246 AGRICUI.TURE OF MAINE). 



DEMONSTRATION IN CORN JUDGING. 



By Prof. H. G. Beli,. 



I heard quite an interesting discussion on the following ques- 

 tion : Does show quality actually go with merit in corn ? Do 

 show requirements come up to the actual requirements for good 

 yielding corn on the farm? With our present experience we 

 are not prepared to say. We want you farmers to be thinking 

 of that, to be looking to it in your fields of corn ; to keep that 

 question before you until next year. I am going to ask you 

 the same question next year. Is it your opinion from your 

 experience that taking out the seed ears from a prize lot of 

 corn like this will give you the best yield for all corn? 



We will now take up the points on the score card. Under 

 general appearance, first of all the color must be taken into 

 account. When I speak of color I do not wish you to carry 

 away the idea that it is the actual shade of the corn to which 

 I refer. Here are two distinct colors of flint corn. For me 

 to say that one color is better than the other would be ridicu- 

 lous. Both of the strains are yielding well and giving good 

 results. It is the brightness, the cheerfulness of the corn to 

 which we refer when we speak of color. General appearance 

 denotes first the color and next the uniformity of the exhibit. 

 Uniformity means that the ears are as near alike in length as 

 is possible, and as near alike in size as possible. To that I have 

 given 15 points out of 100. 



The next point I take up is maturity. To this point the farm- 

 ers should pay a great deal of attention. I have had my stu- 

 dents at the college conduct an extensive experiment as to what 

 effect the storage of corn has upon it. The results of that 

 experiment revealed some very interesting things. I had them • 

 put samples of mature corn, of equal size, into different places 

 of storage. In testing the vitality of that corn we found that 

 in some cases it had gone down and down, and in other cases it 

 had gone up. Where there was any dampness it was exceed- 

 ingly bad for the corn. When the corn is perfectly mature, 

 perfectly solid, conditions which are the least bit unfavorable 

 do not affect it as badly as when it is immature. Immature 



