Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-09-27
THE SELECTION
 0F SEED CORN Department of Agriculture Issues Instructions of Great Value to
 Farmers. CAREFUL SELECTION Means Larger Crops and Greater Monetary Return-Oi Special
 Interest in south.
CAREFUL SELECTION

some lQea regarding the eCOllOHllC impoi tance of corn may te had by a realization that in the United States it exceeds in acreage, yield and value, wheat, oats, barley, flax, rye, buck wheat and potatoes combined.
 An increased value of one cent per bushel would mean an additional in come to the farmers of the United States of twenty-five million dollars, while an increased production of but one bushel per acre at fifty cents per bushel would add fifty million dollars annually to the national wealth.
 In addition to it's magnitude, the crop is important because of the wide range of industries in which some portion of the corn plant plays fact, it may almost Ee said that there is no industry into which some prod uct or by-product of the corn plant does not enter. Therefore, any con ditions which affect the production of this king of crops are of interest to every citizen of the United States.
 Each spring many farmers discover when it is too late-that their seed corn either fails to germinate 0. pro duces but a weak growth. They must either pay high prices for yiable seed, which may or may not be ac- climated and adapted to their condi- tons, or by means of aborious tests they may pick out such of their seed as will at least come up.''
 The co. n crop of 1912 is now prac- tically made and the time for select ing seed for 1913 has arrived in the southern sections and will reach even the latest sections of the United States sometime in October Unless sufficient seed corn is selected at the right time in the right way, there will be the same deplorable situation next spring-again when it is too late-as there has Laen at each previous plant ing time.
 With very few exceptions the best possible seed may be selected on the farm on which it is to be planted. and by carrying out the following in struetions, issued by the Office of Corn Investigations, of the United State Department of Agriculture, each farmec may provide himself with an abundance of seed of tne highest pro- ductiv.ty, for planting in 1913.
 The process of seed selection is of too great importance to be conducted ircidently while husking, and in many localities if selection is delay until husking time, the vitality of the seed will have already been injured by an early freeze. AS soon, therefore, as the crop ripens, go through the field with bags and husk the ears from those stalks which have produced best without having had any special ar
 
 fertility. Late maturing plants with ears which are heavy because of an excessive amount of sap should be ignored.
 In the Central and Southern states, other things being equal, short, thick stalks are preferable. These permit of thicker planting, are not so easily blown down, and are usually more productive than slender ones. The tendency to sucker is hereditary. Other things being equal seed should be taken from stalks having no suck CTS
 The same day that the seed corn is gathered, the husked ears should be put in dry place where there is good circulation of air, and placed in such manner that the ears do not touch each other. If no previous arrange ments for caring for the seed have been made the ears may be suspended with binder twine, tying them about two inches apart The twine will support fifteen or twenty ears.
 If this method cannot be conyen- iently be followed, tables may be inn prov sed by placing boards across boxes or barrels. These boards should be dry and not too wide, and should be spaced one or che and hapf inches apart. The seed ears can he put on these tables using care to have them spread out to insure good circulation of air among them. It VIII be advisable to move the Cars a couple of times at intervals of about two days. when first put on the tables.
 Whichever method is used the seed should be placed in shed or buld- .