54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



and that was as to the character of the stalk ; that if I 

 wanted a strong growing field of corn I must not select the 

 seed from cars that appeared well alone, but I must select ii 

 from stalks which had strong virile action. And I was very 

 much gratified with the results of an experiment made in a 

 very imperfect manner, but still sufficient to indicate to mo 

 that our farmers need to pay especial attention in the selec- 

 tion of seed corn to the character of the stalk, for that is 

 the secret of the whole matter ; and it is as necessary in the 

 selection of seed as in the breeding of animals, that the 

 original stock shall show great individual vitality and 

 strength if we expect to produce a good crop. What would 

 the professor think of that proposition? 



Prpfessor Bailey. The proposition is sound in every 

 way, as Governor Hoard has stated it. In fact, we know 

 now that the character of any individual organ is much less 

 important in making a selection for offspring than the char- 

 acter of the whole plant or of the whole animal itself. We 

 have found this to be remarkably true in regard to many of 

 the plants upon which we have worked, especially in the 

 case of the tomato. We find, for instance, that a medium- 

 sized or perhaps even inferior tomato, growing upon a plant 

 which habitually bears good tomatoes, and which is a strong, 

 vigorous and productive plant, will as a rule give better off- 

 spring in every sense of the word than seeds from a very 

 large, fine tomato grown upon a plant which habitually bears 

 small, inferior fruit. So, as I say, the character of the 

 whole plant is of more importance than the character of any 

 individual organ upon that plant. In other words, experi- 

 ments show, so far as they have been tried, that small pota- 

 toes from productive hills give better results than large 

 potatoes from unproductive hills. 



Governor Hoard. That is right. 



E. B. Lynde (of West Brookfield). I would like to ask 

 Governor Hoard a question. He says that he planted one 

 row of kernels from the butt of the ear to the tip. He did 

 not tell us which produced the strongest stalk, — whether 

 it was a kernel planted from the tip or from the centre or 

 from the butt. That is something that I would like to know. 



Governor Hoard. Well, sir, the result was just as mixed 



