V. 



INHERITANCE— IMPROVEMENT BY BREEDING 22 



time when the selection is made will depend partly on the CHAP, 

 object sought ; if this be early maturity it will be desirable to 

 go through the field when the first tassels and silks appear, 

 marking all the earliest plants, provided they are desirable 

 from other points of view. It will also be desirable to repeat 

 the process when the first plants begin to ripen, because it 

 does not seem to be the case that the earliest plants to mature 

 are always the earliest to flower ; this point needs further in- 

 vestigation, however. For ordinary selection for yield and 

 quality the best time is probably when the ears are well de- 

 veloped, and before the leaves have turned brown ; at this 

 stage the breadth and colour of the leaf can be observed to 

 good advantage. 



By systematically walking through a field, row by row, 

 and tying labels on the desirable plants, it does not take long 

 to mark off 500. The principal points to be observed in field- 

 selection are : — 



General vigour of the plant. 



Leafiness of plant and width of leaf. 



Size of ear. 



Straightness and strength of stem. 



Stem broad at base, tapering gradually. 



Ear borne about middle of stem. 



Shank of ear short. 



Husks compact and firm on ear. 



Apex of ear well covered with the husk. 



10. Freedom from rust and smut. 



Where early maturity is desired, as on the extreme High- 

 veld, this can also be taken into account. 



Each selected plant should be marked with a conspicuous 

 label which will not be lost sight of when the leaves turn 

 brown at harvest. For this purpose sized cloth labels prove 

 least satisfactory ; they quickly blacken, lose the " size " and 

 become indistinguishable, losing entirely the figures written on 

 them. Our best results have been obtained with ordinary 

 brown paper parcel-labels, numbered with ordinary black or 

 blue pencil. But even these are too much like the dry maize 

 leaves and husks in colour to be easily seen at harvest ; and 

 when a label is tied near the tassel away from the leaves, 



