The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1914-04-29
PREPARE YOUR
SEED CORN NOW
NOTHING BUT PERFEcTLY-FoRM
ED EARS SHOULD BE USED
FOR PLANTING,
DISCARD THE NUDBlnS AND BUTTS
Test Fifty Representative Ears Fol
cermlnation.-shelI by Hand
and Separate the Big Grains
From the Little Ones.


The most vital part OF seed corr
selection work can be performed only
at corn ripening time in the fall. OF
thousands Of different lots Of seed corr
planted by the T. s. Office OF Corr
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
tion.
Every corn grower should now spend
a day or more getting his seed corn
entirely ready for planting. The pres
ent work consists OF discarding unde
sirable ears, termination testing. nub
bing, classifying the ears, sheling, and
testing the accuracy OF drop OF the
corn planter
Discardlng Undesirable Ears.
The quality and productiveness OF
the seed supply can now be ifnproyee
by describing the poorer ears and the
poorer Kernels.
The seed corn should now be "as dry
as bone,'' and among the ears that
appeared desirable last fall some un
desirable ones win now be found. Dis
card any that have discoIored kernels
or cob or that have dead appear
ance. Discard any that are fight IL
weight and any with undesirable ker
nels, such as small size. very SHARP
beaks, ssflas OF poor development anc
appearance. etc.
An the ears retained should show
good development aud 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 viii
grow.
termination Testing.
Although good seed selection and
preservation usually make separate
testing Of the termination Of each ear
unnecessary, IL Is advisable to exer
else precaution by demonstrating that
the ears viii germinate we'll Ten ker
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 80 rep
resentative ears germinate satisfac
torily is sufficient evidence OF the use
lessness Of testing each ear OF the
entire supply IA ears OF poor germi
nation should be found. II viii be ad
visable to test each ear Of the entire
supply in order to be able to discard
those in poor termination.
Nubblng
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 dror
evenly II they are included with the
other kernels.
Kernels that have been injured by
mice or weevlls. 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, II is advis
able to classify tks@ars before shell
ing them Those having large ker
nels should be included in one 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.
How to She'll Seed Corn.
Seed corn should be shelled by
hand. Careful hand shelling pays the
man who plants but few acres, and It
pays to a greater degree the man who
plants hundreds OF acres. Each ear
should be shelled separately into a
hand sieve This permits the chaff
from the cob to fall through and the
kernels 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 a corn shelter and some
OF the kernels cracked or broken.
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