FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IX. 623 



aette, R. B. Swift of the International Harvesting Co., Mr. R. B. Went 

 worth of State Center, Hon. W. C. Whiting, and others, helped to make 

 the afternoon conferences and the evening meetings times of great inter- 

 est and enthusiasm. The value of the class study in corn was clearly 

 given by Professor Holden in one of his closing talks to the corn school: 

 "'The one great object of corn judging is to learn to select that ear for 

 •our seed that will produce the greatest yield. It is a test of individual 

 •ears. Some ears will produce twenty to thirty bushels to the acre, while 

 ■other ears, of the same variety and type of corn, given the same treat- 

 ment, planted on the same soil, will produce as high as ninety and even 

 one hundred and thirty bushels per acre. This is found everywhere. 



"There is a great difference between the stalks of corn in the same 

 hill as to producing capacity. When three kernels are placed in a hill we 

 may find one large ear, one medium ear, and one inferior nubbin, little 

 tietter than a cob. Take two ears for comparison. One may show a low 

 producing capacity and all the brother and sister kernels scattered 

 •through a field give similar results — fifteen, twenty or thirty bushel cap- 

 acity. Another ear having high producing capacity shows yields in all 

 the brother and sister kernels through the field of fifty, sixty and eighty 

 hushels per acre. 



'•This shows the tremendous advantage of being able to select the 

 •ears having seventy-five, eighty and ninety bushel capacity. The work 

 of these two weeks, on these tables, has been put to the test in the last 

 two seasons, by each one being called on to select the first, second and 

 third best seed ears. I have been well pleased with the result. 



-Pointed kernels — weak tips, small germs — give stalks with low pro- 

 "ducing power. There is a great difference in feeding value between dif- 

 ferent ears. Ears with kernels having large germs and full tips are rich- 

 •est in feeding value, for the germ is the richest part of the kernel and 

 the tip is next to it in feeding value. It is also found that this kind of a 

 kernel not only produces stronger plants, but gives a greater yield. For 

 these reasons farmers of Iowa are finding study of corn yielding positive 

 .and practical results in increased harvest returns." 



Mr. John Parkinson, of Bagley, Iowa, fifty-seven years old, said: 

 ""I am farming, and if there is anything to be gained by studying corn I 

 want to know it. I am not too old to learn. I have never been to Ames 

 before and I wanted to see what you are doing down here. I like it well. 

 I think it a great thing for the State of Iowa to have such a school. We 

 liave been farming haphazard too long. Every one I have spoken to 

 liere says there is more in studying corn than he had any idea of. We 

 farmers will get waked up after while." 



EXAMIXATIOX IX CORN JUDGING. 



This examination was given at the close of the corn school. Each 

 applicant for a corn judging certificate was asked to (a)*score a sample 

 of ten ears, scoring each ear, on each element in the score card; (b) 

 write in full reasons for cuts made in above scoring; (c) select first, sec- 

 ond and third best, and the poorest ear in five samples — fifty ears. 



