1 10 PLANT-BREEDING 



The use of fertilizers, more careful processes of prepar- 

 ing the land and handling the seed and the plants, and a 

 proper choice of the seed-grain are the acknowledged means 

 by which to attain this end. 



Of course, in these lectures I am concerned only with the 

 questions relating to variability and selection. But no crop 

 is more responsive to careful selection of the seed than corn. 

 According to the condition of the land, the treatment of 

 the field may be of first importance, but good seed will 

 always add considerably to the yield, and the more so, the 

 better the condition of the soil and the care given to its 

 culture. 



Some farmers are producing 60 to 70 bushels per acre 

 every year, while their neighbors are contented with an 

 average harvest of 30 to 35 bushels. In favorable cases the 

 product might easily be increased to a hundred bushels per 

 acre and even more. 



As a rule, however, the corn yield per acre is gradually 

 decreasing, at least in some of the leading states. In Ohio 

 the period 1890 to 1899 shows a falling off of 3^ bushels as 

 compared with the previous ten-year period. But in Indi- 

 ana, where the interest in corn selection is rapidly growing, 

 the average yield per acre has increased during the same 

 time by 12.8 per cent, and in Illinois, which has started the 

 principle of individual ear selection, the yield per acre of 

 corn has increased to 22 per cent more than in the ten years 

 preceding the introduction of this new method. 



The recent discoveries made at the Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station of Sweden will, no doubt, some day exercise 

 a notable influence on the American processes of corn- 

 breeding. In some points they are in full agreement with 

 them, but since they are founded on more elaborate scien- 

 tific methods, they may facilitate the understanding of the 

 processes now in use. 



