The Green Forest tribune., 1914-10-09
Weekly Letter of John H. Page, Com missioner of Mines, Manufac-
 lures and Agriculture,

lures and Agriculture.
 Every spring there are farmers in almost every community who 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 Ark ansas. 1 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 cannot depend upon the statements of seed dealers in every case but we can depend upon'the appearance of the ear and stalk of in our own fields. The corn for seed 1 often may be selected in the spring from the crib without knowing any, thing about what kind of stalk the ear came from but experiments has proven this method to be failure It is un- fortunately true that the great major ity 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 toward 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 ears for germinaton 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 of 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 proper way to prepare for it is to select your seed this fall.
 Go into the field after the corn has ripened and select your seed corn with three points in view, good stalks, good ears and good kernels. Get good ears from good stalks and then you can select from that lot afterw ards, when 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 at the middle of the stalk. The leaves should be well developed and there should be about IA of them. The ears should be attached to the stalk by 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 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 one end to the other. The kernels should fit close together and uniformly on all parts-ass the cob. You cannot fail to notice 'e striking resemblance of the eax produced from the ear selected. The ideal ear of corn should be kept in mind in selecting the ears. The kernels that are wedge shaped are the most desirable. It is
 
 because of the length of the kernel than it is select it because of the smallness of the cob. In selecting for small cob, you eventually select small ears. Soft chaffy kernels are not desireable. Begin now to make preparation for good corn crop next year by selecting your seed corn from the field this fall.