332 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



follow where the stalks of such rows are allowed to shed their pollen 

 in the breeding plats. 



From all the rows except those that are plainly inferior and 

 can be discarded without further work, seed should be selected from 

 the detasseled portion. To be sure, for the planting of the breeding 

 plat next year seed will be wanted only from the most productive 

 rows, perhaps the most productive eight or ten rows of the plat. 

 But since the most productive can not be determined until 

 after the crop is harvested and weighed, it becomes nec- 

 essary to select from the standing stalks the best seed 

 from the detasseled portion of every row that can not be thrown 

 out by inspection. It is often convenient to place this seed at the 

 time it is selected in bags, but unless it can be removed the same 

 day it is gathered to a place where it can dry readily, and the seed 

 from the different rows kept separately, it should not be bagged, as 

 injury is apt to result if left enclosed in bags for even a few days. 

 Crates, and especially folding crates, are very convenient and sat- 

 isfactory for this work. Half -bushel and bushel folding crates can 

 be obtained from the Cummer Manufacturing Company of Cadil- 

 lac, Michigan. 



In selecting the desirable ears from the various rows of the 

 breeding plat, the stalk characters should be kept uppermost in 

 mind, and preference should always be given to stalks that produce 

 well under adverse conditions, rather than to those that are best 

 located. If one end of the rows is on poorer soil than the other, any 

 good ears that are found upon the poor land are to be preferred to 

 ears equally as good but produced on fertile land, and 

 good ears produced on stalks that have had to compete with 

 closely surrounding stalks are to be preferred to equally good ears 

 produced by stalks having an unusual amount of space. One should 

 take no seed from stalks that are tall or slender, bear their ears 

 too high from the ground, have suckers, smut, or are easily broken. 

 The breaking down or lodging of the stalks is a character that can 

 be examined comparatively only where corn is planted in breeding 

 plats as described. In such plats late in the fall rows are often 

 found of which 90 per cent of the stalks have broken, while adjoin- 

 ing rows may have as few as 10 per cent broken. This is of 

 much importance, as the quality of the corn at harvest time de- 

 pends so greatly upon the ability of the stalks to stand erect and 

 keep the corn off the ground and dry. 



One feature of corn breeding work which may not occur to 

 breeders until they have suffered a loss is that it is each year best 



