286 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



Anotlier tihing, we want those leaves unrusted — none of those 

 fungous diseases that my friend vvlio preceded me talked about. 

 We do not want anything like that, because those leaves that 

 are punctured and full of rust holes cannot make corn, the leaf 

 makes the corn. I have taken ears that were splendidly devel- 

 oped from stalks with rusted leaves full of holes, planted \he 

 seed, and found that they did not produce strong plants, and 

 some did not produce plants at all. They had a weakness I 

 had not thought of at the time. We want the strong, well de- 

 veloped tassel, which is full of pollen, that fertilizes, through 

 the silk, the carpel whidh produces strong grains. 



We have the Learning types of the Yellow Dent varieties, 

 and the Southeastern Pennsylvania type of corn, and we also 

 have a Whitecaip Dent. We sometimes raise Eureka for silos. 

 We raise, mainly, Whitecap Dent for silage, because we want 

 a lot of corn in our silage. What size ear can we raise? W^e 

 have found that we can produce, with the stalk system that I 

 have talked about, an ear anywhere froon ten to twelve inches 

 long, with anywhere from i8 to 24 rows of grains around it, 

 the kernels five-eighths inch long, and we can ripen that grain 

 within the limits o'f our season. That sounds big; I wish I 

 had brought an ear with me. I will send one to Mr. Rogers. 

 We have not had easy sledding in getting that ear, because 

 there is a tendency that we have tO' fight. That ear, if we are 

 not watchful, will produce a thick cob, increase the rows of 

 grain, and shorten the kernel, and the weight will be reduced. 

 In other words, we will grow corncobs instead of corn, and we 

 do not want to do that kind of thing. 



I have worked along this line for a number of years. I go 

 into the cornfield, find a splendid stalk with all the character- 

 istics that are desirable, and I mark it for seed. Frequently T 

 find, after I get it separated from the rest, that it has short 

 grains and a thick cob. I use only ears wihich have maintained 

 the length of grains and the number of rows of grains around 

 the ear. I worked along this line for about ten years, and have 

 found out a i&w things that today I know are not so. Perhaps 

 if I come again I shall tell you I lied to you today, but I am 

 honest about it, if there is such a thing as a liar being honest. 

 The general idea among farmers is to select their seed corn 

 from the best part of tlie field. Now, do you know that is not 



