EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAK BOOK-PART X. 735 



ing its proper place — and in many ways pays handsomely — in money — in 

 strength in life in the open — in eonstructiveness — in invention. 



No real successes are won without patience and labor. It is lesson 

 after lesson with the scholar, it is venture after venture with the mer- 

 chant, it is trial after trial with the inventor, it is failure after failure 

 with him, who still persevering wins the goal for which he strives. 



The world honors honest labor, but despises the idler. 



WHAT THE INVESTIGATOR HAS FOUND OUT. 



From Illinois Farmers' Bulletin No. 10. ' 



YKA.RS OF Tests That Have Solved Practical Problems of the Farm. 

 Testing Each Ear of Seed Corn. — The value of applying the germiaa- 

 tion test to each individual ear of seed corn was well demonstrated in 

 the testing of ten lots of from 43 to 414 ears. The average results were 

 as follows: The composite test of all ears showed 84.6 per cent of 

 germination. When the poor ears, as indicated by the test, were dis- 

 carded, the germination of the good ears averaged 93.7 per cent, while 

 the discarded ears averaged only 60.4 per cent. The rejection of those 

 poor ears, made possible only through a separate test of each ear, made 

 a notable improvement in the seed corn and in the stand of the plants 

 grown from that seed. 



Best Planting Time is May 4 to May 25. — The best time for planting 

 corn has been carefully tested for eight years, with the following average 

 yields per acre from the plantings at the dates named: Corn pllanted April 

 22 to 26 yielded 48 bushels per acre; April 27 to May 4, 60 bushels; May 

 4 to 11, 62 bushels; May 11 to 18, 62 bushels; May 19 to 25, 61 bushels; 

 May 26 to .June 1, 56 bushels. Succeeding weeks yielded respectively 50, 

 39 and 21 bushels per acre. The results show that there was very little 

 difference in the yield of corn planted during the three weeks from 

 May 4 to May 25. The lesson is that it is not necessary to plant corn the 

 first fair day. The farmer would better take plenty of time to prepare the 

 seed bed thoroughly and get the ground mellow and finely pulverized. 



Changing the Height of Ears Upon the Stalk. — It has been clearly 

 proven that the height of ears upon the stalk of corn may be changed 

 either upward or downward by breeding from respectively high or low 

 ears. Five years' breeding from high ears resulted in producing ears of 

 the following average heights: In 1903, 54.4 inches; 1904, 50.2 Inches; 

 1905, 63.2 inches; 1906, 56.3 inches; 1907, 72.3 inches. Breeding in the 

 opposite direction, that is, from low ears, produced five successive crops 

 in which the ears averaged respectively 42.8 inches, 35 inches, 41.6 inches, 

 26.6 inches, 33.3 inches. Here is a difference the fifth year of 39 inches 

 between the high ears and the low ears as the result of seed selection, 

 and the average difference for the whole five years is moi-e than 23 

 inches. 



