36 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE- 



four zones. These zones were numbered and all members liv- 

 ing in zone No. i received corn that was raised in the same zone. 

 This corn was secured from men who had been practicing selec- 

 tion for a number of years. The germination test of this corn 

 was conducted at the Department and only those ears testing 

 100% were sent to the members. 



Corn. It will be unnecessary to comment upon the plan of 

 work with corn, as the following copy of the blank that is sent 

 to each member will give this information : 



DETAILED PLAN FOR SEED BREEDING WORK. 



CORN. 



Purpose. The primarj- purpose of the work is to breed strains 

 of flint corn that shall be both early and high yielding. 



Plan of Work for 1910. In carrying on the work for 1910 the 

 follov.'ing rules should be observed: 



Seed. The Department of Agriculture will, through the Associa- 

 tion, furnish to each member 10 ears of INIaine grown flint corn for 

 conducting an experimental plot during the present year. If how- 

 ever, any member already has a superior variety of flint corn, then 

 he should carefully select from his bulk seed 10 ears of such size, 

 shape and characteristics as shall most nearly resemble the type he 

 has in mind. 



Planting. The plan to be followed in planting is what is known 

 as the ear-to-the-row method, each ear being planted in a separate 

 row. The rows should be three feet apart and the hills three feet 

 apart in the row. Only about half of the ear, rejecting both tip and 

 butt kernels, need be planted, 40 hills in each row being sufficient for 

 the test, thus obviating the necessity for long rows. The testing 

 plot for carrying on this experiment will therefore need to be large 

 enough for 10 rows with 40 hills to the row. The corn should be 

 planted 4 kernels to the hill, and when the plants are well above the 

 ground thin to three to each hill. The number of stalks pulled from 

 each row should be recorded on the blank provided for that pur- 

 pose, and the total number of stalks in each row should be counted 

 after the surplus stalks have been pulled, and a record made of same, 

 as this will show the field germination test of the seed. 



Harvesting. When the corn is harvested, each row should be 

 kept by itself, carefully weighed on the cob and tagged for identifi- 

 cation. 



Selection of Seed. In selecting the row which shall be used for 

 seed purposes in 191 1, the following factors should be taken into 

 consideration and in the order in which they are mentioned: — 



1st. Earliness. 



2nd. Yield of Seed Ears. 



3rd. General Conformation of Ears. 



