The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-03-02
WISE TlLLER OF SOIL CAN
PROFIT FROM ADVICE
Time Of Careless indifference Has
Passed; Also Mode Of Cultivation
Has Been Thoroughly Tried Out; No
Excuse For Poor Yield; Small Grain
Should Be Tested BY termination;
Things Over Which AgricuituraIist
Has Some Control
A. D. MCCORMACK.

Above all other preparations for a
crop this year test your seed corn
With the price of every thing Sc high
and the scarcity of everything which
is raised on the farm it is a matter
OF vast Importance that every farmer
does his utmost to raise as big a crop,
or putting it in other words, get the
largest yield per acre that it, is >pos-
sible to grow. For two reasons the
farmer should make an unusual eff
fort this year 10 get good yield.
First the prices are very good and
millions are depending on our efforts
for their maintenance. Secondly we
as farmers owe it to our fellow men,
in fact we owe it to our country to
grow better yield each year, the
season permitting and unless we do,
we are not only injuring ourselves
but our country as well.
The time of careless Indifference in
the selection Of seed has passed, also
the method of cultivation has been
SO thoroughly tried out that it is now
a fixed principle and nowadays there
is no excuse for a poor yield so far
as seed and cultivation are con-
cerned, and these two things go a
long ways in determining the yield,
especially of corn.
! wish only to speak of corn, yet
with a very small amount of work
we can regulate our yield of small
grain by testing the seed for germ
nation, as corn is the most import
ant and valuable cereal which is
raised on the farm.
There are just three things over
which we have control that will de-
termine the corn crop this, year, and
they are good seed, good cultivation,
and good soil. place good seed first.
With our present knowledge of agri-
culture, any farmer who plants corn
this year with out testing every ear
of it is only half a farmer, back
number.
| don't care how rich you are or
how much money you have made
raising corn or what big yields you
get, that is no argument that you
could not do better.
If you have ever planted one ear
of corn with zout testing it for both
vitality and termination you were
taking a chance and if you ever
planted one bushel of corn without
testing it you surely suffered a loss.
There is no man wise enough nor no
eye keen enough to tell by just look
ing at an ear of corn whether it will
ievelope a good root system or not
and unless you have a good root
system your chance for good yield
r rrishtv DOOR one.
If you will just stop to think a
moment you will readily see that it
does not stand to reason that all
good looking ears of corn will make
good seed. But you will say: 81 take
only the largest, best formed and
mature ears for my seed" Well, am
glad you do, but listen! / have tested
every ear of corn that | have planted
eo'' oi~ht wears and have had about
hundred acres each year, which
would take over $4,000 ears of seed
in all and I find that the largest ears
are invariably the poorest seed. am
compelled to discard by far the lar
gest per cent of the large ears which
have q lower vitality than either the
medium sized or the small ones and
as yet have never tested one hun
dred ears which showed less than
eight ears that were absolutely
worthless as seed and / have tested
ON which only showed forty ears
out of the one hundred that was fit
for seed and this was all chosen by