CORN growers' association. 65 



of what we call a sport, but more frequently and in the cases where the 

 most valuable changes are brought about, they are brought about slowly 

 from year to year. There is a little increase each year and by selecting 

 the largest ear or the one closest to the type from year to year we can 

 increase the variation or fix the characteristics. 



Col. Waters — You mean simply by selection? 



Mr. Reed — By selecting the materials for crossing. 



Col. Waters — We could get a better result by selecting larger ears. 



Mr. Kurtz — tMy idea was to keep on — to get the length of the 

 yellow corn without losing any of the good qualities of the white corn. 



Mr. Reed — The longer that is kept up, the more you can select and 

 the greater the size you can bring about. You may perhaps never get 

 the white corn to the size of the yellow corn, but you may get the de- 

 sirable characteristics of the yellow corn. 



Mr. McFarland — If I was going to make a cross I would use two 

 dififerent types of yellow corn. The experiments in the different colors 

 would show what I could do, but if I wished to make a cross I would 

 use tvv^o different types of yellow corn. 



Mr. Ellis — Would it not be more desirable to increase the size by 

 selection than by crossing? 



•Mr. Reed — The size can be increased by selection of the largest 

 ears from a particular variety but it is a question whether it can be 

 profitably done in this way. 



Mr. Ellis — When you begin crossing you lose your strain and have 

 to begin all over again. 



Mr. Reed — That is simply what every breeder of pure bred seed 

 corn is trying to do. 



Mr. Ellis — I do not think so. No breeder of Hereford cattle, for 

 instance, would think of going outside of his breed for improvement, 

 but would hunt for the best blood among the Herefords. If he wanted 

 to establish a new or distinct breed, he would do it by crossing. If 

 there is such a thing as heredity in plants, then the purer we keep the 

 strain we are breeding, the stronger the prepotency of that strain and 

 the more certain can we control the performance of the plant. I do not 

 understand how we are to establish a pedigree for a variety of corn if 

 we continue to cross it with other varieties. Will it not be better to 

 look for stronger blood in the same variety and keep the strain pure than 

 to introduce outside blood and lose our pedigree? 



Mr. Reed — Of course, if a man insists on keeping up a pedigree, he 

 can only improve his variety by selection ; but if he is anxious to change 

 some characteristic (such as length of ear or weight) he will get wider 



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