MAIZE BREEDING 



199 



row breeding seems unnecessary. It seems sufficient here to point 

 out that there are no experiments which show conclusively that 

 continued ear-to-row breeding may be expected to give a signifi- 

 cantly higher yield than seed produced by the seed-plot method. 

 Ear-to-row breeding with a variety that has not been system- 

 atically selected is doubtless the most rapid means available to 

 the corn farmer for the isolation of better yielding hereditary 

 combinations. As an illustration of the sort of results usually 

 obtained, the results of a five years' study as carried on at 

 Nebraska (Kiesselbach, 1916) are given in Table XLVL 

 TABLE XL VI. EFFECT OF EAR-TO-ROW BREEDING ON THE YIELD OF 

 HOGUE'S YELLOW DENT, AT THE NEBRASKA STATION, 1911-1915 



These studies with Hogue's Yellow Dent were started in 

 1902. This variety was selected because of its yielding ability as 

 shown by varietal test. Apparently no method of selection has 

 given very strikingly beneficial results. 



Home-Grown Seed. The value of using home-grown seed of a 

 variety which has shown its yielding ability by competitive test is 

 well known to most corn growers. Nebraska results may again 

 be used for illustrative purposes. 



TABLE XLVIL EFFECT OF ACCLIMATIZATION ON CORN 



Character of seed 



Yield 



in bushels 



per acre 



Show corn from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio (5 varieties) 



Seed from growers in state (5 varieties) 



Local varieties near experiment station (7 varieties) 



39.8 

 45.6 



48.8 



The data presented in Table XLVII show that home-grown 

 seed usually yields better than seed brought from a distance. A 



