6< 



ELEMENTS OF FARM PRAVriCE 



Each one plants seven acres with his bushel of seed. How much 

 more corn must A get per acre than B to pay the extra amount for his 

 seed, if corn the following fall is worth 54c. per bushel? 



TESTING SEED CORN FOR GERMINATION 



Germination. — A seed is said to germinate when it 

 sprouts or begins to grow. Most farmers are careful to 

 use kernels from the middle of the ears of corn, because 

 the kernels are more even in size and shape and the corn 

 planter can, therefore, drop the required number, usually 

 three, to' every hill. Suppose one ear of corn which has 

 five hundred kernels has been frozen or otherwise injured 

 so that the embryo in each kernel is dead. If the corn 

 planter drops one of these bad kernels with two good ones 

 in every hill until the five hundred bad kernels are all planted, 

 there will be five hundred hills each with one stalk missing. 

 This fault would reduce a farmer's yield; and the more of 

 such ears he planted, the greater would be the reduction 

 of his yield. If, on the other hand, all the seeds dropped 

 in every hill were seeds that would grow, the farmer could 

 be sure of a good stand of corn. This point is important, 

 because it costs as much to prepare the land, plant and 

 cultivate the crop for a poor stand as for a good one. 



Will It Grow? — One 

 cannot always tell by 

 looking at an ear of corn 

 whether or not the kernels 

 will grow. A farmer, to 

 make sure he is planting 

 only good seed, must test 

 his corn. He may test one 

 hundred kernels taken at 

 random from a number 

 . . of ears or a sack of corn; 



Figure 25.-A simpl_e. germmator consisting ^ -^ j^^ finds that 



of a plate partly filled with sand, a clot! 

 marked in squares for the corn from each qq 

 ear to be tested, and the cloth and plate ° 

 with which to cover the corn. 



only 

 per cent of his corn 

 will grow, he must use this 

 poor seed or buy seed. 

 A much safer and a very easy and simple way is to test 

 each ear before it is shelled. One wishes to know if all 

 or most of the kernels on an ear of corn will sprout or 



