EXPERIMENTS IN BREEDING SWEET CORN. 253 



cross fertilization. As a consequence of this practice these 

 strains can only be regarded as very closely inbred. That their 

 yield has not been unfavorably affected is a point of interest. 

 In the propagation of both of these strains on the original farms 

 a very careful ear selection is practiced. There has never been 

 any plant selection in the case of either of these strains so far 

 as we can learn. Both strains produce a rema.rkably uniform 

 corn. The breeder who expects to find and isolate wide devia- 

 tions from type in the case of the pure Ellis or Dennett strains 

 will be disappointed. 



Type II — A white corn, frequently showing a faint yellowish 

 tinge, with kernels larger and coarser than those of Type I, and 

 not so tightly packed on the cob. The number of rows aver- 

 ages lower than in Type I. The ears are longer. The rate of 

 growth and time of maturity vary greatly in different strains. 

 Some are nearly as early as the best of Type I. Others are very 

 late. The stalks are larger and yield more stover than in the 

 case of Type I. The yield of ears, or of cut corn at the fac- 

 tory is usually not so large per unit area of land. The ears are 

 in m^any strains coarse and ill-shaped, but some strains give 

 ears of high quality. This type of sweet corn is highly popular 

 with the farmer, because of its greater yield of stover. This 

 circumstance has led to its wide adoption by the packer, though 

 from his standpoint it is not so desirable a corn as Type I. In 

 the opinion of the writers the popularity of this coarser type of 

 corn with the grower is not altogether well judged. The farm- 

 er, to be sure, gets more fodder from it than from the other 

 type, but he really pays a rather high price for it in decreased 

 yield of ears. This was brought out in a striking manner in 

 connection with some inquiries as to what was considered in 

 different localities a very good to maximum money return per 

 acre of sweet corn. In localities where good strains of Type I 

 corn were the prevailing sort planted it was not difficult to find 

 farmers who, under favora1)lc conditions as to season, etc., had 

 obtained a return of $100 or a little more per acre of corn. In 

 localities where the prevailing kind planted was of Type II 

 we were not able to learn of anyone ever having had a better 

 return than $80 to $85 per acre, the price per pound of cut 

 corn at the factory being the same in both localities. About 

 the same proportionate difference would doubtless be main- 



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