EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 407 



Breeding of Corn for Prolifioness. 



A half plot (in Plot III., Series IV.) was planted late, June 28th, 

 with the pink grains selected from the seven ears taken from three 

 stalks grown in Plot I^^, Series VI., of the previous year. One of 

 the stalks bore three fine ears and the other four of the seven ears 

 were first-grade twins. There were but few triplets in the original 

 plot, while the twins were not rare. The triplet had two ears, with 

 ten rows of grains and one ear with fourteen rows. One of the twins 

 had eight and ten rows to the ear respectively, while the other pair 

 were both 12-rowed. Therefore, of the seven ears one was 8-rowed, 

 three were 10-rowed, two 12-rowed and one 14-rowed, or an average 

 of eleven rows to the ear. 



The corn made a fine growth of stalk, and in size it was entirely 

 satisfactory in this respect. Owing to late planting the season was 

 shortened, but the absence of early frosts favored the experiment, and 

 the corn was harvested upon October I3th, at which time the grains 

 on many ears had begun to shrivel. 



There were six rows of eight hills each, or 48 hills, carrying 144 

 stalks, omitting the many "suckers," some of which greAV tall and 

 produced small ears not considered in the count. There were 44 

 stalks with single ears, these being unusually large and invariably 

 with ten or more rows of grains. Eighty-three stalks had two large, 

 marketable ears, with rarely less than ten rows, and one was a pair of 

 16-rowed ears. There were 17 with three or more ears, among these 

 being one stalk with five ears, all over five inches long, and one with 

 six and another with seven ears, but of these only one or two were 

 marketable. The tendency to produce ears had thwarted the end 

 and stalks had formed, which were not at all desirable. 



The table of the number of rows to an ear for seven sets of triplets : 



stalk stalk Stalk Stalk Stalk Stalk Stalk Total 



1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. rows. 



Upper ear 8 12 8 10 10 12 8 68 



Middle ear 12 8 10 10 10 12 10 72 



Lower ear 12 8 12 10 8 12 8 70 



This shows that the average number of rows does not vary much 

 for each position upon the stalk. The upper ear may have the small- 

 est number of rows, as in No. 1, or the largest, as in No. 2. The 

 number may be the same for all the ears, as in Nos. 4 and 5, or the 

 .middle ear may have the largest number, as in No. 7. The average 

 number for the twenty-one ears tabulated is exactly 10, which is one 

 row less than that in the lot of seven ears that furnished the seed for 



