PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. IV 9 



corn are larger, I think the eight-rowed flint corn, planted three 

 feet apart, four kernels in the hill, yields more to the acre. It is 

 better still to plant in drills, three feet apart, and dropping the 

 kernels eight inches apart in the row. 



Mr. Steele. — A gentleman of my acquaintance, in planting 

 corn, always rejects the extremities of the ears, and never will 

 plant an imperfect grain. The result is that his corn is contin- 

 ually improving. 



Mr. Carpenter. — I have full faith in selecting the best seeds for 

 everything. I would select my seed corn in the field, and from 

 no stalk except those having two or three ears. From those 

 stalks I would select the ears that ripen first, and that are the 

 largest and best developed, filled out to the very end. By pur- 

 suing that course, year after year, we may improve the varieties 

 of corn, and the same principles will apply to all the cereals and 

 vegetables. A friend of mine takes his seed corn from the ends 

 of the ear and rejects the middle. He argues that from the small 

 end he obtains earlier corn, and that the ears are developed out 

 to the very end. I do not know but he is right. 



Mr. John G. Bergen. — These small kernels fill otit later than 

 the others, and may grow more rapidly. I should not reject any 

 but the imperfect kernels. The principle of selecting seed corn 

 from stalks producing two ears, may be carried too far. I know 

 a man who has experimented twelve years or more, and he carried 

 it so far as to produce eight ears to the stalk ; but he came to 

 the conclusion that he lost in the size of the ears as much as he 

 gained in their number. I doubt whether corn can be j)roduced 

 profitably with more than two or three ears to the stalk. 



Mr. Fuller. — That is the principle upon which we take seed 

 from the middle of the ear. We follow the same principle upon 

 which this man produced eight ears instead of one ; that the 

 result will depend somewhat upon the character of the seed 

 planted. But it was said here last week that we should always 

 select the largest potatoes for seed. I say that is wrong. If we 

 wished to improve the potato in size, that would be right ; but 

 what we want is to improve their quality. 



Mr. Robinson. — Mr. Bergen has told us the reason why the 

 kernels from the end of the ear produce earlier corn, because they 

 come to maturity in a shorter time. Nature indicates that if we 

 plant kernels which took only 70 days instead of 90 to perfect^ 

 we shall obtain an earlier crop. 



