Freezing Injury of Seed Corn 
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and convenient manner of obtaining sound seed corn. Precau- 
tion should be taken to insure rapid drying and avoidance of 
mould. This procedure usually requires some husking before 
the bulk of the corn is sufficiently dry for general husking. The 
necessary seed for the average farm may usually be selected 
from several loads of this early husked corn. If this plan is 
systematically followed, a supply of sound corn may be fairly 
certain year after year. 
(3) Selecting seed at the time of general husking is the 
most common of all methods. Either a box is attached to the 
side of the wagon into which the seed ears are thrown while" 
husking, or else the seed ears are selected from the wagon while 
unloading. This method, and particularly the practice of pick- 
ing the seed ears in the field while husking, has many com- 
mendable features in years of early maturity when a large 
percentage of the ears will possess strong germination even when 
left exposed in the field to severe freezing weather. In other 
years, such as 1911, 1915, and 1917, there may be such a small 
portion of viable ears after subjection to freezing weather, that 
much annoyance and difficulty is experienced in selecting them. 
If necessary to select seed ears from a field where freezing 
injury has been severe, the rather slender, hard, solid, smooth 
ears with relatively shallow grains (Fig. 15) will be found 
most certain to give satisfactory germination. For those who 
do not favor this type of ear, it may be said that it is likely to 
yield fully as much grain to the acre as the larger, rougher 
types, even in years when both give equally good germination. 
Severe freezing destroys the viability of immature seed. 
This is a factor in the natural adaptation of the crop. It 
tends to eliminate the later strains, while the earlier ones survive. 
By selecting the ears, therefore, which have withstood severe 
freezing in the field, more consistent earliness is developed. 
(4) Corncrib selection may be practiced in an emergency 
as a last resort. If provision for a seed supply by other 
methods has been overlooked, well matured and sound seed ears 
may in most years be selected from the crib during the winter 
or spring. Such home grown seed is to be recommended in 
preference to imported seed whose adaptability is not definitely 
known. 
(5) Old Seed. In order to insure against emergencies, it is 
a desirable practice to select sufficient seed in years when corn 
matures well for two years’ planting. It seldom happens that 
two successive bad years occur, and by this practice much un- 
easiness and annovance may be avoided in bad years. One-vear- 
