1911. 
INHERITANCE IN CORN EARS. 
An Experiment in Mixed Seed. 
A year ago I described the results of an ear-to-rovv 
test with 25 selected ears of yellow dent corn, and 
pointed out the variations in yield from these ears. 
At that time I chose six of the parent ears, which 
were only half shelled for the test, intending to 
grow a mixed strain from them, because their rows 
seemed to have some characters in common, viz., 
early maturity, relatively high yield, and rather 
less foliage than other rows. I also chose eight 
of the original ears for another strain because 
of tendencies toward leafiness and later 
maturity, with slightly lower yield of 
grain. I planted the seed from each 
group of ears mixed, in quite uniform 
soil, and they made a nice appearance 
until drought interfered. I watched 
these strains carefully until harvest, and 
looked in vain for any evidence of dif¬ 
ferences in maturity or growth of fol¬ 
iage. At harvest the differences in yield 
were negligible where the chances were 
equal for the corn rows. The fact is 
that all of the selected ears were good 
ears, of mixed ancestry, and the differ¬ 
ences observed in the rows of my first 
test from them were not pronounced 
enough to be worth much in a practical 
way. I did get splendid corn for that 
variety from both groups. That was 
due to inheritance backed up by good 
soil conditions. 
In the same field I planted another 
ear-to-row test of the same variety of 
corn. Twenty of these rows were 
planted on uniform soil, a stony, 
gravelly knoll which dried out badly 
and reduced the yields. Such conditions 
are much better for showing differences 
due to inheritance than are more favor¬ 
able ones. At harvest time I found 
three rows which showed pronounced 
differences in yield and character of the 
ears. Differences in the growth of fod¬ 
der were not noticed. Fig. 132 shows 
the piles from these three rows just 
after husking and weighing. No. 3 made 
the best yield and was certainly the 
best in type of ear as one can easily 
see. No. 7 made a good yield, but was 
decidedly inferior in type. No. 11 was 
very low in yield, although some of the 
“nubbins” were fairly good in type. The 
laborer who harvested No. 11 predicted 
at once that it would get the “booby 
prize.” I have tabulated the yields and 
per cent of moisture contained in these 
three lots, each the progeny of one 
selected ear: 
No. 3, moisture 27.1-3 per cent; yield dry 
shelled corn -per acre, 46.9 bushels. 
No. 7, moisture 31 per cent; yield dry shelled 
corn per acre, 43.6 bushels. 
No. 11, moisture 3414 per cent: yield dry 
shelled corn per acre, 20.3 bushels. 
I have saved the progeny of No. 3 
with the intention of perpetuating it this 
year, but knowing that it was allowed 
to cross-fertilize with other rows infer¬ 
ior to it, I did not save enough of the 
seed of the original ear to make a good 
start. The results obtained from No. 7 
have set me to thinking that it might be 
well to study the results of planting in 
separate rows the corn from ears which 
we ordinarily discriminate against when 
making selections because of shape of 
kernel and diameter of the ear. How 
much has type to do with yield? I am 
now planning to make an ear-to-row test 
of extreme variations in type, all found 
in one variety, but all having some pos¬ 
sibilities in yield. 
Fig. 130 shows a very handy way of 
weighing the yields from separate rows 
in the field. The tripod is a stout one 
belonging to a drainage level. The 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
GRASS ON FERTILIZER ALONE. 
Good Results Without Barnyard Manure. 
As the season approaches for the commencement 
of farming operations I feel constrained to give 
the experience of a one-horse farmer in breaking 
up old worn-out meadow, and by cropping without 
any barnyard manure, getting it into grass again and 
securing large crops of same. No attempt was made 
at following the “Clark” method; indeed to most of 
us that plan is impossible, because of our mixed 
farming, which calls for our attention in so many 
ways at the same time, making it impossible to give 
WEIGHING AND SORTING CORN IN EAR TEST. Fig. 130 
40 
387 
of the last year a mixture of Timothy, Red-top and 
Alsike clover was sown in the corn, and cultivated in, 
this being the last of four or five cultivations both 
ways, as the corn was in checks. 
