Books and Current Literature. 125 



as to lo\ver the average quality, but it would be imjiracticable 

 to reject such slighltv over mature ears, and the resulting poor 

 quality of the pack would be charged to generally inferior stock 

 rather than to tlie efl'ect of the few older ears. 



The mixture of rarities through, cross-j^ollination is one of 

 the most serious obstacles with which the gro\\ er has to contend. 

 Corn pollen in abundance has been obtained from the plumage 

 of a blackbird, which must have flown between four and six miles 

 from the last field of corn visited, and doubtless others of the 

 large flock to which the bird belonged carried equal quantities 

 of pollen, more or less of which they must ha\e scattered in 

 the field of seed sweet corn in which the\- alighted. 



Experience shows that neither a distance less than several 

 miles nor anv varietal difi"erence can l)e relied ui^on as a certain 

 protection against a mixture of pollen, though much can be 

 done to lessen the probability of a mixture. Usuallv the most 

 practicable way is to j)lant each lot of seed as far as possible 

 from any other corn, and also to have as much diff'erence as pos- 

 sible in the dates of ripening of the seed corn and of the corn in 

 the nearest field. In sorting before shelling, if kernels of hy- 

 brid corn are found in a given ear, it is well to throw out the 

 whole ear rather than to jiick out the mixed grain, because 

 crossing does not alwa>s change the api earance of the grain 

 the first season, and there is a strong ])r()l)a'nlit\' that on an ear 

 on which crossed grains are visible there are other crossed 

 grains which show no exte nal sign of mixture. 



The directions for growing stock seed are both of practical 

 and theoietical interest and are rej^roduced in detail. 



First formulate a very clear conception of ])recisel\ what 

 an ideal plant of the sort to be grown should be, not onl\- as to 

 grain and ear, but as to stalk, husk, silk and tassel, for this is 

 essential to the raising of the best seed of the sort. With this 

 conception in mind, or what is far lietter, clearh- \vritten out 

 and illustreted by photograj)!!, go into a field cf the sort at the 

 time the plants are coming int) silk, and mark with a string or 

 bit of cloth, or in some way a number of stalks. It is wise to 

 select at least a hundred plants which are as nearly alike and as 

 typical of the sort as can be found. 



