24 SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



difference in height of ear of over two feet. Here the low-eared strain 

 was the earlier and gave the greatest average yield.* 



The ears should be of good size, should have medium size cobs, 

 should be fairly uniform in color and type of kernel and should be attrac- 

 tive in appearance. The so-called show points of the ears are of less 

 economic importance than was at one time thought, but corn that looks 

 good finds the best market when sold for seed. 



In the above discussion it has been assumed that the corn is grown 

 primarily for grain. Ensilage varieties should have a rather large, leafy 

 stalk besides a good ear, and may be somewhat later in maturing than 

 varieties for grain. 



WHEAT, OATS AND BARLEY 



In the case of wheat, oats and barley, variations frequently occur 

 within a variety which make it worth while to search for those which are 

 better than the parent variety and to multiply them as new strains. 



First Year. Go through the field and select choice heads, taking 

 as many as can be planted separately, remembering that really good 

 strains are more likely to be found in a large number than in a small 

 number. 



Second Year. Plant the seed of these heads each in a separate row. 

 Make the rows a foot apart and plant the grains four inches apart in the 

 row. The same number of grains should be planted from each head, 

 which may be twenty-five or thirty. 



When ripe, the number of plants in each row should be determined, 

 the rows should be cut separately and the yield of each gotten. 



Third Year. A number of ounces of seed of each strain should now 

 be available. If 100 head-rows has been planted the year before, about 

 twenty of the best should be sown this year. These should be sown 

 under field conditions and the parent variety should be sown for a check 

 and put into every third plat. A good size of plat is sixteen feet long 

 and two rows wide, the rows being eight inches apart and the plats ten 

 inches apart. These grains can be planted thus side by side, for they do 

 not readily cross-fertilize. 



Fourth Year. By the fourth year there will be enough seed for a 

 larger plat which may be sown with a grain drill. A good plan is to 

 shut off the middle hoe, put in a partition and sow at one time two plats 

 of four or five drill rows each, depending upon whether the drill used has 

 nine hoes or eleven. As before, the parent variety should be sown in 

 every third plat. Only the most promising strains should be continued. 



Fifth and Succeeding Years. If desired, the plats may be made 

 larger than the fourth year, but the arrangement of plats should be the 

 same. Only those which are a decided improvement on the parent variety 

 should be retained. 



* Ohio Experiment Station Bulletin No, 282, Corn Experiments, by C, G, Williams and F, A, Welton. 



