The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1907-10-30
corn JUDGING DAY.
Farmers About Dow City Com
pete for SIS Prize
FRANK JACKSON THE WINNER
An Expert From Ames College Judges
Corn and Explains His System of
Rating.

Mr.. Fishel. the banker at Dow
City is entitled to the thanks of the
farmers about Dow City for his in
terest in corn culture to the extent
Of giving premium of S. to the one
bringing in the best ten ears by Fri
day. Oct. 25th. To make the award
on scientific grounds he paid an expert
from Ames State college to come to
Dow City and be the Judge. The
college sent Mr.. Thee. Sexauer who
proved to know his business as taught
by Prof. Holden al Ames.
The corn was LAID out in regulation
style in the bank and the expert began
testing by considering general APP
pearance. taking out kernels for in
spection, noting loosness on the cob.
whether cob was we'll filled. and size
of cob. In the end he gave the pref
erence to the ten ears presented by
Frank Jackson. and his second choice
was corn grown by Frank Odell.
The prize winning corn was of the
Legal Tender variety. of moderate
length of ear. kernels wide all the
way down. rows straight. no white
kernels. we'll filled on the butt of the
ears. Some of the ears of Mr..
Odell's corn were about perfect but
the ten as whole did not come up to
others. He said he bought the seed
from Funk Brothers. Bloomington.
H.. and for Reed Yellow Dent hand
picked and all right. Not over fifty
per cent came up. and he felt he had
been cheated. He asked many ques-
tions of the expert and all farmers
gained much information.
Mr.. Sexauer had along a roll Of
charts and sample of the seed test
ing box. In his talk he said among
other things the following: 1.-THE
United States and the part wher e
Iowa is in particular. excells in pro-
ducing corn. Other countries are
ahead of US on cheese. butter. live
stock. but fiftynine per cent of the
total value of the crops of the nation
is corn We therefore should look
we'll to its culture. The farmers
should raise the Largest ears that
will mature in their section In a
judging contest the points are 1st
general appearance. End, trueness to
type. maturity, 4th vitality and
Smelling per centage. The ears
should be. we'll filled at tip. center
and butt. The plan should be to get
the variety with the deepest kernels
which will mature in your section
The best plan for handling seed
corn is to hang it up by means of
strings in a place where there will be
a good draft of air to aid drying. One
hundred ears will make bushel.
Mr.. Sexauer told of the scientific
method of testing seed. The ears to
be tested should be laid out in rows.
two kernels taken from butt. center
and tip. A box not very deep should
be put in use placing some two inches
of wet dust in the bottom. Over this
should be placed some strong white
cloth which has been marked off into
squares Of two inches. These squares
should be numbered to correspond
with the number given each ear of
the corn to be tested. The six
kernels from each cob should be
placed on the right square with the
germ side up. Another piece of
strong cloth should be placed over the
corn in careful manner and then
good coating of wet saw dust. The
box must be put in warm place for
seven days and then examined. OF
course the ears to be tested have
been kept in the original order and
SO when the seed in the box is exam.
ined the farmer can tell from which
ears have come corn which shew all
the kernels have terminated. for he
cannot afford to plant any corn know
inglv. that will not grow.
Mr.. Sexauer said. that scientific
ally white and yellow corn stood equal
for feeding. the show ears Of corn
should be picked at husking time and
not early: if you buy corn from
abroad insist on getting it IN the
ear: three kernels in the hill is the
best: have number of sets of
planter plates and grade the size of
corn so to have the right number of
kernels in hill.
The expert showed drawing of
different insects and worms which
hurt or destroy the corn crop also
figures showing the loss when there
are many barren stalks or poor stand.
Mr.. Charles Buss asked him many in
telligent questions. Mr. Buss said
the Lega. Tender did best in tie
Boyer valley. The expert told Of
breeding corn; taking off the tasses
of certain rows or barren stalks az
methods of raising the standard. He
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