Plaxi-L5keki;ixg for Farmers. 153 



ears have been removed. The muItipHcation-plot should be isolated 

 from all other corn in order to prevent deterioration by crossing with 

 inferior strains. When the multiplication-plot is husked the best ears 

 should be selected out by some convenient method and preserved as seed 

 to plant the general crop. The multiplication-plot is not grown for 

 purposes of breeding but simply to multiply the available seed of the im- 

 proved variety from the breeding-plot. The breeding-plot will each 

 year supply seed of an increasing degree of efficiency for planting the 

 multiplication-plot and this in turn will each year supply more and more 

 highl}' bred seed for the general crop. , 



Planting flic breeding-plot in third year. 

 In the third and succeeding years some care should be taken in the 

 arrangement of the rows planted from the dififerent select ears to get 

 rows from unrelated ears together. If for instance Row i was a high 

 yielder in the breeding-patch of the second year we would probably have 

 a number of select ears from this row and these ears would be numbered 

 i-i, 1-2, 1-3, etc. It would be well to arrange the breeding-patch in the 

 third year in such a way that the rows planted from these ears are not 

 side by side as they are from the same mother plant in the first genera- 

 tion of the selection and are thus closely related. 



General eonsideration in respect to corn. 



It will be seen that the above method of corn selection forms a con- 

 tinuous system which can be pursued year after year. If the method is 

 followed carefully seed of a gradually increasing degree of yield efficiency 

 and purity should be produced. The method of selection advocated 

 has in the work conducted by the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 given excellent results and if carried out with intelligence and care can 

 hardly fail to give marked improvement. 



The careful selection of good ears at the time of husking, which are 

 dried (juickly and preserved properly is important where no plan of 

 breeding is followed. The writer would urge farmers in general to give 

 more attention to the improvement of their seed corn. 



III. WHEAT IMPRO\'EAIEXT. 



The extensive experience of wheat-breeders in various parts of the 

 world have demonstrated beyond question that we can greatly improve 

 our varieties by careful breeding. The most careful experiments in the 

 breeding of wheat which have been carried out in this country, were con- 

 ducted by Hon. W. M. Hays, now Assistant Secretary oi Agriculture, 

 while he was connected with the Minnesota Experiment Station. One of 



