The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1909-02-23
LETTER FROM
Mr.. BEVERLEY
ne Discusses the Corn Crop Tells
Farmers How To Select Seed.
INFORMATION AS TO PLANTING, ETC.

Chance, Va, Feb. 18th, 1909.
To The Free Lance:
Mature has decreed beyond peradven-
ture that corn Is and must be king OF
agricultural products for the Rappahan.
mock valley. Our farmers may dabbls in
slne ISSUES, but fret, last and all the
tme corn Is the main stay. Climate.
SOIL ana market have fixed this.
~oud q not have IL Understood shat
am IA one crop farmer; far from IL. in
si7t that rotation Of crops and growing
OF legumes Is essential for keeping mn
the iertiity OF the soil. But corn mu.t
DE- the main stay az IA money cropand a.
ioud Tor man and beast. This being true
the effort Oi the farmers should be- 10
grow this crop 10 the best advantage.
10 receive the largest yield at the small
est expense. There 10 no factor more p,
tent Ia accomplishing this than a judici-
ous selection OF seed.
Many farmers are fully convinced OF the
Importance oil careful breeding 10 the an
imai Kingdom, who do not attach apy
Importance TO Ike care In the vegetable
Kingdom, yet one is just a. important as
the other
The splendid exhibit OF seed corn at the
Fredericksburg Fair last fall showed
that mshy OF our farmers are right up In
tne front rank on this important subject.
nave never seen IA finer exhibit for the
quanity shown. There were eighteen ex-
hioits, all OF them good, many OF them
excellent. lt required the closest appli-
cation oi the score card and taxed the ut
most care of the writer, who had the
duty and privilege oi judging this corn.
TO decide between some Of the exhibits.
Ii Is seldom that the casual observer
will select as winner the eexhibit that will
be so determined b. the score card. hence
there Is apt to be dissa tisfaction among
exhibitors as to result OF judging. Many
think large ears should win, while In fact
these are often largely deficient In score
card points.
What is desired in ear OF corn Is the
maximum weight OF sound grain In pro.
portion 10 the weight OF cob This on
score card counts twenty-five. | am OF
opinion that IL should count even more.
There Is no quality more TO be desired In
a ear oil corn than q deep grain and small
cob; the grain is the most valuable asset.
Shelled corn is quoted today in the Bal
timore market at zoe. per sc pounds.
Cobs are NOS quoted at all and have no
market value. Ii Il undesirable to tax
the land to produce a large. worthless
cob, taking up more room I'm wagon and
bin, and holding moisture and impeding
the drying out OF the grain There IL no
danger OF breeding TO a deficiency Of cob.
| have never known OF criticism along
tbis line.
! think In exhibits II should be req quired
10 show several stalks with ears on
them; the s!ze OF stalk, position OF ear
on stalk should count largely IN making
awards. A small stalk In proportion to
size of ear is most desirable. There Is no
advantage In taxing the land to pro-
duce large worthless stalk and IN cut
ting and handling this much increases
| labor. | have never seen a maximum
ear ever grow high on the stalk ln these
| times when machinery IL much used Ia
harvesting corn, II Is essential to have
the corn stand up. Corn will blow
down much more readily when the ear is
high NJ on the stalk.
The time for corn planting will soon
be here The farmer who has not selected
his seed corn must now do it. He eau
do 1t now, only from the bin. This is
not the best way, but IL Is what most
farmers do, will continue to do, because
it is the least troublesome way.
10 selecting these ears try and get them
I'm 10Th and sy metrical, uniform IN size.
well tilled out at tip aud but with
straight rows. laying close together at
outside surface. II you are growing q
small cob variety select ears showing
small cobs. The tendency of all corn
without care 10 selecting IL TO breed back
to large cob II you have not been
growing deep grain small cob variety
my advice IL, get your reed of that kind
| think 10 "A mistake t. go To the West or
TO seedmen for seed corn for your main
crop. Ny experience has been that no
corn does well until IL becomes aeclima-
ted and IL requires several years for this.
You might get a small quantity of out
side pedigreed corn for a seed lot, but for
the main crop II did not haveit would
buy OF some neighbor who has good
seed
See that your seed is sound aud grain
as unii ,rm In size as possible. Plow deep.
prepare seed red well, plant only when
your land is In good mechanical condi-
tion. Set the planter to drop about the
number OF grains for which you wish
stalks to grow. thus getting rid OF the
expensive and unnecessary labor OF re-
planting and thinning; work the corn
often and shallow, leave the land fat
and harvest q good crop.
j. n. C. Beverley.
Iiyou need pill take DeWitt's Little
N-A