OCR Text |
Show SEED BREEDING PLAT Should Be Planted Thickly and Then Thinned to Stand. Under Average Conditions It Will Be I Necessary to Cultivate Once Every Week or Ten Days Until Un-til Near September 1. (By J. K. PA TNK, Pry I-and Ppecinllst, Colorado Agricultural Colli tit. Those who have had to buy seed for piunting their crops this year should be able to apprecluto the value of a seed breeding plat. Those who have a variety of corn which has been grown successfully on the same farm for five or more years, ihoflld plant at least one acre for ineclal seed. Thl plat should be well prepared, and upon it should bo planted the choicest seed selected from the seed corn. Every ear used should bo tested for germination before be-fore planting. In order to get a perfect per-fect stand on this plat, the corn should be planted thicker than the ordinary fields, and thinned to a stand after the plants are a few Inches high. While thinning, the strongest plants should be left The plat should be given the best cultivation possible, so as to furnish conditions for the proper development develop-ment of the rrop. Under average conditions, It will be necessary to give the plat a cultivation once every week or ten days from the time of planting until near September 1. The plants should be watched as they develop. If some of them seem to withstand drought better than others they should be barked, and the oil about them should be examined to see If the apparent drought-resistance was caused by local conditions or by tome quality peculiar to the plant. A record should be kept of dates of taancllng and silking, and the date when the plat Is beyond tho stage of possible damage by frost should be ooted. As we must breed mainly for earll-pess, earll-pess, a record of spcclul plants will 4 desirable. The height of the stalk, height of ear from the ground, number num-ber ef leaves on the stalk, relative ilze of leaves and general appearance appear-ance of the plants should be noted. This work should be taken up by the boys and girls who should be allowed al-lowed time to study the plants. It Is probable that we of the seml-arld region re-gion shall have to adopt standards of perfection for ear of corn which will llffer very much from the standard f the main corn producing regions. For corn grown here I would allow larger cobs, shallower and broader trains, and larger shanks than the itandard for perfect ear of eastern :ofn would suggest; In breeding plants for seml-arld :ondltfoii0, we must cut loose from itandards made for humid regions, tnd work out our problems Independ-tntly. Independ-tntly. We aball have to dream out Ideals of plants which are best suited to our conditions. The twenty-five years of experience which settlers have had In eastern Colorado, show that we can grow (rains, and a study of the grains which they now grow points the way to Improvements which may be profit-ibly profit-ibly undertaken. |