The Colfax chronicle., 1904-01-30
FARMER AND PLANTER.
SEED CORN VS.. FEED CORN.
Failure to Produce Good Crops Free
QuentIy Due to Injudicious
Seed Selection.

We have every reason for expect
Ing a large corn crop in the great
southwest next year. Whatever the
season or the effort, however, the
crop will not be as large as it ought
to be. nor as large as it might be. 1t
is well known that heaviest crops
can only be grown from the best seed
of the best varieties, whether of corn,
or other crops grown from seed.
Many farmers will prepare their land
well, and cultivate according to the
best methods. but will fall short of
the best possible yields because they
do not select their seed judiciously.
They will plant any fairly good
sound corn, from their own or a
neighbor's crib, or, perhaps, they will
purchase for seed from the grain
dealers stock of commercial, corn
shipped from Kansas or Missouri for
feeding purposes, unmindful of the
fact that there is as much in the
breed of seed corn as in the breed of
hogs, or cattle. Men who would not
breed from scrub stock of any kind,
will grow corn from scrub seed. If
an intelligent farmer wants breed
Ing animal, whether bull, boar, buck
or stallion, he applies to a breeder of
But in the case of plants any scrub
seed will serve his purpose if it will
only germinate, and ell the rest he
expects to attain by cultivation, and
the favorable seasons which he al
ways anticipates. Others, we are
glad to say, will secure the best seed
they can buy and will post them
selves as to the peculiarities of the
different varieties, and will be care
full as to the reputation and reliabili-
ty of the parties producing the seeds
and the dealer through which they
are secured. No sane man would ex-
pect to buy well-bred sire of any
kind of live stock for the price of a
scrub. Neither should the farmer ex-
pect to buy good seed of a pure va
riety Mt the market price of the COM
mercial product. In the case of corn
SO little seed is required to-plant a
large field that the price should not
be permitted to stand as an obstacle
in the way of securing the best crop
possible under all the conditions IF
the case. 1t is always desirable that
an early variety be planted which
will mature within 100 to lis days,
and before the summer drought can
do its work, the seed selected should
be grown as far north as 36 to 40 de-
grees. Varieties maturing in less
than 90 days seldom fail in crop in
the far south, but usually grow too
small, both in stalk and ear, so that
the yield both of grain and fodder is
small. Varieties that bear the ears
from 3hs to 4 feet from the ground
are to be preferred for this latitude.
There are many such varieties on the
market in season, carefully grown
and sold by reliable parties. Farmers
should not let a few cents per acre
stand between them and good relia-
BILE seed guaranteed true to name and
early enough to beat a possible
drought. The difference in cost per
acre between any sort of seed corn
and the best to be had is rarely more
than 25 cents. At So per bushel, a
quart costs 6H cents; 6 quarts,
enough to plant an acre-would cost
3Tha cents. Common corn would cost
IS cents. Difference 22R cents per
acre.--Texas Farm and Ranch.