THE BREEDING OF CORN 



189 



ently good seed ears are indicative of high yielding 

 power." 



The Illinois experiments in breeding for high-ear and 

 low-ear types demon- 

 strate that the height 

 at which the ear is 

 borne on the plant 

 bears no definite rela- 

 tion to yield, the same 

 conclusion being war- 

 ranted when the angle 

 of the ear was con- 

 sidered. 



Selection to modify 

 certain characters of 

 the plant, even though 

 yield is not affected, is 

 often justified. For 

 example, in the South 

 many varieties of corn 

 have a tendency to 

 bear the ears quite 

 high on the stalk and 

 in an upright position. 

 Although neither of 

 these characters ma- 

 terially affects yield, 

 seed should be selected 

 with the idea of cor- 

 recting these defects, as 



FIG. 37. Showing the average angle of 

 declination of corn ears after five gen- 

 erations of breeding for declining ears. 



in the one case ease of harvesting is facilitated and 

 in the other the quality of the grain is improved, 

 from the fact that a drooping ear sheds water bet- 



