THE SEED-CORN SITUATION. 5 



placed upon .seod-corii preservation, aiid experimental results were 

 given to sliow that good preservation sometimes increases produc- 

 tiveness by 18 bushels per acre. The experiments were conducted in 

 the East, and the general opinion prevailed among the Nebraska 

 speakers, as well as among Nebraska farmers, that seed preservation 

 was of little importance in Nebraska. Frequent statements were 

 made that the autumns were long and dry and seed corn needed no 

 special care. In contrast to tliis, coi-n trains, operated throughout 

 the State of Nebraska in the spring of 11)1'2. carried the following 

 news to farmers: 



There are very few localities in the State where more than half of the ears will 

 grow, and in many places not more than 1 ear out of 10 will j,n»w. A very hard 

 free/.*' the lirst week in November killed or greatly weakened a large majority 

 of the corn wliich was not of an early variety or which had not been picked 

 and i)roperly cared for before that time. With the facts before ns it becomes 

 quite a problem to know just where the seed will come from for planting the 

 Nebraska cornfields. For the entire State a decreased yield of 5 bushels per 

 acre, due to a jioor stand, would result iu a total decreased harvest of :}2,500,000 

 bushi Is of corn. At 'A) cents a bushel this amounts to a loss of $1(),2.")0,000. 



The farmers who gathered their seed in Sei>tenjber or early October and had it 

 dried out before the freezes came are the ones who have good seed. These are 

 the only farmers in so far as the station has been able to lenru who have seed 

 that they can depend u))ou. 



MEANS OF PREVENTING SUCH SITUATIONS. 



AVhen advice is given it should be the best advice possible. The 

 usual advice given for meeting poor seed-corn situations is to test 

 separately the germination of each ear. The objection to this advice 

 is the likelihood that the practice will become a yearly habit, being 

 recommended by good authorities as the best possible procedure. 

 Why not gather and dry the seed early and thus prevent the deplor- 

 ablJ situation? This will not only make the testing unnecessary but 

 will retain full productiveness— productiveness which the germination 

 test can not restore or even reveal. Spring carefidness, no matter 

 how gi-eat, can not make up for fall neglect. The situation is due to 

 a lost opportunity. The way to meet properly these oft-recurring 

 lo.sses is to begin^ at the beginning and prevent them. Ten times 

 more advice has been given regarding germination tests and methods 

 of getting out of bad seed-corn situations than has been given regard- 

 ing' methods of keei)ing out of them. Such conditions are easily 

 ]>revented in the fall, but can not possibly be rectified in the spring. 

 Twelve years' experience in selecting seed of hundreds of varieties 

 of corn and testing its germination teaches that seed that matures 

 properly and is Avell preserved Avill germinate well. And what is of 

 much more importance, it will yield well if the variety is a good- 

 yielding acclimated variet3\ 



[(Mr. <t.j] 



