FIFTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 679 



and not too much green corn will keep them healthy. For cholera in 

 grown chickens or turkeys I have found fresh lime as good as any thing. 

 Dissolve fresh lime, the size of a walnut, to ten quarts of water. Give 

 the chickens no other water at the same time. 



CORN IMPROVEMENT FY SELECTION. 



Specialists will breed corn in future — ^Certain clearly defined 

 principles must be kept in mind if permanent improvement is to 

 result. — 



By A. A. Burger in The Iowa Homestead. 



The improvement of our corn depends to a very large extent upon the 

 efficiency of our selection. And in the selection of our corn we must take 

 into consideration both the factor of field selection and the selection 

 In the ear. The factor of field selection will perhaps be greatest in de- 

 termining the yield and maturity, while the selection of individual ears 

 will be greatest in determining the type. Both methods of selection, 

 however, are important, and to attain the highest possible success in 

 the breeding or growing of corn it will be necessary to give each the 

 attention it deserves. Good corn like good stock tends to reproduce itself, 

 • and the reasons that make necessary the selection of stock apply equally 

 well to the selection of corn, and, in fact, to all the crops grown on the 

 farm. We have already done a great deal more toward improving our 

 varieties of corn than toward improving our varieties of small grain. 

 But every farmer cannot become a corn breeder, any more than every 

 farmer can become a pure-bred stock breeder. However, there is no 

 excuse in either case for the breeding or production of scrubs. 



The time is coming when we shall have corn breeders in every locality 

 from whom we can buy our pure-bred seed corn just as we now buy 

 pure-bred cattle or other live stock from breeders who are making a 

 specialty of that particular business. Every man could not succeed 

 in the production of pure-bred stock or pedigreed corn and grain, nor 

 would such a procedure be profitable. The average farmer is content 

 to leave the production of the very best to specialists in the business. 

 The specialist realizes this now more than ever before, and he realizes 

 that there is a need for more systematic improvement. The man who 

 has the knack of selecting corn and who can settle himself to the 

 task of actually doing something in this line will make a success of it, 

 and he will be well repaid for his work. With as much improvement as 

 we have already made, and as much good corn as we already have, we 

 still have need for thousands of bushels of seed corn which should be 

 distributed throughout the country. 



In the selection of corn it is necessary that we know what to select. 

 Perhaps the first thing which would attract our attention is the general 

 appearance of the ear, or, commonly speaking, its size and shape. The 

 size must vary with the variety, with the locality and the particular 

 farm upon which it is grown. The largest ear is not always the best. 

 This will be true not only as regards the type, but also as regards pro- 

 duction, and especially regarding maturity. Ears slightly above the 

 medium in size for any locality will come nearer producing the highest 



