184 INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY 
Corn with high proteins is especially valuable as a food for 
man and the lower animals, since the most serious fault found 
with corn as a cereal food is its low percentage of proteins 
compared with its oil and carbohydrates. Corn with high oil 
value is especially desired by the glucose manufacturers, since 
they also manufacture corn oil, which is the highest-priced 
component of the grain. Corn with a low percentage of oil is 
in demand for feeding hogs for bacon, especially for exporta- 
tion. It has been found possible, at the University of Ilinois 
Agricultural Experiment Station, to breed low-proteim corn 
with an average percentage of 6.7 proteins, and high-protein 
corn with an average percentage of 14.4 proteins. At the 
same station the average low-oil corn contained 2.5 per cent 
of oil, and the high-oil corn 7.0 per cent. The process of selec- 
tion must be kept up, for the variations thus obtained are not 
permanent varieties. ; 
174. Method of corn breeding. In a general way it may be 
said that the method of breeding corn is based on the same 
principles as those adopted for wheat and other cereals. There 
are, however, many variations in details, some of the most im- 
portant depending on the fact that the plants should be pol- 
linated with pollen from other individuals, but that these 
should, so far as possible, be all of the same stock. It is not 
sufficient that all should be of the same variety; the most 
rapid progress will be attained if all the parent plants are 
descended from the same ear of corn. 
It will not be necessary to give in detail all the methods 
followed in the selection of seed and the precautions taken 
to prevent mixture of varieties in the growing crop. Suc-| 
cessful corn breeding demands 
1. The choice of the most desirable known variety as a 
basis for breeding for any given purpose. 
2. The selection zm the field of well-matured ears from the 
best plants. 
3. Growing trial rows the next season from the ears men- 
tioned in paragraph 2, each ear planted in a row by itself. 
