Corn Growers' Association. 



147 



Figure 17. — Pistjls (silks) with pollen grains adhering. 



It will be noticed that in the first generation the response to 

 the selection was very slight as indicated by the results in- the last 

 column, where the figures show the average difference each year 

 between the two plots. In the second year* this response was very 

 much greater, in fact the results show that it was more marked 

 that year than it has been since. The conditions of that season 

 seem to have been exceptionally favorable for declining ears .as 

 seen from the results in both plots. After the second year the 

 average difference in the crops has steadily increased. On the 

 whole, we find that we have been able to influence this character 

 to a considerable extent in the five years of breeding; and, with 

 the exception of 1905, it has responded almost as faithfully and 

 regularly to selection as in the case of the- height of ear. 



Figures 14 and 15 represent the average angle of declination 

 in each strain after five generations, and a comparison of the 

 two pictures shows at a glance what has thus far been accomplished 

 in this line of selection. 



