CORN GKOWERS' ASSOCIATION. 699 



per acre was within one-half busliel of twenty-three bushels more per 

 acre than in any of the other fields of the farm. This corn grower has 

 secured enough 'well-bred seed for the coming season to plant the entire 

 corn land on the farm. 



In southern Illinois another farmer secured enough improved seed 

 to plant 120 acres. This field yielded 15 bushels per acre more than any 

 other field on the farm or in the vicinity where the yield was obtained. 

 This farmer paid $40 for the seed and figures that the net profit from 

 the investment was $840, all of which was the result of planting im- 

 proved seed corn. 



STANDARD VARIETIES OF CORN, 



At present there are seven recognized varieties of corn— (white) Boone 

 County White, Silver Mine, and White Superior, and (yellow) Leaming, 

 Riley's Favorite, Reid's Yellow Dent, and Golden Eagle. The varieties 

 will doubtless be added to in the near future as the types are grown under 

 different conditions of soil and climate. 



METHODS OF CORN BREEDING, 



The system of breeding is as follows: The variety must be kept pure 

 and free from all mixture. This is a difficult problem in most cases, be- 

 cause the pollen will drift at least eighty rods. The breeding must there- 

 fore be done where the breeding field can be protected from other corn- 

 fields, as by hedges, timber, or other natural barriers to pollen drifting, 

 or in a very large field of the same variety that is being bred. This last 

 plan has been used with good results in developing sweet corn varieties, 

 but it is not so quick in results as the plan of isolating the breeding fields. 

 This is due to the fact that if the breeding field is located where it will 

 be pollinated by the pollen of inferior stalks, even of the same variety, 

 this fertilization will be detrimental to the development of the variety 

 and the Aveeding out of the unfavorable types. A field of about an acre 

 in size of the best corn land is selected. The character of soil is of 

 extreme importance. The placing of the breeding plot in a poor soil a 

 single year may destroy the work of many years careful breeding. The 

 land should be carefully prepared according to the best method of fitting 

 the seed bed in that locality. The plan is to plant each ear by itself in 

 this field either in plots ten hills square or in a row. The plot and row 

 systems are both being used by corn breeders and it will take several 

 years to demonstrate the most successful plan. For simplicity, the row 

 system will be desci'ibed, and the same principles will apply to the plot as 

 to the row plan. Select thirty-two typical ears of the variety to be im- 

 proved. This seed should be secured from some breeder of this variety, 

 because he has accomplished what would take the beginner many years 



