OX CORN BREEDING 133 



changes can never be accurately predicted, and therefore the 

 value of an imported variety can be determined only after 

 the change has been completed. Northern varieties are, 

 as a rule, shorter lived than southern forms, and this is one 

 of the main reasons why the common belief of the great 

 profits being secured by bringing in seed from other locali- 

 ties is unfounded. When one goes south for seed-corn, he 

 is apt to get a variety that will not mature in his locality, 

 and northern kinds will easily prove, on introduction, to 

 mature too early and to yield a correspondingly small crop. 

 As a rule, every degree north or south of a given locality 

 means eight or ten days difference in the time of ripening. 

 No farmer can depend on imported seed for his main crop. 

 He may purchase it for his breeding plot, but he may as 

 well select the best ears from his own fields. All trouble 

 incident to imperfect adaptation to the local conditions of 

 soil and climate can be avoided only in this way. 



I am now coming to a critical description of the actual 

 process of corn breeding as it is performed by the majority 

 of the intelligent farmers of the corn states. I must, how- 

 ever, limit myself to the main method, which, of course, is 

 subject to many changes on subordinate points, according 

 to the special demands of each different locality. 



Three main points in this process have to be considered 

 separately : 



First. The initial choice of ears in the field. 



Second. The comparative trial of the progeny of these 

 ears on a breeding plot, during the summer subsequent to 

 the year of the initial choice. 



Third. The continued selection and improvement of 

 the chosen strains. 



The full appreciation of these three constituents of the 

 breeding process as different processes will probably, some 

 day, prove to be the most reliable basis for the further 



