Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-03-22
FARMERS URGED
TO Be CAREFUL
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
SENDS OUT HINTS TO THOSE
ON FARM.
CORN SELECTION.
Urges Farmer to Use Care In Select
Ing the Seed That He Expects to
uso Before He Does Any Of
His Planting

Ing the Seed That He Expects to
Use Before He Does Any Of
His Planting
Washington, D. c., March 20.-Tht
department Of agriculture has the fol
lowing useful hints for the farmer who
would protect himself against poor
quality in his corn crop: ...
Take time by the forelock and gel
the seed corn and the corn planter
ready for operation now before the rush
of the other spring work. The sol
and the seed are two prime requisites
of profitable corn crop. At this time
of the year there are many days when
weather or soil conditions prevent
blowing or other field work, that car
probably be used in improving the
quality of the seed corn. The seed
supply can be improved in quality and
productiveness by discarding the poor
ears and the poor kernels.
Gull Out Objectionable Ears.
The best time to grade seed corn IL
before Smelling. The office of corn in
vestigations of the U. S. department OF
agriculture proved by careful field ex'
periments that an ear having kernels
of undesirable shapes produces ears
most of which have kernels Of unde-
sirable shapes. All ears that are un.
! desirable for one reason or another
should be discarded before making
termination tests.
Should Use Care.
At this season for several years past
number of satisfactory means have
been described for testing the germina-
ton of few kernels from each seed
ear. Those who have neglected to
take good care of their seed corn may
now find dead" ears among their sup
ply. In such cases it will be profitable
to test the termination of each ear
separately. Where we'll adapted vari-
cites are grown that properly mature
before frost, poor termination has
never been found among ears selected
as soon as mature and cared for prop
erly Those who have given their seed
proper care should pick out 100 repre-
sentative ears and make a germina-
ton test of ten grains from each ear.
If these ears terminate we'll 1t is not
NECESSARY W cSSt Vic uaioASS " cAo
seed supply, &-. ~, =.
Nub the Seed Ears.
Before Smelling the small kernels
should be discarded from an inch or
more off the tips of the ears. Ac-.
curate field tests have proved these
small kernels to be less productive
than the fully developed kernels of the
same ears. The thick, irregularly
shaped kernels should also be discard
ed from the butts of the ears. These
kernels produce satisfactorily but their
size or shape prevents the corn planter
from dropping them satisfactorily. 1t
is convenient to nub the entire supply
of ears before the Smelling process is
begun.
How to Shell Seed Corn.
Many farmers who plant 20 or 40
acres of corn, carefully shell their seed
by hand and are profited by so doing.
A few remarkably successful extensive
corn growers shell hundreds of bushels
by hand. Where much seed is re-
quired there is strong temptation to
run it through the corn shelter. Hand
Smelling is profitable for the small
farmer and therefore more profitable
for the extensive farmer. The she'll
er breaks or cracks some of the kerr
nels and there is not the opportunity
of examining kernels from different
portions Of each ear as in Smelling by
hand. After being nubbed the proper
way to shell the seed ears Is to shell
by hand, one ear at time, into
sieve that will let the chaff fall through
and leave all the kernels from the ear
in plain view for inspection If I'M
satisfactory, all the kernels can be
easily discarded and another ear she'll
ed. The ears should not be shelled di-
rectly into the general seed supply
for it would then be difficult to separ-
ate and discard the undesirable
kernels.
Planter Should Drop Properly.
If the corn planter gave trouble last
spring better order new one now. A
poor corn planter is an expensive i'm.
Element to USE Even though the plan
ter dropped satisfactorily last year, 1t
should be tested with this years seed
supply before planting time arrives.
The kernels Of a variety of corn fire.
uuently vary in size from season to
season and different plates may be
needed this year from those used
satisfactorily last year.
Under favorable field conditions 10
or 20 per cent of the kernels or young
stalks are destroyed. Where extensive
paintings are made with first-class seed
and thinning is impracticable about
five kernels should be planted for
every four stalks desired. Where help
is obtainable that will attend proper
ly to the thinning, it is more profitable
to plant twice as many kernels as
stalks desired and thin out the weak
plants as soon as they become too
large and hard to be destroyed by
cutworms.
BY C. P. Hartley, Psychologist in
charge of corn Investigations, U. S. de-
partment of agriculture, Washington,
D. G.