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Show KNOW THAT YOUR SEED CORN WILL GROW By P. G. HOLDEN. WE MUST not plant poor seed corn this spring- It means too much to us and to humanity everywhere. Poor Seed means n poor stnnd. It means that 0 portion of the field will remain idlrnnd unproductive. Ii mean-; that the yield of corn will be for short of what It should he. It means lost energy and wasted labor. It means that we must cultivate the missing hills, the one-slnlk hills and the poor, worthless stalks and receive nothing In return Every year thousands of people work more than a third of every day on ground that produces nothing. The average yield of corn in the United States In 1016 was 24.4 bushels to the acre. The average yield In Iowa, the greatest corn state in the Union, was 3C...r) bushels. Yet there are thousands of farmers v, ho grow GO or 70, and even 80 or 90 bushels to the acre. In the Corn Belt it Is customary to plant three kernels of corn to the hill. If two of the fltalks In the hill bore nothing nnd the third stalk grew a very small ear. weighing only eight ounces, tho yield pe- acre would be 20 bushels, more than the average la9t year In the United States. If wo can make two of these stalks produce at least an eight ounce ear each, the yield will be 52 bushelq to the acre. If this had heen accomplished In every corn field last year, the Increase In production would have been more than 2,!XK),000)000 bushels. Carelessness Expensive. At 89 cents a bushel, the average price per bushel for corn on tho farms in December, 1916, tho total Increase in value would have been over $2,040,000,-000. $2,040,000,-000. This is a tremendous price to pay for carelessness. Poor seed Is the chief cause of a poor stand and a poor stand menns a small yield. There is nothing else that will do so much to Increase the yield of corn on every farm as the making of a germination test of six or eight kernels from each ear to be used as seed ami discarding those ears which show weak or sickly roots or stem POOR SEED GREATEST CAUSE OF LOW jX,ELD 0F C0RN ffiA (one SMALL. 8 oz. ear) f y C0RN T0 EACH H,LL J)(f f , EQUALS 26 BU. PER fiPlto I4l ACRE THE AVERAGE mfl Y1ELD F u s ' VT THREE SMALL EARS kf1 rt LIKE THESE T0 EACH HILL fAvW MEAN 76 BU. PER ACRE V. I ITHESE THREE KERNELS . iriiyUftN WERE PLANTED IN THIS HILL sprouts j he most common com-mon mistake is to conclude con-clude that we can judge the germinating power of seed corn by looking at it nnd that It does not need testing. A few days spent during Mnrch In selecting select-ing nud testing our seed corn may he worth more to us at harvest time than a whole year's bird work. It la nothing more nor less than good business busi-ness for us to know thnt the seed wo pnt Into the ground will grow. And the only wny we can tell good seed is by testing It. One man in two dnvs enn test enonrrh Three Kernels Were Planted In This HIH One Ker- COTn to P,nnt 40 nrros nel Failed to Come Up One Produced a Barren of ground. Testing will Stalk, and the Third One an 8 Ounce Ear of Corn not cost to exceed 1 A Yield of About 26 Bushels to the Acre. ronts nn arre Ypt- be cause It is "too much bother" to test corn, we pick out 600 ears, look at thpm, guess that they will grow and plant them. As a consequence more than 12 acres out of every -10 planted to corn in the average Corn Pelr state produce nothing. Requires Little Time. Rv testing, we get rid of the dead, wenk nnd moldy ears. Testing does not hurt the corn. It requires but little time, and thnt 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, hut the limitations of this nrticle will not permit of a description of any of them. Any county agent, any agricultural college nr any good farmer will be glad to tell his neighbor how to test seed corn. After the enrn has been tested, sorted, shelled and graded for the planter and the bad kernels removed, it should be placed in half-bushel sacks and hung up in a dry place. We should put in a sack, separate from the rest, the seed from th best 100 ears. When planting, we should use the seed from these "best 100 ears" on one side of the field and pick our seed corn from these row s next year. If we have no good seed corn we should buy from our neighbors or someone some-one in the community. We should not import seed corn from outside our Immediate vicinity. Thousands of individual enr tests prove that homegrown home-grown seed will yield, on nn average, from 8 to 20 bushels of corn more to the acre than will Imported seed. The best plan is to grow our own seed and test every ear intended for planting. |