Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1911 — Page 2

Winter Months on the farm

How to Improoe Them

An essential of profitable farming little appreciated in the past by the general farmer is the development of strains of seed corn well adapted to local conditions. Heretofore the corn grower has not practised rigid selection to find the variety best suited to his environment He has not appreciated that he could introduce into his locality grades of corn which have proved successful in other Btates and then acclimate this corn to his local conditions thereby gaining greater yields. It is a relatively simple matter where a standard variety is grown to •elect the best ears from the year’s crop, cure them properly, store them for the winter, and plant those showing the highest germination test the following spring. What little extra time the farmer consumes in these operations is amply repaid by the larger net returns be realizes from his next crop. Field experiments comparing the character of the crop resulting from the use of rigidly selected pure-bred seed and that from seed corn as ordinarily handled on the farm prove conclusively the vast superiority of the rigidly selected, purebred strains. Yields of 55 to 60 bushels per acre resulted from use of the former grade, while returns averaging 36 bushels attended the use of the latter variety. Begin by Selection. In the atteiqpt to eliminate all poor ears the best plan in the case of cured corn is to lay out all the earß in rows on the floor. A best ear should be selected as an ideal, so that 1n going over and sorting the corn the ears corresponding most closely to the Ideal will be selected. All others

Corn from two rows, one planted with selected seed and the other with ordinary seed.

■which do not correspond to the ideal in sixe, shape, color, uniformity of kernels and quality should be discarded. Then a second sorting should be made to remove ears whose kernels do not intimately coincide with the ideal kernel. In general the characteristics most desired in ears of seed corn are good Bise, regular rows of uniform kernels, well filled out at the butt and tip, deep and closely fitting on a well shaped, moderate-sized cob. All ears haring defects and undesirable features should be rejected. Grow a Seed Plot. The selection of seed corn from the general field crop Is usually attended by poor success. A special seed plot Is essential where field selection Is practiced. The advantages of this system are that there are better chances of fertilization; the plot is isolated from other corn fields precluding crossings by undesirable strains; crossing may be controlled on the plot; the elimination of undesirable plants and the marking of exceptional rows of plants is possible as well as the determination of yields of the crop from certain plants. A quarter-acre or a half-acre plot should be chosen and the soil put into the best condition. A good plan is to select the finest ears and to plant one row from each ear to discover the superior strains and to control pollenation. When the plants begin to tassel each row should be carefully inspected and every plant detasseled that indicates barrenness or undesirable characteristics in order that they may not pollenate any desirable plants. If cross pollenation is sought, every other row should be detasseled for most perfect pollenation. To eliminate chances of injury from freezing the seed ears should be selected from this plot as soon as the crop is well matured. The ears to select are those that grow reasonably low on moderately strong shanks Just long enough to allow the ear to bend over and hang down. The husks should not be excessively long. The stalks should be from six to ■even and one-half feet tall, strong at the butt, tapering gradually to the top with perfect, strong brace roots, and broad, healthy leaves free from diseased spots. The foliage should be of such a character as will elaborate an abundance of plant food and produce good fodder. Grading the Seed. The next process consists in grading the seed for the planter. The ears should be butted and tipped because the middle kernels produce

CORN BREEDING How to Build a Good Strain Suited to Local Need* Which Will Yield Abundantly

By PROF. R. A. MOORE

K'tKMwfn i College of Jtgiicnltnn

more and are more regular in size and shape and accordingly are more regularly dropped by the planter. Each ear Should b«? shelled and graded. In some cases two or three gradations can be made profitable. Thin kernels, thick broad kernels, flat kernels, and other odd sizes can be sep-

A short, thick cpb will carry more.com than a long, slender one. Long ear* are not the largest producers. arated into groups and even handpicked to remove all black, broken or rotten kernels. A more perfect method of corn breeding is known as the ear-to-the-roW system of breeding and consists of Selecting ears of the preferred variety, possessing uniform ebarao-

