The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1913-11-06

Selection for seed insures good
corn; for show, prizes. Selection of
corn for seed is as necessary as Sc
lection of live stock for breeding and
for the same reasons. Care pays. The
farmer who selects can sell. The
time OF the corn breeder is here.
Cylindrical Most Desirable Shape.
The best shape for an ear OF corn
is cylindrical. That is, It should car
ry about the same thickness from
butt to tip. A tapering ear will have
less weight of corn on II than a cyl.
indrical one. Moreover, the taper is
partly due to shallow kernels toward
the tip and the fact that the kernels
will, therefore, not all be of the same
size and shape makes 1t impossible
for n planter TO drop them evenly.
The proper length OF an ear Of corn
will depend upon its diameter. In
general the length should be to the
circumference as 4 is to 3, or a 10
inch ear should be tx inches around,
measured at one.third the distance
from butt to tip. Ears medium in
length should generally be selected.
Ears slightly above medium size are
bast
The butt of an ear OF corn should
be we'll rounded out with deep, reg.
ular kernels, compactly and evenly
arranged about Cup.shaped cavity,
aF ,tFht oh
about an inch. The diameter OF the
scar where the ear was attached to
the stalk should be about three.
fourths of an inch in medium varie.
ties. If the butt is large and wide
the ear will be hard to break OF In
husking, If it is too narrow the ear
may blow off Clean, compart butts
mean careful selection; and coarse,
wide butts. poor selection
The tip Of an ear should be well
filed out to the end, and completely
covered with kernels. Too much A..
tention should not be given to Gov
cred tips, however, as there are very
few ears that have them and they are
usually the shorter ears.
An ear of corn should be solid and
compact with little space between
the rows Of kernels. Wide burrows
mean rounded instead of deep ker.
nels, and this is not the type of the
highest yielding corn for Missouri
Cob ls to Corn as Bone to Animal.
The size of the cob should neither
be very large nor very small. Cob
bears the same relation to an ear OF
corn as does bone to an animal. It
may be either too fine or too coarse.
A large. coarse cob indicates poor
quality and poor selection. An ear
having such usually dries out slowly
and hence the vitality OF the corn is
often injured by freezing during the
winter. An understood cob either
bears grains that stand out like the
fans on the wheel Of windmill and
hence are easily shattered, or II has
pointed grains with narrow, contract
ed germs, the vitality Of which ls
usually low
In general the deeper the kernels
and smaller the cob, the better the
ear, but 1t is possible to have kernels
so long as cobs so slim as to be
faulty. This fault Is rarely found,
however, the most common fault be
ing In getting cobs too large. A
medium.sized cob with kernels that
are wedge shaped, but not pointed,
and that ct compactly from top to
bottom, Is TO be preferred.
The length of the kernels should
be about one and ono.half times It's
width at its widest part and II should
be Of uniform thickness from one end
to the other. The germ should be
large, smooth and brlght-not discol.
ored, bllstered, wrinkled or rough
ened. When broken open 1t should
show fresh, oily appearance.
Seed corn should be selected in the
fall, preferably from the field after II
is we'll matured. and before any
heavy frosts have occurred. One OF
the best methods Ia to go through the
field with basket or sack and select
the best ears from the best stalks.
An ear of corn may be a good one