The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., March 12, 1910, CORN SPECIAL, Page 186, Image 10

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

Image provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

                
Under the Editorial and Business Management of
DR. TAIT BUTLER,
8TARKVILLE, MISS.
CLARENCE H. POE, ... Associate Editor and Manager.
Prof. W. F. MASSEY. .... Associate Editor.
E. E_ MILLER, ...... Managing Editor.
FISHER SPECIAL AGENCY, - New York Representatives.
ALBERT H. HOPKINS. .... Chicago Representative.
S. M. GOLDBERG, St. Louis and Kansas City Representative.
OFFICES i
RALEIGH, N. O. STARKVILLE, MISS.
To either of which Communications regarding
Advertising or Subscriptions may be Addressed.
Entered as second class matter Oct. 16. 1907, at the postofflce Ral
eigh, N. C.. under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
We Guarantee Our Advertisers.
WE will positively make good the loss sustained by any subscriber
as a result of fraudulent misrepresentation made in our col
umns on the part of any advertiser who proves to be s deliberate
swindler. This does not mean that we will try to adjust trifling
disputes between reliable business houses and their patrons, but in
any case of actually fraudulent dealing, we will make good to the
subscriber as we have just indicated. The condition of this guaran
ty* is that the claim for loss shall be reported to us within one
month after the advertisement appears in our paper, and that the
subscriber must say when writing each advertiser: 1 am writing
you as an advertiser in The Progressive Fanner and Gazette, which
guarantees the reliability of all advertising that it carriea."
Average Weekly Circulation, 1909, 70,108.
C Married.
ARRIED AT THE HOME of the bride In
Morristown, Tenn., Friday, February 25,
1910, Mr. E. E. Miller, Managing Editor
of The Progressive Farmer and Gazette, to Miss
Hattie Senter. Our 100,000 readers will join in
wishing long life and happiness to bride and
groom. No more likable or efficient worker than
Mr. Miller has ever helped in the making of The
Progressive Farmer and Gazette.
(Incidentally, this item explains why our
"Reading Course in Fertilizers” is omitted this
week. It will be resumed In our next issue.)
Possibilities of Corn Breeding.
he SUSCEPTIBILITY of the corn plant to
change and consequently to improvement
by breeding and selection is well illustrat
ed by ten years’ work at the Michigan Agrlcul
tural Experiment Station.
In ten years breeding a variety that, to sta,:
w th, had 10.92 per cent of protein, was raised *
a protein content of 14.26 per cent, or a gain
over 30 per cent in the protein of this low p.
te n feedstuff. Corn of that composition cont ■ ,
within 1.14 per cent as much protejn as w,-;
ran. in fact, the increase iD protein is sufl? •,
to materially change the character of the cm. ,
a feedstuff, and if this increase in the prj«,..
content from 4.70 to 2.66, which they
tained by breeding, the composition of corn v
be so changed as to make the corn grain a •
balanced ration. The nutritive rati , ( ,•
erage corn is about 1 to 9. That of c'.r.t v.i»»
14.26 per cent protein, and 2.66 per i,, •
would be about i tn f s ....
. . u Ul 1 t0 6 5- the nutritive ,jij ,,
Qulred by .he Woll-l.ebtnann standard for
is as follows: ‘
Horses at light work... , , , ,,
Horses at medium work'. . t\
Horses at heavy work i ,
. I i u lj
This shows that the composition or lt
cast, and hy Inference, probably an/.. „r
cods, can be cbansed In a compa.a.i.ciy orr
time to fit a definite purpose in feeding, by intelli
gent attention to breeding and selsoMon.
If the composition of the corn grain, which is
one of the most stable characters of the corn
plant, can be thus modified to lit a purpose in
feeding it seems to follow most conclusively that
changes In those characters which conduce to a
larger yield may be most easily accomplished by
attention to breeding and sole ttnu for that pur
pose. The evidence to prove this is abundant,
and yet, little attention is ghen to seed selection
and breeding by the average farmer.
How Vampire Quacks Fuin Lives.
HE TIME is coming, and is not for distant,
when a thoroughly awakened public senti
ment will make it impossible for any edi
tor to sell himself into part nor?hip with vampire
quacks and frauds who latten on the miseries of
the poor and ignorant sick, o t«»n causing them to
delay proper treatment, unt l they either die or
become chronic ii.,:Mds. England, as we said
last week, is beco Mighty aroused to the
seriousness of the ■ • cine evil, or "secret
remedies” as th 1 over there. As a
prominent corre ■ n the London Spectator
says:
"There exists, m ac;. no such thing as a
‘secret* remedy. Chemical analysis easily dis
closes the constituents. It proves that the
majority of nostrums, when not entirely
worthless, Inert trash, rarely contain any
thing more potent than a smalt dose of a
cheap purgative. The harm Is done by ad
vertisements which lead sufferers from seri
ous maladies amenable to scientific treatment
to pin faith upon a worthless cure Cases
of this kind are always to be discovered In
numbers among hospital patients. It was
one of such that first opened my eyes to the
main facts. This was the case of a woman
who presented herself at a hospital suffering
from enticor of the breast. The disease had
passed far hevond the help of surgery Ask
ed why she had not applied earlier, the wo
man stated that she had rejfed throughout
on a much-advertised heal-all ointment. This
was merely a preparation of colored lard ex
actly similar to compounds upon the adver
tising of which thousands of pounds are still
expended, 't hey sell mostly among the poor
and Ignorant, and are responsible for much
preventable misery and death.”
