Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-03-10

TRADING, rEsriNo AND
SHElLlN0 SEED CORN.

. GRADING, TEeTlN0 AND g
10 sHELLlNo SEED CORN. g
ssoeosasessSosoeoo eoo9sesessS
Take time by the forelock and get
the seed corn and the corn planter
ready for operation now before the
rush of the other spring work. The
soil and the seed are two prime re-
quisities of q profitable corn crop. Al
| this time Of the year there are many
days when weather or soil conditions
! prevent blowing or other field work,
that can profitably be used in improv-
ing the quality of the seed corn. The
seed supply can be improved In quail
| ity and productiveness by discarding
the poor ears and the poor kernels.
cuIis Out Questionable Ears.
The best time to grade seed corn 10
before Smelling. The office Of corn In
vestigations of the United States de-
partment of agriculture proved by
! careful field experiments that an ear
having kernels Of undesirable shapes
produces ears most Of which have kerr
nels of undesirable shapes. All ears
that are undesirable for one reason or
another should be discarded before
making termination tests.
Care Obviatss Testing.
! At this season for several years past
number of satisfactory means nave
been described for testing the germi-
nation 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 supply.
! In such cases it will be profitable to
test the termination Of each ear sep
arately Where we'll adapted varieties
are grown that properly mature before
frost, poor termination has never been
found among ears selected as soon as
mature and cared for properly. Those
who have given their seed proper care
should pick out 100 representative ears
and make a termination test OF ten
grains from each ear If these ears
terminate well it is not necessary to
test the balance Of the seed supply.
Why Nuh the Seed Ears?
Before Smelling the small kernels
should be discarded from an inch or
more off the tips of the ears. Accurate
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 kernels
produce satisfactorily but their size OF
shape prevents the corn planter from
dropping them satisfactorily. 1t IS
convenient to nub the entire supply OF
ears before the Smelling process is be-
gun.
How to She'll Seed Corn.
MANY farmer who plant twenty or
forty acres of corn, carefully shell their
seed by hand and are profited by SO
doing. A few remarkably successful
extensive corn growers she'll hundreds
Of bushels by hand Where much SEED
is required there is strong tempta-
tion TO run 1t thru the corn sheiler.
Hand shelling is profitable for the
small farmer and therefore more pro-
fitable for the extensive farmer. the
shelter breaks or cracks some OF the
kernels and there Is not the opportun-
itv of examining kernels from different
nortions OF each ear as in Smelling by
hand. After being nubbed the proper
vay 70 shell the seed ears is to shell by
hand. one ear at a time, into a sieve
that will let the chaff fall thru and
leave all the kernels from the ear IN
plain view LOT lIlSpeSSAoi'
factory. all the kernels can be easily
discarded and another ear shelled. Inc
ears should not be shelled directly into
the general seed supply for IT wouio
then be difficult to separate ana as
card the undesirable kernels.
Planter Drop Satisfactorily
II the corn planter gave trouble las.
spring better order a new one now. a
moor corn planter is an expensive i'm
nlement to use. Even tho the planter
dronped satisfactorily last year, "
should be tested with this years SEED
supply before planting time arrives.
The kernels Of variety OF corn ire
ouently vary in size from season 70
season and different plates may De
needed this year from those USED satis-
factorily last year. "a
Irnder favorable field conditions ~
y, % ner cent Of the kernels or young
eta,ks are destroyed. Where extensive
Mo r+inps are made with first-class SEED
and thinning is impracticable about
five kernels should be planted LOT ev-
erv four stalks desired. Where nelp
is obtainable that will attend properly
to the thinning. it is more pro1itaoie
IN nlant twice as many kernels as
stalks desired and thin out the weak
nlants as soon as they become too
70 roe and hard to be destroyed by cut