150 Bulletin 251, 



defective in any other character the ear should be discarded. Select 

 out 50 or 100 of the best ears and preserve these to plant a breeding 

 patch the next year. These should l)e shelled by hand. First shell 

 off the poorly formed tip and basal kernels which should be discarded. 

 Then shell the remaining portion of each ear and place the seed of each 

 in a separate paper bag. Number each ear in accordance with the 

 system described in early part of this paper (page 142) and carefully label 

 the seed and record under this number the length, diameter and weight 

 of ear, weight of shelled corn and any other notes which you may de- 

 sire to retain. Typical ears of each generation should also be retained 

 for comparison. The discarded ears should be shelled and retained 

 as planting seed for the general crop. 



Planting the corn breeding-plot in second year. 



The breeding-plot should be located on a uniform piece of land of good 

 quality but representative of the land of the region. It should not be 

 especially manured or cultivated but given ordinary good care and 

 ordinary manuring. The seed from the various selected ears should be 

 planted b\- the ear-to-row method, the seed from one ear being placed in 

 one row, etc. The rows should be planted at right angles to the dead 

 furrows and back furrows, and if on a side hill the rows should be planted 

 so that each has the same proportion of high and low land so far as 

 possible. The rows in this year may be planted in order of number. It 

 mu-t l)c remembered that corn is regularly cross-fertilized and the 

 breeding patch must be located at some distance from any other corn 

 field preferably at least a thousand feet distant. It might be planted in 

 the corner of a field of the same variety if no other place is available, but 

 this is undesirable for then many ears of the breeding patch will be pol- 

 linated with pollen from unselected individuals. If such a location 

 must be used the ears that were discarded after the last careful examina- 

 tion should be planted around the edges of the breeding patch between it 

 and the other corn. It is far better to have an isolated plot for the 

 breeding-field, however, and this should be arranged if possible. 



It is desirable to have all rows of the breeding-plot of equal length and 

 containing the same number of liills and same number of stalks per hill. 

 It is a common practice to plant about 100 hills from each ear. It is 

 also desirable to have one or two border rows all around the plot to 

 make the conditions of all hills uniform. These border rows can be 

 planted with the seed left over after planting the selection rows. 



The planting can be done b}- hand or with a hand-planter. In the 

 latter case Ihc ])lanter must be carefully cleaned after planting each 

 row. It is also well to dro]) the corn thicker than desired so that it can 

 be thinned to a uniform stand when well up and about six inches high. 



