722 AGRICULTURE 



siderably smaller than that of England where it is twenty-six, and 

 that of Germany where it is thirty-one. If, by the introduction of 

 these improved varieties and of better methods of tillage, the average 

 yield of this country can be increased no more than two bushels per 

 acre, the total increase for the entire country will be 100,000,000 

 bushels per year, worth about $100,000,000. This would seem to be 

 entirely practicable. If the excellent prospect of increasing the 

 nitrogen-supply in the soil for cereals does not allay all anxiety re- 

 garding starvation, the results in breeding new varieties of wheat and 

 other food-plants should certainly put that fear to sleep for a long 

 time to come. 



No less interesting and instructive is the recent work in corn- 

 breeding conducted at the Illinois and Kansas stations. Although 

 corn, which is this year yielding probably two and three-fourths 

 billions of bushels, worth approximately one and a half billions of 

 dollars, heads the list of cereals in value, until the valuable work of 

 these experiment stations was announced there had been no mate- 

 rial improvement in the production of this crop in twenty years. The 

 Illinois station has shown that if the methods of selection practiced 

 by it, which are quite feasible and within the reach of every farmer, 

 were followed throughout that single state, the increase in production 

 in one year would amount approximately to $20,000,000. 



Methods have also been found for changing the composition of the 

 grain itself to meet special requirements : such as an increased yield 

 of oil or of protein. Since the manufacture of oil from corn has 

 become an industry, the amount of this constituent is a matter of 

 considerable consequence. By selection the oil-content has been 

 doubled in some varieties. 



The most important question, however, connected with the im- 

 provement of corn is that which relates to its value as a well-balanced 

 food. Its relative deficiency in protein has probably been the chief 

 reason this grain has not been more extensively used as a human 

 food in continental countries. It has, therefore, long been a question 

 how to increase the protein in a grain of corn at the expense of the 

 starch and fats. As the nitrogen, like the other constituents in the 

 grain, varies in the different varieties, the way is thus opened for the 

 control of the variations in this important element. The Illinois and 

 Kansas stations have been engaged for some time upon this problem. 

 By the selection of varieties containing a high percentage of protein, 

 it has been found possible to develop strains containing an increased 

 amount of this desirable substance. The protein-content of some 

 varieties of corn, now apparently well fixed, has been increased fully 

 2.5 per cent, that is, from about 10 to about 12.50 per cent, which 

 makes corn equal to the average wheat in this respect. In special 

 cases it has been increased to even as much as 17 per cent. Should 



