The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1915-09-16
now IS TINE TO
SELECT 1916 SEED
County Agriculturalist Advises
Farmers to Pick Out Seed
for Next Year

and the years crops are DelHS So1AeA
ed in, County Agriculturalist Lee NJ.
Lampson offers some valuable sug-
gestions to the farmers on the selec-
ton of seed for next year.
Seed Corn
Seed corn should be selected while
on the stalk. Largely on this method
depends our further Improvement in
growing corn. Only in very excep-
tional cases does imported seed do
well. Corn is very sensitive to
change in conditions; experience in
nearly all cases points to the conclu-
sion that corn has to have number
of years to become acclimated, con-
sequently the best place to get seed
is to select it out of your own field, or
get it just as close to home as possible.
In addition to using home grown we
can grade up the corn rapidly only by
selecting the ears while on the stalk.
In the irrigated sections two long
strides have been taken towards the
production Of maximum yields by
finding out the proper method Of soil
preparation and irrigation; the other
must be taken by careful selection Of
seed corn while on the stalk. E
This selection should be done by
first picking out the strong, vigorous
growing stalks with strong roots and
of reasonable height. In the irrigat-
ed sections the stalks should be Sc
lected that are carrying at least two
good ears. These should be not far
from the middle Of the stalk and
should have neck just long enough
to allow the ear to droop down. Az
ter this type Of stalk is selected, then
select the best one Of the two or three
ears on it for seed.
In determining which is the best
ear, look for the ear with . medium
to small cob (not extremely small CODY
deep kernels, ears well filled at both
ends. The kernels should be in
straight rows, very tightly packed to-
gether and Uniform. A slightly tap
ering ear is preferred to one with .
large blunt tip. There are other mi
nor points, but the above are the es-
sentials.
Select Potatoes from Hill
Why buy seed potatoes at . big
price in the spring and take chances
on getting poor crop and potato dis
eases as the result Of poor seed when
you can have choice seed from your
own patch, free from diseases, by us
ing the proper method Of seed selec-
ton.
The common practice is to select
the seed potatoes from the bin or pit.
But there is positively no way to get
the best seed potatoes from the crop,
except to select from the hills at the
time Of digging. This fact is plainly
evident from a moments considers
ton. Suppose you are in the hog bus
mess and have several filters OF pigs
from which you want to select some
breeding stock; there are only two or
three or four pigs in some filters and
ten or eleven in others. Do you put
the pigs all in one pen and commence
selecting. regardless Of whether the
pigs you select to save for breeding
are from the filters Of three pigs or
ten?
Needless to say the man who puts
the least bit Of thought into the busi-
ness would not do such q thing, and
vet that Is exactly what we are do
ing in the potato business when we
nut the potatoes in the bin and then
select seed potatoes regardless OF
whether the potatoes we pick out Tor
seed are from hill Of five potatoes
or twenty-five.
The intelligent hog breeder selects
his breeding stock from the large lit
Tor orlv. and we are not intelligent po-
tato growers unless we follow exactly
the same principle and select our seed
notatoes only from the hills which
contain large number Of good pota-
toes While the digging is being done
select the best potatoes from the large
hin only and you will have some choice
coed without paying big price for
It in the spring.
The question is often asked If seed
rot.toes grown in dry land districts
s-o not better than those grown in
;~r;o,ted districts. The irrigated seed