St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-08-06
To SELECT SEED
CONTINUED From First Page.)

size as possible, Remove the imper-
feet and irregular grains at the tip
and butt and plant the remainder in
carefully prepared ground. Have
the seed patch as far removed from
+, other cornfelds as can be, so as to
avoid mixing. Give this patch spe-
cial care and cultivation, and prac-
tice the same care in selection each
year. The patch should not be too
large; one-fourth to one-half acre is
! ample for the average farm. After
making final selection for the seed
patch, the remainder of the selected
seed corn can be used for the main
crop. By keeping up this practice of
selection from year to year Won
derful improvement can be made in
the yield and quality of corn.
1t has been demonstrated that, all
other conditions being equal, an av-
erage increase in the yield over COM
mon corn of from three to five BUSH
els per acre can easily be made the
first year. AS the whole crop is i'm
proved, this rate, of course, in the
increase will not be SO rapid, but if
persisted in from year to year the
careful selection of seed will have an
ultimate marked effect upon the corn
yield.
How the Farmer May Profit by Seed
Selection.
The farmer who follows this prac-
tice of sed selection persistently will
not only be repaid in the increased
yield of his corn, but he will soon
find that he can command quite a
premium for it from his less progress
sive neighbors by selling it to them
for seed at a price much greater
than ordinary seed corn commands.
The satisfaction of knowing that he
has a better corn for his conditions
than can be purchased at any price
will be an additional compensation.
The South is in greater need of
improved varieties of corn than is
the case with any of her other crops.
Cotton has received fairly good at
tention, but the corn crop has been
sadly neglected. Our people are be-
ginning to realize it's Importance,
and quite remunerative field of in
dustry awaits the farmer who will
make a business of raising reliable
seed corn. Owing to the fact that
corn is so easily Influenced by
change of climate and soil, the field
for this industry is very broad and
is not likely to become crowded.
termination Test for Seed Corn.
A great amount of trouble in Sc
curing stands from all purchased
seed, and especially that of corn, is
due to the fact that much seed so OBJ
tanned is of low vitality. When it is
necessary to purchase seed corn, the
seller should always be required to
guarantee termination of 100 per
cent. Always buy seed corn upon
the ear; then you can form some
idea of what is being purchased. At
forwards test its germinatiVe powers
as follows:
Have an ordinary box about IL
inches wide, IS inches long, and II
inches deep. Put into the bottom 8
inches of horse dung, wetting it well
and packing it into the box. On top
Of this place inches of well-damp-
ened sandy soil and fit piece of
muslin or thin cloth into the box on
top of this The muslin should pre-
viously have been marked into l.
inch squares with a pencil or ink,
these squares being numbered. Now
number the ears to be tested to cor
respond with the squares. Take
three grains of corn from each ear,
one near the butt, one at the middle,
and one near the tip, taking each
grain from a different row. Place
each set of grains on the square Of
muslin corresponding to the number
of the ear. When all the squares,