The Improvement of Crop Plants 91 



Dr. Eugene Davenport, of the Illinois Experiment Work 

 Station, led the way in seed corn selection. He planted 

 the seed from each plant in a separate plot, as the ex- 

 perimenters with small grains had done. But he found 

 that several years of selection were required in order to 

 fix the characters- he wished to secure so that the good 

 qualities for which he was striving might not be lost in 

 future generations of the corn. 



In Europe not much corn is raised, and there the Why even 

 farmers have been more interested in the improvement 



of the small grains. But the United States produces meni 



annually a billion or more dollars' worth of corn, and 



even a very slight increase in the crop would mean 



an addition of millions of dollars to the total value. 



Most farmers consider forty bushels an acre a good 



crop ; but by the use of improved methods, yields of 



one hundred and thirty bushels to the acre have been 



secured, and even larger yields have been reported (Fig. 



69). In view of the rewards for success, corn growers 



have been stimulated to great efforts to make their fields 



yield more. In the states of the Middle West and the 



South, where most of the corn is raised, clubs have been Corn clubs 



formed among farmers and among boys in the schools for 



a study of the best methods of raising corn. 



To show the advantage resulting from the use of good A proof 

 seed, the Iowa Experiment Station took more than five 

 thousand samples of seed corn that farmers were using, 

 raised each sample in a separate plot, and compared the 

 yields. Conditions and treatment were the same for 

 all plots. The production averaged sixty-seven bushels 

 to the acre on the best five hundred plots and forty- two 



