566 Reading-Course for Farm'^rs. 



Preserve these twenty-five select ears together. When ready to 

 plant, first shell off the imperfect kernels at tip and butt of each ear 

 and then shell the twenty-five ears together and plant them in a seed 

 patch at some distance from any other crop of corn of any kind. This 

 insures that individuals from good ears will be pollinated and fertilized 

 by individuals from similarly good ears, which is one of the most import- 

 ant factors in the improvement of any crop. 



When this seed patch matures it may be husked standing, or cut and 

 husked from the shock as the farmer desires. Whatever method is 

 used the seed should be ready for selection before any severe freezes 

 have had opportunity to affect its vitality. From the corn produced 

 on this patch select again the twent^^-five best ears to use the ensuing 

 year in planting a seed patch and also select a sufficient number of the 

 best ears remaining to plant the general crop. 



All of these ears saved for seed should then be hung up in a heated 

 room where they will dr}^ quickly. Quick drying is such an important 

 thing in ordinary New York autumns that this should not be neglected. 



The above method it will be observed has in it but one process not 

 now followed quite generally by New York corn growers; this is simply 

 the planting of an isolated seed patch from the best ears so that plants 

 jrom good ears will be fertilized by plants from good ears. This seed patch 

 need not be ver\^ large, only from one-quarter to one acre, depending 

 upon the size of the corn crop grown. If the farmer is planting a large 

 corn acreage and twenty-five ears are not sufficient, a larger number can 

 be selected each year and the seed patch increased in size. 



This method is not so complex but that every "inan who is growing 

 from ten to twenty acres of corn could well afford to put it into practice. 

 It requires little time and extra expense and no note keeping. The 

 seed patch could be cultivated alone or in connection with some other 

 crop such as potatoes. If planted in hills, the seed patch should be 

 thinned to a regular stand of either two or three stalks per hill according 

 to the richness of the soil. If drilled it should be thinned out so that 

 there is only about one stalk per foot in the rows. In other words, the 

 stalks in the seed patch should not be crowded. 



The general application of even this simple method of seed improve- 

 ment throughout the State would doubtless mean an average increase 

 of some five bushels per acre in our corn crop. 



Second Method of Corn Seed Improvement. 



Select the twenty-five best ears obtainable in the beginning as indicated 

 above, preserving them carefully under the best conditions. When 



