16 AGRICULTURE 



strong vitality. Most of the poor stands which we discov- 

 ered in the fields we have just been studying no doubt 

 came from seed that either failed to germinate, or else 

 threw out plants so weak that they were unable to live 

 through the cold damp weather of early spring. 



The loss from poor seed. The loss from the planting 

 of poor seed is enormous. There are more than one hun- 

 dred million acres of corn planted every year in the United 

 States. This requires some sixteen million bushels of seed. 

 But of these sixteen million bushels, it has been estimated 

 by government experts that three million bushels fail to 

 grow or produce barren stalks. Think of planting three 

 million bushels of worthless seed corn each year! 



Let us see what this great waste means. The average 

 yield of corn to the acre in the United States is slightly 

 under thirty bushels, or only one small ear to the 

 hill. For, counting 3,556 hills to the acre, one ten-ounce 

 ear to the hill would yield almost thirty-two bushels to the 

 acre; and an ear weighing only ten ounces is little more 

 than a nubbin. Our farmers are therefore averaging but 

 one small ear to the hill in all their corn-fields. If they 

 should increase the stand and improve the corn so that 

 from each hill they get two medium-sized ears, each weigh- 

 ing twelve and one-half ounces, the yield will be eighty 

 bushels to the acre instead of thirty bushels. Will it not 

 pay to select good seed? 



When seed corn should be gathered. There is no 

 more important work on the farm than the selection and 

 care of seed corn for the next crop. Freezing before it 

 is fully dry almost always injures the seed so that it either 

 will fail to sprout, or else will produce a weak plant. Seed 

 corn should therefore be gathered as early in the fall as it 

 is well ripened. The time for saving seed in the "corn 

 belt" is from September twentieth to October tenth. 



