July, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



437 



soon as cold weather comes, or befoie, this 

 recex)taele with those ears of corn is placed 

 in a warm basement near the heating ap- 

 paratus of tlie dwelling, and set about a 

 foot or more above the floor. The bottom 

 of the basket is also of wire cloth, to per- 

 mit a free circulation of air. There it re- 

 mains until it is planted at planting time. 

 Each ear is then tested in the well-known 

 way — that is, taking three or more kernels 

 from each ear, and testing for germina- 

 tion. 



Now, all the plans I have ever noticed 

 in the agricultural papers require that a 

 tag or label be placed on each ear of corn, 

 and also a tag or label or number on the 

 corn from each ear. Of course there may 

 be many modifications of the plan to do 

 this, but they have all seemed to me more 

 or less fuss or bother. Fig. 1, I think, will 

 make it clear to you with very little ex- 

 planation how I manage it. We happened 



basin beside tlie basket there was only one 

 good plant out of three. For some reason 

 the germination was poorer this year than 

 for any winter I recall. You probably 

 know all about this. As a rule we use for 

 planting only the ears that give a high 

 germination. A year ago when I asked the 

 boys if there was not some replanting to be 

 done, they replied they did not think there 

 was a missing hill. In the whole cornfield 

 there was scarcely a missing stalk. How 

 much do you think it is worth to a farmer 

 to have such a stand as that in the first 

 l^lanting? 



At the time we selected the field of com, 

 I put on top some ears of sweet corn. 

 Now let me tell you something. We plant 

 three or four kinds of sweet corn so as to 

 have them ripen one after another. As a 

 conseciuence my sweet-corn seed would be- 

 coine more or less crossed. So- I thought 

 I would send to one of our great seedsmen 



'C'"\ '0''^ 



1. My plan of testing ears of seed corn beiore plantins 



to liave an unused shutter about 6 by 3 

 feet. This was raised up from the floor 

 on four potato-boxes. Then some strips 

 about an inch square were loosely tacked to 

 the shutter^ as shown in the picture. To 

 keep from soiling the shutter, oiled papers, 

 such as they have at the groceries, were 

 placed down between the strips; and on 

 this some potting soil such as they use in 

 the greenhouse. Then the com was laid 

 on in rows as shown in the picture. Right 

 opposite each ear of corn were placed 

 three or four grains to germinate. The 

 oiled paper under the soil was simply to 

 keep the shutter from being made muddy 

 by the soil. You will notice in the ears 

 where I have picked out the grains. Pic- 

 ture, No. 2, shows the outcome. Every 

 kernel taken from the ears in the bushel 

 basket m.ade a good strong corn plant. 

 In that half-bushel basket every kernel 

 gave a strong plant but one; and in the 



and get som.e Golden Bantam that was ab- 

 solutely pure. What do you think it cost? 

 Only 60 cents a pound. Don't you think 

 it will pay to grow your own garden seed? 

 Let me give you another illustration. 



When we were gathering our lima beans 

 last summer there would be here and there 

 a pod that was too ripe for cooking. Mrs. 

 Root put all of these pods in a paper bag, 

 and they were put into a cupboard and for- 

 gotten until she cleaned house this spring. 

 I shelled them and planted quite a good 

 row about May 25. Before 1 thought it 

 was possible for the beans to be up I had 

 the best stand of lima beans I ever saw — 

 gi-eat thrifty stalks and big sturdy leaves. 

 It was the result of " home-grown " seeds. 

 Later I found I wanted a few more lima 

 beans, and what do you suppose they cost"? 

 Forty cents a pound, when I bought them 

 by tlie bulk ! Now, if you want only a few, 

 say a 5-cent paper, it may not pay to 