ters, and growing them separately. The germination test discards all except the best ears and butts and tips in these tests in each case should be rejected. This seed Is planted in an isolated plot, the grain from each ear being put into a separate row. Throughout the growing season all poor stalks should be removed. At harvest the best ears from each row are picked and cured for breeding seed for succeeding seasons. An accurate record Is kept of the number of each row and the number of ears used from each row. The remainder of the corn from the seed plot Is placed in numbered sacks and used as seed for the main crop of the subsequent year. The breeding seed first chosen is subjected to rigid selection; the corn retained for the breeding plot for each succeeding year is taken from the best producing rows. Accurate records regarding selection and careful management practised in the breeding of seed corn are Just as essential as tests of the milk and butter fat production of dairy cows, to determine the wage-eaarners. Inferior management and selection of breeding corn decreases the efficiency of the farmer. When one considers how easily the countryman can checkmate this handicap by a simple system of selection and discrimination In the various strains of breeding corn, one almost believes the relative simplicity of the problem Is its greatest drawback. The farmer will not or can not comprehend that such an easy method in breeding corn will increase his yield to 40 to 60 per cent and will correspondingly Improve the quality of hts product. No one can compel the farmer to Institute and practice methods of management to which he is radically opposed. However, when the farm profits are so vitally concerned as they are in this problem of Increasing the corn production in this country and when a correct solution of the difficulty has been placed under the farmer's noee, only obstinacy against the adoption of advanced methods or mherent laxity and shiftlessness can be offered as excuses against the universal adoption of proper methods of selection, breeding, curing, storage, and general care of selected strains of seed corn. yields of corn would be increased by millions of bushels annually if farmers would only take a little time to properly cure, test and keep up the standard of seed corn. Acreage productions in excess of 70 bushels would be common where today 80-bushel results are In the majority.

GIVE THEM PLAYROOM

CHILDREN NEED A PLACE FOR THEMSELVES. « ; • > Entire Family Benefited by the Arrangement—Simple Furnishings Always the Best for Such an Apartment.

The first good result of , a playroom is the freedom and peace it gives to the entire family. The children have a place where they legitimately belong, to which they may be sent when family councils make their presence undesirable. They also have a place for their playthings, which will cease to litter the house at large. As soon as they have a room of their own they may be taught to 'understand something of the rule of mine and thine. A child without a room of his own is in an ’unenviable position. He lives In a place where he has no rights and no interest. He takes his meals in the dining room and he sleeps in a bedroom —probably shared with someone else, but in neither of these has he any possessions or any interest except eating and sleeping. The living room is a precarious place to start anything in, as it is uncertain when it will be needed by some one else, and if anyone is already there, play is sure to disturb him. He has nfo place to do anything. When, in desperation, he takes one he becomes an annoyance.

The ideal playroom has nothing in it except what is needed. It is a room that grows. If children are young, bare whitewashed walls are best. They can be decorated to suit the varying fancies of the children, and a fresh coat of wash each year will at a small cost present a new clean surface for the next stage of their development. When they are old enough to want wallpaper, let them select it. Let it be the cheapest possible, so that it may be renewed at a small cost. As for pictures, the unframed prints will satisfy aesthetic tastes for many a year, and when the desire for framed finished pictures comes the fever for passe-partout will come also and give an inexpensive method of decoration. If the roofn is a warm one no carpets are necessary, and in any event washable rugs are the best floor covering. An unstained table of white wood, a good-sized closet and a couple of chairs of the right height are the only furnishings needed. The toys of the children will make the room complete, and extra furnishings will come as the room grows.—Harper’s Bazar. \ *

Precaution in Kitchen.

In many homes grave cases of poisoning have arisen through a careless disregard for the cleanliness of the cooking, utensils or of their perfect condition. As soon as a copper saucepan shows signs of being at all worn it should be retinned, and in any case nothing of an acid nature should be allowed to remain in it while cooling. The same with regard to zinc and lead vessels, which are unsafe for cooking Those of tin,' steel, iron or nickel are the safest to employ. Remember, too, that it is better to use a wooden spoon than one of metal when stirring milk or soups, and that before using baking tins, you should grease them inside thoroughly either with butter or lard. In order to prevent them from burning it is well to take the precaution of sprinkling the shelves of the oven with salt.

Pertinent Hints.

The pancake turned with the long handle may be used to take light dishes from the open, and it will save many burns on the arm. After washing a China silk dress do not hang it out to dry, but roll it up in a cloth for half an hour to absorb most of the moisture, and then iron on the wrong side. Hemstitched tablecloths and napkins can be nicely mended when the hemstitching breaks by fagoting the edges together with strong thread. This will wear as long as the article. If half a bottle of olives has been used and yon wish to keep the rest, add a pinch of salt to the brine, pour a teaspoonful of olive oil into the liquid and replace the dork.

Onion Puffs.

Make a good puff paste or light, flaky pie crust, roll thin, and cut It into squares. Take as many white onions as there are to be guests and boil them in fair water until they commence to grow tender. Remove, drain and let cool a bit, then carefully cut out the center and fill the space with a half of a country sausage. butter, pepper and salt; fold each Into a square of the pastry, adding as much tomato dressing as it wilL hold. Bake in a moderate oven. When done serve individually with the tomato sauce, to which a grating of Parmesan cheese may be added. Garnish with thinly sliced green pepper.

