Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-04-30
PROFESSOR TELLS THE FARMERS
THE REQUISITES FOR A GOOD
CROP.
MUST MAKE TEST
WITH EVERY EAR
Iowa Seed Corn is Bad and Great
Care Must Be Exercised If Good
Crop is to Be Raised Tells How to
Select and Test Seed.

Select your seed corn, test 1t. se-
cure an even stand and your battle
for a good crop is half Won" declar-
ed Professor P. G. Holden. of the
Iowa State agricultural college, in his
address before 500 Clark county farm
efs IN the Osceoa court room last ey-
ening. BY all means select native
seed corn. Do not import seed, but
Wherever you buy, buy your seed in the
ear"
In discussing these general rules
Professor Holden said in part.
Corn can be bred just like cattle,
hogs and horses. There is this advant-
age that breeding corn need not neces-
sarlly cost you a cent In money. A lit
tie care and attention and few hours
TIME before you actually begin your
seeding in the springtime is all that
will be required.
Do Not Import.
First Of all do not import your seed
corn. Use native corn. II
your ,neighbor has better corn than
you buy of him. There is corn in
every section of Iowa that Is Just as
good as can be found anywhere on
earth. This corn is thoroughly accli-
mated and you will be taking no
chances in using it,
by all means buy your seed corn in
the ear. Do not under any circum-
stances buy shelled seed corn. The
reasons for this you will see later.
/ Select every single ear of your seed
corn. Get good strong ears, perfectly
filled out, OF good size, with good large
i grains, that are perfectly arranged on
the cob. Remember that on an average
about fourteen ears will plant an acre
and 1T behooves you to see that every
one of the fourteen is a. good ear. IL
: your seed averages one poor ear ~
fourteen you can rest assured that " ~
acre of every fourteen you plaI {, s o4,sf 10
raise poor corn and will give IlI,I.
!, just return for your Wlrk. -. ItgRo Z
ITO select your seed corn lay M~-s~s,
In a row on a board placed on two bar-
rels. boxes or chairs. IL you have a
table convenient use 1t. Take each ear.
study 1t carefully, examine the grains
[ and If 1t meets the requirements that
. you have established In your mind put
1t back on your board. If 1t does not
: meet these REG .irements throw 1t out.
: Go over your entire lot Of corn. In the
: end you will have the best ears laid out
in row.
!, Testing the Seed.
al 1.-THE next step Is to test your seed.
, This is especially necessary this year.
: The corn last year had an unusually
: large per cent of water in 1t. Before
: it was entirely dried out and cured the
temperature dropped below the frees
Ing point and the terminating power
of the grain was killed Corn this year
that appears to be perfect In every res
spect is absolutely dead SO far as grow
ing power is concerned.
Testing corn can easily be done
: Every ear must be tested separately.
, Number your ears in any manner that
presents itself to you. Get you a bog
or set of little boxes of any kind. 1t
= Hoac ma what Stza lf In
3 layer of sand slightly damp. over
r this spread a piece Of cloth that you
have previously marked out in squares
much like a checker board. Have these
squares numbered to correspond with
your ears OF corn. Take two, three or
;. four grains from the middle section of
. the ear from different rows and place
them in the proper square. Dampen
: another cloth and spread 1t over the
J. grains Of corn and over this place a
, thin layer Of sand or dirt. Let the box
remain in room where the tempera-
. ture is moderately warm. In about
}, forty eight hours you can remove the
top cloth and the dirt and examine
your seed. If none of your seed has
sprouted put the cloth and dirt back
) and give it another day. If 1t will
!. grow at all 1t Will sprout by this time
Z" You will have no trouble in decid-
ing which are the good, strong, vigor-
Gus sprouts. Those that are weak and
puny or the grains that do not sprout
at all will tell you with the aid of the
V, numbers on the squares which ears
that you are testing are worthless OF
poor. Throw these away.
Next take the ears that you have
selected and sort them out according
to the size and shape of the grain. The
large grain ears put in one pile and ths
"a smaller In another. Then take eact
II ear and shell off the grains for an fncf
:, or SO at both ends. Throw these grains
= away. The end grains vary In size and
"a experiment has proven that they dt
z. not give the best results when used fol
y seed Shell each pile separately. Thil
y is absolutely necessary if you are t.
expect a good stand.
J. '"rake small quantity from eacl
m pile, put your planter on q floor ant
~ experiment, setting the plates so tina
ar it will drop exactly the right number o
W seeds in each hill. You cannot be to'
careful about this point. Three grain
seem to give the best results.
w Set the plates in your planter 81
"a "a so that 1t will drop, nine times out Q
~ ten, three grains in each hill. II !
,e misses one grain in every two hill
a. your crop will be reduced just one
- sixth and one acre In every six tina
g. you plant will be lost to you. Ii yo
mr. plant $50 acres you will be astonish
~ ed when you realize that your. actua
nd ana totai loss VIII oe apoue twerly
seven acres.
Experiment. Stations.
Just word upon another poin
en- story, Marshall. Boone and other coun
ne ties have established experiment sta
of tions at their county farms. and the
g. are getting wonderful results. Go
ps your supervisors, persuade them
IL turn a part of the county farm into a
to experiment station for corn breeding
We The Iowa Agricultural college will as
sist In the work and you will soon b
n able to secure from the station all tn
saed 1nrsr,r ff1a at ~vnu rJuin raaG - Ll..