The Indiana State sentinel., 1885-09-09
OUR FARM BUDGET.
Save Your Seed Corn Woodworking
Difficulties in Milking.
~ mulatiDg Old Trees-Preparing Sheep for
bAarket-WOOLHOney-
hold Hints and Farm
Notes, Etc.
save Your Seed Corn Now.


The selection of seed corn should be made
while the corn is standing in the field. 1t is
then that its progress in growth may be
noted, a. also its prOlificacy and adaptation
10 the climate in which it is grown. Seed
corn should be selected from special plants.
The farmer should inspect every portion of
the field, and mark the stalks containing the
ears desired. Only those who have given
this mode of selection their attention are
aware of the advantages of annually select
ing the best ears on well grown stalks. A
field of corn in Nelson Counto Virginia, ten
years ago, which was inspected by a commit
tee from Philadelphia, yielded at the rate of
100 bushels to the acre, the stalks containing
from four to seven ears each, and yet this
had been obtained simply by selection. The
corn had also been adapted to the soil, and
though giving such good results in that To-
cality proved failure elsewhere. The far
mer had a variety of COIN best suited to his
purpose, but which possessed no advantages
TO farmers in other sections, which should
convince those interested of the importance
of selecting seed corn on the farm ins; cad of
depending on Others.
Prolific corn is not always desirable on
some farms. Unless the soil is fertile such
corn will not fill up in the ear as it should.
The climate and soil must correspond with
the quality of the corn in order to secure
satisfactory results and hence il is some
times unwise TO resort to new varieties with
out testing them in few rows. One of the
difficulties to be encountered with seed corn
is its proper preservation through the win
ter. DIR. Sturtevant has given much of his
valuable time in experimenting rs To the
best method of so doing, ond he is of the
opinion that no corn shOald be used for seed
unless it has been thoroughly dried and if
necessary, dried in the kiln. The manner of
preservation of seed seems TO have strong in
tiuence upon its vitality. Corn seed thor
Oughly dried at a temperature of from 20 to
80 degrees terminates better than seed not
50 carefully managed but it Is better to dry
the corn at 100 degrees, and keep il in some
place OF even temperature and free from
slampness.
Although corn Will not ordinarily germin-
ate at a lower temperature than 4So, according
10 experiments made vet when dried at a
temperature of 1909, grains have terminated
at f10, though slowly. The difficulty in
majority of cases is due 10 the corn not be-
ing sufficiently dried before being Laid away
for the winter. When the selection Is made
in the field, as il should be AT this season,
the corn may easily be cured by keeping it
IN a room containing stove. 1t should not
be harvested, however, until fully matured,
and only the best formed ears chosen
should it be desired to change the seed, as is
often recommended, do not discard the old
variety, but plant few rows of some suita-
bic kind among the rows from the old seed,
and let cross be made by fertilization but
care should be taken not 10 make a ra lical
change. Cross the flint varieties with a flint
variety only, and under no conditions mix
yellow and white corn. All that is necessary
is to grow and select your own corn seed,
crossing it occasionally with the same kind
of corn from another farm, but it is not adj
yisable to procure seed from distance unless
certain it is suitable to your soil and climate.