JUDGING AND SELECTION 257 



but although it may appear at first sight to be merely a chap. 

 "fancy point" (IF I75)j 't nas a bearing upon the yield and 

 quality of the grain. An ear with twisted (Figs. 58 and 59) 

 or irregular (Fig. 84) rows cannot carry as much grain of 

 uniform quality as one of the same size but with straight, 

 regular rows. Moreover, the tendency to twisted rows seems 

 to be cumulative, and may develop into complete loss of rows, 

 which tends to a reduction of yield and an unevenness of grain. 

 At the same time it has been observed that some other- 

 wise well-bred strains develop a marked tendency towards 

 slight twist in the row, and an exhibit should not be scored too 

 heavily on this account, if it has depth of grain and other de- 

 sirable characters. 



214. Uniformity of Exhibit. — Uniformity of exhibit refers 

 to uniformity in appearance, shape, size, colour, indentation, 

 smoothness, etc., but not to the kind of shape or colour. The 

 shape and size may be poor, but if the ears are alike they must 

 be given full marks for uniformity ; the poor shape and size 

 will be scored down when those particular points are dealt 

 with. In scoring for uniformity remove those ears which are 

 distinctly different from their fellows ; half a point is allowed 

 for each of the remaining uniform ears. 



215. Butts of Ears. — -To some extent the shape and cover- 

 ing of the butt are breed characteristics, and in such cases 

 allowance may be made for this fact. With most breeds, 

 however, it is desirable that the rows of grain should be carried 

 well over the butt (Fig. 66a) leaving only a narrow opening 

 through which the shank passes to the cob. If the rows of 

 grain end abruptly on a level with the end of the cob (Fig. 66b) 

 the ear will not yield as much (other things being equal) as if 

 they are well carried over. A swollen butt is an undesirable 

 character, for large, poorly filled butts usually have unduly 

 large and thick cobs ; these dry out slowly, and delay harvest ; 

 in frosty parts of the country this results in damage to the 

 grain. The shank should be medium in size, for large, 

 coarse shanks break off with difficulty and delay the work 

 of harvesting and shelling where the latter is done by hand. 

 But the shank should not be too small (Fig. 70) or the ear 

 will break off in the wind before the main crop is ready to 

 harvest. Exhibitors at a show should trim out the shanks 



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