The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1915-02-11
The Importance of Good Seed

: bushels. Hundreds of ears have beer
8 planted in separate rows by the Ohi'
) experiment station by Funk Brother!
| and scores of individuals and wide
range in yield as above is always
/ found.
A bushel Of corn will plant approx
imately seven acres. If one bushel OF
seed produces 20 bushels more corr
to the acre and will plant seven acres
it means that it will produce lao bush
els more corn. A man could afford to
pay a handsome price for the high
yielding seed that would make him
140 bushels more corn. Suppose 1t
requires Is ears of your corn to plant
an acre and that you get a yield of go
bushels to the acre. Under those con-
ditions each ear of seed corn is re-
sponsible for approximately four
bushels of the crop. You cannot af-
ford to take chances on an ear of seed
corn when four bushels or SO worth of
corn is dependent upon it. The i'm
portance of an ear of corn is worth
considering 1t is not enough to
know that the kernels on the ear will
grow (although that is very import
anti, but we must know that they
will give strong plants that will pro-
duce 80 or 100 bushels to the acre in
stead of 80 or 40 bushels. The one
stalk hills and the weak and barren
stalks can very largely be attributed
to certain ears whose kernels, or a
portion of them are weak. This will
come under the subject of corn breed |
ing, which l will try to explain in my
next article published in The Index
We may take field of corn that is
planted with three-foot six-inch
planter. There are 1866 hills on each
acre, and with three stalks per hill
there are 1866 stalks If we threw
away or discarded two of these
stalks in every hill, leaving but one
stalk per hill, and this stalk bore
small ear weighing only 101a ounces,
there would be yield of 33 1-3 bush
els per acre-more than the average
yield of the corn belt states. 1t is the
missing hills, the one stalk hills, and
The barren stalks to very great ex-
,ent that is responsible for reducing
our average yield to only one very
medium sized ear to each hill Now,
f we select the kind of corn that is
most adapted to our soil and test each
md every ear before planting (the
after part of March is a good time)
~ taking six kernels from each ear
Ind putting them into testing box
We will go long ways toward bring
ng our low yield up to the high yield,
hus making the inferior stalks pro-
luce good ears. These have to be
cultivated and we get nothing in re-
urn for our labor. They are worse
han wad. Aside from using up the
Moisture and plant food, they furnish
ollen to fertilize the kernels of the
God ears. There can be no exact
ct of rules laid down for growing the
ig corn crop, as the reasons are
aried. Where they are dependent
n rainfall it may be unequally dis :
'ibuted, and many other conditions
rise so that the successful corn rails
: must study the conditions of his
Ill and use good common sense. In
lie states where irrigation is used
is very necessary to know when to
stribute the water and the proper
mount to grow the crop. Too much
alter is a detriment to the corn as
ell as the land.
AS l have stated, one must have
,od soil and above all select good
ed and the right kind of cultivation.
III soil here is new and believe is
apted to growing good bumper /
ops of corn, and with the proper
re we can keep it so that it will i
ntinue to produce good crops for
airs to come. The experiment sta z
ms in the East have given this sub
It years of study and have made :
advancement along the line
corn, as well as other grain and
asses and we can profit by their j
perience.