VOL. XXXVIII. No. 1(), 
WHOLE No. 1519 
PRICE FIVE CENTS 
S2.00 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according’ to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by the Rural Publishing Company,.in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
will make plainly evident how rntich more 
valuable one variety of seed is than anothei. 
If we examine a little into the botanical 
history of the corn plant, we shall find that 
the ovaries in the ear, through the interven¬ 
tion of the silk, are fertilized by the pollen 
grains which are shed from the tassel. We 
will furthermore observe, that generally the 
pollen is shed from each plant before the silk 
in that plant is sufficiently developed to receive 
it. This is a provision of Nature in favor of 
cross-fertilization, and against self-fertiliza¬ 
tion or in-breeding. Hence, as the ovaries on 
an ear are fertilized by pollen from other 
plauts, each kernel is liable to have a different 
male parent, and, as a matter of fact, these 
kernels, or the majority of them, are not 
brothers and sisters, but half-brothers or half- 
sisters ; that is, they have the same mother but 
different fathers. Hence, we should expect 
what we actually find—a great diversity of 
inherited character between adjoining kernels 
in the cob. In our experiment,with three kernels 
in a hill, under equivalent circumstances of 
culture, under the same excessive manuring, 
the difference of growth between the three 
plants throughout the whole period of growth, 
was well marked, and the crop capacity was so 
different, that while one hill yielded one pound 
of ear corn, an adjoining hill yielded 3£ 
pounds of ear corn, and while one hill 
yielded 1} pound of fodder, another hill yield¬ 
ed 6| pounds of fodder. As a matter of fact, 
two kernels of corn which are taken from the 
same ear and which are neighbors, may pro¬ 
duce plants so differeut that one shall be agri- 
culinrally barren, another of extreme prolifi¬ 
cacy ; one may be very leafy, another with 
far less leaf expansion, etc., etc. 
We will furthermore observe, if we study 
our fields, that while every plant bears a tassel 
which sheds pollen, there are a great many 
plants which are either absolutely sterile, or 
agriculturally barren; that Is, bear such In¬ 
ferior ears that they might as well be sterile, 
so far as their contribution to the crop is con¬ 
cerned. After many countings of stalks in 
many fields, among good farmers, we have 
concluded that about one-half the stalks in an 
ordinary corn-field are agriculturally barren, 
and the last we have counted were In the field 
mentioned above as yielding 133 bushels ; here 
74 per cent, bore ears worth counting, and 
26 per cent, were either sterile or agricultu¬ 
rally barren. 
This being the condition of affairs in our 
corn field, it is seen that to obtain good seed, 
something more is necessary than to select 
good ears, or twin ears, etc., the probabilities 
being that every ear has at least half its ker¬ 
nels pollinated from barren stalks, and as we 
have no means of distinguishing the kernels 
which result from prolific parentage, we must 
necessarily in this kind of selection improve 
the shape of our cob, the arrangement of the 
kernels etc., much more readily than we can 
improve the prolificacy. Indeed under the 
method of selection now in vogue, progress 
must be slow and uncertain until through in¬ 
tention or through accident, the barren pollen 
is eliminated from our fields ; then, then only, 
are the conditions such that progress will be 
rapid, and resnlts certain. The first mention 
of the breeding of seed corn, by confining the 
fertilization of ovaries to pollen from fruitful 
plants, is In the American Agriculturist of De¬ 
cember 1867, when N. 8. Bidwell, of St. Paul, 
describes the process of castration as practiced 
in Tennessee. Whether the corn being dis¬ 
seminated by Mr. Blunt of Tennessee, so re¬ 
markable for its prolificacy, (we have seen 
many stalks with eight or nine fine ears to a 
stalk, and a whole armful, cut as stated from a 
limited area, containing from six to nine, per¬ 
fect and fine ears) is the result of this castra¬ 
tion of infertile stalks, we kuow uot, but the 
facts are suggestive. The next mention we 
find 1* by Professor Beal, in the Scientific 
Farmer of April 1877, where the matter is ably 
AL L ABOUT IT. 
How to Producejthe Great 
est Yields. 
The Most Prolific Varieties 
BLUNT’S WHITE PROLIFIC 
The Rural's Second Free Seed Distribution to 
Subscribers for 1879, with Special Pre¬ 
miums for the Largest Yields. 
SEED-CORN 
OK. E. LEWIS 8TURTKVANT 
Wkke tire average farmer to be asked to 
name the one thing most essential in growing 
a large yield of corn, lie would reply “ ma¬ 
nure.” And yet, there is uo greater mistaken 
belief current than that applying manure will 
produce the large crop. It is a truth that each 
reader can verify, that while fertility of soil is 
essential to every crop, yet that the mere ap¬ 
plying of inauure alone cauuot produce the 
crop. Many a farmer manures in excess of 
the capacity of his seed, and hence is wasting 
capital. In the presence of sufficient fertility 
to mature a crop, we from experience, place in 
their order—first, seed, then cultivation. It is 
a matter of common observation with us, that 
the best-manured land does not produce the 
largest crop, and that the land planted with 
the best seed, and sufficiently fertile, does pro¬ 
duce the largest crop. If we have a poor seed, 
whose normal capacity is 40 bushels of corn 
per acre, we can easily obtain the 40-bushel 
crop by applying manure aud culture, aud yet 
we ma}’ be unable to obtain an 80-bushel yield 
by doubling the amount of manure used. On 
the other baud, if we have seed of the normal 
capacity of 80 bushels, we oau obtain this 80- 
bushel yield without much trouble, and with 
but slight excess of mammal application over 
what we have assumed was used for the 40- 
bushel crop. Indeed, Jin a scries of fields, or 
in one field differently manured in its portions, 
we need not expect to find the largest crop 
where the most manure has been applied, but 
probably we shall find it where less manure, 
but sufficient manure, has been used. And this 
leads to another proposition, viz.: that manur¬ 
ing beyond the capacity oi (fie seed may be 
absolutely injurious to the crop. 
e have manured a portion of a field, hop¬ 
ing to realize an enormous crop, usiug the 
chemicals which 300 bushels of crop would 
remove, and harvested but 9SH bushels of 
shelled corn per acre; while an ordinarv field 
BLUNT’S WHITE PROLIFIC CORN.-fFrom Life.) 
