The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1906-04-21
AGRICULTURAL NEWS
A Little Information That Should Be- Interesting
to the Farmer, as Well as Many Others.

acre mamely 255 bushels was of the
common Gourd varet,, of the Southern
White Dent corn. Nobody has ve+
claimed. so far as ! know. thar This
phenomenal yield was due to the variety
OF corn itself. | do not mean to >nt
that this is n matter To be entirely over
i"oked. nut l do mean to say that prep
arat!on. cultivation. care in the Sclec-
ton of the Speu and any unrcmittimg eff
fort at seed improvement are the condi-
tlons OF prime Importance. The pnmph-
let recently issued by the Iowa Eyperi-
ment Station warns lis that there has
seldom been so large a percentages of
devltalzed corn AS has come from last
III crop. Frequently one ear will he
Sood and the very next one Door: one
Slde OF the ear may be alive and
the other one dead: ana of two
nelghhoring kernels on the same ear
one will grow and the other will NOT
lie aScribera this peculiar condition TO
three principle causes. First-the sea-
son was SOW and the corn did not ma
tnre properly and consequently There
was an unusually large amount of mois-
ture left in it.
S'cond-the dry weather during Octo-
toh"r dried the corn off hand and il an
pe2red to be dry when in reality it was
not
Third-The unn<ual cold weather dur
ing the latter part of November and the
first of December. when. YOU recollrct
we had virtually our SharpcSt winter
either killed the germ or weakened il
grently except where the seed was pro
t"ct"d or where unusual IninS had been
taken to dry it ont Thoroughly. should
liz" To call your attention 10 the next
excerpt from this pamphlet that ought
I" he greatly emphasized namely. seed
corn that WAS stored in dry PAGES such
as the attic. before the cold weather. is
in good condition except in some cases
where the corn moulded or grew. or
hoth. from the lack of ventilation" 10
not Know how many of Won gentlemen
have ever been willing, or are likely 10
ever be willing. to take the pains to test
tn" vitality of your seed corn before us
ing II for crop purposes. hut certainly
care nj the season of ingathcring care
in avoiding undue exposure and Io,
gathering until thoroughly mntured, in
storing in dry and well ventilated places:
these. and such pains aS these are Ger
taiuly likely 10 give MS seeds of Il much
higher percentage of vitality than if we
run the harvest in in most any old way
and trust to kindly Providence to SEQ
that one or two seeds will Sprout in every
hill and if they do not. then lay the
blame. sometimes on Providence. some
times on cutworm: wIereaS the trouble
lay i'll the fact that there was no power
Nr else decidedly weAkCned power of ger
mimtion in the seed To help favorable
conditions and To triumph over unfavor-
able ones. Speaking of this matter of
germ vitality ought we not to remember
that il involves. not simply the >turt of
the crop. hut all its after history. Vital
power in the germ means rapid growth
in the plant and rapid maturing Of the
crop, and this is certainly Il most i'm
portant matter where we have To face
the recurrence of serious IrOughts in
the growing season. Then too the Wig
orouS seeds. unless the doctrine of the
transmission of power is a farce and n
humbu=. must pro.Iucc. other things he
ing equal. much the stronger ana better
crop.
Where are you going to get your .u.ty
yonng cAif that thrivcS and grows from
The fIy il i horn: Are Won going to
get il from the iniilm and dcvitalizcd
mother? needn't carry the illuStra.
tration further. The illustration is itself
IN argument and | have never been
able 10 e+pe either cool sense or good
logic in Il mans rXprndng the utmost