74 AGRICULTURE FOR COMMON SCHOOLS 



When the fodder is left standing in the field the ears are 

 husked by hand as soon as dry enough, and then the stover is 

 pastured off by live stock. A machine is being perfected now 

 which husks the corn from the standing stalks and elevates 

 the ears into the wagon box. It works very much like the 

 corn binder. 



Saving Seed. — About the time the husks are beginning 

 to dry the farmer should gather ears for seed for next year. 

 He should take a sack or basket and go through the field, 

 picking such ears as look to be good seed ears. Ears should 

 be chosen from stalks of medium height which are strong at 

 the base and taper toward the top and which stand up well. 

 The ear should be growing about midway on the stalk, high 

 enough to be easily husked. Ears whose tips are pointing 

 down should be chosen rather than those whose tips point 

 upward. 



After being gathered the ears should be hung up in a shaded 

 place where the air has free movement. Many farmers col- 

 lect the ears with some of the husks on and then tie two ears 

 together by the husks and hang them over a pole, or on a 

 nail driven in a rafter in the wood shed or tool house or corn 

 crib. (See Fig. 15.) The ears are allowed to dry here until 

 cold weather, then removed to a dry place where they will 

 not freeze. Corn saved in this way will be sure to grow next 

 spring and the farmer will have no trouble in getting a good 

 stand of plants. 



Testing. — When seed corn is selected at husking time care 

 cannot be given to the kind of stalk on which the ear grew. 

 The vitality of the seed may also have been injured by frosts 

 and freezing weather. Such corn should be tested before 

 planting in the spring. Corn is tested by planting several 



