CORN GROWING 213 



on they may be judged more carefully and stored for next 

 season's planting. 



Storage of Seed Corn. — Corn intended for use as seed 

 should be well dried before freezing weather. Fteezing after 

 it is thoroughly dry is not detrimental. Storage should be 

 in a dry place, as moisture is very harmful and reduces the 

 germinating power. Attacks of mice, rats and sparrows must 

 be avoided. In southern climates grain moths may attack the 

 com and weevils may do much damage. Precautions must be 

 taken to keep these enemies away. 



Seed corn racks are easily made, using wire or strips of 

 cloth on which to lay the corn so that air may circulate about 

 the ears. 



A simple method of storing seed corn is to drive nails 

 in lines along the sides of a pole suspended from a roof 

 or ceiling. The butts of the ears are slipped over the headless 

 nails. Wire or wood lath may be nailed in the Joists of the 

 floor in any dry building or shed. Corn is laid in single layers 

 on the wires. Bars of corn may be woven in double strands of 

 binders' twine and suspended in long strings from hooks on 

 the ceiling. 



Testing Seed Corn. — Benefits of testing seed of any kind 

 may be enumerated as follows: (1) Better stand in the field 

 is secured if the seed proves to be good. (2) Ee-planting is 

 made unnecessary. (3) Time is not lost in watching for poor 

 seed to sprout. (4) Labor is saved by not handling and plant- 

 ing poor seed. (5) Seed is saved, as poor seed could be used 

 for feed and not lost in the planting. (6) The purchase of 

 poor seed may be avoided by testing samples before buying. 

 (7) More uniform yields are secured at harvest time. 



Methods of Testing. — The best plan is to test each ear 

 separately instead of shelling all the seed corn together and 

 testing a sample of the lot. If each ear is tested, any which 

 show poor germination may be culled out and used for feed ; 

 thus several hundred kernels of low germination may be 



