No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 313 



see how the protein increases as you go along. A chemical analysis 

 of your specially selected seed corn will be of great service because 

 you will know definitely what you have accomplished every year. 

 The farmers have in their hands the key to the situation. They 

 raise the kind of corn stalks they desire, the character of ear that 

 will insure a high percentage of corn to the ear, the kind of kernel 

 that will contain the kind of animal food needed. They can elim- 

 inate the barren stalk, the nubbin producer, the sucker producer, 

 the ears that come too early or too late, or they can produce a corn 

 adapted to climate, soil and the purpose it is intended to serve. 



A Member: Professor, what kind of ripeness do you want to have 

 when you take off your seed corn? 



PROF. MENGES: I want to have it perfectly ripe. 



MR. HOOVER: Professor, isn't it very essential that we have 

 the corn fully matured in the field, and actually pick out the very 

 best ears and mark them and select them for seed, and having 

 done so, put them away in such a place where the temperature is 

 uniform, out of the reach of rats or mice, and have them in the best 

 possible condition in the spring, and in doing that, aren't you more 

 likely to have the very best seed corn you can get? 



PROF. MENGES: Yes, there is no doubt about that, and after you 

 have made that selection, you want to go a little further. You want 

 to select about twenty or thirty or forty ears of the very best corn 

 that vou have, and of those that are most similar to the corn that 

 you want — those you want to plant in your breeding plat, and you 

 don't want to plant any two ears in one row. 



A Member: Side by side, Professor? 



PROF. MENGES: Side by side, yes. 



MR. WAYCHOFF: Professor, you have been holding up before 

 all these people this afternoon a white ear of corn. I regret some- 

 what that that is true, but I want you to take this ear of corn (hand- 

 ing Prof. Menges an ear of yellow corn) and compare it with your 

 ear of white corn, and tell us which is the best. 



Prof. Menges took the two ears of corn, placed them together, 

 and turned the butts toward the audience, with the remark that he 

 would allow them to judge for themselves. 



A Member: Professor, how close in the row would you plant that 

 corn? 



PROF. MENGES: Three and a half feet apart each way. That 

 depends on the soil. If I have a good limestone soil, I might prob- 

 ably put three stalks to the hill. 

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