47 



Q. Hadn't they better cut out the show then? 



Mr. MOSHER: No, sir, not by any means would I cut out the show, 

 but I would make a careful study of a lot of this work that is being done 

 in this state and other states and bring the type of corn that wins the prize 

 to conform to the type that is giving our highest yield and the best quality 

 when we plant it in the field. 



Q. What was wrong with the show corn? 



Mr. MOSHER: Why did the show corn and winning corn yield less than 

 the other corn? 

 Q. Yes. 

 Mr. MOSHER: It was not the best type of corn for our conditions. 



Q. Would you say that the rules governing in the corn show need 

 modification? 



Mr. MOSHER: They are being modified rather rapidly. I think they 

 should be modified. 



In summing up, an ear that is heavy and solid, an ear that has grains 

 that are plump and bright clear down to the cob, an ear that has grains 

 that are wide rather than narrow, an ear that has grains that are thick 

 rather than thin, an ear with grains that are medium in length rather than 

 long or short, an ear that is medium in size around but plenty long, those 

 are the things that should be taken into consideration. 



And' so again, as I leave the platform, I repeat; those ears that are most 

 likely to be found in the high yielding corn and are not often found in 

 the low yielding corn are the ears that are heavy and solid, the ears with 

 grains that are plump and bright to the cob, ears with grains 'that are wide, 

 thick, medium in length. Those things are things that I consider of primary 

 importance. 



Then if on top of that you have carefully selected the ears in the fall 

 from stalks that are free from disease, from stalks where the ears were 

 in the right position, then in addition to this selection in the spring will 

 make that careful germination test and get rid of those that are diseased, 

 I believe you will have gone a long ways towards getting the very best. 



As I said before, the very highest yielding corn in this test was from 

 men who had no realization of the fact that they had especially good corn. 

 They were men who had not attended farmers' institutes, or college, or short 

 course schools, who did not read much. Some had learned from their grand- 

 fathers how to select the seed and had kept the same seed in the family 

 throughout the last forty years. I believe there are a few men like that in 

 every county who know more about how to select seed corn which will grow 

 a larger yield of good quality corn than any of us know. The thing that 

 we should do here in the Corn Belt is to ferret those men out through our 

 Farm Bureaus and Crop Improvement Associations and make use of that 

 intuitive knowledge that has led them to go so far in advance of the rest of 

 us. I thank you. 



PRESIDENT MANN: I think it is mighty fortunate that there have 

 been men who have been willing to go into the science of breeding and ap- 

 plying it to agriculture. Now there is a pound ear of corn which probably 

 was produced on a stalk weighing a pound. That stalk which weighed a 

 pound made ninety-seven per cent of its weight after the middle of July, 

 or after that ear started. For plants to do that they must be strong and 

 free from disease. 



Agriculture is fortunate in this state in having men who can apply the 

 real science of breeding to these ordinary crops, and the man who stands 

 at the head of this valuable work, perhaps, in the actual demonstration, is 

 Jim Holbert, of the Funk Seed Corn Corporation, in Bloomington. We want 



