Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1916-02-01

corn may be discarded after testing,
| but there will be enough seed to plant
! fifty acres, more than the average
acreage on each farm. There are sew
eraI objections to the average cellar.
1t is apt to be too damp, and the corn
must be well dried before putting in
the cellar, and it must not be corded
up or put in pies, but hung up.
Will Your Seed Corn Grow?
1t is only good business to know
that the seed that you put into the
ground will grow; and the only way
you can tell good seed is by testing it.
You can't tell by merely looking at 1t.
If you want profitable yields, you must
plant good seed.
The ten million acres of corn plant
| ed in Iowa every year are grown in
| 217 900 farms, an average of about
! forty-six acres to each farm. 1t will
take about 500 ears to plant forty
acres. Twenty-four hours time of
one man, two days work, will test
six kernels from each ear to plant
forty acres. Yet, because it is too
much bother" most of US pick out
800 ears, look at them, guess that
| they will grow, and plant them. AS a
consequence, more than twelve acres
| out of each forty acres of corn plant
ed produce nothing. This is worse
than useless, because one must plow,
plant and cultivate these twelve acres
ard ornf nothing in rnfTrU
By testing you get rid of the bad,
weak, and moldy ears. Testing does
not hurt the corn. 1t costs but about
ten cents an acre, and can be done at
a time of the year when other farm
work is not pressing. BY testing you
have everything to gain and nothing
to lose.
Discard Poor Ears.
| In the winter, during a slack season
or in the early spring, from February
20 to March 40, select the best ears
| from the corn you have stored in the
fall and get ready to put them through
| the test.
The sawdust termination box is no
doubt the best method for testing
| seed corn. It costs nothing but lit
tie time and labor 1t furnishes near
| ly natural conditions. 1t is not es-
sentiaI that the box be Of any particu-
lar size, although about thirty inches
square and four or five inches deep
will be found convenient. This size
will test 100 ears at a time.
! The sawdust is light, clean, and
easy to get and handle in February
and the first Of March, when the test
ing should be done; is a good noncon-
ductor Of heat and cold, so that the
temperature is kept even during ger
mination, and holds the moisture so
perfectly that there is no danger of
| drying out.
The number of boxes required will
depend upon the amount Of seed to be
| tested and the time limit. After the
termination boxes are made, inspect
carefully the ears you are to test from
the standpoint of the kernel.
Take two or three kernels from
each ear, about a third Of the length
/ VI the cdr AAOA tAO DuLL. Lay JuGA
germ-side up at the tip Of the ear
from which they were taken. If the
kernels are small. wedge-shaped, mar
row, shallow, too deep, or if they
show tmmaturity, starchiness, a ten
dency to mold, or if the germs are
small. or shriveled discard the ear.
Remove six kernels from six differ
ent places on each ear you have Sc
lected to test, taking two from near
the butt on the opposite sides Of the
ear, two from near the tip, turning
| the ear enough so as not TO take two
kernels out of the same row.
How TO Test Seed Corn.
FIJI the box about half full Of moist
! sawdust, well pressed down, so as 20