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Effective Farming 



weak kernels. Figure 37 shows kernels tested in this way. 

 Which ones would you discard? 



Rag-doll tester. Another home-made tester that has been 

 used with very good results is known as the rag-doll tester. 

 One of these is shown in Fig. 38. The illustration is furnished 

 by the courtesy of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station 

 and the following description and comments are from its 

 Bulletin 135. 



" One of the cheapest as well as the most convenient and 

 accurate methods which can be employed in testing seed corn 



FIG. 38. The rag-doll seed corn tester. 



is that known as the rag-doll method. In preparing to make 

 this test, secure sheeting of a good quality and tear into strips 

 from 8 to 10 inches wide and 3 to 5 feet long. Where these are 

 to be used very much it is well to hem the edges as otherwise 

 the ravelings sometimes disarrange the kernels in unrolling. 

 Each cloth should then be marked with a heavy pencil, first, 

 lengthwise in the middle and then crosswise, as shown in the 

 accompanying illustration, making squares about 3 inches 

 wide. Number the squares as shown in the illustration 

 also. 



