The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1920-05-13
TOPICS OF THE FARM
A Department Devoted Exclusively to- Farm
Affairs in Hand County


4 WI thuh cpiAho phN"shS
the land as soon as possible in the
| spring and then wait a while for the
weeds to start a little. Next, double
disc by letting the disc lap half over
each time around. Then harrow again
and the plot is ready for planting.
Z
PLANTING: 1t is first necessary
to determine the length OF the row.
An ear of corn will plant a row Is
rods long and leave a safe reserve. On
the experiment farms, a row 8 rods
seed is reserved. A row OF corn s rods
long Is used and the remainder Of the
long and the usual distance apart Is
approximately 0.01 Of an acre, A row
1s rods would be about 0.02 OF an acre.
These sizes are suggested because
they make 1t very easy to estimate
I yields per acre, but any other length
of row eanbe used from s rods up to
20. The rows should be exactly the
same length so that each will have an
equal chance to show what it can pro-
duce In comparison with the others.
Two rows can be planted at a time.
Special care should be used to place
exactly three kernels in a hill. Some
corn breeders plant about 4 in a hill
and then remove one sprout in order
to be sure to have 3 in a hill.
DE-TASSELING: When the tassels
appear, they should be removed from
half of each row. If the corn is plant
sells from the asst half of rows, the
west half OF row 2, the east half of row
8, the west half Of row 4, and so on
throughout the plot The object OF
this d~e-tasseling is to insure cross
breedings. Experiments have sown
that cross breeding increase vigor in
seed corn.
SAVING THE SEED: In South Da-
kota 1t is necessary 10 ave the SEED
in September before the main crop is
ready to pick. Select the seed ears
from the de-tasseled half of each row
end hang them up on separate strings
or lay them up in the racks so that
| the seed from each row can be distin-
guished. After the seed is reasonably
| end set down the weight in your re-
| cord book.
Harvesting the Main Crop: When
| the corn is fully mature, pick the ears
from each row and weight the product
Of each row separately, and set the
weight down in your record book. Add
| this to the weight of the seed corn al
ready picked. Thus, your record will
| show the total product from each row.
IL
THE SEED FIELD: Save the seed
from the ten best rows and take care
| of IL In the same manner in which the
| original seed wat cared for. The seed
from the 10 best rows is to be used for
planting a seed field the following
year. The seed from the remaining
80 rows can be used as ordinary seed
corn or discarded a 10 the breeder pre-
fers. This seed field grown from the
seed obtained from the 10 best rows in
the breeding plot is for the purpose of
growing extra select seed to be used
for the main field. The very incest
ears from the 10 best rows in the
breeding plot may be saved and used
for another breeding plot the following
year. but 1t 10 not absolutely necessary
to continue the breeding plot year at
ter year. II one would run a breeding
plot every third year, he would make
material improvement in his corn.
IL
SUMMARY. The object Of breeding
corn is to improve the yield and the
type. This work will be rewarded fin-
ancially, because there is always a
good demand for first class seed r
ut good prices and because 1t will in
crease the yield OF the main crop. The
procedure in breeding corr consists
in selecting 100 good ears, dry,rs and
testing the seed, planting 1t in sepa-
rate rows, determining which rows are
best and saving the seed from the de-
tssseled halves Of each Of the ten best
rows. The seed thus saved is used for
planting a seed field from which seed
is obtained for the main field.