Rural School Leaflet. 



1061 



A mcdtum sized cob is better 

 than a large one 



com. The following suggestions apply 

 primarily to Dent com, but they may 

 be made to apply to Flint or sweet 

 corn as well: 



1. Shape of ears. — A perfect ear of 

 com should be full and strong in the 

 middle portion, indicating a strong con- 

 stitution. It should retain this size to 

 near the tip and butt, thus forming as Fig. 20 

 nearly as possible a cylindrical ear. 



2. Butts of ears. — The rows of kernels should extend well down. over 

 the butts of the ears, thus giving an ear of better appearance and con- 

 taining a higher yield of grain. The shank or the portion of the stalk 

 which is attached to the ear should not be too large and coarse. 

 Swelled, open, or badly compressed butts, as well as those having 

 kernels of irregular size, are objectionable. 



3. Tips of ears. — Tips of the ears should be well filled out, indicating 

 a type of com which will easily mature. The rows of com should extend 

 in a regular line to the extreme tip of the ear. 



4. Shape of kernels. — The shape of the kernels in Dent corn is very 

 important. They should broaden gradually from tip to crown with 

 edges straight so that they will touch the full length, and should be 

 wedge-shaped without coming to a point. Kernels of this shape will fit 

 closely together and thus insure the highest possible yield of grain that 

 can grow upon the cob. If the kernels have this wedge-shape there will 

 not be found the wide spaces between the rows which are so objection- 

 able in ears of com. 



5. Proportion between corn and cob. — There should be a large proportion 

 of grain as compared with the amount of cob; this will be the case with 

 ears having deep kernels. A large ear does not necessarily indicate a 

 heavy yield of grain and it is especially objectionable because the cob 



being large contains a considerable 

 amount of moisture which dries out 

 slowly, thus injuring the grain for 

 seed purposes. 



6. Color of grain and cob. — Grain 



should be uniform in color and free 



from mixture. White corn should 



have white cobs and yellow corn 



Fig. 21. -a wellfiUed ttf should have red cobs. 



