in the sweat the damage to the germ is fatal,
or, If not that, it at least makes the growth
from such corn very feeble.
From these facts we may say that the
condition of seed corn as to the moisture it
contains is specially important Thorough
ly dry corn will endure cold for weeks,
with the thermometer below zero. If, how
ever, 1t is not dry and in the sweat In the
crib severe freeze is damaging. These
conclusions we have reached from several
tests. II is the common belief among farm
ers that seed corn should be kept in room
where it will not freeze, hence they put it
in the kitchen or in the kitchen loft. Now,
this is good precaution, but not always
complete protection. Suppose, after wash
day, when the corn has been exposed all
day TO the accumulation Of steam in the
room, the mercury should fall 200 below
zero in the night, or even below zero in the
kitchen or loft, as it did last winter. The
danger is, then far greater than if the corn
had been kept in cold, dry place, not sub
ject to such extremes of heat and cold, and
especially of moisture
Experiments have shown that if corn is
thoroughly dried in the fall by kiln-drying,
or hanging In dry atmosphere with tenn
perature Of 800 TO 1909, and kept dry, it will
endure the severest cold without injury to
its vitality. SO important is dryness to safe
keeping of seed corn, that we must secure
that rather than warmth. Corn will stand
when dry heat Of 2060, but if not dry, its
germinative power will be injured at 1902.
So corn that is not free from moisture is
liable to injury both by heat and cold.
Dryness then is the chief thing in secur-
ing the supply of seed corn. If it cannot
be thoroughly dried before freezing weather
by hanging in dry loft, then kiln.dry it,
and you are safe if you keep dry Seed
dried at a temperature of 70o to 800 was
found at New York Experiment Station to
terminate far better than corn of same
growth from a crib. Corn taken from the
crib and exposed TO temperature of 206o
failed to terminate at ali. The corn taken
from same crib and dried in temperature
Of 800 to 1909, and then exposed to tenn
perature OF 206o, all terminated.
so sudden extremes OF temperature are
damaging to seed corn, whether it be ex-
IRENE cold or heat.
Failures " get good stand of corn came
last spring not from good seed, but In many
cases from too loose ground. The ground
pulverzed very finely, because OF the long
continued freezing Of last winter. We could
pillow deeper with same power than usual.
Many of us planted ground which had not
been packed by rains between the time OF
breaking and planting. In such cases much
of the corn went in little too deep. It
germinated, but persisted before II came
up" On digging for such, we found the
corn sound and the roots dried up and dead ,
because Of the great openness and porosity
of the ground below them. Corn in the same
field, planted same day, OF same seed, by
same planter, on ground broken last fall,
made good stand every grain came The
land broken in the fall had settled, so the
young rootlets found hold and nourish-
ment sufficient, which was not the case in
the freshly plowed land with its widely
separated particles. We are satisfied much
corn failed to come, because Of this honey
combed condition Of the seed-bed rather
than from bad weather or bad seed.
Corn will terminate at a low temperature,
say from $40 to 48o, as shown by Sachs and
Sturtevant But it is only corn that has
been properly cared for that will endure
these extremes OF cold and heat, dryness and
moisture. To avoid loss and reduce risk we
must select and thoroughly cure or dry seed
corn in the fall