156 MAIZE 



CHAP, all parts of the country, and it is desirable to breed earlier- 

 maturing strains for particular localities and special needs. 

 That it is possible to do this has been demonstrated by the 

 writer, who grew a White Horsetooth which produced a ripe ear 

 in 97 days, and a Hickory King which ripened in 120 days 

 (Fig. 69). 



Although it is fully recognized that the heaviest yields of 

 grain cannot be expected from the earliest-maturing breeds, 

 early planting will, in many districts, do much towards mini- 

 mizing loss from early frost, and there are many other parts 

 of the country where an early maturing sort will be welcome, 

 if for nothing else than to supplement the main crop, and thus 

 increase the acreage. 



113. Drought Resistance. — Although the South African 

 climate is in the main admirably suited to maize-growing, there 

 are districts towards the border of what we may call the Maize- 

 belt, where the crops often suffer from the occurrence of droughty 

 periods of perhaps twenty-one days of cloudless weather without 

 rain. For such regions more drought-resistant breeds are re- 

 quired than are necessary for districts of more even rainfall. 



Cultivation of many breeds, side by side, has shown a 

 marked difference in constitutional ability to withstand drought. 

 This difference can be made use of by breeders and emphasized. 

 It is possible that great resistance to drought will be found 

 correlated with lower yield, but if it enables us to produce 

 even 6 muids to the acre where none could be grown before, 

 it will serve a good purpose. 



114. Disease Resistance. — Undoubtedly the parasitic dis- 

 eases which affect all farm crops tend to reduce the yield, 

 for if they do not destroy the host plant outright, the parasites 

 use up some of the food material of the host, or interfere 

 with photosynthesis. An important line of improvement, 

 therefore, in cases where we cannot keep the parasite in check 

 by cultural methods and the use of fungicides, is to breed 

 strains which will be more or less immune against attack. 



This has been successfully accomplished with some crops 

 in some countries. But the problem is not always an easy 

 one, and in the case of some diseases has so far failed. 



Attempts were made in Java to render the maize grown 

 there less subject to chlorosis (IT 371) by crossing with teo- 



