78 ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



If a person wishes to get the best results from growing 

 corn, he cannot afford to neglect selecting his own seed 

 from his own farm. By selecting the best ears of corn from 

 the best stalks one gets seed from the plants that are best 

 adapted to the conditions of the farm, as shown by their 

 superior development the previous year. 



Large Varieties. — A mistake very commonly made is 

 to select too large or too late a variety of corn. Every 

 one likes to grow large ears of corn, and on this account, 

 when seed is secured from some other community or from 

 seedsmen, a larger variety than is suited to the conditions 

 is likely to be chosen. Large ears of corn are not neces- 

 sary to large yields, and it is far better to be sure of a good 

 crop, by using a variety that will mature, than to attempt 

 to grow too large a variety and have a partial or complete 

 failure occasionally. 



Varieties May Be Made Larger. — It is well to select 

 a variety of corn that will be quite sure to mature in your 

 locality. If the soil is well drained, well cultivated and kept 

 at a high state of productivity by growing clover occasionally 

 and by keeping live stock and manuring it, and if the climate 

 will permit the growing of a larger variety, one can in 

 a few years make the variety larger by selecting the larger 

 ears. Such conditions will practically insure a good crop 

 of corn each year, unless one selects too large ears and 

 thus makes his variety too late. If in a few years you can 

 not improve the corn to the size you wish it, it is hkely that 

 your conditions are not favorable for a larger variety; and, 

 were you to get a larger variety from some other locality, 

 you would be very likely to lose your crop or have soft com, 

 in the ordinary years. 



To Make a Variety Early. — If one wishes to make a variety 

 of corn one is growing earlier, one can do so by selecting 

 the ears that ripen first. Such a selection cannot be made 

 after all the corn is ripened. If one can not select the seed 

 when the corn is ripening one can make some progress 

 toward earliness by selecting the small ears of com with 

 comparatively shallow kernels. Large ears with deep ker- 

 nels are very seldom found in an early variety of oom. 



