438 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



may exhibit marked weakness. Such rows should have the tassels 

 pulled from all the stalks as soon as the tassels show plainly in the 

 top of the stalks and before pollen is discharged. In the same man- 

 ner the tassels should be pulled from all the undesirable stalks in 

 all the rows. Undesirable stalks consist of barren stalks, stalks with 

 many suckers, feeble or very slender stalks, smutty stalks, etc. If 

 detasseled in time the transmission of these characters to the next 

 generation will be prevented. 



In order that seed may be selected that has to no extent been 

 self-pollinated, one-half of each row is detasseled. That this may 

 not interfere with proper pollination, it is performed as here illus- 

 trated : 



Rowl ________ 



Row 2 _^^^^______ 



Row 3 ^____^___ 



Row A 



Each row is detasseled from one end to the middle, alternating 

 ends of adjoining rows being detasseled. After the detasseling is 

 finished there is no work to be done in connection with the breeding 

 plat until the stalks turn brown and the ears begin to dry. An exact 

 count should then be made and recorded of the total number of 

 stalks, including suckers, contained in each row. 



SELECTING SEED FROM THE BREEDING PLAT. 



When the majority of the stalks are ripe and the husks and 

 ears are fairly dry, the detasseled portion of each row should be gone 

 over separately, and the ears from all desirable stalks gathered, 

 weighed and at once spread out to dry, the row number being kept 

 with each lot of ears. Of course it is only from ten or a dozen of 

 the most productive rows that we wish finally to retain seed for 

 planting; but, as we can not know the most productive rows until 

 the yield from each row is weighed, it is necessary to select seed 

 from all the rows except those that are conspicuously poor or weak. 

 Such rows should be entirely ignored, as should also any rows that 

 have a poor stand of stalks. This is important, because no test of 

 production can be made unless the stand is quite uniform. 



When dry enough to harvest, the ears from each row should be 

 gathered and weighed, and the weight of corn from each row added 

 to the weight of the seed ears that were previously gathered from 

 the same row. This addition gives the total number of pounds 

 produced by each row. 



DETERMINATION OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE ROWS. 



It is impossible to secure exactly the same number of stalks in 

 all the rows at harvest time, and the row that contains the most 

 stalks will have the advantage unless the stand is too thick to allow 

 of greatest production. Ignoring the rows that fall much below a 

 perfect stand, the others should be ranked according to their aver- 

 age production per stalk, which is obtained by dividing the number 

 of pounds produced by a row by the number of stalks that grow in 

 the row. The secret of a large corn crop lies in having each stalk 

 produce well. By taking seed ears from detasseled stalks that 



