The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1906-04-21
CARE IN CORN CULTURE
Some Suggestions As To Selection
And Treatment OF Seed

At the meeting of the Cecil Farmers
Club 'HS! Tuesday. held ut the home of
Mr.. James Maxwell. the following paper
from the Editur o. THE CECIL WIG
was read on the subject for the day:
Gentlemen of the Farmers Club
l enter your circle of Trimmed ,.,,i,.,,l
turlsts with no little trepidation. o.
peclally beg that you show the tepderoxt
mercy To my pitifu ignorance. do NOT
claim to be an expert farmer hut 7
claim to have u very deep interest in
th"t occupation and to have some meas
ure OF Sccess in following il. | cspec-
laiE diSclalm any pretenSion to be a
specialist on the subject of corn grow
ing, In fact. | hav, more or less an
tagonlZed for years. the idea of growing
corn as a market crop to any extent on
our eastern farms. So when | ventura
TO say something TO You concerning this
subject today, | am led thereto bv two
considerations. In the first place, vour
host of the day is extending me the hos
ptabe invitation to this meeting and q
request FOR n paper did not fail to spcci-
fF the subject of it, so that if | am
TALKING TO Non about the selection of
seed corn. il is not because | know any
tmng about it but simply because Mr..
Maxwell insisted that | should pretend
10 know. There is. however n second
and better reason for regarding the CON
sideration of this subject as "a timely
one. Corn culture seems to be holding
the front of the stage Just now in orri-
cultural circles. 1t has been the chief
Snhinnt IN ri, n.
stitute~ held in the corn belt this season.
ana also the chief topic for nearly all
the agricultural papers. Our own State
has been hearing much here lately of
Corn Gospel Trains. TINT have toured
several counties and stopped nj many
stHtiorS TO teach the farmers how to
improve or To increase the corn crop.
Indeed all this concoctcd effort has 50
nl"Tmrl the Infant Farmers Trust that
it eXprcS<tS a decided fear of an eXcrS-
sive production if the season proves good
and TIE Trust thinks il is likely to drive
down prices 10 an Improbable basis.
We are. however. not un.luly alarmed
that any efforts and methods that We
may here adopt for the Improvement of
our seed corn will glut the market
Meanwhile. We are agreed that it is
not the acres cultivated but the bushels
of corn that count on the right side of
the Ledger when balancing up accounts
in the fall. TO grow - bushels instead
of - ON the same space and with the
same cost of labor is the aim of the true
economist. and certainly in cnaeavoring
10 secure the fultillmcnt OF that aim. no
man can afford to ignore the paramount
Importance of the selection of the seed
that he is going to SOW. With all other
conditions favorable. soAl. cultivation.
season. etc. the failure of cool crop
may. in the last analysis. be traced
often to the poor quality of the seed. |
imagine that your experience has bcen-
l know mine has--that replants never
amount to much. 1t is the evenly good
stand of the first planting that we want
TO secure. and in securing this We must
not ignore the quality of the seed: that
is. we want seed of strong vitality and
good individual characteristics. i'm
aginc we are not gong 10 confuse TINS
question 10y entering into II comparison
Of the value OF the var;onS varieties OF
corn. The much heralded crop grown
by Capt. Drake. of Marlborough county.
South Carolina. the largest corn crop
ever grown in the world ON II single