342 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



development towards one's ideal of a perfect plant. There are 

 disappointments as in everything else. But these should only 

 stimulate to a keener insight into the working of nature. It is 

 not a wonder that more young men of means, upon whose hands 

 time seems to hang heavily, do not engage in the work of plant 

 breeding for pleasure if not for profit? And there is profit in it. 



There is no monopoly in corn breeding. Nature is impartial 

 in the distribution of her help. Simply suggest to her your ideal 

 and she will at once begin to get it for you. 



In corn breeding great care is essential in the selection and 

 fixing of the desired types. For by cross fertilization, many bad 

 traits are brought out as well as good. And if these bad traits 

 are encouraged by improper selection they will develop very rapidly 

 and the variety will degenerate. This is why some farmers per- 

 sist in changing their seed every two or three seasons. They say 

 their corn will "run out" when raised on the same farm more than 

 two years. Not long ago a prominent retired farmer, who was 

 considered a model farmer in his day, told me that it is useless to 

 try to raise the same corn more than two years in succession on 

 the same farm. He sent to Indiana or Illinois every two years to 

 get fresh seed, while if he had used proper judgment and care in 

 selection his own corn would have become better and better from 

 year to year. Think of the time and labor spent unnecessarily 

 during the many years he raised corn. Since it takes about three 

 seasons for corn brought from a distance to become acclimated, it 

 is worse than folly to send to a distant state for seed for one's 

 entire crop. If it is desired to try a new variety or strain from 

 a distance it is best to begin with a small amount, and this should 

 be purchased from the grower rather than the large dealer in 

 general seeds. 



The need of better selection among the farmers in general is 

 quite apparent at local corn shows. There are usually, perhaps, 

 from a half dozen to a dozen samples which show care in breed- 

 ing, while the rest is simply corn. As one man expressed it "good 

 enough to fatten a hog, good enough for me." 



In speaking of the wonderful possibilities of plant breeding, 

 Luther Burbank, the great plant breeder says: "It would not be 

 difficult for one man to breed rye, wheat, barley, oats or rice 

 which would produce one grain more to each head, or a corn which 

 would produce an extra kernel to each ear, another potato to' each 

 plant or an apple, plum, orange or nut to each tree. 



'What would be the result? In five staples only in the United 



"i 



