PLANTING CORN 265 



Practical Exercises 

 1. Entering a Corn Contest 



Write to the Extension Department of your State Col- 

 lege of Agriculture and ask to enter the boys' corn con- 

 test of the county or state. If a contest is on, and there 

 will be one planned in almost every state in the union, 

 you will be told where to get your seed corn, and how 

 to plant and cultivate it for the corn show and contest. 



If the teacher and pupils wish to work out a corn 

 contest of their own, each pupil should be provided 

 with one pint of high grade seed corn. Select a strip 

 in your father's field, enough to plant two rows S 1 /^ 

 feet apart and 37 1-3 rods long this will be a tenth 

 acre plot. Select and test the seed corn as described 

 in former lessons. Prepare the ground as described 

 above. Plant the corn in hills, about three kernels to a 

 hill, and each hill about four feet apart. Cultivate at 

 least once a week (if the ground is dry enough) from 

 the time the corn is big enough until it begins to tassel. 

 (See Lesson 32.) From your plot you may gather the 

 ears which will win the prize. 



Such a contest should be arranged for and carried 

 out by the Boys' Club of the school. (See Farmers' 

 Bulletin, No. 385.) 



2. Starting ihe Ear-to-row Plot for Raising Seed Corn 



Place one hundred of the best ears of corn you can 

 find on a table before you. Select from this lot twenty- 

 five of the best ears, and number them from one to 

 twenty-five. On the test plot of the farm (see Lesson 

 I), prepare the ground thoroughly for planting as 



