THE "EAR TO TEE BOW" BREEDING PLOT 111 



finest show animal is the most prolific, the best mother, etc. 

 What the individual animal has done in the past is her 

 performance record. This is the best assurance of what she 

 will do in the future. At the same time, it is very desirable 

 that she conform as closely as possible to the score card. 



The same is true of corn. Corn is even more susceptible 

 to breeding than either cattle or hogs, since there is more 

 room for improvement. For the farmer to know that his 

 seed corn for the coming season is from a high yielding strain 

 and will show a high germination test should be as impor- 

 tant to him as to know that his hogs are prolific or that his 

 cattle are easy feeders. 



RESULTS OBTAINED IN BREEDING CORN 



Progress in corn breeding is necessarily slow. Neverthe- 

 less, it should be every breeder's earnest endeavor to make 

 this progress steady and sure. To be perfectly candid, we 

 must say that in not a single instance have we ever obtained 

 spectacular results in corn breeding. If one were to start 

 with a very low type of corn the results through careful 

 selection and breeding would undoubtedly be very marked. 

 But starting with the very best type of the several varieties, 

 the improvement is not so rapid. In order not to be handi- 

 capped, the breeder should always start with the very best 

 seed that can be obtained. 



Our own work in corn breeding tends to show that the 

 ear has very little hereditary tendency to reproduce itself in 

 size. The matter of size depends more on local field condi- 

 tions and the hereditary tendency of the kernel. On the 

 other hand, like kernels from small and large ears of the 

 same variety often produce ears of the same size. This tends 

 to prove that a good shaped kernel is of more importance than 

 a good shaped ear. Medium sized ears out-yield exceptionally 



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