LESSONS ON.GQRN. 17 



The following letter might be sent to all patrons of the school : 



Dear Friend and Patron of the School : 



The teachers and pupils of School, in response to the suggestion of 



the State superintendent, have decided to have, on , a " Corn and Other 



Products Day," and we cordially invite your cooperation and attendance. Bring 

 good samples of corn, fruit, potatoes, tomatoes, poultry, and other home or farm 

 products that you care to exhibit, and help us to make it a day of educational 

 value. A special program, participated in by the pupils and others, will be a 

 feature of the day. 



Please bear in mind that this is your school and that your cooperation and 

 presence will be both a help and an inspiration. 

 Sincerely yours, 



, Teacher. 



SELECTING THE EXHIBIT FOR CORN DAY. 



The exhibit from one person usually consists of 5 or 10 ears of 

 corn. Sometimes a 10-ear exhibit to represent the entire local school 

 is made up by selecting that number of ears from the best ones 

 brought in by all the members of the school. 



One A r ery important thing to observe in choosing and arranging 

 all such exhibits is the principle of uniformity. This is sometimes 

 indicated in score cards by the phrase " uniformity of exhibit." In 

 the score-card form shown on page — it is covered by " trueness to 

 type " and " uniformity of kernels." These phrases all mean that in 

 order to get a high rating all the ears in the set must look alike as 

 nearly as possible. A corn judge often discards a set of 5 or 10 ears 

 from any further consideration simply because the exhibitor included 

 among them one ear that was an inch longer than the rest, or of a 

 different shade in color, or that had a different number of rows of 

 kernels, or kernels of noticeably different shape or size than those 

 on the rest of the ears. Sometimes the size of cob in one ear differs 

 from all the others, or one ear is crooked or has " twisted " rows of 

 kernels, while all the rest are straight. 



Any of these defects spoil the uniformity of the set and cause the 

 set to be marked down severely. It is better to select 10 ears that are 

 not the very best, but are alike, than to include one ear that is either 

 much better or much worse than all the rest in the set. Pick out the 

 best 10 or 50 ears you can find, and then from these, by careful meas- 

 urement and comparison, select for your exhibit the 5 or 10 that are 

 nearest alike. 



The unfavorable impression made by a poorly selected or poorly 



arranged exhibit of 10 ears is clearly illustrated in figures 4 and 6 



(pp. 13, 15). Without discarding any ears from the best 10 selected 



they can always be arranged in one best order, from left to right, so as 



,to present whatever excellence they have in the most favorable view. 



