128 FARM CROPS 



was the case, the ear had grown extra large and 

 fine in appearance, because the plant upon which 

 it grew had been favored with all of the plant food, 

 all of the moisture and all oi the sunshine that 

 should have gone to two or three stalks. 



Make the selection just before the corn is cut by- 

 passing through the field and spotting the desir- 

 able ears with paint. At husking time it is then 

 easy to identify and separate them. If the corn is 

 to be husked from the standing stalks, the selection 

 is made just in advance of the buskers by passing 

 through the field with a basket or sack, the select- 

 ing and husking being done at the same time. In 

 either case, select ears only from stalks that are 

 growing under ordinary average conditions of 

 stand. Good ears growing under normal field con- 

 ditions owe whatever excellency they possess to 

 some hereditary force residing in the mother plant. 

 These hereditary qualities are transmitted by the 

 plant to the ear, which, when planted, will have a 

 tendency to perpetuate the good qualities of the 

 parent ear. 



Ears which owe their excellency to favorable sur- 

 roundings alone will not transmit their good quali- 

 ties unless the favorable conditions are present the 

 next season. The Ohio experiment station has 

 conducted careful experiments along this line in 

 order to determine the actual gain in production 

 that might be secured by the field selection of seed 

 corn. Ears were selected from plants growing in 

 the field under normal conditions of stand compared 

 with ears of the same variety and from the same 

 field, but selected from the wagon instead of from 

 the stalks before husking. The ears selected from 

 the wagon were larger in size and of better appear- 



