THE SEED : ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 57 



characteristics which are held to be desirable. If you 

 think you are able to recognize good corn when you see it, 

 you may select now and store away for your judging later 

 in the year at least twenty good ears. 

 Bear in mind that a good ear of corn, — 



(1) Should be perfectly sound and mature so that seed 

 from it is practically certain to grow. 



(2) Is nearly cylindrical in shape, or very slightly taper- 

 ing, but rather " full " in the middle. 



(3) Has a butt well rounded, with kernels not too 

 square or blocky, and fitting closely around the shank. 



(4) Has a tip well covered with kernels. 



(5) Has straight rows free from depressions. 



(6) Has kernels of uniform size and of keystone shape. 



42. Nature stores no Seeds but provides for Loss. — 



Nature has no granaries in which to store her supply of 

 seeds for another season's crop. As we have seen, the 

 seeds are scattered far and wide. Those which escape 

 being devoured by the birds and other animals must pass 

 the winter in whatever place they chance to fall. Thus 

 exposed, many of them can not survive the extreme cold 

 of winter or the sudden changes of spring. The loss is 

 enormous, but Nature has provided for it by producing 

 an enormous quantity of seed. A single pigweed may 

 produce as many as fifty thousand seeds, while one Russian 

 thistle has been known to produce two hundred and fifty 

 thousand. One bushel of com will plant about seven 

 acres, which in a good year should produce four hundred 

 bushels. This four hundred bushels in turn, you see, 

 would plant two thousand eight hundred acres. Thus 

 Nature's habit of producing more seed than would be 

 needed for planting if properly stored, enables man and 



