thirds of the producing abihty of his soil and two-thirds of his labor is be- 

 cause of poor seed. 



The cheapest and most practical way of testing seed corn is as follows: 

 A germinator is made from any box 25 inches or more wide, from 4 to 6 

 inches high, and about 25 inches in length, for each bushel of corn to be 

 tested. This is filled with moist sawdust or sandy loam to within two 

 inches of the top. A piece of muslin is moistened, and with an indelible 

 pencil marked off in squares 2^ inches each way so that when the cloth 

 is laid on the sawdust or loam in the box, there shall be ten squares on 

 the cloth across the box. In a box 25 inches square there will be ten 

 rows of squares and ten squares in each row. 



BOX FOR TESTING SEED 



A Strong, Both Sprout and Rootlets C— Weak, Rootlets Only 



B— Weak, Sprout Only D~Dead 



Box for Testing Seed 



Before placing corn in the germinator, sterilize the sawdust and 

 cloths by boiling or by the application of steam to destroy fungus 

 spores. If you do not have sawdust, good garden loam will do. It is 

 unnecessary to sterilize the loam if that is used. 



The ears of corn are laid in rows on a table, floor or board, and marked 

 in tens, beginning with ear No. 1 at the end of the row. Take out six 

 kernels from different parts of the ear and place them in square No. 1 

 at the upper left-hand corner of the box. Place the kernels from ear 

 10 in square 10 at the adjacent corner from No. 1. Place No. 11 imme- 

 diately below No. 1, etc. When six kernels from each ear have thus 

 been placed in the box, cover with a piece of wet muslin larger than the 

 box, and place moist, but not saturated, sawdust or fine loam over all 

 to the top of the box. The sawdust or loam should be sprinkled occa- 

 sionally with water to keep it from drying out. After a reasonable 

 time has elapsed, the kernels should be examined. 



