The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1913-03-12
SEED CORN
Advice as to Its Handling Sug-
gested by Experts

G. p. Hartley, Psychologist in Charge
of Corn Investigations, United States
Department of Agriculture: Take time
by the forelock and get the seed corn
and the corn planter ready for opera
ton now before the rush Of the other
spring work. The soil and the seed
are two prime requisites Of a 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 can proftably
be used in improving the quality of the
seed corn. The seed supply can be i'm
proved in quality and producriveness
by discarding the poor ears and the
poor kernals.
The best time to grade seed corn is
before Smelling. The Office of corn in
designations of the United States de-
partnient Of agriculture proved by care
ful experiments that al ear having
kernels of undesirable shapes produces
ears most of which have kernels OF IN
desirable shapes. All ears that are
undesirable for one reason or another
should be discarded before making
termination tests.
At this season for several years past
a number CT satisfactory means have
been described for testing the germina-
tion of a 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
supply. In such cases it will be profit
able to test the termination of each
ear separately. Where well adapted
varieties are grown that properly
mature before frost, poor termination
has never been found among ears Sc
lected as soon as mature and cared for
properly. Those who have given
their seed proper care should pick out
100 representative eaIs and make a
termination test of ten grains from
each ear. II these ears terminate
we'll it is not necessary to test the
balance of the seed supply.
Before Smelling the small kernels
should be discarded from an inch. or
more off the tops of the ears. Accur-
ate 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 discarded
from the butts of the ears. These re.
produce satisfactorily, but their size
OF shape prevents the corn planter
from dropping them satisfactorily. l.
is convenient to nub the entire sup
ply Of ears before the Smelling process
is begun.
Many farmers who plant twenty to
forty acres Of corn. carefully shell
their seed by hand and are proited by
SO doing. A few remarkably successful
extensive corr growers shell hundreds
of bushels by hand. Where much seed
is required there is a strong temptation
to run it through the corr shelter.
Hand Smelling is profitable for the
small farmer and therefore more profit
able for the extensive farmer. The
shelter breaks or cracks some of the
kernels and there is not the opportun-
ity of examining kernels from differ
ent portions of each ear as in Smelling
by hand. After being nubbed the
proper way to she'll the seed ears is to
shell by hand, n ear at a time, in
to a sieve that will let the chaff fall
through and leave all the kernels
from the ear in plain view for in
spection. If unsatisfactory, all the
kernels can be easily discarded and
another ear shelled. The ears should
not be shelled directly into the gen.
eral seed supply, for it would then be
difficult to separate and discard the
undesirable kernels.