Evening star., 1916-05-07

In letters recently issued TO the sew
eral hundred corn club members in the
state, the county demonstration agents
and club leaders are including some
valuable suggestions regarding the Sc
lection of seed corn, as furnished by
Prof. Nicholas Schmitz of the Mary
land agricultural experiment station. In
regard to securing suitable seed corn.
Prof. SchmitZ says
In growing a profitable corn crop it
is mistake to go far from home Tor
seed, particularly If a heavy yield the
first year is desired Seed brought IN
from a long distance and grown under
different conditions from those in your
neighborhood will not. as rule, yield
a s well the first year as good seed OF a
good variety grown nearby.
Usually, the larger-groWing and Ia
ter-maturing varieties of corn Will yield
more than the earlier and smaller
growing sorts. Be careful. however
that the variety you select Is not 100
late in maturing. and that the cob is
not too large and has not too high
percentage of moisture. because a late
maturing, large-cob variety may mean
lot of rotten corn for you. and hence,
a much lower yield. In sections where
the growing season is long enough,
such varieties Boone County White.
Golfers Excelsior, Giant Beauty,
Reeds yellow Don't, Johnson County, If
grown nearby, the long yellow va
riety grown in Frederick county and
the white-cap corn grown in Baltimore
Carroll, Cecil and other nearby coun
ties, are as good any for large yields
These varieties require from l25 to l35
days to mature.
Your seed corn should have a high
Germination-that is you want many
Kernels as possible to be live kernels
You can only make sure Of this by
testing your seed corn in the manner
which we will describe later on. The
best time to grade your seed corn for
planting is when you are ready to shell
II. Select only heavy, solid ears, with
kernels of uniform length, width and
thickness. Ears with many kernels
uneven in size, should be thrown out
Before shelling the seed ears. remove
all small and poorly developed kernels
from them, as such kernels may pro-
duce only weak or barren stalks and
lessen your chances Of growing a prof
liable crop. When corn planter is
used in planting, 1T is always best to
also take out the large and irregular
kernels.
Seed corn is best shelled by hand
letting the kernels drop into a coarse
ly meshed sieve, where off sized kernels
viii be quickly seen. Remember that
you expect a strong and healthy corn
plant to grow from every kernel you
plant; you cannot afford to be careless
In seeing that every poor kernel is
thrown out"
Green manure crops improve the me-
chanical condition Of soils by increas-
ing the content of organic matter or
humus. They give land a good tex
ture and put it in good heart or, as
farmers often say, make the soil mel
low. loose. friable, porous and easy to
work, and Will prevent its leaching
forming clods and becoming lumpy The
organic matter equalizes the water
holding capacity of soils. The use of
deep-rooted crops will open up the sub
soil TO the action of air, water and car
bonic acid. increasing the amount of
vegetable matter or humus in soils
will prevent the washing or gullylng
of the land. The use Of cover crons
will also prevent much loss and injury
from washing and from wind. They
are also helpful in smothering out and
clearing land of weeds.
Plant lice taphids) attack every grow
ing crop, but the insects are so small and
their attacks so insidious that they
are usually overlooked until most of
the damage is done. Curling of leaves
and the whiting of terminal leaves and
shoots are generally indicative of plant
lice infeStationS.
Tobacco extracts must be counted
upon as the best summer contact
sprays for general use on sucking in
sects. such as orchard and truck crop
plant lice. whose control offers one of
the greatest problems with which the
growers have to contend
lhere are three orchard plant lice
that are or major Importance to Mary
land; namely. the green aphis which
usually lnfests new growth rather late
IN the season: the rosy apple aphis so
ca!led because of its reddish hue, which
infests fruit buds. and the oat aphis.
which is usually found around the
swelling buds and which appears before
either of the others. The rapidity with
prompt measures for their suppression
Orchards that sprayed extreme
iy late IN the spring are usually kept
practically free of the oat and rosy
aphis by this dormant spray. because
there are usually sufficient warm days
IN the spring to hatch aphis eggs be-
fore 1t is too late to spray. Spraying in
the spring ~ late a. practical is rec