Missouri Corn Growers' Session. 



Friday, January 8, 1909. 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF CORN BY BREEDING. 



(By Dr. Louie H. Smith, Assistant Cliief in Plant Breeding, University of Illinois.) 



Illustrated with Stereopticon. 



FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF BPvEEDING. 



In plants, as well as in animals, improvement by breeding de- 

 pends upon selection and selection in turn depends upon variation. 

 In our ordinary field crops we have been so accustomed 

 to consider the crop as a whole that we are apt to 

 overlook the individuality of the plants that make up the crop 

 and the great variations that exist among them. Go into any 



Figure 1. Champion ten ears corn, 190S , National Corn Exposition, Omaha Neb. 



field of corn and observe the differences in the various character- 

 istics; there are plants with tall stalks, short stalks, abundant 

 foliage, scant foliage, erect ears, declining ears, productive and 

 unproductive, growing side by side, all under apparently the same 

 life conditions. Every single plant is possessed of a distinct indi- 

 viduality, just the same as every animal, and the transmission of the 



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