Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-10-21

such that / estimate the cost of each horse
when 4 years old and ready for the mar
ket at $25. The prices we receive for the
horses are three or four times that
amount, but we must be well paid, for we
have big money invested from the start.
These range horses are shipped into the
market and sold broken and unbroken.
With each lot comes a range man who is
thoroughly acquainted with the business.
He handles the horse for the purchaser.
The herd is easier cared for and lives on
rougher and hitler territory than would
suit for cattle. The horse, after he is
broken is found to be tough and wiry.
His wild life has left him young and
sound at s, while native tame horses are
almost always stiff and sore at that age.
Propagation Of Seed Corn.
Cor Country Gentleman.
The question of the relative value of
the grain and the fodder has been some
what changed by the introduction of the
silO as one of the appliances of modern
farming. Formerly it was desideratum
to produce only so much fodder as was
necessary for the support of the greatest
number of bushels of shelled corn to the
acre. But now, when the stover is pre-
served in green state in the silo, Or even
when it is cut and steamed for stock, the
desirable thing is to develop and balance
the corn plant, so that it shall yield the
largest possible amount of both grain
and fodder-that is, of course, Fhere the
farmer has silo, or cuts and steams his
fodder.
But probably great majority of farm
ers do not, and never Will, use either of
these appliances.
Now, the following question may peril
nently be raised: Are one hundred bush
els Of corn and five tons OF stover worth
more than seventy-five bushels of corn
and seven tons of stOver, or less? AS [
have never used the silo myself, though I
have fed out many thousands of tons of
dry fodder, [ leave it to those who have
to determine this question, also to debate,
whether there is approximate correctness
in the above estimate of the relative pro-
portions of grain and fodder. Let US
consider the more practical question Of
how to develop the heaviest possible yield
of grain per acre, which may be done
with considerable less than the largest
possible production of fodder. [ will
take case in actual practice.
| The corn grown on the famous bottom
lands of the Muskingum River, Ohio,
worth 800 to $3.50 an acre, very seldom
produces 100 bushels of shelled corn per
acre. The Beverly Fair is the nucleus
and representative of these bottom lands.
On the other hand, the Barlow Fair is the
exponent and nucleus of the lands of the
watershed between the Ohio and the
, Muskingum, thinnish red and yellow clay,
worth say $50 an acre. Yet when I
make my annual visit to the Barlow Fair,
| am astOnished at the robust size and
beauty of the ears of corn. That these
clay uplands should equal or surpass our
bottom farms in fruit, wheat and WOOL
is not to Ise wondered at; but that these
farmers should be able to gather out of
their fields so many dozen of baskets OF
ears actually averaging longer Though
not generally so thick, and yielding as
many or more ounces of shelled grain
than the ears grown on the river, is fact
calling for explanation.
My friend, VIM. Eldridge, one of these
upland farmers referred to, though
trifie eccentric, has for many years
| taken hundred bushels of shelled corn
per acre as his objective point, and one
notable fact about his crops is, that most
of the ears grow within three or four feet
of the ground. He gives careful atten
ton to the propagation and preservation
OF his seed, holding that the most careful
selection of seed from corn grown in
large quantities Is, at best, no better
than the purchase OF nice lot of ewes
in lamb, without knowing the character
of the mail parent of their expected off
spring.
The infiorescence Of corn is monucious.
and the pistillate and staminate flowers
are so far apart that it would seem as if
nature had provided against self-fertili
zaSion. Every grain of corn IS the re-
suit of the fertilization of a pistil Or
style (silk) of one blossom by the pollen
shed by the stamens of another (tasseD:
and very often the latter is borne on a
different plant. A stalk of corn stand
ing quite alone generally forms very
few kernels, because the wind carries its
own pollen away, and does not bring any
from other plants to take its place.
Hence there is little more certainty in
the outcome of the grains in a field than
there would be in the color of a cross be-
tween white pig and black pig. Hence
also the motley colors or careless farm
ers' corn-red. yellow, white, ever black,
striped and blotched together over the
kernels on the same ear.
Mr.. Eldridge takes the best ear he can
find in the lot of last years seed crop,
and from it grows a new seed crop each
year. He does not always choose the
largest ear; the one he reserved last fall
was pulled from the stalk September -,
and contained about 1,100 grains. This
ear he dries carefully by the fire, lays 1t
away secure from mice, vermin and damp
until January, when it is shelled by hand
and all the faulty grains removed. The
four hundred or five hundred gains
saved are labeled and laid away until
spring.
After his general crop is planted, these
few hundred choice kernels are put IN,
remote from other corn, among beans
and potatoes and on soil not too rich in
carbonaceous matter, but heavily fertii
lied with phosphate and ashes.
When the corn is in tassel, every OBJ
jectionabIe stalk is removed before it has
time to shed its pollen. Otherwise the
treatment is the same as that given to
the field crop. Dried as above related,
scarcely a single kernel fails to germi-