42 



than much of the corn that we got out of the planter boxes just as we 

 got it from Tom, Dick and Harry throughout the counties. 



Another significant test that was carried on in connection with that 

 work was what we called the single ear test. We would get forty ears 

 from one man, or forty ears from each of two or three men in one county. 

 The men usually picked out pretty fair ears of corn. We wpuld number 

 those from one to forty, shell off about half of the corn from the ear and 

 plant corn from ear one in row one, ear two in row two, and so on. That 

 work was done with corn from 144 different men in the 32 counties over 

 six years' of time, and we found this condition there, that one-fourth of 

 a man's corn would yield on an average about eleven or twelve bushels 

 per acre more than the average of all of his corn. So we realized that 

 if there was some way by which we could pick the one-fourth best ears 

 out of the man's corn by any means of selection we would be getting 

 ahead in this matter of corn selection. 



So when the opportunity came, when the farm bureau work got under 

 way, a plan of work was undertaken to actually find who it was in the 

 county who had the best yielding corn through a series of tests, making 

 sure that a man had corn that would do well not only one year but each 

 of several years, and then to distribute that corn. Right here let me 

 mention that I believe that that is one of the best kinds of work for a 

 farm bureau to do, to take the work of the scientists of our colleges, ex- 

 periment staiton, Department of Agriculutre, and apply it to the work 

 on our farms in an organized way. In the corn test that was carried on in 

 Woodford County the farm bureau simply undertook to make use of that 

 work that had been carried on for several years in Iowa, and similar work 

 carried on in other states. I mention the Iowa work because I was 

 familiar with it, having had considerable to do with it during the years 

 that was being carried on. The farm bureau in Woodford County took 

 that work and applied it in a way which would enable the men in the 

 county to know where the high yielding, good quality type of corn was, 

 and worked out a plan whereby that seed could be distributed throughout 

 the county. The work that was undertaken in Woodford County was begun 

 three years ago. 



In order that you may understand clearly just how it was carried on, 

 that I may not leave out some of the details and not take too much of 

 your time in rambling around, I am going to read from the report which 

 was gotten out covering that work. 



FACTORS IN SEED CORN SELECTION. 



During January, 1919, each of one hundred eighteen men brought in one 

 hundred ears of his seed corn for this test. Most of the men selected 

 the one hundred ears carefully from their supply of seed. A few brought 

 it without any special selection. 



All but three or four samples had been grown in the county for five 

 or more years. We limited the test to such home grown seed because of 

 the generally accepted conclusion that the best seed corn for any locality 

 is that which has been grown for several years in that locality. 



As each sample was brought in, with the help of the owner we dis- 

 carded twenty ears which were loose on the cob, very light, or had apparent 

 defects other than so-called defects of type. We did not meddle with the 

 type of corn as selected by the owner. 



Ten representative ears were then selected from the eighty and num- 

 bered with the owners number. These ten-ear samples were kept to use 

 in exhibits showing the results of the test. 



The remaining seventy ears were then numbered consecutively from 

 one to seventy. Three rows of kernels were shelled from each ear and placed 

 in an envelope numbered the same as the ear. The owner of each sample 

 took the seventy ears home with him and the shelled samples were brought 

 to the Farm Bureau office. 



