Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1916-10-11
SEED CORN FOR PLANTING.

Department OF agriculture setis TOW
to Prepare the Corn.
Requests are now reaching the de-
partment of agriculture for informa-
ton in regard to preparing seed corn
for planting. The most vital part Of
seed corn selection work can be per-
formed only at corn ripenfng time in
the fall.
Every corn grower should now spend
a day OF more getting his seed corn
entirely ready for planting. The pres
ent work consists of discarding unde-
sirahle ears. termination testing, nub-
bling, classifying the ears. Smelling and
testing the accuracy Of drop Of the
oorn planter.
The quality and productiveness. Of
the seed supply can now be improved
by describing the poorer ears and the
poorer kernels.
Che seed corn should now be las dry
as a bone" and among the ears that
appeared desirable last fall some I'M
Desirable ones will now be found.
Discard any that have discolored ker-
nels, small size, very sharp beaks,
germs Of poor development and appear
anoa. etc.
Al the ears retained should show
good development and maturity, be
heavy for their size and contain solid,
vigorous looking kernels OF fairly uni
form size and shape. These destra-
BILE ears should now be tested to de-
termine whether all the kernels will
grow.
| Domination Fee4ino.
Although good seed selection and
preservation usually make a separate
testing of the termination Of each ear
unnecessary, it is advisable to exercise
precaution by demonstrating that the
ears will terminate we'll. Ten kernels
from each Of fifty ears can be tested
by one of the various methods that
have been so we'll described in Itera-
ture. This demonstration that fifty
representative ears terminate sat1sfac-
torily is sufficient evidence Of the USE
iessness Of testing each ear of the en-
tire supply. If ears Of poor germ1na-
ton should be found 1t will be advls-
able to test each ear Of the entire sup
DIV in order to be able to discard those
in poor termination.
|. Discard the small, partially developed
kernels from the tip Of the ears. Why!
Because such kernels do not yield well.
Careful field experiments have demon
strated that they grow into small, bar
| rem and poor producing stalks.
Discard the round, thick kernels from
| fz2 60
the corn planter cannot drop evenly If
they are included with the other ker-
, nels.
/ Kernels that have been injured by
, mice or weevils or that are otherwise
undesirable should also be discarded
{ before the ears are shelled.
> Classifying the Ears.
As it is highly advisable that the
corn planter should drop an equal mum
} Der Of kernels in each hill, which Il
cannot do unless the kernels are Of uni
!. form size and shape, it is advisable te
= classify the ears before shelling them
= Those having large kernels should be
. included in one class and those having
q medium size kernels in another class
GldCu CLASS pS SucllcO tll0 Oot5
r ged separately. To these bags thu
planter plates that testing has shown
will drop regularly the proper numbel
Of kernels should be tied for conven
. fence at planting time.
D Shefled seed corn can be cleaned ant
4 graded by expensive, properly adjust
ed grades, but the method just de
> scribed of classifying the ears befor
l. Smelling Is more satisfactory.
How to She'll Seed Corn.
> Seed corn should be shelled by hand
. Careful hand Smelling pays the ma
- who plants but few acres, and
= pays to a greater degree the man VIII
- plants hundreds of acres. Each ca
;. should be shelled separately into
> hand sieve This permits the cha
s from the cob to fall through and th
- kernels from each ear to be closely IL
= spected before being dumped into th
general supply. The value Of this clos
a inspection is lost if the ears are ru
through a corn shelter and some OF tt
- kernels cracked or broken
Ia Record Gold Nugget.
- When taken out Of the mine the lar
a est gold nugget In the world weighe
II $40 pounds.