WHAT AN ACRE OF CORN MAY YIELD. 



With rows four feet apart, and corn planted eighteen inches apart 

 in the row with one stalk in the hill, an acre of com will contain 

 7228 stalks. With each stalk bearing one ear, there will be produced 

 7228 ears of corn per acre. If but one ear per stalk is grown that ear 

 should not weigh less than twelve and one-half ounces, thus giving the 

 farmer 90,350 ounces of ear com. There are 1,120 ounces in one bushel 

 of ear corn. Therefore, if Ave divide 90,350 by 1,120 we will get about 

 80.6 bushels as the amount of shelled corn that may be grown on an acre 

 of ground under ideal conditions with a one-ear variety of corn. 



Should the farmer grow two 12.5 ounce ears per stalk his yield will, 

 of course be doubled. Again should lie reduce the distance between 

 hills to nine inches and also grow two 12.5 ounce ears per stalk, he will 

 multiply his original yield by four, or produce Over three hundred and 

 twenty bushels per acre. 



Of course this is far above the highest limit yet reached, or, indeed, 

 is ever likely to be reached, but a yield of over two hundred and thirty 

 bushels per acre has already been produced and the contest is still on. 



The important, point to be noted in tliis connection is that the eighty 

 busliel yield cannot be made unless the stand is practically perfect. 

 Therefore, the factors Avhich operate in producing the perfect stand must 

 receive the most careful consideration. First among these is the 



SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF SEED. 



A task well begun is half clone. Obviously, the most important part 

 in beginning the task of growing a corn crop is the selection of good 

 seed. Now, there are twit kinds of good seed. There is a good variety 

 seed and a good vitality seed. It is needless to say that however good 

 may be the variety we select, our crop will be a failure if the vitality 

 of the seed we plant is not strong enough to give us a good stand. It 

 is, therefore, more important for us to have good viable seed for plant- 

 ing than to have a good variety to plant, in case we cannot get both 

 qualities in the same sample. 



Did you ever select your seed corn from the crib in the spring? Yes. 

 Then it is safe to assume that you picked out the finest looking ears 

 you could find. I suppose most of us would do that. But how many 

 ears like the ones you chose for seed were borne on a single stalk — two, 

 three, or four? The chances are that in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred, not more than one such ear as you chose for seed was borne on 

 a single stalk last year. Why ? Because the high yielding, prolific corn- 

 stalks do not bear big, showy ears. The ears produced by these plants 

 and these varieties are generally medium to small. By thus selecting 

 your seed in the crib you accelerate the tendency of your corn to grow 

 one ear to the stalk, and thus reduce the yield per acre. 



E"o com grower should think of making crib selections of seed for 

 planting. In the fall, when the husks are turning brown on the ears, 

 the farmer should search his fields for such plants as he would be glad 

 to grow the following season. He will not find a great many such 



