FIELD CROPS 439 



produce well and which grew from ears of high producing power, 

 progress is made each year in increasing the yielding power of the 

 strain. 



Having now^ calculated the average production per stalk of each 

 row in the breeding patch, except the conspicuously poor ones, the 

 best ears from the ten or dozen highest ranking rows are examined, 

 kernels measured, etc., and six to ten of the very best ears from each 

 of the highest ranking rows preserved for the next year's breeding 

 plat. A similar number of second-best ears are also preserved, as 

 a safeguard against losing the work of previous years in case hail, 

 floods, or insects should destroy the breeding plat. After the im- 

 provement has been continued for a few years it is exceedingly im- 

 portant to save this extra supply of seed. The work as outlined is 

 repeated each year, and the improvement from year to year is very 

 noticeable and gratifying to the breeder. 



THE INCREASE FIELD. 



It is not supposed that seed in sufficient quantity for general 

 planting or for sale will be obtained from the rows of the breeding 

 plat. The method has been outlined for the purpose of showing 

 now a highly productive strain is originated. To obtain seed for 

 general planting and for sale, an increase field is grown from the 

 remaining seed obtained from the desirable stalks of the detasseled 

 portion of the highest-ranking rows. Due precaution is taken to 

 prevent the increase plat from being cross-fertilized with inferior 

 strains. Otherwise it is planted and cared for as any other corn- 

 field. It is called the "increase field" because it is used to increase 

 the quantity of well-bred seed produced in the breeding plat. The 

 increase field is not grown for the purpose of improving the strain 

 of corn, but solely for the purpose of increasing the quantity of good 

 seed of the strain improved by the necessarily complex method out- 

 lined. 



The breeding plat will each succeeding season furnish seed more 

 highly improved for planting the increase field. From the increase 

 field seed is obtained in large quantities for general planting and for 

 sale. For these purposes the good seed ears can by some convenient 

 and rapid process be separated from poor ones. This can be done 

 most handily, perhaps, as the wagonloads of corn from the increase 

 field are being unloaded at the cribs. 



CORN AND CORN PRODUCTS AS POOD. 



In the United States corn is by far the most important cereal, 

 and is grown in every State, though the southeastern and middle 

 western sections are the great corn regions. The greater part of 

 the corn crop is used for feeding live stock and poultry, or for starch 

 making or other manufacturing purposes. Nevertheless, corn has 

 always been and still is a favorite and very important source of 

 human food in America, and especially in the South Atlantic 

 States, where it ranks with wheat as a breadstuff. 



The germ of corn makes up an unusually large percentage of 

 the kernel as compared with most grains, and as the germ is very 

 rich in fat the grain as a whole is characterized by an unusually 



