SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 581 



The field is open and fertile; the interests of the farmer beckon 

 onward. I hope that many farmers will take up this line of work. 



I am a firm believer in the use of the testing-box. No matter how 

 well the seed has been matured or how carefully preserved thereafter, the 

 testing-box will disclose the ear that produces the weak and spindling 

 sprout, as no other method will do. This spindling stalk, which, like 

 Richard the III.— 



"Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, 

 Deformed, unfinished, sent into this 

 Breathing world scarce half made up." 



continues all through the season in that same spindling way and in the 

 end produces nothing, or at best, a very small ear, while the strong, 

 sturdy, vigorous sprout continues so throughout the season, and at husk- 

 ing time greets you with a bumper ear. No amount of inspection would 

 have detected the latent virtue of this ear, nor the apparent lack of it in 

 the other. But the testing-box does no guessing. 



The method and depth of planting has little ito do with yield, only 

 in so far as it affects the stand. And this brings up another question 

 which is yet unanswered — what constitutes a good stand? All will ad- 

 mit that every hill should be represented, but as to the number of stalks 

 we can not agree, or at least do not agree. The Agricultural College, I 

 t>elieve, advocates three and one-third or one hundred grains for every 

 thirty drops of the planter. Some excellent writers say three grains are 

 enough. My ow-n observation, as well as experience, leads me to be- 

 lieve that three is certainly the maximum. Two and one-half to two 

 and two-thirds is better if the tester-box has been used so every grain 

 will send up a strong, vigorous sprout. 



We suffer not nearly so much from lack of stand as we do from un- 

 equal distribution of the same. Let me illustrate: I counted the stalks 

 in one hundred hills in a field this fall and this is what I found. Ten 

 hills, no stalks; nine hills, one stalk; thirteen, two stalks; twelve, three 

 stalks; twenty-seven, four stalks; twelve, five stalks; eleven, six stalks, 

 and six had seven stalks, a total of 345 stalks, or an average of almost 

 three and one-half per hill. And yet the distribution was such that one 

 stalk to the hill would have produced more corn. In drilled corn one 

 stalk every fourteen or fifteen inches will give better results than any 

 thicker or thinner planting. A better distribution of stand and conse- 

 quently an increase in yield will come about through the more general 

 use of the modern edge drop planter. The edge drop planter will count 

 the grains and drop them correctly ninety times in one hundred, while 

 the old-fashioned round hole plate will guess at and drop correctly about 

 seventy times in one hundred. 



In the matter of cultivation we have by no means reached the highest 

 limit; indeed, we have not yet left the kindergarten class. I assume no 

 superior knowledge in this line, but after a careful study of the corn 

 plant as it appears both above and below the ground I have adopted the 

 surface shovel or "surface wings," as they are sometimes called, as being 

 the best implement obtainable at this time for the purpose of cleaning 

 the ground of weeds and mulching the surface. These are the two main 



