28 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



with other corn. This patch will furnish seed for a small 

 field the following year, and the third year there will be 

 enough seed for a large area. 



Each year, particularly good ears may be selected 

 from the best rows or from the main field, and the process 

 continued. When one carries this process out carefully, 

 his neighbors will likely desire the extra corn for seed. 



A trial conducted by the Iowa Experiment Station 1 

 shows that variations in all characters occur. In 1905, 

 seed from 102 of the best ears of corn was planted in an 

 ear-row test. Records of yields, barren stalks, broken 

 stalks, suckers, etc., were made for each row, showing 

 the variations in the 102 ears, all of which appeared to 

 be good. 



Variation in yield: 



Ear No. 75 yielded 91 bushels per acre. 

 Ear No. 93 yielded 36 bushels per acre. 



Variation in number of broken stalks: 



Ear 54 had 64 per cent of the stalks broken and yielded 68 



bushels per acre. 

 Ear 85 had 8 per cent of the stalks broken and yielded 77 



bushels per acre. 



Variation in number of barren stalks: 



Ear 19 produced 22 per cent barren stalks and yielded 51 



bushels per acre. 

 Ear 83 produced 1.5 per cent barren stalks and yielded 76 



bushels per acre. 



Variation in number of suckers: 



Ear 106 produced 21 per cent of suckers, and yielded 78 



bushels per acre. 

 Ear 75 produced no suckers, and yielded 91 bushels per acre, 



!Iowa Bulletin No. 77. 



