PLANT BREEDING 215 



one may select desirable stalks and expect to have seeds 

 that will reproduce the good qualities of both parents. 



There is another method that is less tedious and that is 

 coming more and more into practice, and that is by de- 

 tasseling. Some of the stalks are detasseled before the 

 anthers are ripe. That means, of course, that the ears on 

 those stalks will have to be cross pollinated. 



Any boy can start a corn-breeding plot on a simple 

 scale on his father's farm. The first requisite is to have 

 the location of the plot as far from all other corn as possible. 

 In the center of an oat field is a good place. The next 

 thing is to decide what strain or variety of corn to plant. 

 Select an ear for each row. Number the ears and rows 

 alike, and then hang up the ears for future reference. 

 One method of selecting ears is given in the lesson on 

 selecting and judging seed corn. The corn should receive 

 the same attention as the other corn on the farm. The 

 rows of corn may differ from the start because of inherent 

 difference in the ears. If any of the rows show decided 

 marks of weakness, all the stalks in these should be de- 

 tasseled; also any undesirable stalks in any of the rows. 

 The tassels should be pulled off as soon as they show 

 plainly in the top of the stalks. In order to secure cross- 

 pollinated seed, one half of each row should be detasseled. 

 Begin at one end of the first row, and detassel to the middle; 

 then, beginning in the middle, detassel the other end of the 

 second row, and so on. From which end of each will you 

 choose your ears for seed ? Why ? From these stalks the 

 desirable ears are chosen for the breeding plot next year. 

 One thing to breed for is productiveness. To find which 

 row produced the greatest yield it will be necessary to 



15 



