FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 449 



Xo. Ears on 

 Lcnglh. Grains. Finest Stool. 



1S57, original ear 4^8 inches - 47 



1858, finest car 6)4 inches 49 10 



lS59,finest ear 7^ inches 91 22 



1860, cars imperfect from wet season 39 



1871, finest ear 8^4 inches 123 52 



"Thus," says Mr. Ilallet, "by means of repeated selection alone in this 

 short time the length of the cars has been doubled, their contents nearly 

 trebled, and the 'tillering' power of the seed increased five-fold."' This 

 remarkable change was brought about in the following manner: The seeds 

 were planted, one in a place, nine by nine inches. The 2)tantii were well culti- 

 vated. What does this amount to? From seed raised in this way a whole 

 field of tea acres, in a very unfavorable year, yielded fifty-seven bushels to the 

 acre, while with ordinary seeds on previous years the same land yielded from 

 thirty-two to forty bushels to the acre. As we might expect, after continuing 

 the experiments, Mr. Hallett found that the heads became more uniformly of 

 good size and good quality and yielded well. Like a well-bred flock of sheep, 

 where the owner had bred toward one standard, they were even and uniformlv 

 good. 



HOW TO SAVE SEED WHEAT. 



Of course we want to get the best variety of our soil and climate. The 

 illustration above given supplies us with one mode of procuring good seed. 

 Many of our farmers are quite particular to sow good clean seed wheat, and 

 nearly all, perhaps all, would prefer such. How are the plump kernels se- 

 lected? I3y means of the screens in the fanning-mill the kernels are sepa- 

 rated. They come from all sorts of heads, long or sliort, large or small, from 

 those shoots'producing a few small heads, or from those producing many large 

 heads. The seeds are selected at random from anything that may happen to 

 produce plump kernels. There is, in this common practice, no attention paid 

 to pedigree. Kemember the longer a uniform good practice prevails in improv- 

 ing a grain, fruit or vegetable, the more firmly established does the improve- 

 jnent become. 



HOW TO PEOCURE SEED CORN. 



I can do no better than to give a summary of a paragraph from my report 

 for 1876. Plant a piece by itself, give plenty of room for each stalk ; enrich 

 the soil and give excellent cultivation. Remove all poor stalks before flower- 

 ing that they may not fertilize any ears. I have followed this practice for two 

 years. The Sturtevant brothers of South Frankingham have tried it for two 

 years, and advertise seed corn in the following words : " Our seed is from fields 

 from which all barren, imperfect, and undesirable stalks were removed before 

 bloom, thus insuring a selection in the male as well as the female parentage." 

 One of the brothers is editor of the "Scientific Farmer," Avhich is one of the 

 most able and progressive journals of agriculture in this country. In case of 

 flint corn they have found about half of the stalks with a tassel and no ear. 

 These barren stalks are mostly sprouts or what are commonly called suckers. 



Florists follow the same plan by removing all poor or undesirable specimens 

 before flowering, that no pollen may be transferred to plants from which they 

 desire to save seeds. Seedsmen grow each variety of vegetable apart from 

 others with which it is nearly related that it may remain pure and unmixed. 

 Great care is needed to keep pure stock of our squashes, cabbages, cauli- 

 flowers, etc. 



