THE “EAR TO THE ROW” BREEDING PLOT 111 
finest show animal is the most prolific, the best mother, ete. 
What the individual animal has done in the past is her 
performance record. This is the best assurance of what she 
will do in the future. At the same time, it is very desirable 
that she conform as closely as possible to the score card. 
The same is true of corn. Corn is even more susceptible 
to breeding than either cattle or hogs, since there is more 
room for improvement. For the farmer to know that his 
seed corn for the coming season is from a high yielding strain 
and will show a high germination test should be as impor- 
tant to him as to know that his hogs are prolific or that his 
cattle are easy feeders. 
RESULTS OBTAINED IN BREEDING CorRN 
Progress in corn breeding ig necessarily slow. Neverthe- 
less, it should be every breeder’s earnest endeavor to make 
this progress steady and sure. To be perfectly candid, we 
must say that in not a single instance have we ever obtained 
spectacular results in corn breeding. If one were to start 
with a very low type of corn the results through careful 
selection and breeding would undoubtedly be very marked. 
But starting with the very best type of the several varieties, 
the improvement is not so rapid. In order not to be handi- 
capped, the breeder should always start with the very best 
seed that can be obtained. 
Our own work in corn breeding tends to show that the 
ear has very little hereditary tendency to reproduce itself in 
size. The matter of size depends more on local field condi- 
tions and the hereditary tendency of the kernel. On the 
other hand, like kernels from small and large ears of the 
same variety often produce ears of the same size. This tends 
to prove that a good shaped kernel is of more importance than 
a good shaped ear. Medium sized ears out-yield exceptionally 
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