108 Nebraska Agricultural Exp. Station , Research Bui. 20 
EAR-TO-ROW BREEDING OF NEBRASKA WHITE PRIZE CORN 
An initial ear-to-row test was made in 1911 with Nebraska 
White Prize corn. Remnants of these two hundred ears were 
given a duplicate test in 1912. Remaining remnants of the eight 
best producing ears were planted in ear-to-row plats in 1913 to 
be used thereafter in a continuous ear-to-row experiment. 
Six well-developed ears were selected from each of these 
plats and planted in individual ear-to-row plats in 1914. Six 
ears were in turn selected from the most productive one of the 
six roAvs representing each strain, for planting in 1915 and 
successive years. 
In a second experiment a small amount of seed from the 
remnants of each of the above high yielding ears was mixed in 
1913 for planting in an isolation plat. This seed stock has been 
continued each year in an isolation plat, without further selec- 
tion aside from the choice of a large number of well-developed 
ears which were shelled in composite. 
In a third experiment the eight strains have been inter- 
crossed each year in the manner described on page 105 for 
Hogue’s Yellow Dent. 
For the comparative yield test of corn continued by the 
various methods of ear-to-row breeding reported in Table 41, 
seed of the eight strains subjected to any one treatment has 
been mixed, so that the yields are for the eight strains in com- 
posite. 
As an average for the five years, compared with the orig- 
inal Nebraska White Prize corn, (1) continuous ear-to-row 
breeding yielded 0.5 bushel less; (2) isolation increase of eight 
high yielding strains in composite yielded 3.0 bushels less; (3 # ) 
intercrossing of eight best strains yielded 1.1 bushels more. 
The yields in the initial ear-to-row tests during 1911 and 
1912 of the eight strains used in the above tests are given in 
Table 42. As an average for the two years, these eight strains 
surpassed the original Nebraska White Prize corn by 12.8 
bushels. Much of the earlier enthusiasm for ear-to-row breeding 
was based upon the indication of superiority in the initial tests 
of the mother ears before the work had progressed sufficiently 
far to make more extensive practical field progeny tests. 
