INHERITANCE— IMPRO FEME NT B Y BREEDING 1 5 5 



High-veld thousands of bags of 

 maize are lost each year by early 

 autumn frosts. Early spring 

 sowing on deeply ploughed land 

 reduces the risk of loss from 

 this cause, but with every pre- 

 caution in that direction, there 

 is still need for earlier ripening 

 sorts. These could be planted 

 after the last safe date for put- 

 ting in the later-maturing crops 

 and, in this way, the total acre- 

 age for the season could be 

 increased, for at best the plant- 

 ing season is short in many 

 parts of the High-veld. Early 

 maturing sorts would also enable 

 the farmer to replant in cases 

 where the first crop has been 

 destroyed by cutworm, etc. 



Unfortunately we find that 

 early maturity is often corre- 

 lated with relatively light yield. 

 Within certain limits, however, 

 it should be possible to correct 

 this, that is to say, to increase 

 the yield of the earlier maturing 

 sorts, by careful breeding. 



The Transvaal Department 

 of Agriculture was successful in 

 introducing and acclimatizing 

 several sorts which take less 

 time to mature than Hickory 

 King, and these are becoming 

 popular with farmers. Among 

 them may be mentioned Iowa 

 Silver - mine, Chester County, 

 Reid, and Minnesota Early. 



But the new importations 

 do not meet the requirements of 



Fig. 6g. — Shortening the growing 

 season of Hickory King ; a new 120- 

 day type. (The bare tip is due to 

 having given hand pollination once 

 only.) 



