BREEDING AND SELECTION 73 



was poor in quality and of no particular selection, so 

 that the results were unsatisfactory. This condition 

 of the seed business cannot long continue and conse- 

 quently such dealers will be rapidly driven out of 

 business. With improved seed, increased yields may 

 be expected and a more uniform and satisfactory type 

 of corn will be produced. 



Sorting and Preparing of Seed Corn for the 

 Planter — Probably there is no better way to sort and 

 prepare the seed corn than to place forty or fifty ears 

 on some boards or tables and with all the tips pointing 

 one way. Select an ear that most nearly represents 

 the type you prefer. With this ear in your left hand, 

 go over all the ears on the board and with the right 

 hand push out those ears which show too great varia- 

 tion from the type in size, length, shape, roughness, 

 color, size and shape of kernels, etc. Now gather the 

 few remaining ears together, and, with a knife, remove 

 three or four kernels from each ear and place in front 

 of each ear, with the germ or chit side up. Now go 

 over these kernels carefully, for here is where we have 

 failed most in the past. We have. studied the ears, 

 but have paid little attention to the kernels. First 

 discard those ears which have kernels unusually broad, 

 long or thick, also those which are very narrow, thin 

 or short. This is absolutely necessary before we can 

 expect any planter to drop a uniform number of ker- 

 nels in each hill. Discard all ears with kernels which 

 are shriveled, or are too pointed, indicating low 

 vitality and poor feeding value. The butts and tips 

 should now be shelled off and the ears shelled as 

 above described. But this is not all. This corn is 

 not ready for the planter until it has been picked over 

 by hand, removing the broken, rotten, discolored, 

 irregular, weak and chaffy grains. This seems like a 



