LUTHER BURBANK 



form, just as we have seen to be the rule with all 

 other plants reproduced by root division or cutting, 

 or by grafting of cions. 



The method of suckering these plants was to 

 pull down the suckers from the old plants when 

 the young were about one foot high. About two- 

 thirds of the foliage was cut back, leaving the 

 stalk with shortened leaves about two to three 

 inches in length. These were placed in pure sand 

 in a moist place away from the wind for a day or 

 two, but in the bright sun, and after a week when 

 they showed signs of making growth they were 

 transplanted into rows in the field. 



Unfortunately, the suckering was not done 

 early enough in the season to give all the new 

 plants time to ripen a crop of corn. If they had 

 been planted even three or four days earlier, all 

 would have been well. As it was, only about half 

 or two-thirds of the plants ripened their crop. 



Of course the plants had been hand-poUenized 

 to avoid danger of vitiating the strain with wind- 

 borne pollen from ordinary corn tassels. 



To guard absolutely against the danger of 

 cross-poUenizing, if there is any other corn in the 

 neighborhood, it is necessary to cover the tassels 

 with a paper bag while they are maturing and 

 before they are poUenized. PoUenizing is effected 

 by dusting a tassel with its load of pollen against 



[22] 



