CORN growers' association. 99 



corn has been produced by artificial or hand self-pollination, but recent 

 experiments have also shown that corn may be degenerated by artificial 

 cross-pollination; and it should be understood that our recommendation 

 to detassel alternate rows in the breeding plot is tentative, and I cer- 

 tainly w^ould not urge this practice. Probably such detasseling will prove 

 somewhat helpful to the corn breeder, but we know that very great im- 

 provement can be made without detasseling at all, simply by selecting 

 seed on the basis of performance record and for desirable quality or 

 composition. 



THE TESTING OF CORN FOR SEED. 



(Albert H. Hume, First Assistant in Crop Production. From Bulletin No. 96, Illinois Experi- 

 ment Station.) 



In suggesting the plan of testing each ear of seed corn, we do not 

 mean to insist that every ear must be tested every season and in every 

 place. We do insist, however, that this would be within easy range of 

 possibility, as the following pages will show. Before time for planting, 

 corn growers should test a sufficient amount of their stock of seed, ear 

 by ear, so that they will know what they have on hand. It may or may 

 not be necessary thus to test the entire stock, but that it would have 

 been an extremely profitable procedure the past season for most farmers, 

 can scarcely be doubted. 



It is not sufficient to accept the warrant of the dealer from whom the 

 seed is purchased, however trustworthy he may be. It is not possible 

 for those who handle seed on the largest scale to give the closest atten- 

 tion to its quality. The following devices for testing are suggested as 

 being obtainable for the general farmer. 



Methods of Testing. — There are several methods of testing corn, all 

 of which depend upon the same principle, namely, that of supplying suf- 

 ficient moisture and warmth to the kernels to cause them to sprout. The 

 traditional ways of determining the quality of seeds, such as floating them 

 in water, or heating them until they pop, or breaking them and noting 

 the fracture, or cutting them and noting the appearance of the inside, 

 cannot be called tests, although it must be granted that by practice some 

 corn growers have become fairly expert in telling whether or not a 

 given sample of corn will grow. Such methods are not only less accur- 

 ate, but if carefully performed require as much or more time than need 

 be taken to make a germination test. 



One of the best and simplest ways of sprouting seed is to take a 

 common dinner plate and fill it nearly full of sand. The sand should be 



