334 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



mit me to call your attention to two charts showing the compara- 

 tive yields of ears in two sets of rows. (See Chart I.) 



Earlier in my paper I assumed that the proposition that ears 

 of corn vary widely in their productive ability was accepted. The 

 data which I have just given you for another purpose will serve 

 to verify this assumption, and also the utility of the ear-row test 

 in finding them. 



Having found ears of corn, which we have reason to believe 

 have hereditary merit, I come to my second question, viz. : 



WHAT METHODS ARE BEST ADAPTED TO THE PERPETUATION OF THEIR 



SUPERIOR QUALITIES? 



Two methods of procedure are suggested : 



(1) The selection of seed ears directly from .the highest 

 yielding rows in the ear-row test. In this way we shall know with 

 certainty that one parent — the dam — is a superior individual, and 

 if one-half of each row be detasseled and seed saved from the de- 

 tasseled end we shall know that it is cross bred, which has been 

 proven to be quite essential; but with what ear it is crossed, as 

 sire, we shall not know. If nearby rows are from equally high 

 yielding ears, the cross will very likely be satisfactory. But if, as 

 frequently happens, these nearby rows are much inferior to the 

 dam, it would seem that the cross might be improved. In any 

 event, we know only one parent, either by number of performance 

 record. The progency of such breeding, I think, might properly 

 be described as half blood. 



(2) The reserving of a portion of each ear which is planted 

 in the ear-row test and when the harvest has shown which the 

 high-yielding ears are, using the remnants of these high-yielding 

 ears as the basis for future improvement. 



These ear remnants may be used in several ways. Some have 

 suggested isolating a single ear, thus building a strain or variety 

 upon the best ear of a given test. We have some evidence along 

 this line, which I will give you from the chart in a moment (see 

 inbred ears, Chart IV) , which does not look very favorable for the 

 first generation, at any rate. In-breeding of this sort, while likely 

 not as disastrous as self-fertilization, seems to be decidedly ill- 

 advised. 



A much better way is to cross these tested ears in an isolated 

 breeding plot using one ear as sire and one or more as dams. The 

 four or five best ears of an ear-row test plot may be handled very 



