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IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Purchasing seed corn in the ear offers the farmer the surest and 

 safest way to secure seed which will prove satisfactory. When the corn 

 is in the ear the farmer can see just what he has. If, after a critical 

 examination, he is confident that the corn is unsatisfactory he can reject 

 it and return it at once. This plan will enable him to secure corn from 

 another source or use his own seed which in fact may be superior to that 

 which has been shipped to him. He will not lose a year in discovering 

 that he has an undesirable type of corn as the kind of ears from which 

 the seed is taken will determine the kind of ears that will be reproduced. 



Corn in the ear also is the surest protection of the farmer against 

 the unscrupulous practices of some of our seedsmen. The seedsman can- 

 not improve the corn by shelling it so there is no good excuse for him 

 to refuse to ship in the ear. 



IMPORTANCE OF UNIFORMITY IN SIZE AND SHAPE OF KERNELS. 



Of far-reaching importance is the value of a uniform stand of corn 

 as without a good stand we cannot hope for the best results. During the 

 past season the Agronomy Department of the Iowa Agricultural College 

 gathered considerable data concerning the number of missing and barren 

 stalks with the idea of finding, if possible, the cause of the low yield of 

 about thirty-two bushels per acre for a period of years. 



Upwards of 1,000 requests were sent out to farmers in different parts 

 of the state asking them to count one hundred hills several places in their 

 cornfields and determine accurately the per cent of missing hills and 

 barren stalks. 



The results of these counts show an average of 5.6 per cent of miss- 

 ing hills, which means over 1-20 producing absolutely nothing. Of the 

 278.59 stalks in the one hundred hills, 7 per cent were barren, yielding 

 fodder, but no grain. These counts do not take into account the still 

 greater number of hills which contain but one stalk, and as a consequence 

 are producing less than one-half of what they should produce. 



When we remember that nine and one-half millions of acres are 

 devoted to the raising of corn in Iowa we can appreciate the serious loss 

 that such irregularity causes. 



, Illustration No. 1. 



Regular kernels. Irregular kernels. Regular. Irregular. 



I. II. I. II. 



Ears. C Kernels. 



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