IMPROVEMENT OF CORN. 



203 



per acre of a corn low in oil and protein as desirable as sixty bushels of a 

 corn high in oil and protein. 



While great productiveness of shelled corn, rich in feeding value, is the 

 leading qualification for a corn to possess, it is folly to suppose that any one 

 strain possessing this qualification to a superior degree would displace all 

 other corns and thus eliminate all danger of injurious cross-breeding. We 

 must, and will, always have various types of corn. We must have different 

 corns for various geographic sections, and we must have different corns for 

 various purposes, and in order that satisfactory returns may result from our 

 labor, we must hold these various types to a high degree of perfection and 

 prevent admixtures. We must have sweet corns early and late, rich in 

 sugar, for the table ; we must have popcorns rich in volatile oils, for the 

 children ; we must have corns with large flinty kernels for hominy and grits, 

 rich golden corns for some markets, and pure white ones for others ; and we 

 must have corns with rich, succulent stalks and foliage, for the silo. 



Besides these essentials, there are other points that need the corn 

 breeder's attention. The cattle feeder .demands a prolific corn, but the ears 

 must not be large and the kernels and cobs must be soft enough for the. 

 animals to masticate. In southern sections it is usual for the stalks to grow 

 too tall, with the ears too high to be reached conveniently, while in the 

 North, the corn breeder must encourage the production of ears higher on the 

 stalks so that there will be room for the harvester to cut the stalks below 

 the ears. The length and size of ear stalks need the attention of the breeder. 

 The peduncle, or stalk that bears the ear, should be long enough and slender 

 enough to be bent by the weight of the mature ear, so that the latter will 

 assume a pendent position, and thus remain dry during rainy weather. A 

 very long ear stalk is a waste of growth. The husks should protect the ears 

 well from insects and water, and yet not be so tight as to prevent the develop- 

 ment of the kernels nor interfere with the ease of husking. The form and 

 appearance of the ear is already receiving much consideration by those who 

 are giving attention to corn breeding. A cob of a given size should support 

 as many kernels of uniform size and shape as possible. This is accom- 

 plished on cylindrical ears with straight rows and well filled ends. 



All who have had experience in breeding plants will admit that the 

 needed points of improvement that have been briefly pointed out are possible 

 of accomplishment. A few specific examples will now be given to illustrate 

 how readily corn responds to selection of seed for the purpose of modifying 

 either stalk, ear, or kernel. 



In 1901, in a field of tall growing, white dent corn, a few short and 

 very leafy stalks were noticed (Fig. 1). The figure 2 shows the same 

 plants with shoots and tassels enclosed in paper bags. These stalks were 

 but four or five feet tall, and bore from eighteen to twenty 'broad leaves, 

 while the other stalks of the same corn were 10 feet tall, but bore fewer 

 leaves. A few adjacent tall stalks were removed and the short ones cross- 

 pollinated by hand one with another. The seed resulting from these short 

 plants was planted in one row in 1902, in a field planted with seed from the 

 normal tall stalks of the same corn. How very much the stalks in this one 

 row resemble the parent stalks is shown by figure 3. The difference in the 



