The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-03-24
SEED CORN SUGGESTION
Seed Corn in This Vicinity is Not OF
the Best-Tests Indicate Less
Than Half is Good.

the Best-Tests Indicate Less
Than Half is Good.
Editor Republicans: There has been
considerable agitation during the
| winter regarding the condition of
seed corn through a large part of the
country. / have made quite a care
full study this a of the condi-
lions in various places and find that
there is a very large territory which
is almost entirely without good seed
corn for planting this spring. North
ern Iowa and Illinois, southern Min
nesota, southeastern South Dakota
and northeastern Nebraska appear to
be worse of than any other sections.
have tested a large number of
samples of corr from Dawson and
Hanson counties and have tests rum
ming all the way from nothing to
80 per cent. The larger number Of
samples that we have tested for the
farmers around here have run from
80 to so per cent and this gernltna-
ton is not a vigorous n but is very
weak. What l mean by weak is that
Az hS ~ 6AOW w uOS ouOW
strong sprouts, but show lack of
vigor which would indicate tina, they
would be very easily destroyed by
adverse conditions at planting time in
the spring. During the past week !
have had in my tests several samples
which did not show a sprout of any
kind, weak or strong, and in most Of
these cases the farmer was expecting
to use this corn for his own planting
and had in mind selling; some of it
to seed buyers for ,hni. own use
They simply had not ye, tested it AMI
thought It W. lid test we'll ny APP
pearances.
So much for the situation. The
most important thing to the farmer
just now is what is the remedy.
must say !hat it is absolutely inn
possible for ANY farmGc NJ anyone else
that I know of To tell the yer.D.na-
ton of corn ~ appearances. Corn .hnt
looks very Lad ana shows Il discol-
ored germ and rhe. characteristics
ton, usually fails to grow, but there
is a great deal of corn which has the
appearance of being good seed corn
which will fail to grow as we'll. |
have had dozens of farmers tell me
that no one could tell them anything
about seed corn or that they didn't
need to earliest their corn or any
thing Of that kind for they could tell
good corn when they saw it. 1 have
tested dozens of samples this year
that looked fine which were absolute
ly worthless for seed purposes.
There is comparatively little good
seed corn to be secured by purchase
or otherwise that would be adapted
to this section of the country and
south of here. Extremely early varie-
ties are more plentiful for they were
we'll matured and out of the way of
any danger when the freeze in Octo-
Der killed the other later varieties.
There is n remedy that is left open
to the grower. If he has a stock of
corn on hand which suits him as a
type of corn and general Characters
tics he can see then if it is suitable
for ear test. This can be done by TAX
ing from 20 to SO ears or more, just
as you would select corn for seed
from the lot, test these in a manner
described for ear testing to- find out
whether there are any really go ID
ears inSthe lot. Composite tests or
bulk tests made of the whole lot
might show a termination of SO or
60 per cent but this would not mean
that the corn could be ear tested and
produce good seed corn, but if one
makes this ear test of from 20 to SO
ears and find that in the lot there are
from 20 to SO per cent of ears which
show good strong sprouts on all kerr
nels taken from ear or five out of
the six taken from each ear it indi-
Gates that this stock could be ear
tested in such a manner as to secure
seed corn showing from 80 to 95 per
cent termination.
The use of ordinary sand or saw
dust is very unsatisfactory for test
ing for it .favors the development of
mould and does not give the COM
~parative value of the corn like the
water test. A water test by means Of
which the corn is soaked about
20 hours in warm water and then al
lowed to sprout in receptacles suit
able for the purpose, is more salts
factory. This test will Gull out bad
and weak kernels quicker than any
other test that / know of. The best
testers have no cloth or anything of
this kind in contact with the corn.
1 will not take up here in detail
the method Of a testing for this has
been described SO fully in our farm
papers that every farmer should by
this time know something about ear
testing corn. He knows how to take
six kernels from each ear and how
to number the ears so as to know
just what ear the six kernels were
taken from and how to inspect the
ears. The point l wish to mention
more than any other is to look for