12 THE BOOK OF CORN 



filled. This was due principally to the fact that the 

 Boone County White ears are very long. As an ear 

 matures from butt to tip, the tip maturing last, it fre- 

 quently happened that the pollen was all gone before 

 the tips of some of these ears had been fertilized. By 

 selecting for seed only those ears which were well 

 filled, in other words ears all parts of which matured in 

 time for the pollen to fertilize them, the best samples 

 of this variety have become well filled at the tips. 



Effect of Selection — The Golden Eagle corn was 

 originally a medium to shallow grained corn, but by 

 constant selection toward deeper kernels and deeper 

 dent, the variety has developed a very deep kernel with 

 an unusually deep indentation. The amount of husks, 

 length of shank, size of stalk, position of the ear on the 

 stalk, the number of leaves, in fact every physical char- 

 acteristic can be varied in a short time by simple selec- 

 tion. The present meager records give only an incom- 

 plete history of the development of the variations of 

 corn varieties. It is just as important to know the 

 character of every part of the corn plant as to know 

 every characteristic of the animal. The size, shape and 

 characteristics of the stalk strongly influence the devel- 

 opment of the ear, and it is probable that it will be 

 necessary to know the nature of the root development 

 in order to breed intelligently. 



VARIETIES OF DENT CORN 



The varieties of corn described in succeeding 

 pages are extensively grown in Illinois, Iowa, Mis- 

 souri, Nebraska, Kansas, Indiana, Ohio and other corn 

 growing states. These particular varieties have been 

 grown for a long time by specialists who by selection 

 of seed developed certain characteristics of ear and 

 stalk. They possess certain characteristics of color, 

 shape of kernel, shape and size of ear, etc, which have 



