CORN growers' association. 75 



DISCUSSION OF SCORE CARD. 



Dr. G. M. Tucker — The proportion of corn to cob is something 

 that has very little relation, it has been found, to the actual production, 

 so far as yield per acre is concerned, that is, we can have a small cob 

 with a large amount of grain relatively on it, and that kind of a cob 

 may produce very small ears, or its other characteristics be such that 

 it does not produce a big yield per acre. Some of the new score cards, 

 in place of the proportion of corn to cob, call for the actual weight of 

 the grain, the actual weight of the grain being much better indication 

 of the productivity of the corn than the length or circumference of the 

 ear. Tt is the weight of the grain that we take in computing the yield 

 per acre, and the weight of the grain on the ear multiplied by the 

 number of ears in the field will give that yield. The amount of grain 

 on the ear is the thing that we are after and counts more than anything 

 else in profit. 



The score card, while it does not in any of its points actually bear 

 upon the productivity of the corn, yet it does have an important bearing 

 upon bringing before the producer little points found in the corn which 

 go to make up corn and which have a special bearing in producing a high 

 bred corn and corn which has character, so that before big yields can 

 be intelligently produced the score card must be studied closely and these 

 points brought out by studying the ear. 



The points which are actually useful to the producer — the grower 

 of com — are character. By character I mean just the general appear- 

 ance, the conformation, I may say, of the ear which shows breeding; 

 then weight of the grain ; the commercial grade — which, of course is 

 important ; and the yield per acre. These four points are the ones which 

 have a direct bearing upon the interests of the corn grower. 



In selecting my seed corn last spring I judged it by the score card, 

 I had no other means. That was the teaching that I had had, that the 

 score card was something by which I could judge my corn, and in 

 computing the value of each ear as a breeding ear I based my judg- 

 ment by comparing each ear with the score card and in planting my 

 breeding plats I put my best ear — or the one I thought ought to pro- 

 duce the largest yield, judging from the appearance of the ear — in the 

 center of the plat and graded on either side toward the edges, so I had 

 the best ear in the middle and the poorest ears on either side, 



Mr, Ellis — What were the results ? 



Dr, Tucker — The results were quite peculiar. My best ear which 

 was numbered 34, was right in the middle of the plat; it gave a yield 



