The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1904-05-05
THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SEED
CORN.
A Short Talk by Henry Wallace,
Editor of Walldces' Farmer,
Des MOines. Iowa.

you people are III Cne naDlC OF growing |
so bushels; some years 60, 70, and so;
possibly once in while so to 100
bushels. 1t is evident, therefore, that
somebody s., is growing corn at a loss.
Thirty-two bushels in average years
pays about the labor cost of growing
corn and allows about $500 for rent.
The man who grows much less than this
gets nothing but pay for his labor,
and poor prices for that. To grow so or
80 bushels Of corn requires rich land,
favorable season, thorough preparation
of the soil, the selection of a kind OF
corn adapted to the locality, absolutely
certain to germinate, and so planted
that a full stand is required.
That full stand in this locality is
three grains per hill, planted with
] 3-foot S-inch planter, or 1920 stalks per
acre. Ii farmer can grow an ear of
corn per hill weighing pound, he will
have about 46.5 bushels per acre, and if
of good variety it will shell out so
bushels. If he can grow two pounds
per hill he will have about 100 bushels.
1t looks easy don't it?
| Given good land, thorough cultiva-
ton, and a good season, this can be
done. 1t was done in few cases even
last year, and will be done in more
cases this year, and when farmers set
themselves to work earnestly to solve
this problem 100 bushels per acre will
not be SO unusual.
| Outside Of cultivation, rotation of
crops, the quality of soil, and the
season, there are three essential things
the selection of a variety adapted to
the locality, the securing of perfect
termination, and a perfect stand. |
Dn1x- ri,,{e,
First, the selection of the right kind of
corn-a kind adapted to the locality.
How far farmers are short in this may
may be seen from this chart giving the
results of the planting of forty varieties
of corn at Ames last year, the seed
being furnished by farmers from tho
seed they intended to plant. You will
notice that the ten highest yielding
varieties yielded at the average rate of
| 77.46 bushels per acre. The ten lowest
yielding varieties gave but an average
of 27.S9 bushels, the range being from 81
bushels per acre to less than bushels
This experiment has been duplicated in
Kansas and in one of the northwestern
counties of Iowa with similar results.
Therefore, it is evident that great
many of you people are not planting the
right kind OF corn.
If you send to distance, and espec-
tally if YOU send south or across the
Missouri river for the bulk of your seed,
you are almost certain to get a kind of
corn that is not adapted to your local
ity, is not at home there, and will not
be at home until after it is acclimated,
which will require at least three years.
Therefore do not send away for the bulk
Of your seed corn. Get that from some
good careful farmer in your own neigh
borhood and grown on land as nearly as
possible like your own.
1t will pay to get some well bred seed
corn-a peck or half without
regard to price, and acclimate that for
your future seeding, but for this year
get seed corn just as near home as you
can.
Next, get it in the ear. Do not look
for perfect ears. Perfect ears are as
scarce as perfect men, and you will not
find one of them on this car. You have
right, however, to demand that your
seed corn shall be sound, reasonably
true to type, of good size and uniform
If it is not, then return it. Do not buy
any shelled seed corn from anybody
not even your best friend or your wife's
folks. You will have difficulty in get
ting this because last year the season
was late, the corn full of water, the col
fuller il possible, late drying out, and ;
very low temperature in November
before the corn was dry. Mind you, i
is not moisture that kills seed corn, no
a low temperature, but the two combin
ed. You may have to go to your neigh
boris crib for it. If you do, buy fror
\ hin, three times as many bushels as yo
, WANT, Do not get it from the center O
the crib, but from the outside or to
where the air has chance to dry it out
Then select the best third. This is tn
best that many of you can do. If 70
can get seed corn from some careful
farmer who has pulled it early, dried i
the air, and kept in room with tn
temperature above freezing, buy it an
pay him anything he asks for it.
your seed corn that you actually plan
costs you five dollars per bushel do no
kick; that is only sixty cents per acre
and it means from ten to twenty bushel
per acre increased yield.
Next, go through and test this corr
every ear of it. Take two grains frol
the butt, turn it a third around and TAX
two grains from the middle, and turn
another third around and take tw
grains from near the tip. Mark the ca
way. For testing use box similar
this which show you. This will enab]
you to throw out the ears, or part of tt
ears, that will not terminate, and wi
give you corn that will surely gro
under ordinary conditions.
( The next thing is to test your plante
If your ordinary round hole planter wi
not drop three grains per hill ninety {
ninety-tyo times out OF a hundred, O,
an edge drop planter that will. Bullet
No. n, issued by the Iowa Experimel
Station, which you can have on app
cation, gives the results of tests vii
about every variety of planter mad
The edge drop planters gave from 81
to 9G.2 of a perfect stand; the comm'
round hole planters gave from 54S
71.S per cent. You will see at once tn
you can not afford to fool with a plant
that will not give you perfect stand.
To secure this result even with Il