CULTIVATED CROPS 69 



be placed in one pail. After from five to seven days the 



test may be read. 



Questions: 



1. For what reason should a farmer test his seed com? 



2. What are the advantages of testing each ear over testing 100 

 kernels out of a sack full of shelled corn? 



3. How would you proceed to test 200 ears of com? 

 Arithmetic: 



1. If seven of the ten kernels taken from an ear of corn grow, 

 what per cent does the ear germinate? If nine kernels grow, what 

 per cent germinates? 



2. If twenty ears of corn will plant one acre, what per cent of 

 the corn in a field will be missing if the corn from one of the twenty 

 ears will not grow? If the corn from three ears will not grow? 



3. If a man test 400 ears of corn, and 90%*of the ears are good 

 enough to plant, how many acres of corn will the good seed plant? 

 (Assume that twenty ears will plant an acre.) 



4. A man can test 400 ears of corn in 6 hours. His time is worth 

 14c. per hour. If the 400 ears will plant 18 acres, how much does it 

 cost him per acre to test his com? If corn is worth 54c. per bushel 

 in the fall, how much more corn per acre must a farmer get to pay 

 him for thus testing his seed? 



CORN CULTURE 



The Com Field. — In the spring of the year, when most 

 farmers are preparing their fields for corn, will be a good 

 time to study the planting phase of the corn subject. In 

 the first place let us see on what kind of soil our neighbors 

 and fathers and brothers are to plant corn. Land that 

 produced clover or was pastured last year is best, as the 

 clover and grass roots have filled the soil with vegetable 

 matter, a very necessary condition for good crops. It 

 would be better if the land were plowed last fall, as fall 

 plowing gives the soil a chance to settle, so that it will not 

 dry out readily. 



Fall plowed land should be thoroughly disked in spring, 

 before planting to corn, to insure a fine, mellow seed bed, 

 to destroy weeds and to form a surface mulch to check 

 the evaporation of water. 



If there is no clover or pasture sod for corn, other well 

 drained land, fall plowed, well manured and the manure 

 thoroughly disked into the surface of the soil before plant- 

 ing, is the next best place for corn. The effort in any case 

 should be to have a rich, firm soil, with a^out two inches 



