The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1903-03-27

good stand it is necessary to ex-
ercise great care IA SELECTING and
sorting :, the seed. All ears with
very large or very small kernels
should be thrown out no matter
how perfect they are in other re-
spects, The same is true Of all ears
with very thick OF: very thin kernels
or with very short or long narrow
grains and tho irregular butt and tip
kernels should be: shelled off. In
other words, no planter will give an
even stand unless the kernels are
Of uniform size and shape.
know of no one thing that would
do more to increase the yield of corn
on every farm in Iowa that the
careful selecting and sorting of the
seed corn both IN the ear and after it
is shelled and then stay with it un.
til the planter will drop the desired
number of kernels at least ninety
times out of one hundred tests. It
may be necessary to have tie plates
OF the planter drilled or get new
ones, or take more care in sorting
out the large small and irregular
kernels. The main things to stay
with it until the work is satisfact-
DRY. The preparation of the seed
corn and the testing of the planter
should be done during the latter
part of February and fore part of
March. If this important work is
put Oft until April or May it is very
likely neglected, as is too often the
case. This is simply matter of
good business management and no
one can afford to neglect it.
Third: It is a good plan to make
a test of the vitality Of the seed
before the sorting is done to deter
mine whether it is fit for seed pllr-
poses or not. This can best be done
by selecting from the pile say fifty
or one hundred ears and removing
two or three kernels from each ear
and testing them. If the termination
test shows "a per cent or above the
seed will certainly be in good condi-
ton.
1t is important ttat each ear of
corn be shelled by itself so that
it can be examined more closely
before it goes in with the rest of
the corn. If the kernels are shrunken
at the tips too pointed, discolored
or the germ is small, indie ating low
feeding value the whole ear should
be discarded. If, on the other hand
the corn is all shelled together it
will be impossible to select out all
these weak kernels.
After the corn has been sorted,
shelled and thoroughly tested in
the planter it should be put in sacks,
about a bushel in each sack, and
hung up in dry place in the loft or
where there is thorough circulation
If air and where it will be free from
mice.
About the twentieth of April a
thorough termination teet should
be made. There are many methods
of doing this and any of them will
be satisfactory. The important
thing is to not fail to made the test.
About one hundred kernels should
be taken from each sack by running
the hand down into the corn so as
to get fair average sample.
One of the simplest methods of
testing seed corn, and. one which
requires little attention is to fold
up twenty-five or fifty kernels of
the corn to be tested in a piece OF
wet paper and put in box. There
is nothing better than a cigar box
for this purpose. The paper should
be thoroughly wet and several thick
nesses used so that it will not dry
OUT.
In order to make thorough test
it will be we'll to prepare at least
five or six samples like the one
described above. They should all
be put into the small box end a
string tied around it to hold the
cover down to prevent the samples
of corn from drying out. AT the
end of three days it will be we'll
to examine the corn and it the
papers are getting dry they can be