CORN growers' association. 593 



DEA^teLOPMENT OF CORN BREEDING, 



Previous to 1897 little was done in the way of systematically breeding 

 corn. Some few men early in the past century realized the far-reaching 

 importance from well bred seed and began crude attempts at improving 

 their strains of corn. One of these men, ,T. S. Leaming, of Wilmington. 

 Ohio, through selection so changed and improved the type of corn grown 

 on his farm that other farmers began to secure his seed corn for their 

 use. This work was begun, according to his son's account, about 1825, 

 and as a result this type of corn was brought west to Illinois and rapidly 

 became popular with Western corn growers. In Ohio the corn was a 

 tapering, short-eared type with particularly large butts. When the corn 

 was brought west, the ear was lengthened by careful selection, the shape 

 changed from the undesirable tapering to a cylindrical shape, and the 

 enlarged butt bred out of the ears. The improved Leaming bears little 

 or no I'esemblance to the original Leaming; the smooth kernels have been 

 replaced by rough, deep kernels, and the whole type of the variety has 

 been changed through less than fifteen years selection by Western breed- 

 ers. The valuable results from such a long period of attention to selec- 

 tion is found in the fact that in the comparative test of varieties at the 

 Illinois Station, since its establishment in 1888, the Leaming variety 

 stands at the head of the list of the many varieties tested in yield per 

 acre. Another pioneer in this work was James Riley, of Thorntown, 

 Indiana. Mr. Riley was a live stock breeder of high standing, and, ap- 

 plying the same principles to the production of corn that he used so 

 successfully in the improvement of his Ijreeds of live stock, developed an 

 improved variety of white corn. He began selecting seed from the ordi- 

 nary white corn gi'own in Indiana at that time, and by giving particular 

 attention to the weeding out of barren stalks and other undesirable types 

 in his seed fields succeeded in producing a type of improved corn which 

 he called the Boone County White. This type was determined upon about 

 1875, and by continued selection from year to year it has been improved, 

 until at the present time it is the most popular variety of white corn 

 gTown in Indiana and Illinois. At the Illinois Station the variety out- 

 yielded all other varieties of white corn in the comparative te.sts. 



The fact of the matter is. that careful breeding and selection results 

 in more profitable types of corn. The valuable results from improved 

 breeds of live stock have increased the wealth of the American farmer 

 millions of dollars. The results from improved breeds of corn indicate 

 that we may obtain equally valuable results from highly bred varieties 

 of corn. 



38— Agriculture. 



