

41 
indicate that seed which is most carefully preserved and 
kept over, will not only retain its vitality longer, but will 
also give better results in planting. It is certainly good 
advice, and advice which it is well for the farmer to heed, 
to select carefully his seed corn from his bin, or better still, 
from the field, and to carefully keep over to the next season 
in a warm and dry place. At the present time the advice 
is certainly justified, by the facts at our command, for the 
farmer to select his seed corn by taking the best ears, and 
after shelling, or in the ear, to put in a warm place and 
allow to thoroughly dry before using in the spring. 
Seed corn, when planted too early, is often destroyed in 
the ground. ‘This destruction does not come from the cold, 
as often assumed, but from other conditions, the most im- 
portant of which is the slow germination of the seed and a 
vitality which cannot endure this circumstance, and also 
the action of mold, which grows rapidly at a lower tempera- 
ture than will suffice for the corn. It therefore holds good 
in practice that to those who plant early the very best of 
seed is of great importance; and what adds value to this re- 
flection is, that, so far as our data warrants, we can state 
with considerable certainty that early planted corn will 
usually yield a larger crop than will the same variety 
planted at a late period. 
The loss to the farmers of the state from the use of seed 
corn, which is not as good as it might be, is enormous. 
During the present year observation has shown many fields 
where the vacancies could be estimated at 40, 50 and even 
60 per cent., and in which the crop was thereby reduced. 
If these farmers had recognized the importance of drying 
their seed, much of this loss might have been prevented. [ 
think [ am safe in saying that on thousands of acres the 
yield was diminished twenty per cent. by the use of seed 
that by thorough drying might have given eighty per cent. 
of plants. A little thing this, the keeping of seed corn ina 
warm place until thoroughly dried, and yet the gain in the 
aggregate crop of the state would be large if farmers would 
only attend to these seeming littles. 
CORN—PREPARATION OF THE LAND. 
Plats B. 6 to 9, one-tenth of an acre each, were planted 
with Waushakum corn, the conditions being kept alike, all 
except the preparation of the land. B. 6 was ploughed and 
lightly harrowed and then planted; B. 7 was ploughed, 
thoroughly harrowed, and planted: B. 8 was ploughed, 
hharrowed, rolled, again harrowed, and planted; B. 9 was 
harrowed, rolled, harrowed, planted and then rolled after 
planting. The hills were 44x44 inches, and six kernels to 
