The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-04-07
IOWA CORN CROP
MUST BE SAVED
FROM RU|NAT|ON
Unless Farmers Test Their Seed
Corn Yield will fall Millions Of
Bushels Below Normal.
EXPERTS TELL THE TRUTH
And Show Farmers How They May
Save Themselves from Serious
Losses This Fall.

One-half OF the seed corn intended
for planting in Iowa this spring is
worthless and will not terminate.
This is the discovery made by the
experts of the state agricultural col
lege, who have traversed the state
the last week on the Holden seed
corn special.
unless Iowa farmers test their
seed corn this spring the states
yield will fall below 200,OO0,OOO bush
els for the first time in its history"
declares professor M. l.. Bowman,
secretary of the Iowa State Corn
Growers association and former head
of the farm crops department at the
state agricultural college. Weather
conditions last year were about as
bad as they possibly could be. The
summer was wet and below the nor
NAL temperature
The first week of October there
was a killing frost and thousands of
Iowa farmers were caught without
having picked their seed corn. The
result is that this spring the corn
will not terminate. Now, Iowa needs
more than 100000 bushels of seed
corn to plant the 100000 acres an
nually devoted to the crop. 1t is
going to be necessary to test three
or four times the amount needed in
order to find ears that have the de.
sired termination ability. If we do
not raise as much corn as usual hogs
will go still higher and the cost of
living will mount with leaps and
bounds over what it has attained al
ready"
Remedy is Within Reach.
The situation is not without its
remedy, although it is serious condi.
ton that exists. The Burlington rail
road furnished Prof P. G. Holden
and his associates a special seed
corn train, in order to learn exactly
what conditions exist and to instruct
the farmers in the necessity and
manner of testing seed corn. A
week prior to the arrival of the spe-
cial train seed corn samples were
obtained from at least twenty farm
ers in each locality to be visited, and
these were placed in termination
boxes. When the Holden special ar
rived the college experts inspected
the boxes and graded the corn.
The first stop made was at Glen
wood. The corn tested % per cent
strong. That is a trife over one ker-
mel out of four was perfect and would
grow a good, sound ear of corn,
weather conditions being favorable.
At Malvern better conditions were
found and one.half the kernels tested
had the proper percentage of fertil.
ity. At Villisca and Corning only one
ear in ten was found to be good. At
Bedford and Greenfield one ear in two
was pronounced satisfactory. At
Creston, Osceola, Abba, and Knoxville
the ratio of good to bad was one in
three. In all, thirteen towns were
visited and something like 5000 ears
of corn Were tested. Only between
40 and so per cent of the whole lot
was found to be good and sound,
with the proper percentage Of fertll.
ity.
Just what this portends is easier
understood when it is realized that
twelve ears of corn will plant an
acre of land and that one bushel will
plant seven acres. Unless Iowa far.
mers test their corn and see that on.
ly the proper terminating ears are
used, the crop will be such miser.
able failure as the state has not ex-
perienced in years.
Average is Far Too Low.
1--WE have not realized sufficiently
just how little corn we are raising in
Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri" declares
Prof. Bowman. For example, the
state average in Iowa is about thirty
three bushels to the acre. Yet forty
bushels to the acre is just one nub-
bin to the hill, weighing twelve and
one-half ounces, that is one ear c..
corn every three and one-half feet.
Now, how much corn do We plant to
the hill? Three kernels. If, then, We
are dropping three kernels to the
hill and receiving in return but one
small ear of twelve and one-halt
ounces, what becomes of the other
two kernels?
In poor seed corn lies the solution
to the puzzle. There is not an acre
of land along the line of the Burling-
ton railroad which is not capable Of
producing at least one-half ear to the
hill more than this twelve and one
half ounce nubbin, which means a
yield of forty bushels to the acre.
"The farmers fthe corn belt have
not stopped to realize that every
man tests his corn, one way or an
other. The trouble is that too many
farmers use an eighty acre or hun
, dred acre corn field as their germina-
| ton box Why should they thus in
vest $4,000 or $4,000 in germina-
ton box and take all summer to test
their seed corn when they could
make a termination box for so cents
and in one week in the spring test
their seed corn and know positively
whether or not it would grow in the
summer? The question for the far
mers is to decide whether they shah
test their corn in the spring or in
/ the fall, when it is too late to change
! conditions.
Poor Ears Are Costly.
! Every poor ear of seed corn the
farmer uses costs him four or five
bushels of corn. Each ear has from
800 to 1000 kernels on it. If you
walk through cornfield and come