Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-02
TOO MANY STALKS ARE IDLE
Reason Why Corn Yield is not
Greater Per Acre.
BOY GIVES PROF. HOLDEN TEXT
Expert of lows College and Pro-
moteP OF the National Exposition
Lectures Twice at Bellevue
ChautauQua.

II all the farmers OF the corn belt would
hear and heed the advice given yesterday
by Prof. ?. @. Holden OF the Iowa state
college at the Bellevue chautauqua the
corn crop would be more than doubled and
hundreds Of millions OF dollars would be
added to its annual value. corn scientists
think. Prof. Holden lie a nationally known
corn expert and he delivered two of the
most interesting talks OF the c~hautaudue.
His subject was pronounced worthy Of an
epic, for It was King Corn the Great
The day was Corn Exposition day"
A boy who had observed the faults
pointed out by Prof. Holden in the aver
age corn field made the remark which fur
nished a text for his talk yesterday. Said
the boy: Seems like there are too many
stalks settin' around in the field all sum
mer doin' nothin'.'
THAT is just the reason why Nebraska
raises an average OF only twenty-nlne BUSH
els OF corn to the acre" said Prof. Holden.
There are too many stalks settin' around
In the field doing nothing, producing moth
Ing. wasting the effort OF the man who at
tends the place where they are growing.
Drive Out PO~r Stalks.
1T Is the mission of modern science TO
drive out these poor stalks Of corn and to
put In their places good, growing. healthy,
strong producing stalks of corn. The great
movement has been started and II is find
ing much of it's strength in the boys and
girls and tina women of the farm. And now
we are going TO have a great national corn
exposition, which is going to continue this
great campaign Of education regarding the
great grain on which the prosperity OF this
part Of the country is buif. 1t is time
that brains were put behind the growing OF
corn In order that the farmer may get the
profit Of his toll and not be cheated out
OF half or two-thirds Of it as he has been
for so long a time. The days OF guessworh
are past. The progressive farmer nova.
days is going too know before he plants his
corn whether he can depend on them tc
work for him.
Prof. Holden showed a number of In.
teresting charts indicating, among other
things that corn constituted 43 per cent
OF Nebraska's annual product and So pei
cent OF the annual product OF Iowa. He
showed the result OF a few Investigations
made by himself in fields Of growing corn
In Iowa. In tho field of one farmer he
found a yield Of 5O.7 per cent, while In
the field just over the fence the yield wal
02.6 per cent. The latter farmer had Sc.
lected his seed; the former had guessed.
A termination test Of 5000 kernels showed
90 per cent good. 10 per cent weak and p
per cent bad. Two ears Of corn were
planted In rows side by side at the ex.
pertinent station. One produced 26.l bush.
els. the other produced 66.S bushels. This
was on the same soil and with the same
weather conditions.
Because seed IL Poor.
why are not all ears good" he con.
finlad saRaranaa thu eaad t. 49,. rNo-.
ers guess at the seed. Most of them thinl
they can tell 4 good ear just by looking
at 1t, This is a great mistake. The ker
nels in one ear may have been chilled
by the winds OF late fall and thereb,
weakened in their vital strength, but thii
would not be shown by the eve. TIL,
method devised today whereby the scien
tific farmer-and TO be a scientific farme-
one needs only to have common, sense ant
ordinary foresight-can tell in advance al
most whether he is going to have a gooC
crop of corn or not"
He then described and illustrated tn,
method by which all farmers may ties
their seed corn before planting II.
'rhe ears should be laid in a row an,
numbered. Then six kernels should b
removed from each ear. taken from tn
several parts. Of the ear. These should b
laid carefully at one end Of the ear fror
which they respectively come.
Now, pieces of good unbleached mus
lin should be secured and marked wit
squares about three inches square. Thes
sheets may be any size. but the most cor
venient is found to be "a by So niche.
The squares should be numbered. A DO
OF the same size as the sheets should b
secured and filled in the bottom with we
sawdust to a depth of two inches. o
top Of the sawdust the marked musii
should be laid. Then the six kernels froi
each ear should be laid In the square co,
responding to their numbers. Over Ii
whole another sheet OF muslin should /
laid and over this two more inches
sawtust, and then the whole should |
packed down tightly.
SDrout Within n Week,
At the end OF a week the kernels W
have Eprouted. Then they should be e.
amined. It is found the kernels from e,
No. l have all sprouted and have vigoro-
b shoots; from No. 2 all but one ha,
sprouted with vigorous shoots; in No.