74 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 



acter of the parent stalk can be seen. It is a well known 

 law of life that "Like begets like," and, in the case of corn, 

 each kernel selected for seed will tend to produce a stalk and 

 ear like the one from which it came. Now there are certain 

 desirable characteristics of the stalk of corn which can not 

 be seen except by careful field selection. 



There should be a large leaf growth. The stalk should 

 be strong and vigorous, medium size, strong at the base with 

 good brace roots and tapering gradually to the tassel. It 

 should stand up well and bear its ear at a convenient height 

 for husking. The shank of the ear should be of medium 

 length, allowing the ear to turn down slightly. A short shank 

 holds the ear too erect. Ears on long shanks or too high on 

 the. stalk are more likely to pull down the stalk in a wind 

 storm, besides being inconvenient to husk. The ears selected 

 should be well developed, with straight rows of uniform sized 

 kernels. Ears should be selected and husked before the early 

 frost injures them for . seed. Expert plant breeders have 

 selected seed corn for various characteristics and developed 

 new and different strains from the same seed. This shows 

 that it is possible to select seed and thus improve the strain 

 from the old stock. 



XIII. JUDGING AND SCORING CORN 



Corn judging. The object of corn judging is to determine 

 the corn of highest quality, either for feeding or market, 

 which is, consequently, most profitable to grow. The study 

 of the desirable characteristics of seed corn has led to the 



