Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1889-10-24
SELECTING SEED corn.
An Old-Fashioned Way Iha Is as Goo,
To-day as Ever II Was.

oEIcO lN0 SEEO COhN.
An Old-Fashi0ned Way 1ha u as Good
To-day as Ever IL Was.
My plan for nearly forty years has
been TO select seed corn as | husk,
choosing ears well filled out at both
ends with grains OF proper shape and
length. ] take a sack along TO the
field into which ! put such selected
ears, and when we unload | carry this
to the loft of the granary and spread
the corn out, taking care TO remove,
before hard freezing weather, a por-
ton, at least sufficient for my own use,
TO chamber in the house To make a
sure thing OF it. This precaution
might not be necessary every year, but
1t is better to be on the safe side, for
IL there Is any moisture in the cob,
hard freezing will injure the germ. /
think it was in the spring of 1851 that
farmers had great deal OF trouble in
getting seed corn that would grow,
and nearly every one hereabouts
had TO replant. some the second
time, and it was well along in
June before corn made any showing
TO speak OF. The latter part OF June
OF that year | took load of wheat to
Canal Fulton. When within few
miles OF Fulton | noticed quite large
field of corn nearly knee high, very
uniform and beautiful. 1t was very
remarkable for that year. and, young
farmer that ! then was. | was anxious
to learn the secret of the owners sue
cess. ! found him and asked him
about it. He told me that few years
before he went TO Pennsylvania on
visit and brought home with him some
seed corn, which he kept in his stove
room all winter, planted it in the
spring and he said he believed every
grain grew. and that he had kept his
seed corn in the same way the winter
before and the result was fine field
OF corn, while his neighbors, and in
fact the farmers throughout all this
section OF the country, We're mourn
ing over their gloomy corn prospects.
remembered the fact, and ever
since have followed the same plan
with my seed corn. or nearly the same.
The family not caring to have a box OF
seed corn in the living room all winter,
place it, as said, in room up stairs
that has flue in it, and my seed al
ways grows. plant just what ! want
to grow and no more, for il more is
put in, the work of thinning would be
greater than the planting, a jon that
is hardly ever attended TO, and then
we get plenty OF fodder but little corn,
which is not the object sought by the
majority OF farmers Crows, chip
hunks, etc. do not seem to modest the
corn much lately. Years ago it was
very common TO set up scare crows and
all kinds of cOntrivances to scare the
birds, and to set ''deadfalls' all round
the fields TO kill the chipmunks, but
that is all done away with. remem-
Der, when dropping corn in my boy
hood days, hearing this saying often
quoted: "One for the cut worm, one
for the crow, one for the blackbird and
three for to grow
Every farmer knows what vexa-
ton and loss of time and labor it is to
have to replant his corn, and that I'M
less he fits his ground over again. the
weeds will have gotten such start by
the time the second planting is big
enough TO work that the labor of cult
waiting is more than doubled. Again,
good seed corn can be planted, even
while the ground is yet somewhat cold,
with much less liability to rot, and
will terminate and De making root,
and thus get an earlier start: very
important matter. considering our
short seasons and the killing frOsts
that sometimes come as early rs Sep
TENDER. The habh that still clings TO
some persons of going to the cOrn-crib
at planting time and scratching over
and hunting out their seed is very I'M
wise and improvident, but in spite OF
all the advice and the experience Of
careful and thoughtful farmers that
have been published, and the practical
lectures that are delivered at our insti-
tutes from time to time for the benefit
of farmers, some will be careless and
thoughtless, and barely make both
ends meet, if, in fact, they do not run
under, but precept and example are
doing their work, and the number of
such is fast diminishing Cor. Ohio
Farmer.