With the potatoes was used for two years about 
one ton per acre of another home mixture of very 
high grade. The last year the potatoes were dug in 
September and the land then well harrowed and 
sown to Timothy alone. At time of seeding 500 
pounds per acre of bone dust was used. Then in the 
Spring following on all the land was sown 400 pounds 
per acre of a mixture analyzing 8-8-S, composed of ni¬ 
trate of soda, bone dust and muriate of potash. A con¬ 
servative estimate of the crop was three 
tons per acre. That seeded with the 
corn has been harvested two seasons 
and received the top-dressing above men¬ 
tioned every Spring, the second year 
cutting a heavier crop than the first, and 
the stubble now promises another splen¬ 
did crop. The land seeded after potatoes 
was covered for weeks last Winter with 
ice, and as the seeding was so late fears 
were entertained as to the recovery of 
the small grass plants, and indeed when 
all of the snow and ice left for good last 
March not a green leaf showed, but the 
tiny roots had something to nourish 
them, as was shown later, when upon 
July 1 the Timothy stood almost five 
feet high and so thick that it required a 
man to follow the mower each swath to 
keep the grass back, and in September 
the second crop was well headed out, 
but was allowed to stay on the land to 
keep up the humus as far as possible. 
The measure of success to which I have 
attained I credit to the following prin¬ 
ciples: First, lots of cultivation; second, 
a good seed bed with available food 
right at hand for the young plants; 
third, plenty of feeding each year after 
seeding, and keeping the live stock off 
the land in the Fall. These results 
were obtained on ordinary land, in an 
ordinary manner, by a very ordinary 
farmer, and prove what could be done 
by a wideawake man by still more per¬ 
fect methods. There are thousands of 
acres of natural grass lands in Con¬ 
necticut and other Eastern States which 
do not at present “pay their keep,” and 
the only object of this article is that 
others may be encouraged to take hold 
and reclaim some of this land, for it 
can be made to pay a handsome profit 
on investment by the use of commercial 
fertilizer alone. The land I experimented 
upon had been robbed for years, the 
hay taken away, and not a particle of 
manure or fertilizer put back, and was 
yielding about a half ton to the acre. 
The fertilizer mixtures used last year 
were as follows: For corn, nitrate of 
soda, 200 pounds; muriate of potash, 
350 pounds; acid phosphate, 650 pounds; 
blood, bone and meat, 800 pounds to the 
ton. For potatoes, nitrate of soda, 250 
pounds; sulphate of potash, 450 pounds; 
acid phosphate, 700 pounds; blood, bone 
and meat, 600 pounds to the ton. For 
grass, nitrate of soda, 1,000 pounds; 
muriate of potash, 350 pounds; acid 
phosphate, 300 pounds; blood, bone and 
meat, 350 pounds to the ton. 
Litchfield Co., Conn. l. h. Reynolds. 
GOOD AND POOR RESULTS WITH CORN. Fig. 132 
We receive more questions about 
the use of lime than on any other single 
line of agriculture. There are several 
things which may be repeated over and 
over. Ground limestone is better on 
light soils which have little humus in 
them. We would use burned lime on 
heavy or very sour soils. Never buy 
lime without a guaranteed analysis, and 
figure from it which pound of lime is 
cheapest. For quick results you should 
use two pounds of ground limestone to 
one of burned lime. Do not use lime on pota¬ 
toes or strawberries. Its best results are on clover. 
spring balance is sufficiently accurate for comparative land the many harfowings, etc., called for in the 
weighings. The laborer is sorting sound from soft intense “Clark” method. Our turf was plowed in the 
corn to determine what I call the percentage of ma- Fall and the next Spring fitted with disk and spike- Alfalfa, Timothy, wheat and garden crops. Usually h 
edward r. minns. tooth hairows, used alternately until soil was very is better to use lime when seeding to grass, grain or 
mellow, then corn planted on a part and the rest clover. Do not plow lime under, but spread on the 
put into potatoes. With the corn was used about 600 
turity 
N. Y. State College 
‘Wnnn . .. , . . - -------- .. v,v,v, rough furrows and harrow' in. You will seldom obtain 
Sawdust is fermented and* treated^ehemioaTl'v! ^hen^lt P ) 0Unds . per acre of a home mature fertilizer costing good results by spreading on top of a sod. Do not mix 
is mixed two to one with rye flour and baked like ordinary a JOUt $30 per ton, and analyzing fully as high as the burned lime with hen manure or any other organic 
bread, it is fed to horses! No— those animals do not ^est fertilizer on the market, all used in or about the plant food. The ground limestone may be safely used 
an.o to sawhorses. hill. Two crops of corn were secured, and in July for this purpose. 
