114 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



Suckering corn and cutting out barren stalks increase 

 the yield sometimes as much as forty per cent, depending on 

 the number of suckers and the dryness of the season. Our 

 greatest gain was the result of cutting out over half the 

 stalk growth on a very dry year (1913). The sooner this 

 work can be done after the corn tassels, the better. Two men 

 in six days can cut out the suckers and barren stalks in the 

 average forty-acre field. It is not necessary to have an "ear 

 to the row" breeding plot in order to test the results of 

 detasseling and suckering. These two experiments can be 

 made in any field of corn. 



There are hundreds of things to be determined by corn 

 breeding, but the work is so slow that no one individual can 

 be expected to establish more than a few facts. Realizing 

 that co-operation was necessary in order to make the most 

 rapid progress, the Illinois Seed Corn Breeders' Association 

 was organized in 1900. One member of this association, 

 Louie H. Smith, assistant chief in plant breeding at the 

 University of Illinois, has succeeded in breeding a high and 

 low protein and high and low oil corn. Mr. Smith's work 

 along this line of breeding has extended over fifteen years. 

 His results are undoubtedly the most pronounced of any that 

 have been attempted in corn breeding. 



The work of producing hybrid seed has been carried on 

 by H. J. Sconce, of Sidell, 111. Mr. Leigh F. Maxey, of 

 Curran, 111., has perhaps done more than any other indi- 

 vidual in breeding and establishing the type characteristic 

 of Learning corn. 



OBSTACLES TO CONTEND WITH IN BREEDING CORN 



The corn breeder is often discouraged by adverse condi- 

 tions over which he has no control. Cutworms may make 

 .the stand so uneven that the weight of the corn in the indi- 



