Vol. XIV. N!o. 331. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



INDIAN CORN. 



TESTING THE GERMINATION OF 

 SEED CORN. 



In the last number of the Agricultural News the notes 



M In. him ( '..ni bad to .1" with the i are of S I « !om. It was 



there pointed out that the Indian n plant produces s I "I 



exceptional vitality and germinating power, [n the case oi 



-corn \\ bich has 1 n properly grown, ripened, and stored, every 



kerne] should grow, ami conseiptently it is necessary to 



produce g I seed corn, and to preserve its vitality, rather than 



attempt to choose out of amass of ordinary corn a certain 

 number of ears which may be used to supply the .seed for the 

 next . i..|i. Seeil com must he harvested as seed com, and 

 stored as seed .urn, not merelj as corn, in order to produce 

 satisfactory results. It should be remembered also that it 

 is not enough for seed cum to possess good germinating 

 powers: it must also represent good production. 



The germinating power is of much importance, however, 



and in order that West Indian planters may be in a position 



to make satisfactory tests if the} desire to do so. the follow- 

 ing is reproduced from Farmers' Bulletin, Xo. 229, oi 

 the United States Department of Vgriculture, entitled The 

 Production of Good Seed Corn, by C. P. Hartley: 



'Seed corn should be so well cared for that it will 

 contain no ears that will not germinate, and seed testing 

 should be employed as a demonstration of the fact that the 

 ■ I has received proper attention, rather than as a screen to 

 separate the worthless from the poorly preserved seed. If 

 through accident or carelessness, a supply of seed has been so 

 damaged that a test of 100 or more representative ears 

 proves that less than ninety-seven kernels out of every 

 100 germinate, and better seed can not be procured, it is 

 certainly advisable to test the ear- separately, and discard the 

 poorest. 



'This test can very easily be made by numbering the 

 ears, and then taking five or ten kernels from each ear and 

 placing them in numbered rows in shallow boxes of moist 

 sand, arranging them so that the kernels from ear Xo. I, are 

 in row X*o. 1, etc. If the boxes used are 2 or 2', inches 

 deep, and a damp cloth is spread over the top after the 

 kernels are placed in the sand, no further attention 

 will be necessary for five or six days, when the results 

 of the test can be recorded. The box should be kept 

 in a warm place where the temperature does not fall 

 lower than 50° F.' 



The following paragraph from Circular Xo. 95, United 

 States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 is copied here as being of interest in this connexion. This 

 circular, entitled The Seed Corn Situation, is also by 

 Mr. Hartley:— 



'The prevailing idea that the thing of most importance 



is to obtain a good stand of stalks must be discarded. 



Farmers must consider the productiveness of the stalks of 



more itnportar.ee than the number. Full stands can be 



ibtained by the heavy planting of weak seed. Good yields 



tbe obtainedin this way. The most expensive seed 



to plant is that from which a stand of stalks ran be obtained, 



but from which a good yield ran not be obtained. The stand 

 -talks bears the same relation to the grain yield as the 



number of tree- in an orchard bears to the amount of fruit 

 .lured. Productivity as well as q intitj must be considered.' 



THE PARTIAL STERILIZATION OF SO '. 



The following ia a 3horl abstract of an article in 

 November 19, 1914, on the above subject, bj E.J. Russell, 

 ontaining an account in untechnical language of the i 

 that are being made to discover the exact reason why th 

 tility of soils, especially those thai an aid by the agriculturist 

 to have be. .me 'sick', should I ised bj this pr< 



The increased productiveness of partialis sterilized 

 was traced to the in< ri used numbers of bacteria; this im 

 in turn was found to be due to the putting out of action, by 

 partial sterilization, of a detrimental i.i. i. 'i presenl in norm; 

 soils. The present position is that there i doubt 



that this detrimental factor is living, and there is 

 indirect evidence to connect it with the soil protozoa. Bur, 

 the duvet evidence is lacking. The 'sick' soils are 

 further investigated. Thai 'sickness' could be cured by 



partial sterilization has aroused much interest. Lira 

 investigated by Dr. Hutchinson, and found to 

 satisfactorily. Mr. Buddin has found thai 



disinfectants, as long as the dose- ale not too -in. ml, 



cause some of the soil bacteria to multiply, but the 

 increased numbers of bacteria do not produce anj •■ 



responding increase in ami lia or nitrate. Hence the use 



of these non volatile substances is not promising. Steam 

 seems for the present to remain the best agent; it partially 

 sterilizes; it effects some decomposition of the organic man. t 

 in the soil: and seems to induce a development of fibrousroot. 



CATTLE FEEDING. 



The object of the experiment described below was to test 

 the relative feeding values of maize silage and of mixed ha or 

 cattle, and the advisability of feeding cattle chiefly on roiigha ■ 

 during the earlier part of the feeding period, and of adding 

 grain during the later part. Twenty-four bullocks w. 

 divided into two lots equal in weight, and of the same quality 

 i ii.l breed. The animals in Lot I received as much maize, 

 silage as they would consume during the first two months, 

 and each had 3 lb. of cottonseed meal per 1,000 lb. livcj 

 weight daily. At the end of fifty six days they received in 

 addition as much maize as they would eat. The animals in 

 Lot II received daily 20 ft), of maize silage each, and all the 

 mixed hay they would consume, as well as 3 lb. of cotton-seed 

 meal each per 1,000 lb. live weight. After fifty-six days they 

 were fed in addition with as much maize as they would eat. 



At the end of the test, which lasted twenty weeks, it was 

 found that the bullocks in Lot 1 had made a total gain in 

 weight of 3,280 lb. against 3,135 lb. in Lot IT, or an avei 

 daily gain per animal of 1 'ill 1ft). compared with l'SOoft). 

 The cost of feeding per 10(1 ft), of gain was, in the case of 



Lot I, £\ Ik Id., and in the case of Lot II, £ 1 1 9s. 4<f. 

 The profit per bullock, obtained by deducting the initial value 

 and the cost of food from the selling value, was in the case of 



Lot I, £2 L8«. 9<£, and Lot II, £2 6*. 9d 



The conclusions reached are that maize silageat 16«. id. 



per ton is relatively more economical and i •< effective for 



feeding bullocks than a combination of silage and mixed hay, 

 when hay is valued at t'l 16«. per ton. Maize silage was 



found to be i v palatable than maize in theear, and tor this 



reason it is necessary when fattening cattle to limit the 

 amount of silage given, in order to insure the gp lin in 



flesh during the finishing period. The experiment bears out 

 the results of previous experiments, which have indicated thai 



when cattle ..I about 900 lb. weight are put on roughage 

 during the early part of the feeding period, they will n 

 economical gains even though the actual daily gain- ma\ a 

 smaller. (The Journal of the Hoard nf Agriculi 

 November 191 t.) 



