Vol. XIV. No. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



1<>7 



IMPROVING LOCAL CORN VARIETIES. 



The \ ■ ■ 'i M;i\ 20 1 9 1 o contains 



; reporl of a n Witigua \ > ! 



.ii w hich, .-i paper on the abov ibji cl was 



i id by M r. T Jacl ' itor of i he B 



'! reproduced in the 

 folio icle: 



Maize breeding can be roughly divid two 



sections; firstly, the raising of new In irii I econdly, the 



improvii . 



The work of raising new varieties necessitates an 

 intimate knowli I the laws governing plant breeding, 



without which much time and lil>our mighi be wasted 

 is being made. 



On the oi her hand, the imp oi existing 



ies is a far simpler propositioi tbly more 



immediate good would accrue from this thau from the other. 

 I consequence, it is proposed to deal with methods which 

 , ,uld be adopted it' ttempts were made to improve 



i local corn. 



It can be stated without much fear oi contradiccion, 

 that the corn "imvn in Antigua is a combination of types or 

 varieties which through being grown for man) years in the 

 island has adapted itself to local conditions and become 

 thoroughly acclimatised. 



It might not be out of place to discuss the selection of 



corn as performed bj - i managers on estates. This, as is 



veil known, consists oi picking by inspection from the 

 storeroom the largest ears oi corn for planting purposes. 

 This i* better than planting from the first cob to hand, and 

 pi ssibly more good has been done b) this simple operation 

 than is generally realized. It may also be the foundation for 

 i adoption of better methods in the future. The draw- 

 backs to this may be summarised by saying that it is 



mus to the breeding of stock from unknown sires. 



It is realized that planters on some estates may not have 

 the time at their disposal to devote to an elaborate method 

 of maize selection, but it the above points are considered, 

 it will be seen that a very simple method might be adopted 

 Cn all corn estates which would eliminate some of the faults 



of the present system. This would consist of detasselling a cer- 

 tain number of the plants bearing the most promising looking 

 ear-, and saving the ears borne by them tor seed purposes. 



A great many faults could be found with this, but it 

 would I"' better than the present pre tice, and there will be 



lossibility of getting the incre<i ed yields often obtained 

 from first generation hybrids. 



We may now consider methods which would be adopted 

 it this work were taken up seriously. In the first place the 

 ears -which will form the first plot would have to be found. 

 'i should it' possible be obtained from a held which 

 possesses a low proportion of [ ' ears so as to ensure 



i strain on t he paternal side. The plants which bear 



irs for planting should be selected for the following 



I t s: — 



1. ( leneral vigour of pi 



2. Size and position ol ear. 



.".. ( 'ompactness oi husk. 

 I. IV. edom from disease. 



Each plant should be marked and the final selection 



i in the office. 



We will presumi I ' t; eat have been obtained, 



f eacl eparate row. 



When these aii : ige h ' ! t oi the 



elled and it i froi • r< iws that seed for future 



future planting is reserved. When ripe the seed from the 



thirty row- is weighed 



the highest yield d Fr lach ol these, four ol 



iest ears are saved, oh aga 

 the progeny plot up to tin origi I i ■ row s. 



Bel i furl her, several points in bhc pn 



Ing paragraph might be i ^plained. It "ill be seen tha 

 reserving for plant ing put eed from em 



lated plants, then' is ni If-fertilization. The- 



reason for the new vent close pollination oi 



the pollination of silks by pollen fi ta Is grown on the 



-nine ear. One other | ii might bi med and that is, 



when weighing the ear- Iran the OWS the number 



of plant- growing in the row musl no ;otten. In 



other words, the selectii ol a row musl depend on the 

 average weight of corn borm pei plant. The new points 



might be done by more ii but it is more 



if actual measurements and weight- are taken. 



The following are the main points taken into account: 



1. Length and circumference of cob. 



2. Shape of ears and distance between row-. 



:>. Proport ion ol com to cob. 

 4. Shape of kernels. 



The length of a good ear of Antigua corn is about H>- 

 inches. The circumference should be three fourths of this 

 taken about one-third of distance from the butt. The shape 

 of the ear should be cylindrical with narrow divisions 

 between the rows. 



The divisions should not be more than ^-inch wide. The 

 proportions of cob to corn should not be less than 85 per cent., 

 and the minimum number of grains should be between 800' 

 and 900. 



As to the grain itself, the length should be about one 

 and a half times the width, and should be wedge shaped. 



One other point might be mentioned, and that is the 

 weight of grain in individual ears. It must be remembered 

 that selection is performed not merely to obtain large ears, 

 but to obtain ears giving large weights of grain. Therefore 

 it will be necessary to weigh the com from each ear before 

 deciding which to discard. This factor is influenced by the 

 length of the individual kernels. 



To sum up, there is : — 



1. A .-election of ears from a field bearing good ears of 

 corn. 



2. The actual planting of the progeny plot, which 

 should if possible be situated in a field in which thee i.- 

 growing only pedigree corn. 



3. The detasselling of alternate rows in the progeny 

 plot. 



i. The obtaining of the car- from half of the number 

 of rows giving the highest yield. 



5. The selection ol the besl ears from the fifteen rows 

 giving the highest yield. 



It might be pointed out thai there is a limit to seed 

 selection, and that aftei a certain point is reached^ 

 undesirable characters are eliminated, further improven 

 can only be made by introductions oi new varieties. 



The observations relating to staple crop- forwarded from 

 St. Luci i at the beginning of this month show that the cacaO 

 crop was finishing while the lime emp wa >out ti 



ripen. A- might be t tpected, the sugar crop was nearlj 



over. It is stated that the yield hi- been g I in the 



valley- but short in the dry district-. 



