Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-04-03
Experience With Seed Corn.

A central Illinois correspondent
gives us details of his experience in
testing seed corn this year, and also
his experience with the oil of lemon
treatment Tor the purpose Of protect
/ ing his corn against root lice, which
we condense. as follows:
The first test was made>with Reid S
Yellow Dent picked last September,
hung overhead in the driveway in a
double corn crib. The whole 100
grains came up, and without a. feeble
sprout. Twenty-Five bushels Of sound
ears Of the same variety were put in
a box in an old unOccupied barn for
feed. There was plenty of ventia-
tion. OF 100 ears from the top of the
box 80 per cent came up, two of them
puny.
About the middle Of January he
ordered what he terms "a Simon-pure
article of Reid's yellow Dent of aris-
tocratic breed" from dealer of the
state, member of the Seed Corn
Breeders Association. He placed it
in warm room at once. Two tests
were made of this. In the first 80
per cent germinated, in the second
only 76 per cent.
In the latter part of October he
bought few bushels of Leaning corn
from neighbor who had just com
menced to crib. 1t was kept in a dry
room all winter. Out of 100 grains 95
OooIa virnrn1S rrnutlo A II of
which emphasizes the doctrine we
preached last fall, and have preached
levery fall for many years, that if corn
is gathered early, as soon as it is fit
to cut or even before, dried, and kept
dry through the winter, it will grow
beyond peradventure. Corn of this
kind this year is cheap at five dollars
a bushel.
We quote in full his experience
with oil of lemon:
SIN regard to giving seed corn an
immunity bath against the depreda-.
tions of root lice: Last spring while
slipping the weekly budget of wisdom
from your esteemed paper ] noted the
sovereign qualities of wood alcohol
and oil of lemon, as tested at the
Champaign Experiment Farm. Be
neving that it would be selfish to keep
the newly Matched light under a
bushel, l took the article to our local
Grange meeting and read it, to give
the neighbors chance to share in
the bounties and blessings of the new
discovery. The result was that at
least three other farmers in the vicin-
ity besides myself tried the expert
ment. 1 planted three different
fields in corn early in May, treating
the seed corn according to the printed
directions. One field was a timothy
and clover sod plowed the previous
autumn. Another was oats Stubble
ground, also fall plowed; and the third
was in corn the year before and
plowed in the spring. About dozen
rows in the center of each field was
set apart for sacrifice to lice, worms,
mice, squirrels, crows, and whatsoever
pests that suck, gnaw. sting, or
gobble, by being planted in the old
|
the difference might be noted.
"The sequel was that the wire
worms, their cousins, their consorts,
and mothers-in-law, flocked in in
| les .ols and assailed that wood
alcohol-oil Of lemon baptized corn,
and it's last condition was worse than
it's first. The few rows of untreated
seed came up strong and healthy, and
made normal stand. Au least a
|quarter of the doped corn never came
up at all, and what did was affected
with jaundice, liver complaint. and
salow complexion for COUPLE of
weeks, until it got it's second wind.
1t necessitated the man with the
hoe who leaked profanity while re-
planting; and it caused more soft corn
than if the seed had been planted as
it graduated from the school of ma
ture. There was no perceptible diff
ference at husking time between the
yield of the rows that had been treat
ed and those that had not.
"The three other farmers who tried
the plan all had the same experience
with wire worms and a poor stand.
Perhaps ia an ordinary season the re-
|sult might have been different, as
last spring was abnormally cold. Or
possibly our wire worms in this local
lity are more susceptible to the lure of
alcohol than in more temperate dis
tricts, for the fumes of the Peoria dis
tilleries permeate our atmosphere
whenever the wind blows from their
direction. Root lice have not troubled
the corn much for some time past, at
least on my farm; but grub and wire
worms have been unusually plentiful
| the past two seasons.
tSome years ago had woe with
wire worms on corn on piece of rich
bottom ground that was kept in corn
almost continually. They only
worked in two spots, perhaps half
acre in each place. But year after
year they destroyed the crop there,
4 and even seeding the ground to clover
| for couple of years failed to dislodge
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