Hominy Griddle Cakes.

Add one cup of milk scalded to onehalf cup warm hominy (left over from day before! and let stand over night; mix and sift seven-eighths cup flour, one-half teaspoonful salt and one and a half teaspoonfuls baking powder; add the hominy mixture gradually; and one egg. beaten; fry on hot. well buttered griddle until puffed and cooked around the edges, then turn and cook on the other side; remove from griddle, spread with batter and sprinkle with sugar.

TO MAKE RASPBERRY FLOAT

Various Method* of Preparation, and All Are Declared to Be Acceptable to the Palate. ft No.j I—Made1 —Made a boiled custard with 1 pint of milk, yolks of 3 eggs, % cup sugar, pinch of salt. Beat yolks till light, add sugar and salt and heat again. Slowly stir in by turning egg beater with slow, even turns the milk which has been heated to the boiling point Set over the fire and stir till it begins to thicken. Be careful to remove from heat now, or fit may whey. If it does whey, beat briskly with beater and it come smoother again. If not, the taste will not be affected but the dessert will not look as pretty. When cool flavor highly with raspberry extract. 2—Make a custard like 1, but thicker by adding 1 dessert spoon bread flour to the sugar before .mixing it with the egg. When serving time comes thin this chilled custard down to a semithick one with raspberry sirup or fresh raspberry juice. « Raspberry Float lll—Fill individual serving dishes with preserved raspberries, or better with fresh berries, mashed just enough to make a little juice, and all well sweetened and chilled. Fluff used for each basis —Beat the whites of 3 eggs to a standing dry fluff, add nip of salt and 1 sugar spoon of sugar. Beat well. Flavor with lemon, vanilla or raspberry, or mixture of lemon and raspberry extract, to suit taste. Extracts so vary it is difficult to tell exactly. A general rule is teaspoon to 3 egg whites. The vanilla when combined with anything save almond, usually is lessened by half. Have boiling briskly a threequart dish half full of water. Drop onto the surface a tablespoon at a time of the egg white. Three eggs make about seven tablespoons. As soon as several fluffs have fqrmed push the dish back, so the egg will:, form, but not cook tough. When egg fluffs are set remove with strainer,, drain, set away to (Viill. At serving time place one or two fluffs on the foundation of the dessert.

SHEARS HAVE DOUBLE ACTION

New Invention Is a Labor-Saver That Undoubtedly Will Be Appreciated. The ordinary shears or scissors will cut only when the handles are being pressed together. We show here a pair of shears that will also cut when the handles are moved apart. This double cutting action is obtained by the use of three blades, two parallel

blades being connected to one handle, while the third is connected to the other handle. The purpose of this arrangement is to enable a person to do the cutting by moving the handles in_ either direction, thus saving the lost motion in the operation of the ordinary shears.—Scientific American.

Renovating Blankets.

One of the first places to show wear in a blanket is along the edge, which will begin to split into a coarse fringe. Keeping blankets well bound with inch-wide Tib bon will prevent this. Unless some accident happens to a blanket patching is not resorted to until it is very old-; then a piece from another blanket may be laid on large enough to oover the worn place and held In place by darning rather than seaming. All thin places can be fortified by darning with ravellings from an old 1 lanket. When the blanket Is worn pi at repair, just double it and quilt if together here and there and lay It a:ross the mattress under the sheet, and it will continue to be of service.

To Flush the Kitchen Sink.

An excellent way to flush a kitchen sink is t j place a tin lid over the drain and weight it down with a brick or rock, drop in about three ounces of aalsoda, th»n turn on the hot water until the sink is nearly full. Then slip aside the weight and lid and let the water run. By this simple and effective method all the accumulations in the pipes will be cut loose, and the drain will be sweet and clean. This r«hould be done once a week and in hot weather the above directions should be followed with a flush of lime-water, made by taking one pint of slaked lime and two gallons of cold water. Stir until dissolved and then pour in the drain.

Crack filler.

When the housekeeper proceeds to take np her old carpets and put down rugs in their place the wide cracks in the floors may discburagfe her at first. But an inexpensive, easily made crack filler can be tnade by dissolving one pound of ordinary glue in a pint of boiling water. To this add enough sawdust to make it ofja consistency to spread well. This is an excellent DJttng before varnishing the floor.

