MAKING NEW KINDS OF PLANTS 439 



3. Size, shape, color, etc. — Some of the points 

 already mentioned might appropriately come under 

 this head also: in addition, we may mention that the 

 Station has increased the length of shank nearly two 

 feet in five years' selection, and has been able to 

 shorten or lengthen the ear, to increase or decrease 

 the width of the ear and to raise or lower the position 

 of the ears on the stalks. Further changes in the 

 appearance of the Corn plant could be made almost 

 indefinitely if they seemed desirable. 



The color of the kernel is of some importance; 

 some markets demand golden yellow meal and others 

 white: furthermore, manufacturers of white meal pre- 

 fer white to red cobs, since debris from the latter is 

 apt to color the meal. Hard kernels from which the 

 germ readily separates are desired by hominy- makers. 



Large ears (one to a plant) are desirable when the 

 corn is to be shucked by hand and shelled or sold 

 for milling. Smaller ears (two or more to a stalk) 

 are desirable where machinery is to be used and the 

 ears fed to cattle. 



4. Earliness, etc. — To obtain early varieties is, in 

 general, a very difficult matter. Two things must be 

 secured; first, hardiness, i. e., resistance to frost, 

 sudden changes, etc.; second, the ability to ripen 

 fruit in a shorter season. This is a difficult com- 

 bination to obtain: nevertheless, the Corn -belt has 

 moved rapidly northward in the last fifteen years. 



