308 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



&quot; The habit of planting several different kinds of corn upon one farm is not at all to be 

 commended. It is injurious to the farmer s own interest, and makes it still more difficult than 

 it otherwise would be for his neighbors to grow the kind which they desire to produce. The 

 distance to which pollen is carried is not certainly known, but it is probably greater than 

 farmers generally suppose. We once found a bright red ear in a field of yellow corn, and 

 there was not another red ear on the farm, and but few red kernels could be found on other 

 ears. There was no red corn grown on the adjoining farm, but beyond that was a farm upon 

 which there was a field of this colored variety. The red ear must have been fertilized by pol 

 len from this distant field. There have been other strongly marked cases, and they prove that 

 it is unsafe to rely upon the purity of seed-corn which is grown without being separated from 

 any other kind by a much longer distance than is usually thought necessary.&quot; 



Some farmers put a strip of broom-corn or sorghum a few rods wide close to a field of 

 corn to prevent the pollen of its blossoms from reaching the plot of seed-corn that may not be 

 sufficiently far away to be otherwise protected. 



When a separate plot is cultivated for seed, great care should be used in the preparation 

 of the soil and after cultivation, and all the feeble and inferior plants be thinned out when 

 grown sufficiently high to be detected. In saving the seed for planting, the small and imper 

 fectly-developed kernels at the small end of the ear should always be discarded. Prof. P. A. 

 Chadbourne says : &quot;In order to raise good, prolific seed-corn it will be necessary to plant 

 the best seed that can be procured, and, before the corn tassels out or produces pollen, to go 

 along the rows and cut out every mean, miserable stalk, so that every ear shall stand on a 

 proper stalk, and shall be fertilized by pollen that has come from a strong, healthy, corn-pro 

 ducing stalk.&quot; 



Preparation of Seed. In order to hasten the germination of seed and the 

 growth of the young plants, many farmers soak the corn in warm water a day or two before 

 planting. A solution of saltpetre or copperas is sometimes recommended and said to accom 

 plish the same result, as well as to protect the corn against the attacks of birds, squirrels, 

 mice, and worms for a time; but there is a liability of the germinating power of the seed 

 being destroyed or injured in this way, by getting the solution a little too strong of these sub 

 stances, while, unless rather strong, it has no effect in keeping these little mischievous depre 

 dators at bay. 



Coating the kernels with coal-tar, or common tar, will generally prevent birds from pull 

 ing up the plants, or attacks from any other of the common enemies of this crop that are such 

 an annoyance to the farmer. When coal-tar is used the seed should first be soaked a few 

 hours in warm water ; after this is drained off, a very little tar stirred into it will be sufficient 

 to cover the kernels, a pint of tar being sufficient for two or three bushels of seed-corn. 



When common tar is used, a pint of boiling tar will be required for a half -bushel of seed, 

 stirring the corn briskly as it is turned in, until every kernel is coated with it. Whether coal 

 or common tar be used, rolling the seed in plaster, bone-dust, ashes or fine soil-dust will pre 

 vent either kind from being troublesome in planting when a drill or corn-planter is used, and 

 it can be done with these machines the same as before it was thus treated, except they must 

 be regulated to give the seed a little more room for outlet, otherwise the grain will not drop 

 freely. Before the tar is applied, care should be taken to soak the seed thoroughly, as the 

 coating will have a tendency to keep moisture from the seed and prevent germination. 



Various other preventives are often recommended, but we know of nothing as sure in its 

 results as that above recommended. 



Most birds are a help to the farmer in destroying insects and worms that are injurious 

 to his crops, and the few that sometimes pull up the corn-plants will generally do more good 

 than harm in exterminating these pests; hence it is far better to make the seed distasteful to 

 them by the use of tar or other means, rather than kill them, as they are really the farmer s 

 friends in the protection of his products. 



