Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-09-21
SEED CORN DAY.

George A. Wells, who signs himself
! secretary of the Iowa State Agricul-
4 tural and Industrial League, is asking
the aid and cooperation Of the news
papers in an effort to establish seed
corn harvest day." like Arbor day,
which may be generally observed by
+ the people Of the state. Urging that
the early freezes injure and weaken, If
not kill, the germs Of seed corn and
this more than all other causes is the
reason for a poor stand and yield Of
corn, he simply desires to arouse the
farmers to the advantage and value of
ed by Professor Holden when he ad-
4 vises:
.'Let is go into the best and earliest
s planted fields, and select well matur-
ed ears from the most vigorous stalks,
strip of their husks and hang in the
{ attic at once where the circulation of
air is good and protection is had from
the cold freezing weather of Novem-
Der and December. On. the 22S.O00
Iowa farms an average of about forty
acres is devoted to the growing of corn.
and while six bushels of good seed is
sufficient to plant this, let us abund-
antly provide ourselves and save two
or three times this amount as some
pests may call upon US to replant or
our neighbor may be needing some
seed. Remember, 1t takes only about
dozen ears to Plant an acre. Each. ear
q sho,lld have Srtecial care"
The custom generally observed by
farmers in Iowa is to select seed corn
from the wagon while the corn is be-
/ ing harvested. If we are to trust Pro-
lessor Holden,s judgment and expert
ence this custom is responsible for
f great deal Of weak and worthless seed
Older men remember in the days when
cornfields and corn wagons were both
smaller than those of the present day.
I that the old time farmer went into his
i field early in the fall and selected the
best ears to be tied together in pairs
by strips of husk left for the purpose
and hung over poles in the room over
the kitchen stove. Seed saved In this
method grew when tested in a box un-
1 der the kitchen stove, or in plot on
the sunny side of the hog house. The
story of worthless seed corn came af-
ter the gang pillow and the single row
corn cultivator had supplanted the
fourteen inch stirring and double SHOW
81 plows and the three section
harrow taken the place of the A drag,
remembered with malediction by every
middle aged man who as farm boy
sneaked on the stern instructions to
slap half with a nine foot drag on a
forty acre corn field. 1t was when
improved machinery increased the corn
acreage and trebled the demand for
seed that some lazy or busy genius
discovered that. corn picked from the
husking wagon would grow and that it
was more pleasantly and quickly gath
cred at the corn crib than in hot
September corn field.
Perhaps the corn farmer nowadays
secures better yield per acre from his
crib-gathered seed than did his careful
progenitor from that carefully garnered
and guarded. but he does it in spite Of
poorer seed OH the strength of improv-
& ed methods of cultivation, better pre-
pared seed bed and better fertilizei soil
The new farmer feeds everything on
the farm" He seeds to clover. He has
learned the lesson of good seel bed.
Now he should go back to his father
and grandfather and learn the lesson
Of good seed However excellent his
method Of cultivation, he will never