CROP IMPROVEMENT 



23 



is of only minor importance, it does not matter whether the plants are 

 cut or not, but they must be husked separately and the corn ears weighed. 

 After the yields of the ear-rows have been obtained, any one of a number 

 of methods for continuing the work may be followed. The simplest way 

 is to take the remnants of the best ears as shown by the ear-row test, 

 shell these together and plant in an isolated seed plat the next year. 

 From this plat the diseased and weak stalks should be removed before the 

 pollen is shed. Seed should be saved from the best rows in the ear-row 

 plat for field planting the next year. The third year there should be an 

 ear-row plat like that of the first year and the ears for this should come 

 from the multiplying plat grown the second year. The seed of the main 

 crop the third year should come from the multiplying plat and from the 

 part of the field in which the seed from the ear-rows was planted. This 



THE EAR-TO-ROW TEST PLAT WITH CORN HUSKED, SHOWING A METHOD USED IN 

 ASCERTAINING WHICH SEED EARS HAVE YIELDED BEST. 1 



method provides for an ear-row plat and a multiplying plat on alternate 

 years. 



Ideals in Selection of Corn. Besides attempting to secure greater 

 productiveness in a variety of corn, one who w T ould improve the crop 

 should seek to adapt the variety in length of growing season to the local- 

 ity in which it is grown. In a general way the best varieties are those 

 which require about all of the season for development and yet can be 

 depended upon to mature before frost. 



The stalks should be of medium size and able to stand up well. 

 The ears should be of medium height from the ground, with a rather short 

 shank, and should droop somewhat rather than stand erect. By con- 

 tinuous selection for high and low ears for five years at the Ohio Experi- 

 ment Station, two strains were developed from one variety with a 



1 From Year-Book, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

 11 



