658 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



patrons with choice seed at a nominal price. A few acres of corn is 

 bought from several of the best sweet corn growers. The matured seed 

 is carefully sorted and stored in heated rooms to prevent freezing, and 

 in the spring resorted, the tips and butts shelled off, the ears tested, and 

 only the best sold for seed. There is now no trouble with poor seed, but 

 under the old plan where each man saved his own or bought it wherever 

 he could there was each year a large acreage with weak stand or to be 

 replanted because of poor seed. Sweet corn seed seems more susceptible 

 to severe freezing than field corn. Under the best of conditions it does 

 not sprout as readily nor grow as vigorously, hence the double importance 

 of good seed. Rich, clean land gives the best results. In general, land 

 that grows the best field corn grows the best sweet corn. The cultivation 

 is practically the same, with the exception that an ideal seed bed is more 

 important with sweet corn because of its slower and more delicate growth 

 at first. It must be kept free from weeds at any cost to be profitable, 

 and an extra plowing pays well. The planting is thick, about five stalks 

 to a hill on the best land. The planting begins about the first of May 

 and extends till about the 10th of June. This gives a succession of fields 

 ripening in the fall and distributes the harvesting over three or four 

 weeks. 



The earliest fields are in choice roasting ear and ready for canning 

 about the middle of August. The corn is snapped and hauled to the 

 factory, where it is weighed and tested. The test consists of taking a 

 measure of the snapped corn, husking out and weighing the ears suitable 

 for canning, and thus determine the per cent of net husked corn in the 

 load. A test of 75 to 80 is considered good, but this depends a great deal 

 upon how close the corn is snapped and upon how carefully the corn is 

 selected in the field. No matter at what season the harvesting is done, 

 there is always a greater or less per cent of immature ears and ears 

 that are past the best stage for canning. A careful snapper will leave 

 most of these ears in the field, and they add a great deal to the feeding 

 value of the fodder, besides saving unnecessary labor in snapping and 

 handling. Where labor could be secured at a reasonable price it would 

 no doubt pay to make two gatherings, but. practically all the large 

 growers make one gathering, as nearly as possible when the most ears 

 are prime. 



The general average yield is around two to two and one-half tons net 

 per acre. On good land well farmed three to four tons is not uncommon, 

 and ocasionally a field runs even higher. Three tons is considered a good 

 crop. Besides this, the fodder is worth $1.00 to $1.50 in the field, or $3.00 

 cut and shocked, so in average years sweet corn is a paying crop; in fact, 

 one of the best crops on the farm up to a certain limit. 



The advantages of growing sweet corn are that it is a profitable cash 

 crop; it distributes the work of corn gathering over the fall; it produces 

 a large amount of high-grade fodder, stock preferring it to field corn or 

 sorghum; the stubble field makes an ideal seed bed for winter wheat and 

 permits of reasonably early planting. The closer the fields to the factory 

 the more profitable the crop, because the gathering and hauling are big 

 items of expense. Little is grown over three miles out, and practically 

 none over five miles out. A good man in heavy corn can snap and haul 



