1903] | BAILEY—MOVEMENT IN PLANT-BREEDING. 61 
be necessary to enable us to decide whether the ear is suitable for 
seed for the particular kind of corn which it is desired to breed. 
Dry matter is always determined in order to reduce all other deter- 
minations to the strictly uniform and comparable water-free basis. 
If, for example, we desire to change only the protein content, then 
protein is determined. If we are breeding to change both the pro- 
tein and the oil, then determinations of both of these constituents 
must be made.”’ 
Any careful farmer can make such examinations as these. The 
relative abundance of one or the other of the three areas in the 
kernel will indicate what ears should be chosen for seed. Professor 
Hopkins proposes a system of field trials in which one ear furnishes 
plants for one row, thereby allowing the operator to see and meas- 
ure the individuality of each ear. By choosing ears that most 
nearly approach the ideal, and then by continued selection year by 
year, the desired result is to be secured and maintained. 
It is impossible to overestimate the value of any concerted corn- 
breeding work of this general type. The grain alone of the corn 
crop is worth about one billion dollars annually. It is no doubt 
possible to increase this efficiency by more than one per cent. 
An interesting cognate inquiry to this direct breeding work is 
the study of the commercial grades of grains. It is a most singu- 
lar fact that the dealer’s ‘‘ grades’’ are of a very different kind 
from the farmer’s ‘‘ varieties.’’ In the great markets, for example, 
corn is sold as ‘‘ Yellow No. 1,’’ ‘‘ Yellow No. 2,’’ ‘‘ Yellow No. 
3.’ Any yellow corn may be thrown into these grades. What 
constitutes a grade is essentially a judgment on the part of every 
dealer. It so happens that the grade tends to deteriorate as the 
grain reaches the seaboard, for the tendency of each dealer is to 
mix with the better grades just as much of an inferior grade as will 
allow the carload or cargo to pass the inspector’s examination. 
The result is that the grain is likely to be condemned or criticised 
when it reaches Liverpool. Complaints having come to the Gov- 
ernment, the United States Department of Agriculture has under- 
taken to determine how far the grades of grain can be reduced to 
indisputable instrumental measurement. This work is now in the 
hands of Mr. Scofield, in the Division of Botany. ‘The result is 
likely to be a closer defining of what a grade is; and this point 
once determined, the producer will make an effort to grow such 
grain as will grade to No. 1, and thereby reach the extra 
