Corn Growers* Association. 319 



have always gathered the corn in the early fall and hung across 

 wires until thoroughly dry, in fact, will let it hang until spring, when 

 meat-smoking time comes on and it is given a good smoking, which 

 insures a sure stand and prevents worms and insects from infecting 

 it. Others will tell you that they do not need to go to the trouble 

 and expense of caring for it through the winter ; that they can go • 

 into the crib in the spring and select a corn that will grow, little real- 

 izing what damaging effect the changeable conditions of the atmos- 

 phere may have had during the winter season, the corn never having 

 become thoroughly dried. 



Now, we should not only be satisfied that the corn will grow, 

 but that it will also make a strong and vigorous plant. 



The fact that our lands have doubled in value in recent years, 

 and that our yields have not been commensurate with the same, 

 should appeal at once to the farmer to embrace every opportunity 

 to enhance the value of his corn crop, and the care of the seed corn is 

 one of no small importance. Almost every farmer has some closet 

 or room where the seed can be placed during the winter, where it 

 will have plenty of air and heat, and be free from the ravages of 

 mice. In case this can not be done, it would be well to arrange a 

 frame or crate, large enough to hold the season's planting, and by 

 means of wires it can be hung to the rafters or ceiling of the barn 

 or granary. The seed should be conveyed to the crate as soon as 

 selected from the field, as delay at this time might prove disastrous 

 to the com ; and especially so if there should be two or three wagon 

 loads of rats and mice harboring about the place, as new com acts 

 as a sort of breakfast food to these rodents and whets their appetites 

 for more seed corn. 



Due attention given to the seed in some such manner as de- 

 scribed will assist us very much in overcoming some of the difficul- 

 ties encountered in the spring time in securing a good stand, which 

 is one of the chief sources of obtaining a bountiful yield, the analysis 

 of which is selection, preservation and cultivation. 



FIELD TREATMENT OF THE CORN CROP. 



(P. E. Orabtree, of Hannon, Mo.) 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : There can be no strict- 

 ly first-class specimen produced, in either plant or animal life, 

 without taking into account the three following considerations : 

 Feeding, breeding, individuality. 



