Home › How To Do Things, The Farm Journal, Wilmer Atkinson Company, Philadelphia, 1919.

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Mon, 07/21/2008 - 21:52 — admin

How to Do Things

Crops     |     Testing Seed Corn

Testing the Seed Corn
What Every Farmer Should Do

The Rag Doll Method

Every ear of corn, whether old or new, should be tested.  Now is the time to make the tests before the rush of spring work comes on.  The "rag doll" method is the cheapest, simplest way of testing.

Rag Doll Method of Seed Corn Testing

Take strips of heavy, unbleached muslin, 12 X 54 inches.  Mark down the middle lengthwise with a lead-pencil, and then crosswise every three inches, beginning twelve inches from one end and making eleven lines.  Number the twenty divisions and at the same time number twenty ears of corn to be tested.  Take six grains from ear No. 1 (two from near tip, two from middle and two from near butt), no two kernels from same row, and place them on division No. 1 on the cloth, with tips of all kernels pointing the same way, crosswise of the cloth.  Place kernels from No. 2 on space No. 2, and so on for all the ears.

Next place a handful of moist sawdust on a piece of blotting paper on one end of the cloth and roll the rag around it carefully so the kernels will not be displaced; roll fairly compact but not too tight.  Tie the "rag doll" at both ends.  Soak it in lukewarm water over night, drain for half an hour, and stand it on end in a pail lined with a wet cloth--tips of kernels pointing down.  A few pieces of brick in the bottom of the pail will afford air circulation and drainage.  Fold the pail cloth-lining over the top, put a fairly heavy dry cloth over the pail, set it in a warm place, and moisten the cloths with warm water every day.  In seven days, when the sprouts will be about two inches long, take the doll out and unroll carefully.  Any ear whose kernels have not grown vigorously should be thrown out.  Be careful to throw away the right ear.

Make six or eight "dolls"--a pailful--at the same time.  To prevent mold, scald all the cloths used.

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Testing Seed Corn     |     Crops

Testing the Seed-Corn

The Earth Box Method

Here's how to make the test:  Any kind of a shallow box filled with soil and divided into two-inch squares will do for a tester.  The easiest way to divide the box into squares is to string wire or cord back and forth and cross-wise as shown in the lower picture.

The earth box method of seed-corn testing.

In each square place six kernels from different parts of one ear,--and so on until the box is full.  Each square then represents an ear, and the ears are arranged elsewhere to correspond in position with the squares.  Slightly press the kernels into the soil, and stretch a wet cloth over all.  On this lay another cloth, and cover the latter with soil about half an inch deep, packing it down carefully all around to exclude air.  For the sake of cleanliness put another cloth on top, and sprinkle water on this,--about two quarts daily.  Keep the box in a warm place in the house, and in about a week the kernels will have sprouted sufficiently to show which ears are best.  Discard all ears that do not show vigor as regards germination.

The upper illustration shows a home-made ear-rack numbered and lettered to correspond with the squares in the tester.  As an example, to make the idea perfectly clear, the upper ear of corn shown is number "H-6"; and in the "H-6" test-box square below you can plainly see that only four kernels from that ear have sprouted.  Discard it.

Earth box for testing seed corn.

The outfit illustrated will test 100 ears at a time; the size can be increased or reduced to fit your needs, or several outfits can be made and used at once.

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Crops     |     Seeding Wheat

Safe Dates for Seeding Wheat

The map below shows the dates when winter wheat can be seeded in the different States in the winter wheat area and still be safe from the Hessian fly menace.  Wheat should not be seeded earlier than the date indicated for any section.  September 10 is the earliest date, and applies to the Northern States, where frost comes sooner than in sections farther south.  The seeding dates indicated will give wheat a chance to get a good start before cold weather.

Safe dates for planting winter wheat

Raising Beans

 Why do we import annually such a vast quantity of beans to supply the home market?  Why haven't we awakened to the fact of abundant profit from easy crops of beans raised at home?  Farmers all over the country should become aroused to the importance of this hardy, nourishing vegetable, its importance as a staple article of diet--wholesome and nourishing--and its value to the farmer as a safe and profitable crop.  Almost anywhere in the Union, beans of one variety or another can be grown profitably.

Beans Mature Anywhere

They will mature successfully in all Northern States, and many of the Southern States have made excellent showings in the way of good bean production.

More people are eating beans.  It is no longer the laboring classes, those who are forced to economize, who select beans as an article of steady diet.  People are learning the remarkable nutriment of well-cooked beans.

American canners by vigorous exploitation have created a new demand

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for beans.  They have brought people to a knowledge of the delicious flavor of beans when rightly prepared, as well as their rich food value.  And, because of the trade they have thus built up, these industries consume annually quantities of beans so vast that they are almost unbelievable.

Watch the Market Quotations

The market page, with its reports of high and steadily increasing prices, is proving a decided encouragement to the farmer--is opening his eyes to the really tremendous possibilities in bean culture.

Simple white "navy" beans are gaining in popular favor at an extraordinary rate.  Wherever wheat and corn will grow you can raise these beans.

Of Great Food Value

From every point of view there is wisdom in the old saying about the man who "knows beans."  Everybody ought to know them--from the consumer whose bone and tissue, brain and muscle, are all enriched and improved by a diet of good old-fashioned beans, to the farmer, who in beans has an opportunity of raising a safe and heavy crop and of finding a ready market at top prices.

Of all vegetables, beans come nearest to taking the place of meat as a food.  No family having access to a bushel of beans need have meat on the table more than six times a week, and hardly that.