33 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



What portion of the ear should be planted? We must 

 offer advice here entirely from theory, as we know of no 

 satisfactory and conclusive experiments having been made. 

 It looks reasonable, and seems supported to a certain extent 

 by fact, that the lower kernels retain variety characteristics 

 longer than the tip kernels. We all are familiar with the 

 fact that the butt kernels ripen before the tip kernels, and 

 thus we are led to infer that the maturity of the variety may 

 be forwarded through the selection of these, the earliest 

 kernels of the cob. We would also expect that the selection 

 of tip kernels would have a tendency towards elongating the 

 ear, and the selection of butt kernels to enlarge the cob and 

 increase the number of the rows. The natural form of our 

 northern flint corn is a sphere, as may be observed in every 

 case when the kernel is grown freed from pressure. The 

 flattened appearance we observe is produced by their crowd- 

 ing. We hence should not expect malformation of the seed 

 as caused by pressure to be perpetuated through the seed, 

 and need consider but the character of the cob and the size of 

 the seed in our selections. 



If a corn-stalk be taken just preceding the bloom, and cut 

 across at each joint, then will be perceived at each node, from 

 the second to the fifth or sixth generally, in our northern 

 varieties, an undeveloped ear, seemingly perfect in its minute- 

 ness, and apparently capable of being formed into a perfect 

 and large sized ear. We shall notice that the upper ear of 

 these is the largest and furthest developed, but no more per- 

 fect than the lowest of the series. If we watch the plant 

 during growth, we shall observe that the upper ear is first 

 prepared for pollination, and immediately^ it receives the pol- 

 len its power to attract nutriment from the stalk is such that 

 it seems to grow at the expense of the unpoUinated ones, for 

 it increases in size rapidly while the lower ones remain sta- 

 tionary and finally dry up. The importance of this observa- 

 tion is in the showing us that nature intended each stalk to be 

 fitted under proper conditions for the bearing of at least five 

 ears, more or less, according to the variety ; and we all of us 



