The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-04-07
CORN GOSPEL.


The Corn Special made its trip
through Baltimore, Hartford and York
counties last Friday and Saturday, and
its success in point of listeners far exceed
cd the sanguine hopes of its promoters.
Although the times were busy, the farm
ers and others interested in agriculture
quit their work and turned out in num-
bers to learn something about raising
larger crops of this Maryland staple.
The car was specially fttedupt TOR the occa-
sion, and samples of the topic of converse
ton were carried along to illustrate the
different talks. The principal addresses
were made by A. D. Shamel, corn expert
of the Department of Agriculture. Inthe
party were Captain X. w. Sylvester,
President of the Maryland Agricultural
College; Captain w. T. L. Taliaferro,
Professor of Agriculture; w. w. Copey,
tobacco expert of the Department of
Agriculture; DR.. H. ]. Patterson, Director
of the Maryland Experiment Station; w.
L. Amoss, Director of Farmers Institutes.
Besides these specialists were Messrs. c.
Bosley Littig, ]. S. Norris, General Man
ager of the Maryland and Pennsylvania
Railroad; John S. Bull, General Freight
Agent, and T. Murray Maynadier
The credit of inaugurating this expert
ment belongs to Mr.. c. Bosley Littig, of
Baltimore. Mr.. Littig has a farm at
VanBibber, this county, and is member
of the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce.
He is especially interested in agriculture,
and for some years past has introduced
a number of innovations in the way of
crop raising He was one of the first to
plant cow peas and has gained much
good results from the experiment. The
idea of running this corn special was first
tried in the west, and Mr.. Littig made a
number of Investigations, seeking to
adapt it to this state. In his efforts, he
was aided by Mr.. J. S. Norris, General
Manager of the Maryland and Pennsyl-
vania Railroad, who is always alert to
any new conditions that will better the
condition of any portion OF the country
through which his railroad traverses.
All the talks given by Mr.. Shamel were
practically on the same line. There was
no effort made to appeal to oratory and
his arguments were direct and convinc-
ing. His talk was on the general line of
selecting seed He said at Towson, tie
first stop made by the train:
II am here this morning." said Mr..
Shamel, Ito tell you that it costs you no
more to have good crop of corn than
poor one, and what 1 say is not theory,
but is fact, proved BY the experience of
the great contrasting states of the West.
The average yield of corn per acre is 3212
bushels, but if every stalk can be made
to bear a good ear your yield should be
100 bushels per acre, and this can be done
if you will follow my advice. The whole
thing depends upon three simple things,
namely:
"First-You must select your corn ears
by applying a termination test to obtain
the ears whose kernels have the greatest
vitality of germ.
"Second-You must have the grains of
a uniform size in each hill.
"Third-You must not depend upon I'M
ported seed, but raise your own seed of
selected grains.
The principal thing is to select your
seed by the terminating test Atpresent
one-half the seed corn planted in Mary
land lacks the vitality to sprout. The
test is made this way: Twelve ears of
corn will plant one acre. Select double
this number for each acre which you in
tend to plant, and lay them in a row
upon the floor, where they will not be
disturbed. Take a knife and pick out
six grains from each ear, and place these
in little pile by the side of the ear from
which they were taken. The best ears to
select from are the cylindrical-s shaped
ones, with deep kernels, and which have
no spaces between the face OF the kernels.
Then take shallow wooden box, about
four feet by three, fill this with moist
sawdust or sand. and cover this dust or
soil with n white cloth upon which are
marked i'll pencil numbered squares,
about one and one-half inches square.
place the little piles of six kernels each
in these squares, numbering the squares
to correspond to the ears of corn upon
the floor Cover the whole thing with
another cloth to keep the grains in place
anu I'LL IHG "uOlS lhlliS Ill with s'AOhhSA
LAYER of sawdust. In about a week or 10
days the corn will have sprouted; you
then remove the cloth carefully and note
how strongly the grains have terminated.
Those which have not shown high vital
ity compare with the ear from which
they came; remove that ear from the lot.
Now, it may be noticed that when
grains of corn of unequal size are planted
in the same hill good results are not OBJ
tanned; consequently, when you are she'll
ing your selected ears divide the grains
into three divisions-large, medium and
small. Plant these then, three grains in
each hill, and the result will be better.
Lastly, to raise your own seed, take
so of your best ears and plant them in a
four-acre lot on the south or west side of
your farm. Before the corn comes to tas-
sci cut out the barren stalks to prevent
the pollen from fertilizing the good ears,
and you will find that you will obtain
selected seed"