BREEDING AND SELECTION 6l 



quickly and the soil is then prepared to hold moisture 

 against a summer drouth. 



Soil Preparation in Breeding — The preparation 

 of soil and cultivation of the fields should be consistent 

 with good practice for the particular neighborhood 

 in which the corn is grown. It is possible that extra 

 surface stirring will be found profitable and useful 

 during the summer in order to conserve all possible 

 moisture. One important point is to plant the corn 

 immediately after the seedbed has been prepared. 



The thickness of planting must vary with the fer- 

 tility of the soil and with other conditions. The gen- 

 eral rule is to plant few kernels in the hill far enough 

 apart to admit of the best possible cultivation. The 

 usual distance is three feet six inches between the hills, 

 and to plant three kernels in every hill. If three stalks 

 is too great a number, one or more can be pulled out 

 early in the season, and the field thinned to the number 

 desired. 



Breeding Field — The highly-bred field must neces- 

 sarily be small. This is true because there must be 

 individual selection and a large field would make the 

 most careful attention impossible. On the other hand, 

 a small field will allow all possible intensive selection. 

 A good-sized field for this purpose is about an acre. 

 This must be so located as to prevent crossing. As the 

 pollen from corn will float about in the atmosphere for 

 at least a quarter of a mile, or farther, it can be seen 

 that this breeding plat must either be located far away 

 from other cornfields or protected in some way. This 

 protection may be given by a hedge or other obstruc- 

 tion, or the breeding plat may be located in the field 

 of the same variety. If this last plan is adopted, the 

 field should be planted from highly-bred or stock seed, 

 so that the corn-breeding plat will not be fertilized by 

 the pollen from inferior stalks of corn. The best plan, 



