The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-03-27
SEED
IN The SCHOOLS
VALUABLE WORK IS BEING DONE
IN THE RURAL SCHOOLS AND
TEACHERS HAVE AWAKENED
AN INTEREST - MISS RUSH
FELpT SENDS OUT BULLETIN.

The very important matter of test
ing seed corn, this year, has been
taken up over the state by county
superintendent Of schools as an aid
to other efforts which are being made
to help the farmers in the work of
finding out the certainty of the ger
minating qualities Of the seed corn
they propose to use this spring. Miss
Eleanor Rushfeldt, head of the school
system of Clay county has awakened
considerable interest and she is being
very heartily seconded by the teachers
from one end Of the county to the
other. In a circular the superintendent
tells of what is being done:
All authorities have agreed that this
year the corn for seed purposes is In
worse condition than a ever been
known. The schools of agriculture
are crying loudly, TEST your seed
corn" Local papers are doing much
tc awaken the farmer to the realiza-
ton that his corn crop is in danger
unless he submits it to some test.
Each rural school teacher in Clay
county has been supplied wath at least
two different bulletins on corn testing.
The bulletins are prepared by the ex-
tension division university farm, st.
tee, Chicago.
Every teacher in the county has
awakened an interest in her school in
corn testing and every child in the
rural school is making preparations TO
test his fathers corn. The teachers
are interested in the practicability uf
corn testing from an educational view
point. These tests are SO simple that
the whole school can perform the test
and teachers find that corn produc-
ton is something all children are in
terested in. Children love to write a
story about, The Lady Corn. They are
interested, too, in working out the
practical problems, estimating the cost
of farm crops. School children ARE
manifesting a great deal of interest in
learning whether or not their father
las good seed corn. Many children
have stated that they are going to
test every ear Of corn that their
father plants this season.
Some of the children are making \
one-acre test in cloth, a yard or more
in length and s or 10 inches in width;
twelve 3-inch squares are marked
and numbered down the middle OF the
cloth The cloth is then soaked in
water. Twelve ears of corn are num-
bered or arranged in a row and six
to ten kernels are then carefully re-
moved in a spiral around each ear and
placed in the squares corr esponding co
the number On the ears. The cloth Is
rolled up with a little wet sawdust or
sand in the end to help retain the
moisture. This is then placed In a
bucket or box Of damp sawdust or
sand and kept in a warm place .(tem-
about 70 degrees). At the
ems Of five or six days the rolls may
be opened and their condition noted.
The children will classify the tested
corn according to the following group
1, dead; 2, weak rootlets only;
weak, sprouts only; 4, strong, both
sprouts and rootlets.
In other schools the boys are busy
making boxes large enough to test
about ten acres of corn-the box being
36x4O inches. A number of other
simple tests are suggested which are
all practical and aside from he educa-
tional benefit should result in increas-
ed corn production in this county.
The average seed ear has 500 ker-
nels, which il all should grow pro-
duce 500 stalks, which in turn should
produce 500 ears Of corn, 500 ears OF
corn should make eight bushels, which
at SO cents per bushel would be worth
81. Therefore a loss of 81 II n a
of corn is planted that will not grow