SPORTS OF ALL SORTS

Cyclone Johnny Thompson beat. Billy Papke, the thunderbolt. Walter Johnson says he will pitch only 20 games in 1911. Jake Stahl refuses to badge from his soft Beat as a full fledged banker. A 1 Kaufman has sold all rights in himself for two years for $50,000, it is said. “ ‘Kid’ McCoy retains his judgment of distance and his eye,” says Jack O’Brien. Will the Chicago White Sox draw a booby or a Texas burro for a prize on October 8 ? * Walter J. Travis is copping medals as an amateur in sundry and divers tournaments. The game of billiards was introduced Into England at the. close of the sixteenth'century. Ootch and “Hack,” they say, may not meet this season, but may come together in the fall. Chinese athletes train on duck brains, which they consider the most strengthening food. - Good old Tom Lynch gets a substantial Increase in salary from the National league magnates. , Kid McCoy wants toicame back and

TOMMY RYAN TO COME BACK

Retired Middleweight Says He* Will Take to Ring Again—Talks es Old Blows. Another retired champion will endeavor to come back. Reading in the newspapers that Kid McCoy, his oldtime rival, is hurling challenges at Heavyweight Jack Johnson, Tommy Ryan, the retired middleweight cham-

Tommy Ryan.

/ pion, Immediately came out with the announcement that he will return to the ring and meet some of the Qldtime middlewelghts or light heavyweights, and there is just a chance

NATIONAL RULES FOR TRACK SPORTS

National rules in track sports as well as in football are available for the colleges and universities of the country. A movement to unify the government of American intercollegiate track and field meets was announced by Coach A. A. Stagg of the University of Chicago, who is one of the authors of a new code of laws sanctioned by the Intercollegiate Athletic association of the United States. Stagg made public the complete text of the rules drafted by himself. Prof. W. A. Lambert of the University of Virginia and F. W. Marvel of Brown university, acting for the National association. The rules are embodied in the report of the professors have been accepted by the association and are now subject to the inspection of the American colleges. The code, whichTs the first of h national character, is Intended as the

meet some “white hopes.” He might stow away a lot of ’em at that. Arthur Irwin, scout of the Yankees, has an idea that his team will finish on top of the American league heap. Frank Chance expects to train off 20 pounds on his spring jaunt to be in fighting trim for the finish bout. Jack Knight, Yankee shortstop, added to the joy of the New York fans by affixing his signature to a three-year contract. For the sake of safety, a baseball player’s shoe has been patented in which the deadly spikes are replaced by pieces of chain. Garry Herrman, chairman of the National commission and owner of the Cincinnati Reds, has won a new nickname. They call him the “Official Banqueter” now. Patrick Donohue, who is a catcher as well as being the brother of “Jiggs,” the old White Sox first baseman, has been turned back to the minors. Memphis is his destination. Claude Ritchey, at one time with the Pittsburg Pirates and later with the Boston Doves, has agreed to the terms of the Louisville Colonels and will be classed as a Nightrider this season.

that a Syracuse oiub will make McCoy an offer to meet him. Tommy isn’t going after the title. “I’ve got a young fellow to nail that title,” said Ryan, referring to Howard Morrow, the youth he recently brought here from Benton Harbor, Mich. “I just want to show some knockers that I can still box a bit,” said Ryan, and then went on to argue that Morrow is so good that the middleweight title will come to his camp anyway. Ryan says that he will put Morrow against any middleweight in the world, bar none. Morrow weighs about 154 pounds when in condition, is twenty-three years old, arid carries a hard punch in either hand. Ryan plans an Invasion of England in April and will take Con O’Kelly,his heavyweight candidate; Howard Morrow and Bobby Pittsley, lightweight, who is the only boy .having-'-credit for a knockout over Young Ahearn, whom New York critics dope out as the coming lightweight champion. Pittsley weighs but 126 pounds, "but has an awful punch.

Dates for trap shooting classics were set the other night at a. meeting of the executive committee of the Chicago Gun club. The interstate contest will be held on May-7.-The event is open to any five-man tteam of any organized gun club, and will be held at Kensington. - The teams will shoot at 100 targets for a championship trophy. The Chicago Grand American will take place June 17, with preliminary events on two days previous.

Coach A. A. Stagg of Chicago.

first step toward national uniformity and in no way compulsory. The officials, however, hope that It will be adopted by the various sectional bodies or Incorporated Into their own rules. "Ultimate uniformity" Is the atlsh of the committee, according to Stagg. The rules do not radically from any of those in existence except in the case of the high jump and pole vault. Intead of allowing the customary three trials at each height, the committee provides that two trials only may be bad.

At a recent meeting of tpe Unlversity athletic board, O. Stiehm, University of Wisconsin, was elected faculty football coach and athletic director for .Nebraska.

Shooting Dates Set.

New Nebraska Football Coach.