Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1906-02-23
Seed Corn From the Crib.

S60O corn from the (trlD.
In his last quarterly report Secre-
tary Coburn, of Kansas, quotes from
Mr.. John Cowie, of Iowa, on the
above subject as follows:
l have heard of farmers who are
again following the practice this year
of taking seed corn out of their own
corn cribs. Why they do it, after all
the instruction they have had and
the proof that it is folly to do it, is a
mystery. | have seen it tested a score
of times; yes, more than that, and it
is demonstrable that the corn taken
from the crib will not give as good
results as that selected at the proper
time. l saw a field last year in which
some Of the corn looked magnificent,
while another patch looked sickly. |
asked the farmer why. He said that
he had concluded that the seed he
had gathered in September and hung
in his garret to dry during the winter
was not as good as the big ears in the
crib. So he had selected the big ears
which looked perfect and planted
both kinds Of seed. He was surprised
to find that the seed from the crib
produced the weakling corn; the seed
he had gathered in September pro-
duced the strong stand OF corn. 1t is
always true. 1t has been tried over
and over, and It would seem that
some day the farmers would learn the
truth OF the thing, that the seed
gathered before the cold can possibly
affect it is the seed which will pro-
duce the best grain. There is no diff
ference between life in the vegetable
and animal kingdom. If in stock
breeding we select the perfect and
the strongest, we produce the best; if
in vegetable propagation we select the
poor seed, the product must be poor.
No doubt the case cited here Of the
man who grew the sickly patch Of
corn could be duplicated many thous-
sand times in every state of the corn
belt. The practice of taking corn
from the crib no doubt had it's incep-
tion at the time when flint varieties
were principally grown. These were
shallow in the kernel and consequent
ly matured earlier than the deep
kerneled dent varieties of today, and
as a result they were much drier
when freezing weather began than
the deep-kerneled sorts.
No one will question the wisdom of
changing from the flint to the dent
types, because the change means more
bushels of corn per acre, but why is it
that so many will admit that this
change is desirable and yet will per-
sist in handling the new corn just as
the old flint varieties were handled a
quarter OF century ago? 1t should
be remembered that under average
conditions most Of the corn crop in
the central West is not absolutely
what one could call air-dried when
winter sets in, and this being true, it
stands to reason that this extra per
cent of moisture will subject the germ
to expansion and contraction when
freezing and thawing takes place.
This subject was thrashed out some
what thoroughly last fall when corn
was being gathered, and we have no
desire at this time to "rub it ino to
those who failed to keep their corn
from freezing; but we do say that it
is dangerous practice to select seed
corn from the crib after this date,
and If one has to resort to it the
greatest pains should be taken to see
that it is thoroughly tested and the
testing should be done under some
what adverse conditions. This means
that the atmosphere Of the room in
which the seed is tested and the
medium in which it is placed should
not be kept too warm. 1t will do no
harm if the room gets down to a
temperature Of 45 or so degrees F.
Iowa Homestead