58 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



more apt to get a satisfactory result if we take the larger 

 seeds. The two usually go together, and yet they are not 

 necessarily correlated with each other. Just why they are 

 not is a question very difficult to answer. 



Governor Hoard. What I mean by ' ' virility " is the power 

 of impressibility upon the offspring. It is my idea that 

 largo nutrition docs not necessarily carry with it that quality, 

 but the one is often associated with the other. When these 

 questions are asked which are so difficult to answer, I often 

 have brought to my mind the reply of one of my little girls, 

 who, wdien T asked her certain questions, used to say, "You 

 tell me." 



Mr. Louis. While the professor was making his statement 

 that virility was not dependent upon the size of the seed, it 

 occurred to me that something depends upon the preservation 

 of the seed. I find that if I take a kernel of corn which has 

 been exposed to frost and plant it in the spring, if the spring 

 is cold and backward that kernel is very apt to decay ; while 

 if I take a kernel of corn and fire-dry it, as my practice is, 

 get it thoroughly dry before freezing weather comes, that 

 kernel will stand cool, wet weather for almost a fortnight 

 after planting, and still give a vigorous growth. Not the 

 size, but the strength, ought to be the measure of virility in 

 the seed. 



Professor Bailey. That is true, also. 



Nathan Edson (of Barnstable). I would like to ask 

 the professor whether, if we select our seed corn from stalks 

 that have two or more ears, we are likely to get corn that 

 will bear more ears to the stalk. 



Professor Bailey. I should expect a tendency in that 

 direction. 



Mr. Lord (of Tcmpleton). I once took an ear of corn 

 and commenced at the butt and shelled it off and planted the 

 kernels along from the butt to the tip, marking the spots in 

 the row where the different parts of the car were planted. 

 I could never see any difference between the corn coming 

 from the kernels at the butt and that coming from the ker- 

 nels at the tip. I plant small potatoes, — not the very 

 smallest, but those rather small in size. I have planted 

 potatoes for nearly twenty years with a machine that cuts 



