104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



a larger acreage of corn of some variety which will mature 

 the grain, and in this way secure quality in food as well as 

 quantity. Most of the seed corn offered for sale in the local 

 markets is shelled corn, and the farmer never has an oppor- 

 tunity to see what type of ear produced this corn. If shelled 

 corn is to be purchased, a careful examination should be made 

 to determine the quality of the corn; the kernels should be 

 clear and bright in color, full and plump in outline, not shriv- 

 elled and shrunken, indicating immaturity. The germ should 

 be large, and not discolored or l)lack, and a germination test 

 should be made in every case to determine if the corn will 

 grow. For, after all the discussion with reference to corn 

 breeding and selecting, the most important quality which 

 must be possessed by the seed corn is the power of growth. 

 Good looking corn which may possess nearly all of the ad- 

 miral)le qualities which are desired in seed corn can be found 

 lacking in that most essential of all qualities, the ability to 

 grow. Unless seed corn possesses this quality in a high de- 

 gree, and with vigor and strength, corn had better be fed to 

 the chickens, and replaced by other corn which will grow, 

 whether or not it comes from quite as aristocratic a family. 



While the selection of good seed is fundamental and vital 

 in the growth of corn, yet it is only one of the elements which 

 make for success. The best seed corn ever produced, if 

 planted and cared for as is some of the corn grown in New 

 England, would fail to give satisfactory results. It is just 

 as important that we give serious attention to the matters of 

 rotation of crops, adaptation of the crop to the soil, proper 

 soil fitting and fertilizatiou, tillage, harvesting and cur- 

 ing. All of these matters are of equal importance with corn 

 breeding. 



The proper place for corn in rotation is the first year after 

 sod. No other farm crop seems so well able to thrive upon 

 the undecomposed turf as corn. If the turf which is plowed 

 for corn is in part made up of clover, this is all the better for 

 the corn, as the clover will have brought to the soil a large 

 portion of nitrogen which will be needed by the corn. Some 

 growers have found it necessary to raise corn year after year 



