212 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



THE BREEDING PLAT. 



(S. M. Jordan, Institute Assistant, Missouri State Board of Agriculture.) 



I do not know the chapter in which the text may be found, but 

 these are the words — "You may be able to get show corn by selec- 

 tion, but you must look to breeding to get the yielding corn." 



If there is truth in the above statement, is it not plain that 

 we are greatly in need of more breeding plats? No man can tell 

 by an examination of two or more ears of corn as to which of 

 them will be the greater yielder when planted in the field side by 

 side and cared for in every way the same. Would you not rather 

 be able to go to your field or crib and be able to select the heaviest 

 yielders than all the other things that you do know about corn? 

 A man who could do that would be an expert indeed, would he 

 not? No man can pick out the yielders, and no man can tell when 

 he has picked out his corn which of the ears will grow the more 

 vigorously when planted under the same identical conditions. What 

 would you give if you could go to your seed pile and pick out the 

 ear that would yield the most and those that would grow with the 

 most vigor? Can you think of any two things of more value than 

 those two things would be? If you should imagine that you can 

 do either one of these things, I will bet a coonskin against your old 

 hat that if you will just try it and then plant these ears in a breed- 

 ing plat, one ear in each row, and care for them the same, and give 

 each the same chance, you will wake up to find that you will be 

 sadly fooled, and you will have much less faith in your judgment. 



Now, if these things are so important should we not find them 

 out, if they are to be found out? Is there any way to tell the heavy 

 yielders from the poor ones, and the vigorous growers from the 

 weak ones? If this can be done, will it not pay us to go at it as 

 that is the road to corn improvement? 



We can find out just these things. The object of all this talk 

 in the above lines is to start us to thinking right, and to let in 

 light on the importance of "Corn Breeding." So the breeding plat 

 will be the discussion in this article, and I shall endeavor to make 

 it as plain as possible. There are some few methods as to the way 

 certain things are done by different breeders, but the essentials 

 are all the same. 



The first thing that will be considered is the ground for the 

 plat. I am inclined to the opinion that it should be rather good 



