Report of Missouri Farmers* Week. 487 



per acre. I took some of my best to the State Fair and won 

 first there in the "Pettis county bankers' contest," and also some 

 State premiums. My oldest brother had quite a hand in. the work 

 of breeding this corn, so a county and State premium went to him 

 also. Up to this time we had made as premiums and sold seed 

 amounting to $360 from the original eight ears received the year 

 before. 



The next season we tested twenty-five in the same manner, 

 and had ears that produced twice as much as others. 



This season, 1912, we had a more interesting test than ever, 

 as the season was good and each ear could reproduce without being 

 hindered by adverse conditions, as was last season's crop. (I have 

 some of the ears tested this season here and would like to have 

 you guess which ear is No. 2. You will see it yielded highest by 

 seeing the yields on the plat shown on the diagram. You may see 

 that opinions differ and ears do also.) No one can tell how much 

 an ear will yield in every case by its outward appearance, but I 

 have found that there are rules that one may go by in the selec- 

 tion of high producers that hold good for our Reid's and will in- 

 crease the yield considerable. I have found that the longer ears, 

 (not unreasonably long) , have produced 3.28 bushels more per acre 

 than the shorter ears. The tapering ears yielded 1.5 bushels less 

 than the more cylindrical ears. This we have found by two 

 methods: First, by examining the recorded description of the 

 tapering ears and the cylindrical ones and comparing their re- 

 spective yields. Second, we planted the butts at one end of the 

 breeding plat and tips at the other which made a difference of 2.74 

 bushels per acre in favor of the butts, the difference being very 

 much greater in the rows where the mother ears were most taper- 

 ing, caused by shallow weak kernels at the tip. The moderately 

 smooth ears outyielded the moderately rough ones by 2.74 bushels 

 per acre. Ears weighing an average of 11 ounces yielded 5.2 

 bushels less than those weighing 14.2 ounces. 



Now we see that it is best to plant ears that are longer, 

 smoother (not open and flinty), more cylindrical, and heavier ones. 



There are many other things that will greatly increase the 

 yield, such as detasseling to prevent inbreeding and cause cross 

 breeding, stalk selection of ears, careful storage, ear testing for 

 germination, and likely others that may be found later. This is 

 in.teresting. 



Another incident that has helped in drawing me nearer the 

 farm is one that happened here in December, 1909. I came by a 



