Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1876 — Saving Seed Cora. [ARTICLE]

Saving Seed Cora.

We introduce this now, not for the reason that it is the appropriate time to save seed, but it 4s the right time to prepare to save it. .Many farmers neglect this important duty for the reason that they have no place to keep it To gather early, which ii the appropriate time, the corn Is green, andmust be put some place to dry. In most cases this 1b either where it is subject to be caught in raths, or devoured by chickens or domestic animals. So many hindrances prevent its accomplishment. Let us suggest a plan. Build a smoke house two stories high; each story six feet. If you raise yearly one hundred acres of cord it will take fourteen bushels of seed. This will require & space of forty-two square feet, so that the upper Btory of a smoke house five feet square would be room enough. But we would recommend building at least eight feet Suare. Put in no lower floor except of me. The second floor should be laid with two inch strips one inch apart- In the middle of the upper room for the com turn a queensware crate upside down, so that the smoke and heat from below wilL quickly penetrate the entire corn. Malta it perfectly tight, sides and roof, except latticed ventilators ip the gable entisi, and have these closed during winter. Then gather the seed com before' the Septeratember frosts, and put in this second story and build a fire under it so as to thoroughly dry it out before it is cold enough to freeze. In this position it is free from rats and mice, and if tight, not subject to be injured by snows, nor by the gases which frequently destrpv seed com in barn or stables, arising from cattle and fermentation es manures.

This, too, has another advantage which in one year will pay for the house. Corn .when thoroughly smoked will not be troubled by the ground squirrels, which are a serious nuisance in all parts of lowa. We frequently see farms where one-twentieth of the corn is taken up by those pests. This would be five acres in 100, which would detract from the crop 200 bushels. This would pay for two smoke and corn houses. But we wonld advise our readers to lay in at least three times as. much seed corn as they will want. There are a plenty of dilatory neighbors who will never build such a house, and will never have good seed com. And such well-smoked com, when its virtues become well known, will always command double the price of common com, and thus the house can be paid for in another way each year. Alter the corn is dried out in the fall, if there should be a damp or rainy season, it might be well to build a lire under the com. But in the late winter or early spring, when smoking the meat, the com can get the principal smoking to make it offensive to the squirrels. 'This is so practical and reasonable a plan, we hope that but few wide-awake farmers will neglect to be ready for seed-corn this fall. —Des Moineg (Iowa) State Register.