St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-08-06
IMPROVEMENT OF CORN BY
SEED SELECTION.

Corn is one of the easiest plants
to modify with which the farmer has
to deal, and there is no plant that
will respond more quickly to intel
Ggent efforts at improvement. Corn
is also very susceptible to the effect
Of a change of climatic or soil con-
ditions; hence, it is very difficult to
predict that the best variety at one
place will prove to be the best in
another locality. Owing to these
facts we are liable to many disap-
pointments in purchasing new vari-
eties Of corn, and this emphasizes the
importance of at least one farmer in
each community making it business
to select his seed corn with a view to
obtaining the best variety for his sec
tion. In fact, this Improvement of
corn by selection is so simple that
there is no reason why each farmer
should not give it his attention. Tn
less this is done, seed will soon dete-
riorate and it will be necessary to
purchase improved seed corn if it
is desired to obtain the best results.
Farmers Bulletin No. 229, entitled
The production OF Good Seed Corn, :"
is treatise on the selection and care
of seed corn which should be in the
hands Of every farmer.
Field Selection of Seed Corn.
The following is a brief outline of
Just how to select seed corn:
The corn it is desired to improve
should be planted on specially pre-
pared plat and we'll cultivated.
When the plants have silked, go
through the field and remove all
plants that have not started an ear.
After this and before harvesting, so
through the plat carefully and select
the best stalks, marking them SO they
can be readily distinguished.
An ideal stalk is one without suck
ers, thick at the base, with Well-de-
veloped roots, as shown by it's Wig
orous growth, and bearing good ear
or ears about four feet from the
ground. The stalk when mature
should be between and 10 feet high.
If it is desired to produce an early
variety, only those stalks that ma
ture first should be marked.
Select stalks that are free from
smut or disease and are not in the
mediate neighborhood Of other
diseased stalks. The stalk should
have two good ears upon shanks four
or five inches long, and these ears
should show a decided tendency to
turn down.
Gathering and Storing the Seed Ears.
AS soon as the corn is sufficiently
dry, it should be carefully gathered
and housed. In gathering fo.' seed,
gather only from the selected stalks
that have two ears. If there are two
good ears on stalk, take both. If
one is poor, select only the good one.
Gather for seed only those ears that
have the end well covered with a
close-ftting shuck, as this is very
effective protection against the Wee
vii. Except as stated, not much can
be done in selecting the ear at this
time. Store the ears in coo1, dry,
well-ventilated place and not in too
great a bulk, SO there will be no dan
ger of heating. Seed corn should
also be kept from freezing.
When the opportunity presents it
self during the winter, this seed corn
should be carefully shucked and the
best ears selected.
The Ideal Ear.
An ideal ear Of corn is nearly cyl
indTical in shape, tapering slightly
from the butt to the tip. The tip
should be fairly abrupt. The rows
of corn should be straight and COM
pact, commencing close to the shank
and extending clear over the end OF
the cob to the tip. The cob should
be Of medium size. about one-half
the diameter of the ear at a distance
of one-third from the base, ana the
length Of the ear should be. about
four times its diameter. Extra large
or extra long ears should be avoided
as much as small ears.
The grains of the ear should be OF
uniform size and should fit snugly
They should be fairly long, nearly
fiat on the sides, and slightly taper
ing on both edges. The dent should
be only slight and the outer ends
should be we'll flied out and not
chaffy.
The Seed patcn.
When ready to plant, select from
this lot Of corn as many ears as are
necessary for the seed patch, of as
nearly uniform color, shape, and
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