17 



crease in weight of cob, and ripen a few days only later. 

 The standard legal weight for cobs per bushel of shelled 

 corn is fixed at fourteen pounds. Standard varieties in 

 Nebraska seldom exceed twelve pounds of cob, and run as 

 low as ten and nine. 



There is difference of opinion as to the number of rows 

 a standard or ideal ear of corn should contain. Sixteen 

 may be called a safe compromise. The size and shape of 

 an ideal kernel is of importance. It should be of good 

 depth, wedge shape, filling up the ear compact, with a 

 smooth square surface, well glazed, well filled at the end, 

 simply a round dimple or slight depression. Too much 

 wrinkling at the end indicates a lack of corneous matter. 



SEED AND YIELD. 



In my humble opinion, farmers as a rule do not attach 

 sufficient importance to corn yield. When our average 

 yield the state over is put down at forty bushels to the acre, 

 we are apt to say, "that is good. 77 But the careful in- 

 telligent corn grower should not be content with a less 

 average yield than seventy-five bushels to the acre. Ex- 

 ercising care in matters of seed, adaptation of soil, tillage, 

 and garnering, there is no good reason why this yield should 

 not be had. Our State Board of Agriculture has awarded 

 premiums on as high as one hundred and fourteen bushels 

 per acre. "Less acres and more bushels/ 7 is a good agri- 

 cultural motto. "A maximum yield with a minimum of 

 human toil 77 and we "become lenders and no longer bor- 

 rowers. 77 



I speak of care in selecting seed. Orange Judd, in his 

 admirable paper before our State Fair last fall, treated this 

 subject forcibly and in detail, showing that fully one tenth 

 of our whole corn crop is lost annually by the use of bad 

 seed failure to select and preserve good seed. I am in- 



