TOBACCO 39 



4. Select plenty of seed corn so that future sorting may be 

 done after a more careful study of such characters as depth of 

 kernel, size of cob and others which indicate heavy yield. 



5. Ears from heavy yielding stalks should be especially marked. 

 These may be planted in separate rows and the hill-row method 

 of improvement followed if desired. More careful breeders will 

 follow such a method. Yields from the separate rows are recorded 

 and the best ears of the best rows are again saved for future seed 

 corn. 



6. Individual ears should always be tested for germinating 

 power before planting time. (See Productive Farming, Corn 

 Chapter.) By this process the strains of corn with weakest 

 germ are eliminated. 



Cotton. It is more difficult to improve cotton by preventing 

 cross-pollination. The pistils and stamens are borne in the same 

 flowers. The work consists chiefly of selection. There are a number 

 of points to be considered in the selection of cotton. The plant 

 should have good shape with rather short nodes, and an abundant 

 supply of blossoms and bolls. The crop should mature somewhat 

 uniformly and with the proper consideration of earliness. There 

 should be a large number of bolls of desired size. Select plants 

 which show resistance to cotton diseases, wilt, rust and rot. 

 Plants vary in the storm resistance of the bolls. The selection 

 should be done with a view to increasing the length of the lint, 

 and make it more uniform, as well as to increase its yield and 

 earliness. 



Selection of cotton seed may be done at either the first or 

 second picking. A skilled workman should first go through the 

 field and pick the seed from the best plants. At the cotton gin is 

 a poor place to select cotton seed. Much of the seed obtained at 

 such a place may be light or immature or from \ery poor plants. 

 After carefully selecting cotton seed in the field the grower should 

 have a separate field in which to grow it. From this future selec- 

 tions may be made, and thus the yield and quality may be in- 

 creased annually. The grower who establishes a "seed patch" 

 and yearly selects the best from the best in that seed patch is on 

 the right road to improvement of his crop. After the first year 

 or two the whole farm will show marked improvement in the 

 yield of cotton. 



Tobacco is usually cross-pollinated, but may be self-pollinated. 

 Self-pollination may be enforced by covering the center cluster 



