48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Sept.,. 



proposition as it is very valuable. It is of value because good 

 looking corn is a good advertisement and will sell for seed 

 much more quickly than corn which shows undesirable 

 characteristics. Good show corn is corn which shows im- 

 provement. 



Corn is a very plastic plant and responds to selection very 

 quickly. Take the ear shank for example. ^lany varieties 

 of flint corn are characterized by a large ear shank. This 

 causes the ears to stand erect in the fall and not hang down. 

 The ears are thus less weatherproof than declining ears. 

 ^Moreover thev are harder to husk than ears which decline. 



Corn shows and judging are also very valuable if they 

 bring people together as they have here today, where they 

 can mix, get accjuainted and exchange ideas and perhaps get 

 a better variety of corn or potatoes to take back home with 

 them. 



It would indeed be interesting to follow up those m^n who 

 bought seed corn here this year from prize-winning samples to 

 see if that corn yields better than their own next year, to see 

 in other words if this corn show has been Avorth while from 

 a seed standpoint. 



Good show corn should be good seed corn because it shows 

 the improvement desirable, has good maturity, and is a sale- 

 able corn when placed on the market. 



Your authorities have tried out here today something rela- 

 tively new in corn showing. They have tried to demonstrate 

 the maturity and seed condition of the fifty-ear exhibits by 

 running germination tests. The idea is good and it would 

 be a fine thing if all of the points on the score card could be 

 demonstrated in this way. Owing to the fact that the sand 

 boxes were not properly made,- however, these tests are not 

 as satisfactory as they should have been. Still in many cases 

 the well and poorly matured samples are contrasted by the 

 number of sprouts showing. Where this test is attempted, 

 the sand boxes should be tightly made, the kernels planted to 

 uniform depth, all should be Avatered in the same way and 

 kept at a uniform temperature. On account of these non- 

 uniform conditions, the judges could not base absolute con- 

 clusions on the percentage of germination of these samples. 



