58 



The World's Commercial Products 



portion of the grain comes in contact with the air, which itself is generally damp. If the 

 ship sails within fifteen or twenty days after she has begun to load, and the cargo is of dry 

 grain, stowed in dry weather, no damage will be done, so long as the hatches are securely bat- 

 tened down, and as nearly as possible hermetically sealed during the whole of the voyage. 

 The dampness of the grain is largely due to the shipping being carried out in wet weather, 

 but in the opinion of one of the leading exporters the chief cause is the bad system of cultivation 

 largely adopted in many parts of the country. One of the worst mistakes of the farmers is to 

 plant more of .the crop than they can possibly harvest to advantage, with the result that 

 large quantities of unripe cobs are shelled, and in order to gather in the huge crops the harvesting 

 has to .j be carried out in all weathers, wet or fine. 



At the present day one of the most important and interesting lines of work which is being 

 carried on by the scientific agriculturist is the improvement of field crops by selection and by 

 the breeding of new varieties. Such work has been largely carried out in the case of maize, 

 especially in the United States, and already the most notable results have been achieved. 

 Briefly put, the principles underlying the whole of the work are that we may " improve " 

 an- existing plant, especially if it happens to be a variable plant of which there are many vari- 

 eties, by selecting for seed purposes only those fruits which in themselves possess desirable 

 characters, or are borne on plants which possess such characters. For example, if maize is 

 grown for the grain, only those corns should be sown which have been selected for their size, 

 colour, high proportion of nutritive matter, early ripening qualities, etc., while if the maize 

 is grown for fodder, seed should be taken from plants which possess an abundant leaf surface 

 of known value as an animal food. 



The breeding of new varieties is a more complex question, demanding in some instances 

 considerable scientific knowledge and practical skill, but the essential features of the operations 



are that by ensuring the fer- 

 tilisation of a female plant, pos- 

 sessing characters of recognised 

 value to the farmer, by the pollen 

 of a male plant also possessing 

 the same, or it may be different 

 but equally valuable, characters, 

 it is possible to accentuate the 

 characters as it were in the 

 offspring, or to combine them. 

 Experiments are, therefore, being 

 carried out at the present time 

 having for their object the pro- 

 duction of new varieties of maize 

 possessing desirable qualities. 

 Thus, one line of work lies in the 

 production of a maize which shall 

 yield a much larger crop per acre 

 than the varieties commonly 

 grown ; another line aims at a 

 grain of improved nutritive value, 

 and another is concerned with 

 producing a grain which shall 

 contain a larger proportion of oil 

 in the germ, so that it may be of 

 more value to people interested 

 grinding maize j n t he manufacture of maize oil. 



