The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1914-04-17
PREPARE YOUR
SEED CORN NOW
NOTHING BUT PERFEcTLY.FoRM.
ED EARS SHOULD BE USED
FOR PLANTING.
DISCARD THE MUDBINS AND BUTTS
Test Fifty Representative Ears For
Germination.-ShelI by Hand
and Separate the Big Grains
From the Little Ones.

The most vital part of seed corn
selection work can be performed only
at corn ripening time in the fall. OF
thousands of different lots of seed corn
planted by the U. S. Office of Corn
Investigations not one lot of seed that
matured properly and was was gath
cred as soon as mature and properly
dried has been found poor Of germina-
ton.
Every corn grower should now spend
a day or more getting his seed corn
entirely ready for planting. The pres
ent work consists Of discardlng unde-
sirable ears, termination testing, nub-
bling, classifying the ears, Smelling, 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 discarding the poorer ears and the
poorer kernels.
The seed corn should now be "as dry
| al q DOhCB anu dIhOhB lhdI
appeared desirable last fall some un-
desirable ones will now be found. Dis
card any that have discolored kernels
or cob or that have a dead appear
ance. Discard any that are light in
weight and any with undesirable kerr
nels, 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,
vigorous-looking kernels of fairly uni
form size and shape These desirable
ears should now be tested to deter
mine whether all the kernels will
grow.
termination Testing.
Although good seed selection and
preservation usually make separate
testing of the termination of each ear
unnecessary, 1t Is advisable to exer-
else precaution by demonstrating that
the ears will terminate well. Ten kerr
nels from each of so ears can be test
ed by one of the various methods that
have been so well described in litera.
ture. This demonstration that so rep
resentative ears terminate satisfac-
torily is sufficient evidence of the use
lessness Of testing each ear Of the
entire supply. II ears of poor germi-
nation should be found, it will be ad-
visable to test each ear of the entire
supply in order to be able to discard
those in poor termination,
Nubbng.
Discard the small, partially de-
veloped kernels from the tip of the
ears. Why? Because such kernels
do not yield well. Careful field ex-
periments have demonstrated that
they grow into small, barren, and poor
producing stalks
Discard the round, thick kernels
from the butts of the ears. Why?
Because the corn planter can not drop
evenly if they are included with the
other kernels.
Kernels that have been injured by
mice or weevils, or that are other
wise undesirable, should also be dis
carded before 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 can not do unless the kernels are of
uniform size and shape, it is advis-
able to classify the ears before she'll
ing them Those having large kerr
nels should be included in one class
and those having medium-sze 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.
How to Shell Seed Corn.
Seed corn should be shelled by
hand. Careful hand Smelling pays the
ruan who plants but few acres. and it
pays to a greater degree the man who
p'ents hundreds of acres. Each ear
'lnuld be shelled separately into a
md sieve. This permits the chat
"om the cob to fall through and the
,rnels from each ear to be closely
inspected before being dumped into
the general supply. The value of this
close inspection is lost if the ears are
run through corn shelter, and some
OF the kernels cracked or broken.