32 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



In regard to the adaptability of corn to its locality, that is an ex- 

 ceedingly important thing. I notice that perhaps because in our work 

 we have to go from here to the extreme northern end of the corn belt 

 and from Ohio to the west on the Pacific coast and we see a great deal 

 of variation in condition, and the corn which is highly esteemed in one 

 locality you would not think of planting on your farm in Alissouri, be- 

 cause you have a type that is much better adapted to your land. I have 

 seen fine corn in some localities which would be totally out of place here. 

 The most productive corn in Indiana for certain types of land — bottom 

 land — and we have a good deal of it in Indiana — is grown on such a 

 form of ear that it would not go in the score card at all, yet its average 

 yield is twenty bushels more per acre than any other type of corn on 

 that land. It is not a feeder, it is a corn seller. That may not be the 

 best form of agriculture, but we have to have some of it. 



Do not tie yourselves too firmly to the present score card. There 

 is lots of very good, very profitable corn, corn of the highest type for 

 specific purposes that today could not be scored on that' card at all. It 

 would be rejected. Those who are earnestly endeavoring to make a 

 practical score card have that matter under consideration, and I have 

 no doubt that you will soon have a much more flexible corn score card, 

 one that will recognize certain particularly desirable ears, but will also 

 recognize the practical application of your corn. 



Mr. Gabbert — Corn planted in a very rich soil will develop the root 

 better than on a poor soil, and I would not think it suitable for a clay 

 soil after it was grown on a rich bottom land. 



Dr. Tucker — We can go to extremes in this matter of variety of 

 soils. We have such extreme types of soil that we cannot say we should 

 plant on the best soil that we have, but we should plant in the best 

 soil within certain limits of soil type. If we have prairie loam, we should 

 plant in the best of that kind of soil. If we have a clay soil, we shoukl 

 plant in the best of that kind of soil. When we transfer our corn from 

 one extreme to the other, as Mr. Gabbert has just said, there is such a 

 variation in the root development that it does not bring out the char- 

 acteristics that we want. The reason that we should plant on the best 

 land of a certain type is because the plant is kept supplied with food in 

 sufficient quantities to bring out the best characteristics of soil of a 

 similar type, and which would not be brought out on another type of 

 soil; hence the possibility of fixing qualities on a plant grown on a cer- 

 tain kind of soil. It is my practice to put the seed on the best of the 

 type of soil on which I -wish to plant my corn. There are extremes in 

 soil types and a breed of corn cannot successfully be transplanted from 

 one extreme in soil type to another. 



