Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-02-17
SELECTING and
Testing SEEDS
(Bv F., w, Randlett, A. CO.

(By r. w. hanQleLC, A. C.)
Like produces like in the vegeta.
BILE world as we'll as in the animal.
There are always individual plants
like individual animals that are
strong and vigorous, capable Of with
standing disease, and likely to pro-
duce larger amounts of ripened
grain. These are the plants from
which seed should be selected for
sowing or planting. Pure bred ami
mails are nothing more than the re-
suits Of just such careful selection
of the very best for long period.
There are pure bred varieties of
corn, wheat, oats, and all kinds Of
farm crops just as there are pure
bred, Clydesdales, Herefords,
Shropshires, Berkshires, or Wyan-
dottes.
On the other hand there are al
ways individual plants that are small
and weak, liable to the attacks of
rust, smut, and other fungus di-
seases, and consequently yield a
small amount of inferior shrivilled
grain. This may be called scrub"
grain just as animals with no par
ticular breeding are known as
scrubs.
Pure bred animals are very expen-
sive and hence the majority OF rarm-
ers think they cannot afford to p'
chase even few animals to form the
foundation of herd. The founda-
ton stock for the beginning Of pure
bred seed growing is different
matter. This costs so little that any
farmer can afford the initial cost,
or the expenditure may be made by
the boy on the farm and the begin
ming of a profitable branch Of the
farming business begun.
In the case of wheat the following
varieties are considered the best:
Minnesota No. 1853, fife, and N. D.
No. 66, also a fife, Minnesota No.
1863, a blue stem, and Arnsutka, a
durum, North Dakota Station No.
Station No. 666 or 60 day and White
Russian are among the best recog-
nized oat varieties. The former is
an early maturing kind and the lat
ter, late. Station No. 1855 is very
desirable kind of flax, being a good
yielder and tests high in oil, while
Station No. $50 is the best variety
of winter rye for this state.
The following paragraph, explain
ing the method of securing pure
bred seed in sufficient quantity to
seed d large farm, is taken from an
article written by Supt. w. R. Por-
ter for recent publication.
ANY farmer in the state can OBJ
TOT on1 ur0u no1ioroo1 Good 1f q
pure strain on his own farm if he
so desires. Should he only obtain
a bushel of pedigreed seed wheat
and If he sows it on an acre of
ground in 1910. he should harvest
from Is to 80 bushels of wheat in the
fall. If he puts it on good land and
treats it right, he would have from
10 to Is bushels of good seed wheat
after he cleaned it thoroughly from
small kernels and foreign matter.
This would seed from 10 to 25 acres
in 1911 which would yield from $50
to $50 bushels in the fall, and if
cleaned up properly he would have
from one hundred to six hundred
bushels Of clean pedigreed seed
wheat. In 1912 he would have
oHOuSu Seeu " SOW IIOu Ou0 "
six hundred acres and from that
time on he would have all the pure
pedigreed seed he wished to sell on
the market for seed. A bushel of
barley, oats. or flax will produce an
abundance of seed for the average
farm in from two or three years II
grown exclusively for seed purposes
as described for wheat
In the preparation Of the seed
grain the tanning mill should be us.
ed freely. The mill, if correctly
made, will not only take out chaff,
pieces of straw, ETC., but will remove
weed seeds as well, and if a strong
air blast is used will blow the small
er and lighter portions of the grain.
The part selected may be less than
one-half Of the amount put into the
mill, but 1t will be made up of seeds
of the largest and strongest type
indicating that they were borne on
the most vigorous plants and hence
capable Of reproducing other vigor-
GUS plants. In this waysmany of the
weed seeds and disease spores will
be screened or blown out. There
will always be plenty Of weeds and
plenty of disease without encourag-
ing their growth.