EXERCISE 18. THE SELECTION OF SEED CORN IN 

 THE FIELD 



Equipment: A field of corn just ready to' be harvested. 



Method: Each student should be required to select ten 

 seed ears from the plants in the field. The best time to 

 make this selection is just before the corn is harvested. 

 The seed ears may be gathered at the time the selection is 

 made, but it is better to mark them and allow them to 

 remain attached to the stalk until fully matured. Th6 

 plants may be marked by breaking over the stalk just 

 above the ear or by spotting the husk of the ear with paint, 

 then later, when the corn is being husked either from the 

 standing stalks in the field or from the shock, the selected 

 ears can be identified and placed in a separate pile. 



Discussion: Good-sized ears growing slightly below the 

 middle of the stalk should be selected. Plants with ears 

 borne high on the stalk are frequently late in maturing and 

 are more easily blown over than those carrying the ear low^. 

 Selections should be made from strong, vigorous plants 

 growing under normal stand. A plant growing in a hill with 

 two other plants should be rated much higher for haying 

 produced a good, large ear than a stalk growing' iri"a hill by 

 itself. Many of our most productive plants owe their 

 superiority to their immediate environment — extra food, 

 sunlight and moisture — which they secure as the result of a 

 thin stand. It is probable that four out of every five ears 



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