The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1914-03-17
Preparing Corn For Planting.

ilOPuliIlU SUlit vi iolltiliY.
The most vital part of seed corn selec-
ton work can be performed only at corn
ripening 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
promptly dried has been found poor OF
termination.
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, nubblng,
classifying the ears, Smelling, and test
ing the accuracy Of drop of the corn
planter.
The quality and prOductiYeness 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
abone," and among the ears that appeared
desirable last fall some undesirable ones
will now be found. Discard any that
have discOlOred kernels OF cob or that
have dead appearance. Discard any
that are light IN weight and any with
undesirable kernels, such as small size,
very sharp beaks, germs of poor develop
ment 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 uniform size
and shape. These desirable ears should
now be tested to determine whether all
the kernels will grow.
Although good seed selection and pres
ervation usually make separate testing
Of the termination Of each ear unneces-
sary, it is advisable TO exercise precau-
ton by demonstrating that the ears will
terminate well. Ten kernels from each
of 80 ears can be tested by one Of the
various methods that have been so we'll
described in literature. This demOnstra-
ton that 30 representative ears germi-
nate satisfactorily is sufficient evidence
of the uselessness Of testing each ear of
the entire supply. If ears of poor ger
mination should be found, il will be adj
yisable to test each ear of the entire sup
ply in order to be able to discard those
in poor termination.
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
strated 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 weeyils, or that are otherwise
undesirable, should also be discarded be-
fore the ears are shelled.
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, ii is advisable to classify the
ears before Smelling them. Those having
large kernels should be included in one
class and those having medium-size ker-
nels in another class. Each class should
be shelled and bagged separately. To
these bags, the planter plates that test
ing has shown will drop regularly the
proper number of kernels, should be tied
for convenience at planting time.