UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1489 
Washington, D. C. ▼ November, 1927 
CORN BREEDING 
By 
FREDERICK D. RICHEY, Agronomist in Charge of Corn Investigations 
Office of Cereal Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Importance and Scope of Corn Breeding 1 
Principles of Corn Breeding 2 
Reproduction in Corn , 2 
Relation Between Reproduction and Inheritance 5 
Theory of Inheritance in Corn . 5 
Some Heritable Characters of Corn 15 
Inheritance of Productiveness in Corn 21 
Hybrid Vigor and Productiveness 22 
Practice of Corn Breeding 25 
Mass Selection 25 
Ear-to-Row Selection 28 
Hybridization , 33 
Selection Within Selfed Lines 35 
Discussion 55 
Literature Cited 59 
UNITED STATES 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
WASHINGTON 
1927 
