INVESTIGATION OF 1906. 27 



INVESTIGATION OF 1906. 

 CHANGES IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE WORK. 



At the opening of the season of 1906 the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 signified its desire to cooperate in the work on sweet corn, the object 

 being to improve the quality of the product with special reference to 

 increasing the sugar content and securing varieties adapted to differ- 

 ent sections of the country. The results on the breeding work and the 

 adaptation of varieties, in accordance with the understanding between 

 the two Bureaus, will be interpreted by the Bureau of Plant Indus- 

 try, while the effect produced by the environment on the composition 

 of the com is published by the Bureau of Chemistry as being a purely 

 chemical study. 



It was thought desirable, owing to the results obtained at the South 

 Carolina station during the season of 1905, to extend* the work to 

 Florida. A letter was accordingly sent to each of the following- 

 named experiment stations: Florida, South Carolina, Maryland, New 

 Connecticut, and Maine. Favorable replies were received 

 from all except the New Jersey station, where all the land adapted to 

 these investigations had been allotted to other experiments. 



METHODS OF PLANTING AND SAMPLING. 



One object of the work being to secure corn having a high sugar 

 content, it was decided to plant the corn by the ear- to-row method and 

 to analyze a number of ears from each row, the seed from the row 

 averaging the highest in sugar content to be selected, taking into 

 consideration the form of the ear, the yield per row, etc. 



The method of select inr seed corn followed at the Maryland experi- 

 ment station during the season of 1905 indicates which ears have the 

 highest sugar content at the edible stage, and also whether any rela- 

 tion exists between sugar content of the green corn and the dried seed, 

 The plan in brief was to draw the husk back from a portion of the ear, 

 remove two or three rows of kernels, replace the husk carefully, tie a 

 paper bag over the entire ear to prevent injury by insects or rain, and 

 allow the ear to mature, which it did without any apparent injurious 

 effect. This sample was analyzed and compared with one taken 

 from the ear when fully ripe to determine whether there is any corre- 

 lation between the amount of sugar in the green (edible) ear and the 

 dried seed. 



In accordance with this plan two varieties of corn were secured 

 from New York State by the Bureau of Plant Industry and ears 

 suited to the purpose were selected. The ears were all given a serial 

 number, and samples were taken from them for analysis. Twenty 

 ears of each variety, which had been sampled and analyzed, were sent 

 to each station with instructions for planting, keeping of meteoro- 

 logical data, etc. 



