IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS. 249 



proved corn and compare them with the improved vari- 

 ety of corn. 



How do they compare as to per cent, of corn? How 

 many of the best ears of your improved corn would it 

 take to make a bushel (56 pounds) of shelled corn ? 

 How many of the best ears of the mixed corn would it 

 take? Do you know which yields the more per stalk? 

 Which requires the more ground to grow a bushel of 

 shelled corn? Which requires the more seed to plant 

 the ground ? Which requires the more labor to produce 

 the bushel ? Which, then, is the more economical and 

 profitable kind to grow ? 



II. Isolation of Seedlings. 



The selected seeds should be planted in a place 

 where they will be isolated from other plants of 

 the same or of a different variety with which 

 they would readily mix, else they would be 

 contaminated by their neighbors ; for if they 

 were not isolated from other individuals of the 

 same variety, they would probably mix with in- 

 ferior ones, and the improvement would, there- 

 fore, be less. For this reason, also, it would be 

 well to weed out from the seedlings of the 

 selected seeds all inferior plants before the 

 pollen ripens. 



If these selected seeds were planted near a 

 different variety, the two varieties might mix, 

 and the resulting offspring, in all probability, 

 would not conform to the type. 



* It may seem to some that undue importance is placed upon 

 the details of this study. But comparatively few persons realize 

 the bearing of careful, intelligent selection upon the improve- 

 ment of the agricultural products of America. 



