tion, each field is checked for isolation. 

 Commercial hybrid fields must be lo- 

 cated off by themselves away from 

 other corn. The seed-bearing rows 

 generally are required to be at least 

 40 rods away from contaminating 

 fields. If this distance is reduced, ad- 

 ditional protection is required by plant- 

 ing from one to 12 border rows of 

 male parent around the field. This 

 is done to concentrate pollen from the 

 male parent rows and remove the possi- 

 bility of pollen getting in from out- 

 side fields. 



Observing farmers and some of the 

 Association inspectors have reported 

 finding as high as seven to nine per cent 

 of tassels shedding pollen in ear-bearing 

 rows in some uncertified hybrid fields. 

 In one case it was found that detasseling 

 was being done only once a week or 

 four to five times during the season. 



"Sometime ago a young farmer came 

 to us and said that he didn't think 

 much of hybrid corn certification," said 

 Prof. J. C. Hackleman, crops extension 

 specialist at Urbana who has been 

 closely identified with certification. "He 

 told us about a field of commercial 

 hybrid near his home in which he could 

 see many tassels in the female parent 

 rows. We asked Mrs. Michael (at As- 

 sociation headquarters) to check the rec- 

 ords. She found that there was no corn 

 being certified in that section. I presume 

 this corn was sold for commercial hy- 

 brid seed." 



Charles L. Gunn of the DeKalb Agri- 

 cultural Association, one of the largest 

 Hybrid producers, said that certification 

 is worth all it costs to keep their de- 

 tasselers on their toes. The fact that 

 they are being checked by disinterested 

 inspectors causes the crew foremen to be 

 more strict and careful. 



Harold Shissler of Peoria county 

 said, "Certification has a tendency to 

 make us do an extra good job of de- 

 tasseling. ' He beheves that the honesty 

 and integrity of the producer, how- 

 ever, is the final guarantee and the buy- 

 er's best assurance of getting pure seed. 



Shissler is one of the larger inde- 

 pendent producers. He is growing 

 seven diflterent hybrids on 230 acres 

 this year. On August 8, his detasselers 

 had been through the corn 16 times. 

 He has around 50 men who go thru 

 the fields every day. Shissler expects 

 to handpick his seed ears because the 

 mechanical pickers damage kernels 

 which must be sorted out by hand. 



Ed. W. Doubet, another Peoria 

 county hybrid breeder, got his start 

 about eight years ago, largely through 

 the influence of J. W. Whisenand, 

 adviser for the Peoria County Farm 

 Bureau. Mr. Whisenand influenced a 

 number of Peoria county farmers to 

 improve their corn by selection, ear 



row tests and breeding. Doubet and 

 his wife share enthusiasm as well as 

 the actual work in developing hybrids 

 under certification. Mrs. Doubet does 

 much of the hand pollination in the 

 hybrid plots across the road from their 

 home. 



"We are developing our own parent 

 seed stocks," said Mr. Doubet. "We 

 are especially interested in developing 

 inbreds and first crosses that are re- 

 sistent to insects, diseases and cold 

 weather. We have learned that grass- 

 hoppers like thin leaves, that thick- 

 walled stalks seem more resistant to 

 chinch bugs. We started with 400 

 selections and we have culled these 

 down to 17." 



Hackleman said this was a ver)' 

 high percentage — 17 out of 400 — 

 because inbreeding or "selfing" brings 

 out all sorts of bad characteristics in- 

 herent even in the best open-pollinated 

 varieties. All inbred stalks, ears, root 

 systems are submitted to rigid inspec- 

 tion and the faulty ones are destroyed. 

 He thought that several more will be dis- 

 carded as their value in crosses is care- 

 fully measured. 



After seven to eight years of work, 

 Doubet is ready to find out if he has 

 anything among his inbreds worth sav- 

 ing. He is also producing standard 

 commercial hybrids and is keeping in- 

 breds pure, increasing them and ma- 

 king single crosses under certification. 

 Doubet expects to use 8,000 ear bags 

 this year and 5,000 tassel bags. 



W. T. Schwenk and Sons are pro- 

 ducing about 40 acres of hybrid corn 

 this year. They include U. S. 5, U. S. 

 44, Moews 10 and 111. 960. 



"I think certification is all right," 

 said Mr. Schwenk. "It's a protection 

 to the buyer. We need to be checked 

 up. It helps us to do the job right." 



At the Schwenk farm, Lloyd Rich, 

 one of the 23 inspectors for the Illinois 

 Crop Improvement Association, dem- 

 onstrated how hybrid fields are checked 



Copf l»i«. Kj"< FMiuret Syndiciic. Iiw .^^ 



6^' 



THW ASH WUt fAU Of F TH« SCBCAQ' 



for detasseling. Schwenk and his five 

 sons have been in business four years. 

 They get their single crosses from Ben 

 Moews of Putnam county. 



"In my opinion certification is a real 

 protection to the farmer who buys 

 hybrid seed corn," said Charlie Holmes, 

 another Peoria county grower who has 

 90 acres of commercial seed this year. 

 Holmes has a plot of standard inbreds 

 which he is increasing in cooperation 

 with mini Corn Hybrids, Incorporated, 

 an organization of the smaller indepen- 

 dent hybrid seed growers. 



Holmes also has been working witli 

 hybrid sweet corn for a local canning 

 company. One of his commercial hy- 

 brids (field corn) is U. S. 35, which 

 contains four popular inbreds, 38-11, 

 WF9, R4, and HY. 



The Illinois Crop Improvement As- 

 sociation is certifying this year ap- 

 proximately 12,000 acres of hybrid corn 

 m central and northern Illinois. It is 

 a farmer-owned and farmer-administ- 

 ered cooperative. C. E. Canterbury 

 of Sangamon county is president. Will 

 Riegel of Champaign county is secre- 

 tary, and Berniece Michael, Champaign, 

 assistant secretary. 



The cost of inspection and certifica- 

 tion is borne by the producer of cer- 

 tified seed. Membership in the Asso- 

 ciation costs |1 a year. Inspection 

 fees are additional. There is a farm 

 inspection fee for hybrid corn of $10. 

 There is an additional fee of $5 per 

 field. Then there is an acreage fee of 

 $2.50 per acre up to 20 acres (a sep- 

 arate acreage fee is charged for each 

 hybrid) and over 20 acres the charge 

 is 11.25 per acre. 



The fees paid by hybrid producer 

 with three varieties (111. 960, 111. 582, 

 111. 571 for example) of 15, 30, and 

 10 acres respectively, or 55 acres in all 

 are computed as follows: for the 15 

 acres field (|10 farm fee, |5 field fee, 

 137.50 acreage fee) a total of $52.50; 

 for the 30 acres of 111. 582 (field fee 

 $5, acreage fees $62.50) a total of 

 $67.50; and for 10 A. of 111. 571 a 

 charge of $25.00 (no field fee since 

 582 and 571 are in same isolation as 

 same pollinator is used) or a total for 

 all three varieties of $145.00. Smaller 

 fees are charged for small grains and 

 open-pollinated corn. 



Working closely with the Illinois 

 Crop Improvement Association is an 

 advisory committee composed of ex- 

 perts and specialists on the Agronomy 

 Department staflF at the University of 

 Illinois. The members include Dr. C 

 M. Woodworth, Dr. Geo. Dungan, Dr. 

 O. T. Bonnett, Dr. John Pieper, Claude 

 Chapman, farm crops manager on the 

 University farm, and Prof. J. C. Hack- 

 leman, in charge of crops extension. 



(Continued on page 23) \ 



L A. A. RECORD 



