CORN GROWER'S RULES 135 



drop planter has come into very general use. It takes into ac- 

 count the thickness of the kernel ana drops one at a time until the re 

 auired number have accumulated, then the check wires free them to 

 gather. For the farmer w^ho grades his corn thoroughly and tests his 

 planter each year, the edge drop will do more accurate work. On the 

 other hand, where the undesirable practice is followed of planting 

 all sizes of kernels with the same plate, the round- hole plate will come 

 nearer planting uniformly under all conditions. By calibrating the 

 planter, the accuracy of drop has been increased in some cases as 

 much as 19 per cent, by simply filing the holes until the kernels 

 dropped through more uniformly. Tests of 72 per cent have been 

 raised to 85 per cent ; 42 to 61 ; 74.6 to 89.8. Of 178 correspondents 

 replying to inquiries of the Farm Crops Department, 153 replied af- 

 firmatively in regard to calibrating and testing the drop of :heir 

 planters. 



The planter should be calibrated for each of the three grades. The 

 corn should then be sacked and the planter plates tied with the sack. 

 Where different varieties are to be planted by the same machme, 

 oftentimes the medium plates for one variety will plant the large 

 kernels of another. 



THE CORN GROWERS REMINDER 

 Remember. 



1. That home-grown seed is the surest. 



2. To harvest the seed corn before the first killing frost. 



3. To hang it up in a well ventilated place. 



4. That corn full of moisture is liable to freeze and thus lose its 

 vitality. 



5. To store seed in warm place during extremely cold weather. 



6. To make a germination box during the winter. 



7. To test each ear of seed corn during the month of March. 



8. To grade the tested seed. 



9. To calibrate the corn planter to drop the graded seed. 



10. That poor seed is the chief cause of poor stand. 



11. That a poor stand means a small yield. 



