I004 Rural School Leaflei. 



obtained at any grocery store, are perfectly satisfactory. Do not use 

 any box so large that it cannot be carried around easily by one man. 

 The box should be half filled with sand or sawdust, preferably sawdust 

 thoroughly moistened, but not saturated. This layer of sawdust should 

 be two or three inches deep, and should be packed down so that the 

 surface will be even and smooth. 



A piece of white cloth slightly larger than the size of the box should 

 be ruled off with a lead pencil, checkerboard fashion, into squares ih 

 to 2 J inches in size. Each square should be numbered consecutively 

 from one upward. This cloth should be now placed over and in close 

 contact with the sawdust or sand, and tacked to the corners and sides 

 of the box. 



The next step is to lay out the seed ears, the germination of which 

 is to be tested. They should be arranged in a row on the floor, a table, 

 or a shelf, in a place where they will not be disturbed (Fig. 77). To avoid 

 mistakes it is well to number every ear. This can be done by writing 

 the number on a little piece of thin cardboard and inserting it between 

 the rows of kernels (Fig. 77) or the number may be written on a piece 

 of paper and this paper fastened by pushing a pin through it into the 

 butt of the cob or held by a rubber band put around the ear. If there 

 is no possibility of the position of the ears being disturbed this precau- 

 tion may not be necessa^}^ 



Now with the pocket knife remove six kernels from each ear. Take 

 one kernel each, from near the tip, middle, and butt on one side of the 

 ear, then turn the ear over and take three more kernels in a like manner 

 from the opposite side of the ear. These should be carefully laid in 

 the square in the box corresponding to the number of the ear. Thus 

 six kernels from ear No. i will go into square No. i and six kernels from 

 ear No. 2 into square No. 2, and soon. It is best to place the kernels 

 pointing one way and with the germ side up. (Fig. 78). 



After all the squares in the box are filled with the kernels from as 

 many correspondingly numbered ears, a piece of thin cloth should be 

 placed over them, being very careful not to disarrange or change the 

 position of the kernels in putting the cloth down. This should be 

 gently sprinkled with water and on top of this two thoroughly wet burlap 

 bags should be laid, care being taken to see that the burlap is pressed 

 down closely at the corners and along the sides in order to keep all the 

 kernels uniformly moist. The box should now be placed near a stove, 

 where it is warm and where the temperature never goes below freezing. 

 The kitchen is usually a good place. The bags on the top of the box 

 should be sprinkled if there is any danger of their drying out. 



