52 INDIAN CORN CULTURE. 



Some years ago I collected samples of seed 

 corn from 16 counties in Tennessee, and tested 

 their germination quality.' The vitality of the 

 seed was strong. Nearly all of this seed was 

 grown by men who took pains to keep it in 

 dry, well-ventilated places. There was no es- 

 sential difference in germination between ears 

 stored with and without the husk. 



In an article on "Seed corn"* Josiah Russell 

 of Iowa says: "If the corn is not absolutely dry 

 when gathered we put the ears for seed in a 

 plastered upper chamber of the house through 

 which a. stovepipe goes to the chimney, or we 

 make use of the smoke house. In either case 

 the corn is laid in tiers on lath nailed to 2x4 

 uprights, one row of corn to each lath, or rather 

 a lath at each end of the corn rows. * * * 

 It takes two laths to hold one row of ears 

 side by side. * * * The smoke-house plan 

 we like best of all, and think the smoke we put 

 in at times during the winter renders the corn 

 objectionable to the ground squirrels in the 

 spring." 



pt The relative value of butt, center and tip 

 kernels does not materially differ. As a rule 

 farmers select the central kernels on the ears, 

 rejecting the small or irregular tip and butt ker- 

 nels. At the New York experiment station the 

 writer assisted in conducting elaborate experi- 



*Eural New Yorker, Aug. 25, 1888. 



