4. On the ends number the rows, and on the sides number the squares in the rows.

5. Place the seed corn in rows on tables, shelves or floor, 14 ears per row, and number the rows to correspond with the rows of squares in box of soil.

6. Remove four kernels of corn from each ear of row one and plant each four kernels so removed in the corresponding square of row one of the squares. Remove the four kernels from as many separate points on the ear. Plant the kernels tips down and deep enough to have the back of the kernels about one-eighth of an inch below the surface.

7. In like manner plant four kernels from each of the ears of the other rows. Keep all rows in order.

8. Moisten the soil and keep properly moistened.

9. Place box and contents in room where temperature ranges from 75° to 85° F.

10. On the seventh day examine carefully and if in any square there fails to occur four vigorous germinations, discard the ear from which the four kernels were taken.

11. Read in connection with this experiment, Corn Improvement, p. 293, Report of Michigan Board of Agriculture for 1906. 12. What per cent of ears are you required to discard?

CORN JUDGING.

Much attention is given in corn growing sections of the country to the study. of the ear of corn. This study brings us ultimately to corn judging. Many texts in agriculture now take up a discussion of this important subject. An exercise in corn judging is here offered, including a description of a perfect ear of corn and directions for scoring in accordance with the rules of the Michigan Corn Improvement Association. The description and directions are copied from special bulletin No. 34, Michigan Experiment Station. See p. 293, Report of Michigan Board of Agriculture for 1906.

THE IDEAL OR PERFECT EAR.

It is not often found. It must possess certain physical qualities or characteristics:

1. Shape. In shape it should be cylindrical, or only slightly tapering. The very tapering ear is being bred away from. The rows should be straight, extending completely from butt to tip.

2. Color. The cobs should be red for yellow corn, white for white corn, and red or white for the white caps as now bred, but all red or all white.

There should be no kernels present indicating by color or shape that cross polinating from another breed has taken place.

3. Tips. The tips should be well covered with kernels of uniform size, the rows remaining unbroken to the end. The question as to whether the cob may not protrude slightly is an open one.

4. Butts. The butts should be well rounded The shank or ear stalk should equal about one-third the total diameter of the ear.

5. Kernels. The kernels should be wedge-shaped, so that they shall fill completely all space between the circumference of the ear and the circumference of the cob. To examine kernels, remove two kernels side by side from the cob, one third or one-half the distance from butt to tip, and lay them on some flat surface, germs up in the same relative position they occupied on the cob.

6. Length and circumference. At the present time the standards of the Michigan Corn Improvement Association are 9 inches for length and 7 inches for circumference. The circumference is measured one-third the distance from butt to tip.

It is thought by many that it would be better not to have definite arbitrary standards for length and circumference, but that it would be better to require a definite relation between length and circumference, with a stated definite minimum length of each.

7. Spaces. (a) The outer spaces between rows should be small. With very rare exceptions ears have even numbers of rows, and the rows are in pairs. This distinctness of pairing of rows is considered one of the evidences of good breeding. The space between the rows in the pairs is smaller than the spaces between the pairs. (b) There should be no spaces between kernels as they stand in the rows.

8. Per cent of grain to ear. The M. C. I. A. requires that 100 pounds of ears shall shell out 88 pounds of grain, and individual ears shall shell in that proportion.

In corn judging the following additional points are considered:

9. Trueness to type. It is not sufficient that the ears shall be properly shaped, etc.; they must have also the special characteristics of the breed to which they belong-the roughness or smoothness of kernel, the style of dimple, general outline of kernel, etc.

10. Uniformity. Ears may show that they belong to a particular breed, and yet lack in uniformity of appearance, just as a group of cows may leave no doubt as to what breed they belong, and yet may not be uniform in appearance in the group.

11. Market condition. This takes into account whether the corn is ripe, sound, free from disease and injury, bright in color, and of apparently good vitality.

12. Uniformity of kernels. Two kernels are removed from each ear as described above and the pairs placed in rows for compariEvery pair should look like every other pair in shape and

son.

size.

Apparatus and materials needed.

Several ten-ear lots of the best dent corn that can be had.
One thirty-six inch tape.

CORN JUDGING OR SCORING.

In judging corn, 10 ears are studied, their defects determined and charged against them. The score card is a convenient form for use in this work.

The following outline of things considered and rules for cuts is found convenient for beginners in corn judging:

*Indicated by firmness of kernel on cob. Kernels missing count as mixed kernels.

1 point off for each per cent short in weight of corn.

Does not have reference to length of cob.

For Dent Corn ears should have length of 9 inches, circumference of 7 inches, and shell 88% grain.

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.

The question is frequently asked in teachers' associations and educational gatherings, "Why do so many young people drop out of the public school between the sixth and tenth grades?" and the answer has been given by some that it is because the public schools are purely academic, and that the instruction given therein is not adapted to all classes of people, that is to say, that the course of study in the public school being academic is adapted to those who are intellectually keen and who desire to gain a livelihood in future years through the exercise of the intellectual faculties. Statistics show

leave

us that from the first grade to the sixth, inclusive, the number Why pupils of children entering school and those in the sixth grade is not school. materially different, that is, that not many drop out before the the sixth grade, but from the sixth grade to the twelfth, which 'practically includes the years twelve to eighteen, the number of pupils in the public schools rapidly decreases. This condition exists in all public schools, and the means of closing this gap between twelve and eighteen years has been the source of a large amount of discussion. Experience shows that the introduction of manual training and the domestic arts has increased the number of pupils who remain in school, and it has been argued on this basis that if we can introduce these subjects, or industrial subjects, into the work of the public schools then we shall be able to retain in school the maximum number of children until the course of study is completed. No doubt this claim is well founded, but when we enter upon the discussion of industrial education we have an exceedingly large problem to meet. In the German system of education "continuation schools" have been introduced, also trade schools, and in the regular public schools the subjects of manual training, domestic science and allied subjects had already been introduced. The continuation school and trade school has followed the introduction of the industrial subjects in the regular grades. The "con

Continua

tinuation school," is an institution designed to meet the needs of young men and women who are obliged to drop out of the regtion school. ular school course early and enter some active occupation. This continuation school may be either a night school or a school conducted on certain days for employed boys and girls in order that they may secure the largest possible amount of practical academic instruction. At the same time they may be employed in some active work. In some cities of Germany attendance at such schools is compulsory up to the eighteenth

year.

Trade school.

The trade school is what its name implies, a school in which actual vocational work is done, thus fitting the student upon completion of the course to enter directly into some trade. The magnitude of this phase of education may be more readily understood when we know that there are more than three thousand vocations or trades open to men and women to-day that were unknown fifty years ago. In other words, our industrial development has so multiplied the avenues into which men and women enter in order to secure a livelihood, that the attempt to teach in a trade school such things as will enable young men and women to enter all trades is practically an impossibility. Those who dis