4 16 



THE GARDE^^ AND FIELD. 



February, 191 



Maize Breeding. 



SEED SELECTION. 



From Dalgety's Review. 



The selected ears should be re- 

 moved from the stalk and husked by 

 hand, and a certain proportion, which 

 at first glance do not conform to the 

 standard, can be discarded. This will 

 probably leave from 100 to 150 ears, 

 from which to make the final selec- 

 tion.. These should be laid out in one 

 or two rows, and the necessary num- 

 ber of ears to form the breeding plot 

 can then be selected. The following 

 has been found to be a very simple 

 method: — hundred or more cheap 

 paper bags are provided, and the 50 or 

 75 ears finally selected are placed in a 

 row in descending order, that is, the 

 ear most nearly approaching the ideal 

 is placed first and the poorest last. 

 Each ear is then slipped into a bag 

 and the number of its place in the 

 rank is recorded on the outside. The 

 best ear will thus be No. 1, and the 

 poorest No. 50 or No. 75, as the case 

 may be. The bags containing the ears 

 can now be put on one side, for pre- 

 ference in a tinned-lined case, and, if 

 necessary, can be fumigated with 

 carbon bi-sulphide. 



— Compilation of Records. — 



As time permits, the ears can be 



taken out, measured, weighed, and the 



percentage of grain to total ear re- 



TURNER, ROBERTSON & CO. 



Electrical Engineers, 

 Contractors and Suppliers. 



126, GRENFELL STREET, ADELAIDE 



(Basement of Robert Harper's). 



Estimates Given Free for all 

 Electrical Work. 



VOTE.-SPECIAL QUOTATIONS for 

 BUILDERS and ARCHITECTS. 



Ring up Telephone No. 996 (cer,tral). 

 Mr. Turner, late Elevator and Motor 

 Foreman, Messrs. Unliohaun & John- 

 stone ; Chief Electrician Zino Corpor- 

 ation, Uroken Hill. 



GRENEELL ST., AnELAIDE 



corded. This is obtained by deduct- 

 ing the weight of shelled grain from 

 the total weight of the ear unshelled. 

 Any notes regarding the relative 

 qualities of the ear or grain can also 

 be recorded in a notebook, and after 

 the inferior kernels at the butt and tip 

 have been removed, the selected seed 

 is put back into the bag and reserved 

 for planting time. The character of 

 the notes made will differ with the 

 taste of the breeder, but such points 

 as weight, length, and circumference 

 of ears, size, and depth of grain, num- 

 ber of rows, space between rows, and 

 quality of butt and tip should be re- 

 corded, though not absolutely essen- 

 tial to the success of the breeding plot. 

 The careful breeder will also have 

 noted the vegetative characteristics of 

 the parent plant, such as height of 

 plant, quality of leaf growtli, number 

 and size of ears, date of the appear- 

 ance of tassel and silk respectively, 

 and so on. 



The pollen of the maize plant is 

 exceedingly light, and in a dry atmo- 

 sphere may be cartied considerable 

 distances by wind. The breeding plot 

 should be at least 400 yards from any 

 other maize, and in order to guard 

 against the danger of volunteers, 

 should be, if possible, on land which 

 has not carried maize the previous 

 season. The soil should be of similar 

 character to that on which the bulk 

 of the crop will be grown, and should 

 receive no special treatment, except 

 such as is meted out to the main crop. 

 The rows in the plot should be of 

 equal length, and may be regulated by 

 the amount of seed available from the 

 several ears. A small portion of seed 

 from each ear should be reserved for 

 filling in blanks and for reference with 

 the grain of its progeny when the 

 latter is reaped. Seed should be drop- 

 ped singly, and planting by hand, or 

 with a hand dibbler is the most satis- 

 factory method. The grain from 

 each ear is planted in' a separate row, 

 and the rows are numbered according- 

 ly. It is advisable to commence 

 planting the centre of the plot with 

 Nos. 1 and 2; Nos. 3 and 4 coming to 

 right and left respectively, and so 

 forth. By this means, the seed of the 

 best ears is in the middle of the plot, 

 and these plants are less liable to fer- 

 tilization by stray pollen from un- 

 selected seed, or to injury by cattle 

 or vermin. The breeding plot may be 

 situated in the main-crop planting of 

 the same variety, or better still, in the 

 midst of the "increase field," but 



where possible, its entire segregation 

 is preferable. 



In order to guard again.st self-fer- 

 tilization and the possible deteriora- 

 tion which may thereby occur, alter- 

 nate halves of each row are detassel- 

 led, that is, the main flower or tassel 

 at the top of the stalk is removed as 

 it appears. Detasselled plants will 

 thus be fertilized by "entire" con- 

 geners in the adjacent rows, and seed 

 will only be saved from detasselled 

 plants. With this exception, selec- 

 tion in the breeding plot is proceeded 

 with in exactly the same manner as 

 in the preceding season, and the pro- 

 cess, one of ^continual, improvement is 

 carried on year by year. 



— Elimination of Undesirable 

 Plants.— 



To be effective, selection in the 

 breeding plot must be rigorous, and 

 during the early stages of growth any 

 plants showing undesirable traits 

 should be cut out entirely. Certain 

 rows will also fail to breed true to 

 type, and these also should be cut out 

 as early as possible, and, if practi- 

 cable, before the male plant has shed 

 pollen. In the ordinary course of 

 events, several ears will probably be 

 selected from each of a certain num- 

 ber of rows, and the second genera- 

 tion can be numbered la, lb, Ic, 5a, 

 5h, 5c, and so forth as applies to 

 each. In this way the pedigree of 

 each ear is known, and the remarks 

 pertaining to it can be trq,ced in the 

 stud 1)ook. 



The remainder of the seed secured 

 from the breeding plot should be su- 

 perior to that from the main crop of 

 the farm, and if of sufficient quantity 

 can be used for main-crop sowings 

 the following season. Failing this, 

 and particularly in the case of the 

 breeder of pedigree seed, it can be 

 SQwn in a larger plot, often known as 

 the "increase" fiel(^, from which the 

 entire seed for the third season's 

 sowing can be obtained. The usual 

 system of selecting seed ears from the 

 crib indiscriminately entails much 

 time and labour without achieving its 

 object. For the large grower who 

 does not consider he has time for the 

 niceties of records, the breeding plot, 

 together with the increase field as out- 

 lined above, affords good possibilities 

 of increasing his profits, and careful 

 annual selection of sfeed by this'means 

 spells certain improvement in yield 

 and quality. 



