116 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



CORN IMPROVEMENT. 



BY PROFESSOR J. A. JEPFERY. 



Farmers are coming to appreciate the need of crop improvement, both 

 in quality and in yield. 



In a general way we have known something of both the theory and 

 the practice of crop improvement, especially of the improvement of the 

 crop of corn. Within the past few years new life has i3een given to the 

 work, and as a result we have the Corn Breeders' Association, which in 

 turn has become a cause leading to greater activity and better thought. 



While the individual worked alone, the work of improvement in most 

 cases was slow, partly because of lack of knowledge, partly because of 

 lack of definite intelligent purpose, and partly because of lack of proper 

 data for the establishment of correct ideals toward which to work. The 

 corn growers' organization is providing all of these. 



A correct ideal is a very important thing. The ideal or type ear 

 must be not merely a thing of beauty to please the eye with its color, 

 form and symmetry, but it must be a lawful product of nature and 

 must conform to certain arbitrarily established mathematical require- 

 ments. For example, a few weeks since a gentlemen visited the College, 

 who, on seeing specimens of corn, declared that he had been growing, 

 for a number of years, a corn, the ears of which surpassed anything we 

 had in our museum. Later, at our request, he sent us some sample 

 ears. While they proved to be fairly good ears, they were deficient in 

 many ways, the deficiencies being most noticeable when compared with 

 our types. 



It seems to be the belief now that the ideal or type ear should be 

 set so high as to be scarcely attained, but as it is approached it must 

 be moved on, so still to be kept just beyond attainment. 



In the corn states, the ear with its grain is the thing for which the 

 ideal is established. I imagine that with us we must establish a stan- 

 dard for stalk as well as for ear. All states can harly have the same 

 ideal or type. Varying conditions of soil and climate necessitate modi- 

 fications. Michigan cannot expect to grow so large ears as Illinois. 



As now established, the type ear must possess the following qualities : 

 1. Shape — cylindrical, tapering, or some definite combination of these 

 two qualities arbitrarily established. 2. Color. 3. Length. 4. Circum- 

 ference — measured one-third the distance from butt to tip. The length 

 and circumference will vary with the race, or variety. For example, in 

 Illinois the type length of Ried's Yellow Dent is 10 inches and its cir- 

 cumference 7 inches. For the Boone County White, length 10 inches 

 and circumference 7.5 inches, while for the Silver Mine, length 9 inches 

 and circumference 7 inches. 5. Rows running the complete length of 

 ear — not crowding out or breaking up. 6. The rows must be in pairs. 

 7. Tip ideally covered. 8. Butts properly filled. 9. Proper shape or 

 kernel, both as to definite shape and uniformity of shape. 10. Spaces 

 must be slight between rows and between kernels at the cob. 11. Per- 

 centage of shelled corn to ear. In the corn belt this will range from 86 

 per cent, to 90 per cent., depending on the race. 12. Market conditions. 



