33 



Nos. 1 and 26 should be planted with corn from ear No. 1, rows Nos. 

 2 and 27 with corn from ear No. 2, and so on. This duplication is 

 practised in order that the danger of making a wrong selection on 

 account of inequalities in the fertility of the soil in different parts of 

 the plot may be reduced to a minimum. It is best to locate such a 

 plot in the midst of a larger field of the same variety, in order to 

 insure thorough pollination. Each of these rows is to be harvested by 

 itself, the grain shelled, and the product of only a few of the ears 

 gi\'ing the high yields reserved for the breeding plot of the next year; 

 and, in order to effect the utmost possible improvement, only the 

 best ears from these best rows should be selected for further work. 

 The balance of the first year's breeding plot may be used for the gen- 

 eral crop of the following year. Some breeders advise that in the 

 breeding j^lot of the second year, including perhaps the product of 

 the four or five best ears of the first selection, the plants descended 

 from all except one of the original ears should be detasseled, in order 

 to make it certain that cross and not close pollination must take place 

 in the majority of ears in the plot. There is much evidence to show 

 that pollination from plants of remote ancestry gives more vigorous 

 and productive seed than pollination from closely related plants. 

 This plan, therefore, of detasseling all except one of the types of the 

 breeding plot, would seem to be wise. 



Methods of Original Selection. — Whether the object be to select 

 very critically, with the idea of attempting improvement by system- 

 atic breeding, or simply the selection of ears to be used for seed for 

 the general crop, three distinct methods may be followed: (1) the 

 selection may be made from the bin ; (2) it may be made when husk- 

 ing; (3) it may be made in the field. 



Selection in the bin has the advantage that the best may be picked 

 out from a very large number. Selection when husking perhaps will 

 possess the same advantage if the buskers are persons of sufficient 

 intelligence; and it will have the further advantage that the selected 

 ears may be promptly and carefully dried, which, particularly when 

 the seasons are cool and short, is a matter of the utmost importance. 

 Many ears of corn, which if promptly dried would have made excellent 

 seed, have their vitality much impaired if cured with the balance of 

 the crop in the bin. Where the work is done upon a relatively small 

 scale, the old plan of trussing the selected ears and hanging them 

 where there will be the fullest possible circulation of air has much to 

 commend it. If the work is to be done on a larger scale, a special 

 drying room with artificial heat is desirable. 



Selection in the field has the great advantage that the character 

 of the plant, as well as the character of the ear, can be noted. If 

 selection be made in the bin, or even while husking, it may very well 

 happen that the ears which seem to be of exceptionally good quality 

 are of that character simply because they had an exceptional oppor- 

 tunity to develop in the field, — perhaps because the plants producing 

 them stood in spots more fertile than the average, perhaps because 

 they had more room for development. Such ears will not necessarily 

 transmit their qualities. From this point of view, it seems much 

 wiser to select in the field, and to take the ears which are best under 

 average field conditions from plants which exliibit the desired char- 

 acteristics as to height, size of stalk,* number and size of ears, etc. 



The Vitality of the Seed. — The planting of seed which does not 

 germinate satisfactorily is not infrequently the occasion of disappoint- 

 ment and loss. Western producers of seed corn are prepared to fur- 

 nish unshelled seed corn, every ear of which has been separately tested. 



