354 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



bushels per acre, while Sunshine gave 17 pounds or 55.09 bushels per 

 acre. 



Corn Brccdiufj Ea'pcrhnmt in VM6. — The tlint varieties which were 

 secured in 1905 and which have continuously ripened in different parts 

 of the Upper Peninsula for a number of years, were used for a breeding 

 test, whose purpose consists in developing a new and more desirable 

 variety. While earliness will be considered all-important, it is expected 

 that the new variety will be larger, both in stalks and ears, and that 

 the stalks will be nearly if not entirely free from suckers. As this can 

 best be accomplished by hybridization, the Golden Dent has been selected 

 as the male parent, and the different varieties of flint were detassled. 

 This was rendered the more necessary, because the Golden Dent is more 

 nearly ])ure bred, while the flint varieties showed evidence of having 

 ripened at some time or other in the vicinity of sweet and other varieties. 

 Early in spring another variety was secured from Dickinson county, 

 where it has ripened for several years. As this is a strain of the colored 

 flint known as Squaw, it has been used under this' name and only the 

 yellow kernels were planted. The other varieties have been given the 

 names of those who donated the seed, those used in the present test 

 aside from the Squaw being therefore the "Ryan," "the Barron" and 

 the "Heim." The planting was done May 28 in hills 4 feet each way, 

 the rows of flint being alternated with rows of Golden Dent from seed 

 which ripened here in 1905. On the east side of the plot three more 

 rows of Golden Dent were planted with seed donated by the North 

 Dakota Experiment Station, and the center row was detasseled for the 

 purpose of securing seed for future Avork. On the other three sides and 

 for the purpose of guarding more eft'ectively against foreign pollen, two 

 additional rows Avere planted with Golden Dent which had been ripened 

 in 1905 by Ira Garlcy of Menominee county, and for furtlier safety, the 

 hills of the outside rows were planted two feet a])art. There was little 

 difference between the height of stalks from the home-grown and the 

 North Dakota seed, but the home-grown seed was earlier in all respects 

 to about the same extent as in the case already mentioned. The results 

 from the ^lenominee county seed were very conspicuous throughout the 

 season, for the stalks were 8 feet high as against CVii- i^nd the ears were 

 verj' much larger. On the other hand, they tasseled and silked August 

 2 and 7 respectively, as against July 2G and August 1, they ripened ten 

 days later, and al)out one-fifth of jlic cars w<n'e more or less chaft'y wheji 

 Aveiglu'd at the end of Xovember. 



These three instances afforded a sti-iking example of how rapidly corn 

 will adapt itself to new environments, and demonstrated the all-im- 

 ])orlaiic<» of breeding an Upper INMiinsula type of corn which is sure to 

 rijien in evei-y locality regardless of seasons. 



l<]ach of the flint varieties occujjied a space ('({ual to 88-4 square feet, 

 and the total ai)ace occupied by tlu^ Golden Dent was ten times larger, 

 or 8,840 squnre feet. That the d<n('lo|)ing of an early variety may be 

 expected Avith reasonable assurance Avas shown by the fact that 10 to 

 15 per cent of the ears from the "Kyan" and the "lleim" Avere dead riiM^ 

 August 28. Out of OAt^r 100 so-called early varieties which have been 

 tested heretofore, Gehu has ]>roved to be the earliest and the safest, 

 and the earliest (\ii's e(]unl1y as i-ipe Avere secured S(»j)1ember 8, or 11 



