Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1914-03-31
Prepar Ing Seed Corn for Planting.


ment for information in regard to pre-
pairing seed corn for planting. The
most vital part of seed corn selection
work can be performed only at corn rip
ening time in the fall. OF thousands OF
different lots of seed corn planted by the
Office of Corn Investigations not one lot
of seed that matured properly and was
gathered as soon as mature and prompt
ly dried has been found poor Of germi-
nation.
Every corn grower should now spend
day or more getting his seed corn en-
tirely ready for planting. The present
work consists of discarding undesirable
ears, termination testing, nubbing,
classifying the ears, shelling, and testing
the accuracy Of drop of the corn planter.
DIscARDING UNDESIRABLE EARS
The quality and productiveness of the
seed supply can now be improved by dis
carding the poorer ears and the poorer
kernels.
The seed corn should now be ''as dry
as bone," and among the ears that ap-
peared desirable last fall some undesir-
able ones will now be found. Discard
any that have discolored kernels or cob
or that have a dead appearance. Dis
card any that are light in weight and
any with undesirable kernels, such as
small size, very sharp beaks, germs of
poor development and appearance, etc.
All the ears retained should show
good development and maturity; be
heavy for their size, and contain solid,
To- IN. ~ Fol
form size and shape. These desirable
ears should now be tested to determine
whether all the kernels will grow.
TERMINATION TESTING
Although good seed selection and pres
ervation usually make a separate test
testing of the termination of each ear
unnecessary, il is advisable to exercise
precaution by demonstrating that the
ears will germinate well. Ten kernels
from each of 80 ears can be tested by
one of the various methods that have
been 30 well described in literature.
This demonstration that 80 representa-
tive ears germinate satisfactorily Is suffi-
cient evidence of the uSelessness OF test
ing each ear OF the entire supply. II
ears of poor termination should be
found, it will be advisable to test each ear
of the entire supply in order to be able
to discard those in poor termination.
NUBBING
Discard the small, partially developed
kernels from the tip Of the ears. Why?
Because such kernels do not yield well.
Careful field experiments have demon
strsted that they grow into small, barren,
and poor producing stalks.
Discard the round, thick kernels
from the butts OF the ears. Why? Be
cause the corn planter cannot drop even
y il they are included with the other
kernels.
Kernels that have been injured by
mice or weevis, or that are otherwise
should also be discarded be-
tore the ears are shelled.
CLASSIFYING THE EARS
As it is highly advisable that the corn
planter should drop an equal number OF
kernels in each hill, which it cannot do
unless the kernels are of uniform size
and shape, it is advisable to classify the
ears before shelling them. Those hav.
ing large kernels should be included in
Dne class and those having medium.size
kernels in another class. Each class
should be shelled and bagged separately.
To these bags, the planter plates that
testing has shown will drop regularly
the proper number of kernels, should be
tied for convenience at planting time.
Shelled seed corn can be cleaned and
graded by expensive, properly adjusted
graders, but the method just described
Of classifying the ears before shelling 10
more satisfactory.
HOW TO SHELL SEED CORN
Seed corn should be shelled by hand.
Careful hand shelling pays the man who
plants but few acres, and it pays to q
greater degree the man who plants hum
ireds of acres. Each ear should be
shelled separately in hand sieve. This
permits the chaff from the cob to fall
aud the kernels from each ear
to be closely inspected before being
into the general supply. The
value of this close inspection is lost ii
the ears are run through corn shelter,
and some of the kernels cracked or brok-
sn.-U. S. Dept. Bulletin.
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