190 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



^row a cultivated crop in order to clean the land, and corn is 

 one which often makes most valuable returns. The difference 

 between the value of the oat straw and com stalks for feeding 

 purposes would be in favor of the corn. Again, the possibili- 

 ties in corn production are far greater than with oats or other 

 grains. It is comparatively easy to get a yield of 75 bushelb of 

 shelled corn per acre in the State of Maine. The same methods 

 would not produce, ordinarily, 75 bushels of oats or any other 

 grain. Here, again, we must not forget the difference in cost 

 of growing. Just how much more it costs on an average to 

 .grow corn than oats is a question yet to be determined. How- 

 ever, the two crops serve different purposes. In the minds of 

 many, flint corn is of course the most valuable one for us to 

 deal with at present. It is native to New England, adapted to 

 our climate, and generally may be looked upon as being the 

 most certain type of corn to mature in our State. However, 

 varieties of flint corn are often expected to do far greater things, 

 even by our more intelligent farmers, than reason should teach 

 that we should expect. It is no uncommon thing for farmers 

 to send to Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts and 

 even Xew Hampshire (that is, southern parts of that State) and 

 expect to mature a crop from such seed during the first season 

 it is grown in Maine. Every one of us has experienced, and 

 perhaps quite forcibly and at a loss, that corn taken from a 

 southern region and planted even fifty miles farther north, fails 

 to mature as we should desire. [Members of the Seed Improve- 

 ment Association who are attempting to grow corn for seed 

 purposes ought to carefully examine all of the corn grown in 

 their own locality, watch it grow during the season, and if any 

 variety appears to be good and strong, select that as the 

 one to be improved. I should do this for the reason that 

 any variety of corn that has been acclimated to the region 

 and the soil in the town where you live will be far more 

 certain to produce a crop. In seed improvement we are not 

 after ideals alone but we must look at the dollar side of the 

 proposition. We want the corn that will mature. According 

 to literature which has been sent out by the Association, it is 

 advised that farmers should carry on the ear-to-the-row test sys- 

 tem of improving corn. In most instances it has been advised to 

 select ten ears. In this ear-to-the-row method of planting corn, 

 Avhat are we looking for? It is simply this: — What we want is 



