The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-03-02

the; old-fashioned method Of just
hooking atythe ears and was called
seed corn. feel safe in saying that
il you want a perfect stand of good
strong seed you will be very FORUM
ate IL you find over seventy live ears
out of hundred. Now this testing
of seed corn means millions of bush
els of corn and more money for the
farmers and cheaper feed for the
consumer.
Now the matter of testing every
ear of your seed corn is a very small
thing so far as the work is concerned
but when you consider the chances
you are taking when you plant your
corn and don't know whether the
seed you are planting will produce
good strong stock and "a good sized
ear Of if you will only grow weakly
plant and perhaps no ear, when you
consider these things testing is "a
great big thing. When farmer is
selecting his brood sows for his next
years crop what are the qualifica-
tions of an ideal brood First from
mother that produced a large litter
of strong, vigorous, well formed pigs
also from the mother that has the
mothers instinct and ability to raise
all or nearly all of her litter. Why
make any difference? Why not go inf
to the yard and drive out the number,
YOU want without selection. Simply
because 1t is one of the laws OF nature
that like produces like and the same
rule will hold good with your seed
eos,
This is not guess work but facts
backed by years of scientific expert
ment and the laws of nature.
Judging by my own experience /
am sure there is not one bushel : of
corn in existence that is fit to plant
without testing every ear Of it. So
now in conclusion let me say again
test your seed corn, every ear of it
il you cannot afford to take any
chances and besides when you elm
mate the weak and dead seed you
have much better SEED for your crop
next year because these weak stocks
are sure 70 fertilize some Of the ears
that are produced by the. strong seed
and il. they are eliminated you win
have nothing of that kind tosicontend
with. 8ggGo
The dairymen are very particular
in selecting his herd sire, the horse
man is also very particular in sell
getting the stud as the sires charac- !.
teristics are sure to. show in the off
spring. Since the seed of the corn
impregnated by either the pollen froh
its own stock or the pollen from SOM
other stock it is very important thai
we do as much as we can to nninim-i
lie the chances of our seed being
fortified by weak barren stocks and
that can only be done by testing
every ear and discarding the ears
which show low vitality
So far this year have tested 1000
ears of corn and find it will germin-
ate about 80 per cent perfect but
also find that over rs per cent of it is
absolutely worthless as to seed ON
account of the low vitality. Every
farmer should test every ear Of his
seed end while testing it select, say,
fifty Of the very best, ears which
show perfect termination as well as
high vitality and then plant these
fifty ears in separate fields if pos
sible. If not then at one side of your
field and next fall gather all Of the
yield from this seed and do the same
thing next year and keep on doing it.
Some of us will say that it is too
much extra work. 1t only seems so
because we are not accustomed to it.
Just think of the extra work we do
each year when we pillow, harrow,
plant and cultivate field. of corn
that only had so or rs per cent of the
plants in it capable of producing
corn.
The argument is all a long way in
favor Of testing your seed corn and
testing nowadays means taking
from four to six kernels out of each
ear and discarding the poor on
and saving only the good ones. Tn
is everything to gain and nothing |
lose. Ones time can only be mea
ured by the result of ones effort