Tkii Week's Features.
HAVE NOT been able to ret Into our
VV' Corn Special" all the rood matter that
v.h planned—Professor Duncan's Alaham-i
\;tr|c* V t<sta. tor example.—but it ouirht to prove
"t nr.y r.:t., a pretty rood all-round ruble to sue
CMlHire in the South Special art!
Dent very fully the sublects of vital lntere«*
'lcl.» at this time—ft) preparfnr the land. (2>
ttlll7in«. (3) selectlnc seed, and HI plnntlnp
Hr of— and later special articles In the ser|e
•Hoxv to Double Corn Yields.” will deal with the
»1 ts of early and late cultivation, etc etc
'iu„ in the wav of a cepernl summary of sue
‘-sful com culture. Mr. French’s sforv of ho«
n*‘ ,Pak«* h,B hl* crops. Is about the best thine
■ f Hie kind we have ever prln*ed. while on
l*1 12 Bnd 13 we have other rood reports also
,mn Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama farmer
renders.
In our special departments this week our art!
: ’f are of unusual timeliness. You ouirht to
"t,d rlcht away the article on earlv sprlnc car.
? work stock, while hardly less Important are
ncle Jo’s letter on the care of brooder chicks
’•r. Latham and Professor Thompson on sweet
ntato culture snd watermelon rrowlnc. an-’
drs. Stevens’s housekeeplnr talk on ’’The Hand
llnr and Storare of Food.”
No less valuable for the wide-awake farmer
ire our advertisements of breeders of Improved
*eeds. live stock, poultry, and machinery You
r*an’t afford to farm this year with scrub seed
Hock or poultry, nor out-of-date tools; and
there s no time to lose If you are really not color
to waste another year of your life |n this sort of
business. Write our advertisers
How to Select Seed Corn.
rc=3BHE INDIVIDUAL corn plant- stalk, leaves,
yP' and ears—Is the basis for corn Improve
ment by selection. The ear so general
ly used as the sole basis of selection Is only
one member or part of the corn plant, and
is, therefore, an Insufficient basis for Improve
ment of the yield by selection. In fact, while
the ear has In recent years received much atten
tion from the growers In their selection of seed
corn. It Is probably not ns Important a part of the
plant, considering Uie objects In view, as the stalk.
That Is, an Increase In yield could probably be
more easily and quickly secured by attention to
the stalk alone than by attention to the ear alone;
and If the best results are to be obtained, careful
field selection of stalks and ears both are essen
tial.
The following Is an effort to briefly state the
characters of the corn plant which should fortn a
guide or standard for our readers In the selec
tion of seed corn:
Ktalk.
— — .1 . IL I. • — it
■ MW M ' « • M M M If* VHV Ml Ml J | || ||J I
height. In the South the tendency Is to grow tss
largo, hence n height of 8 or 9 feet should %a
adhered to. It should he large and sturdy st tbs
base, tapering evenly to the top and standing
erect. It should be free from all disease, smut,
etc., and well supplied with 12 to Id broad, wall
developed leaves. The ears, not less than two of
thrm. should be about the middle of the stalk,
preferably below rather than above tha middle.
The ears should be attached by a shank of suf
ficient length to permit of the outer end of the
ear turning slightly downward so as to shed we
ter, but should not be too long -say fire Inches.
Sticker* or off-shoots of any sort are undesirable.
The reasons why these characters are desirable
are apparent The most Important part of the
plant Is the ear. hence too great an amount of
plant food should not be used up In the produc
tion of the stalk. A aturdy stalk, with broed
leaves. Indicates a more vigorous plant. A tell,
slender stalk, with the ears placed high. Is too
easily blown down. More than one ear Is dsetr
able, because, while |t has not been demonstrated
bow many ears are best. It has been demonstrated
by Southern Ktperlment Stations that varieties
hi vinr a tendency to produce the Isrgest per rest
of stalks bearing two or more ears produce the
most shelled corn per sere
ruini.
Uniformity In type is » desirable quality and
an evidence of the purity of any given variety,
i nlformlty In type doea not mean strict uniform
ity In the site of the ears, but there should be
the same general shape of ear. with the same color,
shape and size of kernel, and the closest approach
practicable to uniformity in site of ear la also de
sirable,
I/ength of Rnr.—The length and alse of the ear
>111 vary In different varieties, but the desirable
relation between length and site !.. clreumferenc®
hree-fourths the length. That Is. an ear 8 inches
long should be about <5 Inches In circumference
I or making this comparison, th® circumference
or the ear should be measured about one-tblrd
i»* distance from the butt toward the tip. An
"Hr °r length Is probably best. A large
•nr. of course, will yield more corn, but two rae
lum ears will yield more than one large ear and
'wo medium ears are easier to get In one stalk
han one ear large enough to shell as much corn
™ ,he «*rs. An ear measuring from
<4 to 9 Inches Is probably not far from the right
length.
shape of liar,—The ear should be as near the
a me size at the tip and the butt us It la possible
'o get It Of course, this Is rarely the case, the
Ip usually being smaller, but a tapering ear Is
objectionable, because, us the ear gets smaller
towards the Up the grains must become smaller,
or one or more rows must be dropped.
Space Between Kernels.—Any spare between
♦ be kernels that might be filled with corn is a
'listlnet loss. Tills occurs when the furrows be
tween the rows are too large and also when there
m open space between the kernels at the cob. The
shape of the kernels largely determines the space
between the grains.
—The rows of kernels should be regular
and straight at the butts and extend well out.