The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-03-10
KNOW YOUR SEED CORN

n long growing season for corr
in 1920 caused the most of us to be-
lieve that corn, when harvested, was
fully matured, well dried out and in
good condition for seed. But recent
tests show that the corn did not dry
thoroughly and it is likely that the
vitality of much of the corr we have
saved for seed is low. For this rea-
son it is very important that every
ear OF seed corn should be tested be-
fore 1t is planted next spring.
Poor seed is one of the chief causes
of a poor stand and a poor stand
means a small yield. There is moth
ing else that will do so much to
increase the yield of cOrn on every
farm as the making of a termination
test of six or eight kernels from each
ear to be used as seed and discarding
those ears which show weak or sickly
roots or stem sprouts. The most com
mon mistake is to conclude that we
can judge the terminating power Of
seed corn by looking at it and that
IL uOeS not Heeu testing.
A few days spent during March in
selecting and testing our seed corn
may be worth more to us at harvest
time than a whole years hard work.
1t is nothing more or less than good
business for us to know that the seed
we put into the ground is healthy seed
and that it will grow. And the only
way we a tell good seed is by
testing it. One man in two days
can test enough corn to plant 40 acres
Of ground. Testing will not cost to
exceed 10 cents an acre. Yet, because
it is "toO much bother" to test corn,
we pick out 500 ears, look at them.
guess that they will grow, and plant
them. AS a consequence, more han
II acres out of every 40 planted TO
corn in the average Corn Belt state
produce nothing.
BY testing we get rid of the dead,
weak, disease-infected and mouldy
ears. Testing does not hurt the corn.
1t requires but little time and that
at a season of the year when we have
little TO do. BY testing we have
everything to gain. and nothing to
lose. There are several methods Of
testing corn but the limitations of this
article will not permit of a descrip.
ton OF any OF them. Any county
any good farmer will be glad to tell
his nefghbor how to test seed corn.
After the corn has been tested,
sorted. shelled and graded for the
planter and the bad kernels removed,
it should be placed in h%alf-bushel
sacks and hung up in a dry place.
We should put in a sack separate
from the rest, the seed from the best
100 ears. When planting, we should
use the seed from these best 100
ears" on n side of the field and pick
our seed corn from these rows next
year. If we have no good seed corr
we should buy from our neighbors or
some n in the community. We
should not import seed corn from out
side u immediate vicinity. Thou
sands Of individual ear tests prove that
homegrown seed will yield on an av.
erage from eight to twenty bushels
of corn more to the acre than will
imported seed. The best plan is to
grow u W seed and test every ear
intended for planting.
Investigations conducted over a
period of several years by various ag-
ricultural colleges and by the U. S..
department Of agriculture have proven
beyond doubt that rot diseases of the
corn root, the stalk and the ear have
been n of the chief causes of thin
stands. Of large numbers of weak and
stunted plants; OF stalks that are
down. or leaning. or broken: Of bar
renness and nubbins; Of chaffy, imma.
ture ears; of reduced yield. 1t is pos
sible that rot diseases carry we from
one year to another in the soil: 1t is
| certain they carry over in the seed.