Morris tribune., 1908-04-04
TESTING EARS OF CORN.
Article from The Farmer by A. D.
Wilson.

From seventy five to one hundred
ears Of corn make bushel. Every
hundred plants missing from the corn
field means that the prospect for one
bushel of corn is lost. There are
about 5000 hills of corn in an acre
with plants per hill there are about
$500 plants. If one per cent, of the
ed corn does not grow SO plants are
mi ssing, and the prospect of abou
on, bushel is lost. We can hardly
afford to plant corn that tests but 80
cent since by so doing 1000 plants
nr the prospect of 10 bushels of corn
j lost. Much less can we afford to
oil corn testing rs per cent or less.
Good Seed Corn Scarce
wing to the unfavorable season the
past var there will be great deal
o. ,orl that will not terminate wei
AZ IL seed corn should be carefully
teste5t before it is planted. The aver
age farmer is confronted with the
problem of providing seed corn, and
experience has shown that getting
seed corn from another locality,
especially from farther south, is rather
risky venture. Absolutely the SAT-
est seed corn for any farmer for the
main part of his crop is from corn that
has ripened on his own farm Or in
his neighborhood.
To get good seed corn from the 1907
crop means that to be safe careful
terminating tests should be made to
make sure of it's terminating power.
Test Your Seed Corn y...
One hundred kernels picked at ran
dom from large number of seed ears
or from the sack of shelled corn and
g-rminated between a couple of wet
coths between two plates, is the usual
method of testing seeds. If this test
lows 1907 termination it is safe to
plant the seed, but anything less than
IS per cent to SO per centgermination
should be followed by careful test
of each ear that the undesirable ears
of the ears that fail to terminate
strong may be discovered and dis
corded.
Fifteen to twenty ears of corn will
n'ont an acre. If the corn on one of
these ears fails to grow, it means that
30 of the plants will be missing from
the field, or in other words that 500
plants, or the prospect of 5 bushels of
e IN is thrown away when the crop is
anted.
Individual Ear Test
When it is desired to test an ear of
corn, the ears of corn must be arran-
ged in order in some way, SO that each
can he numbered and identified. Fig.
illustrates one way by which this
NAV he done. A small numbered tag
fastened on the butt of the ear is
eqna'ly effective, or the ears may be
iilbed butt first onto nails driven
thr ouyh an inch board with numbers
best lie each nail. A box is then
nA.: .ssary, inches to inches deep
and of any convenient size Ca box 40
io,.h square will provide room to test
400 ears of corn or enough to plant 20
acres). Fill the box with sawdust,
sand or other material that will re-
tain moisture, mark cotton cloth the
siz- It the box into 2 inch squares
and number the squares as the ears of
corn are numbered. Spread this cloth
over the top of the box of sand
sawdust and moisten. Then take ten
kernels of corn from different parts
of ear No. I, (avoiding the tip and
butt kernels as these should not be
planted) and place on square No. in
box and continue with the rest of the
ears in the same way, placing ten
X .rnels from each ear on the square
in the cloth of the corresponding
number (see figure p. Place cloth
over the kernels of corn using care to
avoid misplacing any of the kernels,
and place the box in a warm place, as
in the living room or kitchen. Keep
moist for five to eight days and then
examine. Every square where all of
the rem kernels are sproute indicates
that the ear from which the kernels |
were taken terminates 1907. If but
9 of the 10 kernels terminate, the ear
tests eoG, and if nothing better can
be obtained may be planted, but any
ears from which less than of the 10
kernels terminate in good strong
condition, should be discarded from
the seed corn and be used for feed. /
Such corn is worth something for feed,
but is absolutely worthless for seed if