The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1917-02-23
Eo&n1y Agent

As tts readers Of This paper doubt
less know, | have been appointed
County Agricultural Agent by tn
MARYLAND State College and the U.
Department. Of Agriculture My wor
will be confined to Prince George
County, and l take t is opportunity t
greet the farmers of the county. l sir
cerely hope that my work among 20
will be. if only ii small way, benetic
ial to you.
Thru the kindness Of the ENQUIRER
I hope to have something for you eac
week, and will try to treat some phas
of agriculture, pertaining to the season
of the year.
TESTING SEED CORN.
Good farmers knew that good seef
corn is necessary in order to get
maximum crop, and the difference be
tween q small and large yield can Otter
he traced to seed that did not germinate
or sprout.
and those VINO wish to get the best pos
s,bIe yield should use seed thathas oeer
tasted and proven good
The care of the seed Is also import
ami. as the per cent of termination OF
tho number OF kernels on an ear that
will grow, will depend almost entirely
A.
NTH corn that has been we'll cared Tor
. fav ears will be found that Will no.
grow. or will produce only weak
s,rou+s. These ears, ii planted, can
onlv GROW small, weak stalk, possibly
with no ears on them if they grow al
all. and those are hills that are one OF
the causes of the small yields per acre
II is only by testing each ear OF corn
that these weak ones can be found, tor
thew usually look as good as the strong
err growing seed.
There are about 600 kernels on the
average ear of corn that is useo lor
seed. This means about, LOU TO zoo
hills of corn. or one-twentieth OF an
acre. if the corn is planted three anu
one half feet apart each way. II the
kernels will not germinate at all, OF
grow weak sprouts on one ear OF corn,
IL can easily be seen that the yleio Will
\ he smaller than tho every kernel grew
IT. is quite often that part OF the pest
looking seed will not grow or Will pro-
duce small weak stalks. resting
few ears, taken at random from the
seed. will not answer the purpose. IL
is necessary that each ear be tested In
order to get the best results. lt mas
been shown that if few kernels, SIX
tn ten. are taken from different parts
of the ear, and all grow good strong
sprouts, practically all the kernels Oh
that ear will do the same. Also, II the
kernels do not terminate or produce
weak sprouts, the rest OF the kernels
will do likewise.
Perhaps one of the best methods OF
tasting corn is to make box, ABOUT
two inches deep and as wide and long
as the ind. vidual might require, depend
ing upon the amount OF seed to be test
Cd The box should not be water tlghi
and any rough material can De used. a
box twenty inches long and fifteen inch
es wide is large enough to test slXI!
five 20 seventy ears at one time. Place
about a half inch of sand or saWdust III
the box. smoothing and packing 1t firm
". Cover the sand or saWdust with
heavy muslin, marking it off into two
inch squares. These squares SHOULD
he numbered. and as the kernels are
taken from the ear, each ear should be
numbered to correspond with the mum
her of the squares that contain the
kernel from that ear That is, the ker-
mel from ear No. / will be placed on
souare No. /, having the germ side up.
Remove two or three kernels from a
small distance from the tip OF the ear,
turn ear one third around and remove
same number from center Of ear, turn
ear again and take kernels small space
from the butt end When the squares
are filled, the corn should be covered
with another cloth and kept moist at
all times. Place heavy cloth, such as
oilcloth over the Dox to prevent evapor
alton.
The temperature should be kept
bztween 81 and rs degrees F. The tel
will not be worth great deal II tbs
temperature should drop much below
55 degrees F.
In a week or ten days the covel
should he removed, being careful no'
TO disturb the sprouted kernel. Remove
the kernels from the squares, keeping
the ears for seed from which the ker
Dels came tn al produced strong
sprouts, discarding the ears from which
the kernels came that did not germinat'
or produced weak sprouts.
If the testing is carefully done, yo'
should not be planting any corn tina
would not grow, in this way, overcom
ino one of the causes for small yields.
C. H. TAYLOR,
County Agent.