CORN CULTURE 27 



Home-grown seed the best. As a rule, home-grown 

 seed is best, provided it is carefully selected, and kept 

 improving from year to year. It takes corn shipped in from 

 another region several years to adapt itself to the new condi- 

 tions so that it will do as well as in its home place. Corn 

 does not "run out," as many farmers believe, but is run out 

 by farmers who are careless in the selection of seed. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 



1. Has your father ever used the selection bed, or "seed 

 patch" for the raising of his seed corn ? How many of the 

 farmers in your neighborhood so use it ? 



2. Good seed corn from a favorite variety sells at from 

 two dollars to as much as ten dollars a bushel. Sup- 

 pose that you should plant a selection bed of two acres, 

 and secure sixty bushels per acre, one-third of which is suit- 

 able for seed. If cribbed corn is worth fifty cents a bushel, 

 and seed corn three dollars, what is the return from the 

 two acres? How much greater is the return than if the 

 corn had all been sold for feed? All corn club boys and 

 ambitious farmers should raise seed corn of the improved 

 strains. 



3. Talk with your father about planting a seed club 

 acre next year, and allowing you to manage it, select the 

 seed, and care for the patch at tasseling time. About how 

 many ears would be required to plant a three-acre bed ? Have 

 you satisfactory seed from which to select for the bed, or 

 would you have to secure seed from a neighbor? What 

 variety does your father favor ? What are the other varieties 

 that might be considered ? 



8. Corn Judging with Score-Card 



What qualities, together, make a good ear of corn? We 

 are now ready for a somewhat more careful study of the 

 ear to answer this question. For this purpose we shall 

 judge a sample of ten ears by the use of the score-card. 

 The score-card requires that we grade the ear on each of 



