The seed corn situation in the corn-belt states this year is serious. Not as much seed corn was saved last year as usual, and a large number of tests made in different sections of the state show this to be very low in vitality. Very little of it is fit to plant without first being carefully tested.

Most farmers who had seed for sale have already sold out their surplus, so the bulk of the corn planted this year on Iowa farms will have to be saved from the corn grown upon the farm the past season. The only way that ears from this crop fit for seed can be secures is by use of the individual ear germination test.

Sudan grass is one of the very best non-leguminous emergency hay crops available for use in Iowa. It has been under observation at the Iowa Agricultural Experiment station during the past eight years. Over 250 experimental seedings have been made with it in the past five years. It surpasses millet or oat hay from the standpoint of yield and is about the same in feeding value as these crops, as well as timothy. It is not a legume and is surpassed In feeding value, pound for pound, by clover, alfalfa or soy beans. Since it is not a legume it does not take its nitrogen from the air. It is therefore not recommended as a regular crop in the rotation, but as an emergency or catch crop which can be used to advantage for hay, pasture or soiling. Being an annual, it does not compete with clover, alfalfa, or timothy, which live for more than one year.

The Farm Crops section of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment station has just finished preliminary tests which indicate that the practice of salting soft corn has considerable merit in preventing the development of molds and heating.

Iowa has never grown a large acreage of barley in proportion to that of oats in spite of the somewhat higher acre value of the barley crop either for feed or for market. The acreage of oats has steadily increased thruout the last 25 years, while that of barley-originally small-has gradually decreased. But as the low acre value of oats has become relatively lower, with the replacement during the past 12 years by motor power of more than one-third of all the horses in cities and on farms, farmers in increasing numbers are becoming interested in crops which may advantageously replace a part of the present large oat acreage. Apparently barley is the most promising one available for this purpose.

In Iowa soybeans have more uses than any other legume. They may be grown either alone or in combination with corn. The seed is one-third protein and contains two important vitamines, making it a high grade, home grown supplemental feed for any kind of livestock. The soybean plant is as high in feeding value as alfalfa and may be used in the form of hay, pasture, silage or soilage, or as a protein concentrate.

When properly cared for, alfalfa can be grown almost anywhere in Iowa with success.

It is quite commonly accepted that this legume is not well adapted in Iowa's climatic and soil conditions and does not fit well into Iowa rotations, but practical experience does not justify this view. The success of many individual farmers and the result of experiments on various soils and under various climatic conditions demonstrate that if proper methods are followed alfalfa can be grown profitably on nearly all Iowa soils.

Whether Iowa farmers will have good seed corn for next spring's planting will depend upon whether they select their seed In the Held early, before a sharp freeze, and whether they dry It properly this fall and store It In the right kind of a place this winter. If any one or these factors Is neglected, the man who neglects them Is more than likely to be without good seed corn In 1913.

Although a general alarm.about seed corn has been sounded regularly every fall for some years, the vitality of the seed In the spring has become worse rather than better. This Is true, not because or the greater attention given to the selection and care of seed In the tall, but rather In spite of it.

Iowa. farmers face an unusual problem in securing good seed corn for the 1916 crop, but it can be solved.

Very careful investigation in every section of the state shows that there is enough seed in the state to plant this year's crop, providing thorough effort is made to locate it and the individual ear test is used in separating the good from the bad. The individual ear test is absolutely essential on every farm in Iowa. There can be no certainty of anything like an adequate crop this year without it.

The Iowa Agricultural Experiment station has grown a number of different varieties of soy beans each year since 1910. It finds the crop very dependable, the better varieties producing yields of from 15 to 25 bushels of seed, or 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 tons of hay per acre In most seasons. The soy bean has a large number of uses as a hay crop, for seed, for silage, and tor pasturing with com, and it Is well suited to Iowa's climate and soil.

Any farmer who grows oats may secure a return of from $3 to $6 or even $8 from a total investment of 7 cants, 3 cents for labor and 4 cents for formaldehyde. And this may be repeated as many times as there are acres of oats.

Extensive tests by the Farm Crops section of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station over a three-year period, comparing different methods or treating seed oats for the prevention of smut, show very definitely that the time and labor heretofore expended for this purpose may be greatly reduced by Increasing the strength of the solution and not making the seed wet enough to necessitate drying before seeding.