The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-09-25
SEED CORN FAMINE.
Warning to Farmers-.Advice as to
How to Gather Corn.
From Tuesdays Daily.

HOW 10 Gather corn.
From Tuesdays Daily.
Owing to the cold, wet season, the cor
crop in Minnesota and surrounding state
is rlpeing so late that very seriou
shortage is threatened in home grow
, seed for next years planting. The ex
perlence of last year should be taken a
a valuable lesson, and every bushe
OF the best ears of the best yieldin,
varieties which ripen this season SHOULD
be selected, thoroughly dried and care
fully stored for use or sale for plant
ing. The ears of first quality should b,
saved to grow in hills, or thinly in drill.
to produce grain; those of second aualit,
should be saved to plant thicl<ly in drills
for fodder or silage. There is always 6
good market for the second quality Of
Minnesota dent varieties to plant thick
ly for fodder corn, though at less
price than for corn suitable to grow fol
ears.
There is growing appreciation of the
small varieties of northern dent corr
to plant thickly for fodder 1t is useful
for wintering horses and sheep, as well
as for cattle. 1t is very easily grown
cleans the land of weeds for grain crops
and yields enormous quantities of food
per acre. When grown thickly, corn does
not bear ears, but the substance of the
grain is largely distributed throughout
the stems and leaves. 1t is more valu-
able per ton as dry fodder or as ensilage
than slower from which ears have been
husked, or than fodder corn grown from
the seed of the larger southern varieties.
| Fodder of these small varieties of dent
corn is strong competitor of the hay
crop.
The great demand for and scarcity of
seed last year caused the filling of many
orders regardless of the fitness of varie-
ties to localities. Farmers. settling in
Minnesota from southern homes, brought
with them varieties of seed corn entire
" unsuited to the changed climatic con-
ditions. Land agents have sometimes
been guilty of advising such course.
Last years experience emphasizes the
need of prompt attention this fall to saw
ing seed corn to plant or sell next spring.
The cold, moist season of 1902 caused
the corn crop of Minnesota and surround
ing states to mature so late that much
of it was seriously injured by frost be-
fore it was ripe. The cold, wet fall
made it difficult to properly cure seed
corn under any circumstances. Even the
ears selected and saved for seed before
the crop was harvested were not in all
cases so cured that a very large per-
centage would terminate Much of it
would not grow, or only small part of
it would terminate and that with weak
vitality. Farmers who depended upon
selecting seed from the crib or from
the shocks left out through the winter
found that their seed would not grow.
Some of the seed corn planted last
spring was weak and either rotted in
the ground, or did not come forward with
it's full vigor. Seed dealers, even where
unusual precautions were taken to store
their seed, lost portions of their stocks.
The general shortage of seed corn led to
the importation of seed from southwark
and many of the varieties thus supplied
to farmers would not ripen in an aver,
age year, and the present season having
been usually wet and cool, they are
ripening too late to produce grain. On
the whole, the growing tendency to plant
a large acreage to corn was seriously
checked by the scarcity of seed.
Those farmers who saved and properly
dried seed corn of suitable varieties had
no trouble in securing good stand this
year and readily disposed of any surplus
that they may have had. Corn is semi
tropical plant and will not terminate,
but will rot in cold, wet soils, or if plant
ed too early in the spring. The grow
ing season is short in Minnesota for
maturing corn. This makes 1T necessary
to give it a good start when planted
Hence the need of extra precautions in
saving and drying the seed, that severe
cold and changeable weather during the
winter may not injure the germlnatlve
power. /,
The season of 1903 has been even
more adverse than that of 1902 and the
corn crop is very backward. The dry
ing season will be very short, if not also
very moist, making the curing of seed
corn again very difficult matter.
Frosts will in all probability kill great
deal of corn this fall before it is ripe
enough for seed This makes the chances
much in favor of very limited supply
of seed corn for next years planting, and
high prices will surely prevail. The sup
eriority of homegrown varieties over
those brought in from farther south can
hardly be over estimated. The past sea-
son has demonstrated this so thorough
" that in years to come home grown
seed corn will be at premium.
In some cases the best method of Sc
lecting seed ears will be to 60 through
the field with basket or bag and snap
off the large ears. These can be carried
to the edge of the field and drawn to
the barns. The ears should not lay in
piles, for they soon become heated and
the germs are thus weakened or de-
stroyed. They may be husked so as to
leave several husks on the shank of the
ear. Such ears may be tied or braided
together and hung in room where all
can freely circulate, or possible where
the sun will help to dry them out. An
other good place to hang them is oVel
the kitchen stove, or in a room or atlt
through which the heat from the kitchen
stove passes either through the stove
pipe or an opening in the floor above the
stove. Where there is large fool
space available, the seed ears may bt
spread out thinly on the floor. The!
should be examined and stirred as Otter
as necessary to keep them dry. Ii thu
corn is cut with a corn binder wheI
the kernels are well glazed, there is lit
tie danger of the seed being injured while