CORN growers' association. 69' 



Mr. Wing: Don't you think the influence of the sire would be 

 manifest the first year to some extent in the growth of that kernel? 



Mr. Funk: Oh, yes, certainly. 



Dr. Waters: How do you tell when you have made that crossing 

 a success? How do you know when you have got a good thing? 



Mr. Funk: The only way we know is by breeding it down. We 

 know we have the influence of the sire here because this ear was ferti-- 

 lized from a plant that produced a big ear. Now, when you are trying 

 to improve the ear, what do you do in the corn field? You simply in- 

 crease the average .size of ear. You raise the production of corn per 

 stalk. That is the only way you can increase your yield — that is, by 

 plant breeding. 



Dr. Waters : You take all these ears you have proved to be 

 champions and grow them in plots next year? 



Mr. Funk : Not all of them. We eliminate a part to start with ; 

 95 per cent of our work is lost ; but that is the only way we can get the 

 influence of a good sire on to a good dam. 



Dr. Waters: Let me ask you further — in your selection and in 

 your breeding work, how much importance do you attach to the 

 conformation of the ear itself? 



Mr. Funk : I am sorry you asked that question. The score card 

 is an excellent thing, and it is going to serve a great purpose, and has 

 served a great purpose already, but I don't pay one bit of attention to 

 the score card when I select my breeding ears. It is what the ear has 

 done that I am after. It is the inherent value and not the apparent 

 value. Now don't misunderstand me. You must have capacity ears. 

 By capacity I mean store house room on the cob for the corn. You 

 must have that; but I don't pay any attention to the rest of the score 

 card. But as a commercial breeder of corn I have to for this reason: 

 That if I send you seed corn and the rows are all twisted and look as if 

 the kernels had been put on with a shot gun, you say "what are you 

 sending me?" It is not so much what you ought to have as what you 

 want ; so I have to pay some attention to it myself. Now I have got a 

 strain No. 99, bred from the Reid corn, a very smooth corn like the old- 

 fashioned Reid corn. Now, we are not trying to breed a smooth corn 

 because it does not give you the capacity that a rough corn does. I mean 

 a surplus seed coat. When you have a smooth corn your seed coat is 

 filled up ; you have no surplus of seed coat. Now, your corn fills this 

 kernel up full, and when your season of drying comes on, it is maintained 

 to some extent ; it becomes rough. You have a surplus of seed coat. I 

 always try to select a seed coat with roughness on it. 



