134 



PLANT-BREEDING 



development of the practical methods of breeding. For this 

 reason I will now discuss them as independent processes. 



Corn should be selected in the field. Early in the fall, 

 shortly before the time of harvesting, the farmer should go 

 through his fields and mark the stalks of superior quality. 

 Width of blade, indicating a rich foliage as the source of the 

 organic constituents of the seeds, ears borne on shanks 

 neither too long nor too short, and on an average height 

 above the soil and other essential qualities should decide the 

 choice. At the time of husking, the ears of the marked 

 stalks are harvested separately, for the ultimate selection. 

 Since it is impossible to predict exactly the value of the 

 progeny from the inspection of the parent plant, it is desirable 

 to collect as many different types in the field as possible. 

 Their real worth can be determined only in the next year. 

 But the selection of that year will evidently be limited by 

 the choice of the first year, and the wider this choice is, the 

 greater are the chances of ultimate success. Of course, 

 no farmer will select plants or ears of minor value, but he 

 should not try to select according to definite conceptions 

 of good qualities, but simply try to collect as many different 

 types as possible, leaving the decision concerning their 

 hereditary worth to the next season. As soon as he has ex- 

 hausted the whole range of the elementary constituents of 

 his varieties, no further field selection can be of any use, but 

 as long as this limit is not manifestly reached, the fields con- 

 tain possibilities, which should not be neglected. In ordinary 

 cases it will therefore be profitable to repeat the field selec- 

 tion during some years. 



Selection of corn is very easy, when compared with the 

 work connected with the selection of other cereals. The 

 different marks of the stalks and foliage, of the shanks of the 

 husks, of the ears and the kernels, are easily appreciated, and 

 their significance for the value of the new strains is mani- 



