Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-03-06
PERFECT SEED CORN
VERY IMPORTANT.
Proper Prec aution in This Respect May
Increase Your Crop IS Per Cent
or More.

If lit lis necessary for the man who
farms on an extensive scale to watch
all the corners for Ieakages, how
mach more necessary is it for the man
who handles an eighty or a quarter
section to guard against loss or
reduced income caused by carelessness
of any sort. In each case the family
necessities are about the same as to
cost, so that the pinch always comes
harder on the man with the more
limited resources. A subscriber, G.
H Dacy, gives an instance where a
little foresight in the purchase of the
right kind of seed corn increased the
yield more than % per cent This is
what he says:
A prominent banker down in
central Illinois is personally interest
ed in about /, 1000 acres of land in that
vicinity upon which he had been
raising scrub corn While he marketed
in large quantities in addition to
feeding it to quite a number of beef
cattle and hogs. His annual income
did not satisfy him, SO he began to
browse around in the hope of discover
ing some way of increasing his
returns from his farm lands. After
carefully Investigating the proposition
he decided to abandon cattle and
swine feeding and to embark in the
pure bred seed business on quite a
scale He purchased some of the best
varieties of seed corn especially
adapted to his conditions of soil and
climate and tried them out for one
year on a breeding plot, using the
best specimen ears of quality and
uniformity which resulted in his
general seeding operations of the
following year.
In addition he has subjected his
seed corn to efficient termination
rbasts, as we'll as thoroughly curing
all of it in the attic of the farm house
which affords the desirable temporal
'ture and protection for conditioning
this grain for active service. The
breeding plot has been maintained in
good condition; rigid selection and
careful attention to prevent cross
Dollination have maintained the
relatively high character of the
resultant seed corn.
The recent yields attending these
Intensive operations have been note
worthy. Where a return of forty five
bushels per acre was formerly the
average a production for sixty to
sixty five bushels is not uncommon
now. This increase has been accom-
Qllished solely by the culture of i'm
proved varieties of seed corn combined
with the practice of paintaking cur
ing and the maintenance of an up to-
date breeding plot. State wide tests
throughout the corn belt have fire.
qUently demonstrated that welI.cUred
corn that has been thoroughly matuIed
In fairly dry atmosphere and in no
way exposed to violent temperature
fluctuations OF inclement weather will
produce a % to 30 per cent larger
yield of improved quality than will
the ordinary variety which has been
cured in some exposed place as on the
back porch, side Of the windmill
tower, or above the barn door.
We could give scores of instances
where a change IA policy whereby
scrub varieties of corn were supplant-
ed by improved sortz resulted in an
Increased yield equal to, if not
greater, than the case cited by Mr..
Dacy. Prejudice against improved
strains can only have a basis in
Ignorance, and opposition to sensible
testing is found solely among those
who succeed in fooliug themselves
We do not deny that uuimproved
varities of corn do not have place in
our system of agriculture. They
should be used where rotation is un-
known where barnyard manure rots
itself out in the lots and where the
soil is forced to pay OUT con
tinually without even a fractional in
come ia the form of fertility Under
these conditions scrub corn shows
better fighting qualities than the
Improved type Wisconsin Farmer.