MARCH. 1908 CIRCULAR No. 1 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY 



AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION OF 

 THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE 



L. H. Bailey, Director 



Department of Plant Biology 



TESTING THE GER^IIXATION OF SEED CORN.* 



It is highly important every year that the ears of corn which are 

 to be used for seed be tested as to their abihty to germinate. This 

 year, the necessity for this precaution is even greater than usual because 

 last season was so exceptionally short that the vitality of much of the 

 seed corn has been greatly lowered by the freezing weather which oc- 

 curred while the corn was either still in the field or not sufficiently cured 

 to withstand the low temperature. Poor seed is largely responsible for 

 " poor stands " and " poor stands " mean poor crops. 



As an illustration of the importance of such germination tests, the 

 results of an experiment conducted by Professor Holden may be cited. 

 In the spring of 1905, the Agricultural Department of the Iowa State 

 College secured 90 samples from corn that was actually being planted, 

 that is the samples were taken from either the corn planter or the bags 

 of corn seed in the field. These samples were planted by hand, 3 kernels 

 per hill, and treated alike in every respect. The experiment was re- 

 peated three times to be sure that no error was made. The following 

 table gives the yield per acre of the six highest yielding samples and 

 also of the six lowest yielding samples : 



SIX HIGHEST YIELDING SAMPLES BU. PER ACRE 



Sample No. 59 80 . 5 



" No. 58 80 



No. 66 78.5 



" No. 71 77 



" No. 138 75 



" No. 68 75 



Average 77 . 5 



* Prepared by M. P. Jones, under the direction of Dr. H. J. Webber. 



