594 BOARD OF AGEICULTUilE. 



AMOUNT OF BAKREN STALKS IN FIELD. 



By careful count made in various counties in Illinois for the last tliree 

 years, it was found by the farmers that almost one-third of the stalks 

 in the field were barren. These barren stalks are weeds of little or no 

 value to the farmer. They probably take nearly as much fertility from 

 the soil as the stalks bearing eUrs, and they cost as much to grow as the 

 fertile stalks. On the 1.37 farms of the Sibly Estate, Ford County, Illi- 

 nois, It was found that nearly 30 per cent, of the stalks were barren. On 

 this estate especial attention has been given to seed selection, and the 

 probabilities are that the corn on these farms is more free from this 

 condition than the average farm. 



By looking over the corn in the cribs in any of the corn sections of 

 the United States, a A'ery small proportion of uniform perfect ears are 

 found. The majority are weak in some particular, as in shape of ear, 

 filling out at butts and tips, depth and shape of kernel, purity of color, 

 and other points. That the average quality of corn is very poor is shown 

 by the average yield per acre. The average yield per acre in the great 

 corn states according to government statistics is about thirty bushels 

 per acre. If every stalk in a hill produced a well developed ear, at the 

 average width of planting, three feet six inches by three feet six inches, 

 with only two stalks in a hill, the yield would be about one hundred 

 bushels per acre. As a matter of fact, the average number of stalks per 

 hill is more than two. How can we account, then, for the difference 

 between one hundred bushels per acre and the actual yield of about 

 thirty bushels per acre? This difference must be due to the fact that 

 every stalk does not produce an ear and that the majority of the ears 

 that are produced do not become well developed ears. 



COKN BREEDEKS' ORGANIZATIONS. 



In view of these facts a few extensive corn growers organized the 

 Illinois Seed Corn Breeders' Association in 1900. The object of this organ- 

 ization is to systematically improve, through co-operation with the State 

 Experiment Station, the breeds of corn in this State. Following is pre- 

 sented the constitution of this organization with the idea that it may be 

 adapted to Kansas conditions and needs in the talking up of this im- 

 portant work in corn breeding: 



