190'; 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



45 



also true that he is and always has been and 

 will be for everviore "the Lamb of God that 

 taketh away the sin of the world. ' ' 



SAVING SEED CORN; SOMETHING ADDITIONAL 



TO WHAT PROF. HOLDEN HAS BEEN 



TELLING US. 



Perhaps I might remark that Ohio has the 

 credit of giving the largest yield of corn per 

 acre of any State in the Union. Now, in addi- 

 tion to this, Prof. Holden says the farmers of 

 Medina and adjoining counties are consider- 

 ably ahead of the rest of the State; and Prof. 

 Green, of our Ohio Experiment Station, re- 

 cently told me that more farmers from Me- 

 dina Co. visit them than from any other 

 county in Ohio. Now, this prefaces what I 

 want to tell you about the corn convention 

 that the farmers of Medina Co. held in one 

 of our largest halls, Dec. 8. Prof. Williams, 

 of the Ohio Experiment Station, gave an ad- 

 dress. I will mention just one or two points. 

 It is something that Prof. Holden did not al- 

 lude to, if I am correct, and it was an eye- 

 opener to me. Said he: 



"Friends, when you go to the corn-cribs 

 to pick out the best ears of corn you are al- 

 most sure to get ears that grow on stalks 

 where there was only one stalk to a hill, or 

 in a place where the hills were missing 

 around it. Now, that is not what we want 

 at all. We want to select our seed from 

 choice ears that grew where there was a per- 

 fect stand. We want to find a strain of corn 

 for seed that makes a desirable ear because 

 of its inherent vigor and vitality, and not 

 because of its environment." 



You see the point, friends. Almost any 

 stalk of corn would make a big handsome 

 ear if it stood alone and no other stalk were 

 near it; but the credit in this case comes 

 from the large area rather than from the vig- 

 or or vitality of that particular plant. The 

 moral was, that there is no way to get this 

 high-grade seed but to go through the field 

 in September and tie a red rag around the 

 ears you judge will be the most desirable 

 ones. But you want to mark a good many 

 more ears than you will be likely to use. 

 After husking-time these largest ears are to 

 be weighed and culled. Some farmers mark 

 the largest specimens by clipping off the tas- 

 sels with a corn-cutter; but as the stalks are 

 liable to be broken in husking, this is not as 

 reliable a plan as to use a "red tape." One 

 more point was something as follows: 



"I suppose most of you have injury more 

 or less from corn being broken down by 



windstorms, big blows, etc. You probably 

 decide that these things can not be helped; 

 that toi'nadoes are the "act of God," as the 

 railroad companies put it, etc. But look 

 here. Down at our Ohio Experiment Sta- 

 tion last year we planted a great number of 

 ears of corn, in a field so long that each ear 

 made a whole row; and I will just tell you 

 one of the things that we found out by this 

 experiment. After a big rain and wind- 

 storm, row No. 1 was nearly half broken 

 down; row No. 2, worse still. Only here and 

 there was thei'e a stalk standing up; but, lo 

 and behold! row No. 3 was standing up al- 

 most entire from beginning to end, only an 

 occasional stalk being bent over and broken 

 off here and there. What does this teach? 

 Why, that some ears produce a stouter and 

 stronger stalk than others. If we save our 

 seed corn from this row that did not blow 

 down, for next year, we should have a field 

 of strong stalks that would stand most blows. 

 Now, suppose the ear that produced No. 2, 

 where they broke over so badly, had been 

 planted in the usual way and the product 

 scattered all through the field. Then you 

 would have seen the broken-down stalks all 

 over the field, and supposed, of course, there 

 was no remedy." 



After he closed I said to him, "What a 

 pity it is, professor, that wheat and oats do 

 not grow on ears so we could work the same 

 plan with them!" 



"Why, bless your heart, Mr. Root, we can 

 do the same thing with wheat or oats, even 

 better than with corn. Each grain produces 

 toward a dozen stalks, and we just take up 

 the whole hill with all the heads, and make 

 our tests, and, if desirable, plant." 



Then I asked about green corn and pop- 

 corn. He said there was no question but 

 that the same plan would work. " Finally," 

 said I, "why can we not go on with beans 

 and all other garden vegetables? and not 

 only this, but considering what can be done 

 with plant life is it not possible to work the 

 same with domestic animals?" 



"Why, to be sure it is, Mr. Root. Great 

 progress is being made in weeding out the 

 unprofitable cattle; and with the trap nest 

 we are getting strains of fowls that produce 

 200 eggs a year — yes, 250, and I believe there 

 are a few cases where a single hen in one 

 year's time laid over 300 eggs. A Hock of 

 poultry where the drones and those that lay 

 only occasionally have been weeded out will 

 yield an immense profit compared with the 

 ordinary fiocks in farmers' dooryards." 



Of course, the above is not exactly his 

 talk, but it is the substance of the conversa- 

 tion; and do you not think, friends, that 

 every branch of rural industry is showing us 

 possibilities that heretofore the most sanguine 

 have never dreamed of? Luther Burbank is 

 by no means the only man who is developing 

 new and unexplored regions along this line. 



MY DUCK STORT. 



While visiting with George W. Park (the 

 great flower-seed man), at Lapark, Pa., last 



