304 STATE BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



by itself away from the rest of the corn on the farm, or the area may 

 constitute a part of the regular corn field; but in the latter case it 

 should constitute the southwest corner of the field, because the winds in 

 ]\Iichiganare chiefly from the southwest, and while from that direction 

 will not bring in pollen from the poorer parts of the field to cross upon 

 the supposed better corn of the breeding plot. If, hov/ever, some neigh- 

 bor is growing another breed of corn near by this southwest corner, it 

 will not be practical to use this corner for the breeding plot, because 

 pollen from the neighbor's corn is likely to be blown into the breeding 

 plot. 



At ripening time the best few ears of this plot are selected, as before 

 described, for next year's breeding plot, while other good ears should 

 be saved for a seed plot in the field for next year. Or, if this breeding 

 plot be of considerable size, it might be possible to select seed enough for 

 planting the whole field next year. This plan has been practiced in 

 Michigan with good success. 



(lb) Instead of mixing the corn from the several ears, the corn from 

 each ear might be soavu in a row by itself in the breeding plot. This 

 gives a chance to study the progeny of each ear by itself and to select the 

 best of the progeny of the best ears. There arises the difficulty in this 

 plan, that the best ear from any row planted from the best ear, may 

 be the product of the crossing of the pollen from a row planted from a 

 very poor ear, as shown by its "performance," upon this row planted* 

 from the best ear. 



CROSS BREEDING. 



(2a) Two ears of apparently good quality may be selected for cross 

 breeding, and with the idea of breeding ear No. 2 on ear No. 1. A block 

 of land, say 5 rods by 3 rods, may be laid off and marked. In rows 

 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13. The grain from ear No. 1 is planted, while in 

 the even numbered rows — 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 — the grain from ear 

 No. 2 is planted. At tasseling time the tassels are removed from the 

 odd numbered rows as rapidly as they begin to appear. The ears form- 

 ing on the stalks of the odd roAvs must be polinated by pollen from the 

 even numbered rows. The matured ears on the odd rows are seen to 

 be the result of cross fertilization — are the progeny of the crossing of 

 ear No. 2 upon ear No. 1. 



Prof. Williams of the Ohio Experiment Station very wisely calls at- 

 tention to the fact that the productive qualities of these two ears so 

 crossed the one upon the other were not known. He practices the fol- 

 lowing method : 



(2b) After selecting ears from the field as described above, a part, 

 less than half, only of the grain from each ear is planted in rows as 

 described in (lb). The remaining portion of grain of each ear is care- 

 fully saved. The crops from the several rows so planted indicate the 

 productive quality of the corresponding ears, and it is thus possible to 

 tell which of these ears are most promising, and that portion of the 

 grain from these ears which was saved, can now be planted in the blocks 

 as described in (2a), thus crossing strong ears upon strong ears, or 

 ears of known productive qualities upon ears of known productive quali- 

 ties. Ears from these crosses may be tested and crossed in like man- 

 ner, and so on, as far as the breeder cares to carry the work. 



