EXPERIMENTS IN BREEDING SWEET CORN. 315 



C. The: Care; and Curing oe SE;Ep. 

 General experience indicates that the qnahty of a corn crop 

 depends to a great extent on the way in which the seed from 

 which it was raised was cured and cared for before planting. 

 The following points are believed to be essential to the best 

 results, and may be of help to the farmers of Maine. 



1. Harvesting. Corn intended for seed must be fairly well 

 matured, yet must not be chilled or frozen. The stage at which 

 it may safely be harvested for seed is therefore an important 

 point to know. In regard to this it may be said that corn may 

 be harvested for seed as soon as the husks dry. However, the 

 longer it can be safely left in the field after this the better it is. 

 So far as germination alone is concerned the care after harvest- 

 ing is relatively more important than the actual stage at harvest- 

 ing, provided the kernels have begun to harden and glaze. 



2. Drying or curing. As soon as possible after harvesting 

 seed corn should be husked and the ears put in a warm dry room 

 (temperature not lower than 50 degrees at any time) in which 

 there is some circulation of air. To get the best results they 

 should never be put in a cold shed or barn chamber, as is too 

 often done. Seed corn is probably more often injured soon after 

 harvesting by (a) chilling and (b) becoming alternately mois- 

 tened and dried, than by any other causes. After drying is 

 begun the corn should not be allowed to become moist, or even to 

 stay in a moist atmosphere until it is planted. To get the best 

 results it will be necessary to use some artificial heat (from a 

 stove or furnace) in drying the corn. Any one engaged in the 

 business of raising seed corn should have a special drying room. 



3. Storage during and after curing. To get the best results 

 with seed corn it is necessary that during the curing process and 

 until the corn is shelled no ear should be in contact with anything 

 but the surrounding air. In this way the air circulates around 

 each kernel. The corn then does not mould and cures quickly 

 and evenly. This condition can best be realized by the use of 

 storage racks. The rack devised and used by the Station has 

 the form shown in the following illustration. It has been found 

 very satisfactory. 



