124 FIELD CROPS 



158. The Ear-to-Row Method. The fact that appear- 

 ance does not always enable one to select the ears that will 

 give the largest yields has long been recognized. Many 

 years ago corn breeders adopted the practice of planting the 

 seed from the selected ears in separate rows side by side in a 

 uniform field, so that their comparative yielding power could 

 be determined. Such ear-to-row tests almost always indicate 

 a very wide variation in the yielding power of ears of corn, 



Fig. 42. The value of the ear-to-row test. The crates show the yield from two 

 rows which appeared to be equally good. 



even though such ears may be similar in appearance. It is 

 not at all uncommon to find ears of the same variety and 

 selected to the same type which yield 100 per cent more than 

 other ears which, so far as one can tell, appear to be equally 

 good. 



For ear-to-row tests, a uniform field wide enough to plant 

 as many rows as there are ears to be tested should be pro- 

 vided. The rows may be as long as desired; they are limited, 



