Rural School Leaflet 729 



SELECTING CORN 

 Arthur W. Gilbert 



When selecting ears of com for breeding or exhibition purposes, one 

 should have in mind a well-defined ideal type of ear. In general, this 

 type of ear should be one that will give the greatest yield of mature corn. 

 The following suggestions apply primarily to dent corn, but they may 

 be made to apply to flint or sweet com as well : 



1. Shape of ears. — A perfect ear of com should be full and strong in 

 the middle part, indicating a strong constitution. It should retain this 

 size to near the tip and butt, thus forming as 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 part of the stalk that 

 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. — The tips of the ears should be well filled out, indi- 

 cating a type of com that will easily mature. The rows of kernels should 

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



4. Shape of kernels. — The shape of the kernels 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 with- 

 out coming to a point. Kernels of this shape will fit close together and 

 thus insure the highest possible yield of grain that can grow on the cob. 

 If the kernels have this wedge shape, no wide spaces will be found between 

 the rows. Such spaces are always objectionable. 



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

 tion 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 objectionable in that the cob, being large, 

 contains a considerable amount of moisture which, drying out slowly, 

 injures the grain for seed purposes. 



6. Color of grain and cob. — Good corn should be free from admixture. 

 White corn should have white cobs and yellow corn should have red cobs. 



7. Trueness to type or race characteristics. — The ears selected for an ex- 

 hibit or for breeding purposes should be uniform in size, shape, color, 

 indentation, and size of kernel. They should also be true to the name 

 of the variety. 



