EXPlvRIMENTS IN BREEDING SWEET CORN. 25! 



lected or bred to meet the conditions in Maine. Almost the 

 only selection which it undergoes is that of the market. If a 

 lot of sweet corn seed offered for sale is not of the type the 

 packer wants he does not buy it. The packers have great diffi- 

 culty in procuring sweet corn seed which is satisfactory either 

 to themselves or to the farmers who plant for them. The dis- 

 tribution and entire control of the seed is, and must always con- 

 tinue in general to remain, in the hands of the packers.- The 

 farmer sometimes complains bitterly of this, particularly after 

 he has had a lot of poor seed, as too frequently happens. But 

 a moment's consideration must convince one that it would be a 

 suicidal policy for the packer to allow his farmers to plant any 

 kind of seed they pleased. All uniformity of product in the 

 first place, and possibility of economical operation of the can- 

 ning factory in the second place would be forthwith greatly en- 

 dangered, and in a short time entirely lost. The farmer must 

 recognize that it is as much to the interest of the packer as to 

 his own that he have good seed. It is the misfortune rather 

 than the fault of the packer that he does not always get it. 



The primary aim with which the experiments here discussed 

 were undertaken was to determine whether it was not possible, 

 by the application of simple methods which could be used by 

 any packer or farmer, to improve Maine grown sweet 

 corn and adapt it more closely to the needs imposed by 

 local conditions. It was felt that the broad generalization of 

 plant breeding to the effect that a seed bred in adaptation to 

 local conditions is, on the average, likely to give better results 

 under those conditions than an imported seed is probably true 

 of sweet corn. Subsequent experience has shown that it is. 

 The best sweet corn grown in the State today is the product of 

 Maine grown seed. The second aim of the work was to ac- 

 cumulate scientific data regarding the inheritance of various 

 characters of the maize plant. 



The work with sweet corn was begun in the summer of 1907 

 and has continued since that time. It is believed that the work 

 which has been done has demonstrated the primary thing for 

 which it was started. It has, namely, shown that it is possilile 

 by the use of a few simple methods, easily under the control 

 of the packer, to im])rove in several respects the quality of the 

 average seed corn dislrihutod to tlie fanners liy the packers. 



