The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-04-14

other kind of business man. 1t Is SC
important that every man, woman and
child within the borders of the state,
should boost for it, talk about it,
work for it, and above all see that
every farmer does it.
In discussing the subject, Prof. p.
G. Holden, of the Iowa State College
at Ames says:
eff could give one order that would
be carried out by every farmer in
the state, it would be to make thor
ough termination test of at least six
kernels from each ear of seed corn
intended for planting"
How to Study Corn Yield.
If the value of Prof Holden's adj
vice needed any proof, the careful
study of most any corn field would
give it. Select a field of good corn
and go through it, carefully counting
the missing hills, the hills with only
one or two stalks and the stalks that
have produced no corn. This kind OF
an investigation will show how great
is the need of planting only the best
College made careful count of the
number Of stalks per hill in 1000 rep
resentative corn fields in the state.
1t found in some cases less than
forty per cent of a stand and the av.
erage was hardly sc per cent, not in
Guiding the weak and unproducing
stalks.
Just think what that means. In
1000 fields of corn one-third of the
ground was not producing thing,
worse than idle because it had to be
cultivated the same as the ground
that was producing corn.
Had these same farmers planted
tested seed corn and secured a per-
feet stand they would have increased
their yield 20 to 40 bushels per acre
and they would have done it at abso.
lutely no increased cost of money or
labor excepting the few hours in the
winter testing the seed corn.
Testing an Easy Job.
Testing the seed corn is very inter.
esting and instructive work that is
neither hard nor tiresome. 1t is done
in the winter or early spring when
there is plenty of time. The hours
spent in testing seed will do more to-
wards getting a full crop than weeks
Of hard work in the field later in the
season, for no matter how careful the
cultivation or how favorable the sea
son a full crop is lot possible if the
stand is poor Or the vitality low.
1t is the plants from kernels low
in vitality that are first affected by
the drought, Ey the heat or the weeds
These plants are responsible for
more failures and poor crops than
anything else. A careful termination
test shows Just what the vitality OF
each ear is. 1t shows more clearly
than anything else what next years
crop will be. Record yields are not
possible unless seed corn is planted
that will produce plants with strong
root systems as we'll as strong
stalks. A glance at properly testet
seed corn shows both the sprouts anC
the roots and no seed should be
planted that has not proven in ad
vance that it is capable Of producing
good ear of corn.
What it Means to You.
Iowa should not only increase the
production of corn ten bushels to tn.
acre or 100,0O0,0OO bushels to thu
state but it really ought to be Is O
20 bushels more to the acre and 200
100000 more bushels for the state o
an increased wealth of $100,000,000.
What good does it do to go through
your fields cultivating hills wher
there are no stalks. Think of the Ia
Dor lost in the field because of poo
stand. 1t takes Just as much labo
to tend to field having an averag
of one and half stalks as it does
field having an average of three goo
stalks per hill Do you realize tn
labor lost? Plant good, vigorous, liv
seed and you will not have so man
one and two stalk hills. You wi
be worth whole lot more money 9
the end of the year. the prosperity {
the state and the nation will be el
lsanced and the wealth of the c0untr
will be increased an incalcuabl
amount.
Test your seed corn. j III.