The Prescott daily news., 1914-09-22
WEEKLY LETTER OF CON-
 MISSIONER JOHN H. PAGE.
Selection Of Seed COrn". The Best Seed Corn For Arkansas is Ark ansas Corn. Select Seed Corn
 From the Fields.

Every spring there are farmers in almost every community wlo want to buy seed corn. Sometimes We think that surely Illinois or some other for elgn grown corn is better than any seed corn we can get in Arkansas. The best seed corn for Arkansas is Arkansas corn and in the majority of cases the best for every farmer is the corn that he might have selected in the fall from his own field. We can not depend upon the statements of seed dealers in every case but we can depend upon the appearance of the ear and stalk in our own fields. The corn for seed often may be selected in the spring from the crib without knowing anything about what kind of stalk the ear came from but experi- ment has proven this method to be failure. It is unfortunately true that the great majority of seed corn in Arkansas is selected from the crib at random. The corn farmers of the North would not think of taking such chances with their crop. They have learned by experience that the first big step toword success with corn is to go to some trouble to select good ears with good kernels from good stalks in the fall and to test these selected ears for germination before they plant in the spring.
 Arkansas has never been very high in the rank of corn-producing States because we have not given much study to the culture of corn. We have been satisfied by a slight care for corn and direct our studies along other lines. Next year the cotton acreage will be cut down and necessarily must be cut We should therefore prepare for an increased corn crop The pro- per way to prepare for it is to select seed this fall.
 Go into the field after the corn has ripened and select your seed corn with these points in view, good stalks, good ears and good kernels Get the good ears from the good stalks and then you can select from that lot after wards, when you come to consider the kernels A good stalk should be thick at the base, have well developed roots, and the stalk should gradually taper toward the top It should have no suckers and should have at least one good ear about the middle of the stalk. The leaves should be well de- veloped and there should be about II of them. The ear should be attach ed to the stalk by a shank which should not be over about five inches long. The stalk should not be abnor- mally tall, Both the ear and the stalk should be free from disease. You should remember that you will have next year a stalk very similar to the one from which your seed corn comes.
 A good ear should have well filled ends. The cob should be an average cob and should be as nearly uniform as possible from the one end to the other. The kernels should fit close to- gether and uniformally on all parts of the cob. You cannot fail to notice the striking resemblance of the ear pro duced from the ear selected. The ideal ear of corn should be kept in mind in selecting the ears. The ker nels that are wedge shaped are the most desirable. It is much better to select the seed corn because of the length of the kernel than it is to se- lect it because of the smallness of the cob. In selecting for small cob, you eventually select small ears. Soft chaffy kernels are not desirable. Be- gin now to make preparations for a good corn crop next year by selecting your seed corn from the field this fall.
 JOHN H. PAGE,