FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART III. 179 



niitrogen, so fundamental to the living cell in either plant or animal 

 life. Then we may say, with Professor Henry, "that the organic part 

 of bones, muscles, tendons, internal organs, skin, etc., of the animal body 

 are formed from the protein nutrients of feeding stuffs." 



The carbohydrates, largely represented by the starch compounds, 

 seem in funcition to give heat, store fat and in a measure aid in the nor- 

 mal functions of the body. The fat, or oil, of corn,* contains a very 

 large per cent of neutral fats or glyceride^ (over 80 per cent of the fat 

 content) and a small per cent (6 or 7 per cent) of free or true oil. This 

 is animal nutrition worth two and one half times as much as either the 

 protein or starch compounds, and can be used to produce heat or lay 

 up adipose tissue. 



The ash is valuable as a bone build ei- and a bone renewer. The 

 feeding tells us that young pigs require a relatively much larger pro- 

 portion of ash in food than the hog, on account of the rapid and neces- 

 sary development of the bony frame. For this reason we must havo 

 a corn richer in ash to meet the necessities of the young growing pig 

 or supply it in other foods. 



The plant breeder now seeks to produce for you a corn that is richer 

 in protein and ash, accomplishing this by reducing the starch content 

 of the kernel and increasing the protein and ash content. The work 

 done by the chemist and plant breeder ai the South Carolina, -Georgia, 

 New York, Kansas, Illinois and Iowa stations shows corn to be very 

 susceptible to improvement, a change being made not only in physical 

 appearance, but in chemical content as well. This is most clearly 

 shown by the work of the Illinois Experiment b cation with corn within 

 the last seven years. This clearly shows that the chemical content can 

 be improved by judicious and careful selection or breeding. 



Permit me to next call your attention to the following facts: Corn 

 «ars have an individuality as marked as different breeds of swine, wliile 

 corn kernels have as distinct types as individuals in a breed of hogs. 

 This is what renders so valuable the dams that have received careful 

 breeding through generations of well matod ancestors and hence evince 

 a strong prepotency. This has led to the careful study of the princi- 

 ples of breeding, and we find that in the main the general principles that 

 govern and control animal breeding hold true in plant breeding as well. 

 In applying this to corn the row system is practiced where individual 

 differences can best be studied and the poor strains rejected. Corn by 

 nature cross-pollinates and therefore the male parent of individual ear 

 is in doubt. For this reason our registrations must be based upon the 

 dam. I here desire to present to you the plan I have formulated for 

 carrying out an experiment to meet pig feeding requirements in corn. 

 The work already done simply points the way for future work. From 

 what we know of the chemical content of the kernel it would seem that 

 the most of the oil lies within the germ. 



Doctor Hopkins, of the Illinois station, states that here he finds 

 over 85 per cent of the oil of the kernel. The hard or horny portion 

 usually constitutes over 60 per cent of the kernel and contains a large 

 portion of the protein that is found outside of the germ. 



