CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION. lOI 



for germinating. Usually the plates of corn will germinate well if put 

 beside a stove, taking care that they do not get too hot. The plates 

 must be inspected each day after they are put into the germinating room, 

 and if the sand is becoming dry, add a little water. The amount to be 

 put on must be determined by practice, for it will vary with the kind of 

 sand used and with the humidity of the room. If one is fortunate 

 enough to have furnace heat in the cellar, he will probably have a place 

 near the furnace where the heat will be about right for germinating corn. 

 Such heat was utilized by Dr. C. G. Hopkins, of the University of Illi- 

 nois, in testing the corn for his own farm in southern Illinois, with en- 

 tirely satisfactory results. 



Testing zcith Plates aiid Sand. — The method of using the plates of 

 sand for germinating corn is very practicable in that any one can use 

 it without purchasing any new material. Dinner plates are at hand on 

 any farm, and sand may usually be had from the roadway or river bot- 

 tom. But where there is much testing to do the method is inconvenient, 

 and in some cases unprofitable, from the fact that it takes too much time. 

 Time is lost in filling the plates with sand and in gauging the proper 

 amount of moisture, when it must be renewed from time to time. 



Testing zi'ith Box and Cloth. — One of the quickest and most con- 

 venient devices for making germination tests is that commonly known 

 as the Geneva Tester, so called because it was first used by Professor 

 Goff at the Geneva Station in New York. This apparatus consists of a 

 water-tight box across which are extended folds of canton flannel. These 

 folds are suspended from wires, and can be removed to dry when not 

 in use. The box must be filled to the depth of about an inch with water, 

 so that the folds of canton flannel will hang down enough to touch the 

 water, and thus be moistened by capillarity. The box should be about 

 12 by 24 inches and 4 or 5 inches deep. It may be made of wood, gal- 

 vanized iron, tin, or copper, and the wires can be cut from ordinary 

 smooth galvanized fence wire. When kernels of corn are to be tested 

 in this germinating apparatus, they are removed from the ears as de- 

 scribed above, placed between the folds, in regular order and the folds 

 closed together. If it is thought best, the groups of kernels from the 

 separate ears may be numbered with slips of paper. This numbering 

 will not be absolutely necessary if proper care is used to have the groups 

 of kernels correspond to the ears of corn from whence they came. After 

 the kernels are put in place, the folds are drawn together at the top, 

 the lid closed upon the box, and the apparatus left until the kernels ger- 

 minate. When put into this box, the kernels will not usually sufler for 

 moisture during the length of time of one test. This is one of the ad- 



