712 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



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GROWING PRIZE-WINNING CORN. 



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J. H. Thrash, Champaign County, Illinois, in Breeders' Gazette. 



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The 25 ears of show corn illustrated in the accompanying engraving 

 I recently sold for exhibition purposes for $150 cash. This corn is a true 

 type of the Farmer's Interest variety, a pure white corn that is noted for 

 its ^eep grain and fine ears. The price of a bushel of corn at the price 

 these 25 ears brought would be $388.89. 



This sample of corn was selected out of 40 acres by going through the 

 field with a sack, taking two rows at a time and looking at every ear that 

 looked as if it were the type I was looking for. These ears then were taken 

 to a place in which there was no danger of them getting damaged in any 

 way, and when I had finished going through the field in this way I then 

 had several hundred choice ears of very fine quality. I then layed them 

 out so I could easily see them all and then I began my last selection 

 for the 25 ears in the photo. I was almost a week in selecting this sample 

 after they were all gathered from the field. The seed I used to plant 

 this field was selected the fall before as the corn was being husked and 

 put in a place to dry. The ears of this seed were about two-thirds capped 

 entirely over the tips and were filled at the butts, having very little space 

 between the rows. All were carefully looked at and tested long before 

 planting time. They were shelled by hand for planting. 



This corn was panted, butts, tips, and all, without shelling off at 

 either end. It is being bred to get as much oil as possible and to get a 

 yery heavy, solid ear of medium size. 



The soil in which this corn was grown was low black ground and 

 clover sod plowed in the spring about 4^^ inches deep with a 12-incli 

 gang plow. About May 5 I began preparing the seed-bed. I first disked 

 *t with a solid-wheel disc and then harrowed it twice with a four-horse 

 slanting tooth harrow; on May 9 to 13 I planted the corn with an edge 

 drop planter, using a three-grain medium drop 3i/^ feet both ways. As 

 soon as the corn was planted I harrowed it with a slanting-tooth harrow 

 and again harrowed it just as it began to peep through the ground, and 

 when the corn was large enough to work it was cultivated three times 

 with a surface cultivator. It was laid by the last of June, when the com 

 was almost three feet high. This corn grew very rapidly and was out 

 of the way of frost September 10. I began husking it the latter part of 

 October. This corn was very dry and solid and yielded about 75 bushels 

 per acre. 



