The Huttig news., 1914-10-03
Selection of Seed Cora.

J ' to buy seed corn. Someti nes we think that surely Illinois or some other foreign 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 r
 very farmer is the corn that he might have selected in the fall from his own field We cannot de- pend 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 se- lected in the spring from the crib without knowing anything about what kind of stalk the ear came from, but experiment has proven this method to be a 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 rot think of taking such chances with their crop. They have learned by experience that the first b 2 step toward success with corn is to go to some trouble to select good ears with good ker- nels 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 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 in creased corn crop. The prope, 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 afterwards, when you come to consider the kernels. A good stalk should be thick at the base. have well devel- oped 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 we'll developed and there should be about l 4 of them. The ear should be attached to the stalk by a shank which should not be over about five inches long. The stalk should not be abnormally tall Both the ear and the stalk should be free from disease. You should remember that you will have next year stalk very similar to the one from which your seed corn comes.
 A good ear should have we'll filled ends. The cob should be an aver age coo and should be as nearly uniform as rossibls from one end to the other. The kernels should fit close together and uniformly on all parts of the cob. The ideal ear of corn shouli be kept in mind in shlecting the ears. ~The kernels that are ge-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 select it because of the small ness of the CO. In selecting for a small COO you eventually select small ears. Soft chaffy kernels are not desirable. Begin now to make preparations for a good corn crop next year by selecting your seed corn from the field this fall.
 JOHN H. PAGE.
 Commissioner of Agriculture.
 The Work Watch Does.