Technical World Magazine

FIFTY MILLIONS A DAY .317
it right aloHi;- with the rest and give it
no special labor.
"Soon it will be time for the tassels
and silks to appear and just here is
where you will want to be sure and give
this five-acre piece a little special attention.
The silk is the female portion of
the plant, the tassel is the male. And no
doubt you have all noticed that whether
or not a stalk of corn puts forth an ear
it is seldom but that it puts forth a tassel.
One silk is produced for every kernel
of corn on the cob. ranging from 80Q
to 1,000 in number, but it has been determined
that on the average a tassel has
from 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 of -pollen
g'rains. Now one pollen grain is sufficient
for the fertilizing of one silk. The
pollen is blown about the field, lights on
a silk, the silk is fertilized and the kernels
of corn are produced. Take a
butcher knife (which is about as good
as anything to use), see that it is good
and sharp and take a stroll out into this
five-acre patch just when the rassels
begin to appear and whenever you come
to a weak stalk, a barren stalk or a
sucker, cut it off right down close to the
ground.
"And why should we go to the trouble
to do this? Here is the reason. Xo
doubt you have often gone out into the
corn field the latter part of September
to pick some seed corn and as you have
walked here and there in the field you
would find the large, well matured ears.
Possibly you took a great deal of pains
to examine the stalks from which these
ears were taken, but did you ever stop to
consider what sort of a father those seed
ears had? Of course, you have apj^reciated
that the sins of the father are visited
on the children to the third and
fourth generation, but have you stopped
to consider the fact that half the kernels
on a large, fine ear of corn picked promiscuously
in the field might have had as
their father a little, runty stalk which is
so commonly growing in every corn fieltl
in Iowa? Now, then, I am sure you will
see just why we should go into the fiveacre
seed patch and eliminate every weak
stalk and barren stalk, so that the pollen
which is produced in that five-acre patch
we know to be pollen from good, strong,
vigorous, producing stalks. Then w-hen
we pick our seed corn we can not only
study the mother j^lant, the stalk, but we
also will know that the father of the ears
of corn which we pick for seed was
equally strong and vigorous.
"Now, then, the latter days of Se])-
tember (which is the time for picking
seed) when you tell your wife that it is
about time you were getting your seed
corn and sling the sack over your shoulder
and start oft' for the field, where will
you go? Will you stroll around through
that forty or eighty-acre field of yours ?
No, the very strongest, most vigorous,
most productive seed you have is planted
in a five-acre patch. You eliminated all
the weak and barren stalks and suckers
from this field. You know that the best
seed corn you have on the farm is right
where you planted and cared for it
in that small five-acre field and so instead
of walking over a large area you
go right into that five-acre field and sot)n
you will have picked a sufficient amount
of seed for the planting of vour fields
the coming season. Such a practice will
substantially increase the yiekl and the
quality of your corn crop and add millions
of dollars annually to the income
of Iowa."
Q C
3 B