CULTIVATED CROPS 



63 



Figure 21. — Good ears of corn, with 

 straight rows and even kernels. 



Figure 22. — Poor ears of corn. Not© 

 the crooked rows and irregular ker- 

 nels. 



Examine a corn planter, if possible, to see how it drops 



the corn. 



It is very important to the farmer that all his seed corn 



be uniform in size, because corn is now planted by machines 



and unless the kernels 

 are about the same size 

 and shape the machine 

 cannot drop the same 

 number in each hill. If 

 uneven sized kernels 

 were used for planting, 

 the number in a hill 

 would vary as the num- 

 ber of kernels you were 

 able to place in the cir- 

 cles you drew varied. 



Most farmers like to plant three kernels in a hill, because 



Figure 23. — Relative size and shape of tip, 

 middle and butt kernels of corn. The 

 circle represents the hole in the plate in 

 a corn planter, with the number of ker- 

 nels of different sizes that a planter would 

 drop. Photo by H. D. Ayer. 



