fc0(1 Viihio of viirieties. Tc is known that jniciness 
of an apple has no relation to the amount of water 
it contains. The Ben Davis and other varieties that 
have tough, dry filu'c or flesh, are deticient in juice, 
which contains the digestive element, malic acid. 
■\Vhcn this fact becomes more generally known that 
apples that are delicumt in juice, are as iudigesti'fle 
as poor ]K)tatoos or poor Iwead, which the consum¬ 
ing public begins to realize, there Avill be a return¬ 
ing demand for some of the old-tinu' apples, the 
’.•('Cognized finer (lualities of which carried with 
them higher food value, liiat has not been su])er- 
scded by any of the new. CKOia.K r. eowKi.n. 
Corn Selection and Breeding 
In your issin* of (tctober 'll. ])agc 
scribe a siindl white eiglit-r( wc:! “Orchard 
nniture in 1(0 days, and stated tlnit lat('r 
have something regtirding a "larger corn 
]»tir|)oses. In this liititnde the .season 
is comparatively short, :ind my (‘ight 
rowed white (lint nnitures, but I wisli 
I cotdd raise 12 or Hi rows with the 
same lal)or and fertilizer. I hope tlnit 
yon might tell me how to do it. or 
whether I may exitect to iiicrmise the 
yi 'Id by eh inging the kind of seed, 
i foiiini a 12-rowed s|)ort ear among 
my eight-rowed .seed, iind tried to make 
it imKluce Ifl rowed set'd. hut from the 
seed of the one ear I only got nine 12- 
rowed ears, lo lO-rowed, and the re¬ 
mainder eigat-rowed. though the ears 
were somewlnit htrg<'r. I will try those 
9 to 12-r(nvod e:irs again. c. w. J. 
t’oimccticiit. 
BUir.DIXO T'l* QT’AldTY.—Few 
plants iire iiuu-e anicMiablc to selec¬ 
tion tlnin corn. In five yetirs the 
Rhode Islan.l Ihxporiinent St;ition in- 
cretised the nmnbor of ears jier 
plant of ii Viiriety of sweet corn 
from !in tiveragc of less than two 
cars to .-ill iivcrago of nearly four 
ears !:(;r itltint. At (he st.-irt only 
.>■) per eeiit of the idants bore more 
tliMii one ca.r. .\t the end of the ex¬ 
periment IK/ 1 (•!• (■(‘lit produc'd more 
Ilian one (‘:ir ]i(‘r idanf. In the be¬ 
ginning no plants wime found with 
more than two oars. After seU'ct- 
ing for five years some plants were 
(d(tallied willi 12 (‘jirs. 
BDFBTIOX OF F.'.RS.—In ihe 
same way tli(‘ Illinois i ixiMM-irieiil 
Station set out to cliangc' the jio.-i- 
tion of the ear on the stalk. From one variet.v jdants 
were taken which bore their (‘ars the highest on 
tli(“ sttibi.s, and other plan's which bore their (vi rs 
the lowest on the stalks. Aftei’ about 10 years’ se¬ 
lection ill tills wa.v a change of three to four feet, in 
the average position of the ears was obtained, 
riants of these high and low-eared .strains have 
h( (*u grown ill ConnecHcut and (he highest, lowi'st 
and average-eariHl plants of each strain an* shown 
ill the itreei'ding illustration. Fig. 1 10. 
DTHFR ClIAKAFTEUrSTICS.—In a similar 
manner the capping over of the (‘ars .-it the tips, 
tin* niimher of rows of grain on tin* (*ars. the 
angle at wliudi the (Nir is lu'ld on the sialk at 
maturity, the time of ripening, the thickness of 
RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
the shank of the ear and the consequent ea.se of 
luisking, all tlu'se characters can be slowly but 
lirofouiidly altered in time by systematic selec- 
t; )!i. While much can be done to adapt a given 
variety to a definite locality in tlio matter of time of 
niioniiig it is not so simple-a matter to iiicr(‘ase yield. 
(TIARACTKR AND YIFl.I rnh.rtunatcly not 
( lie of the characters mentioned or any other sin¬ 
gle character that I know of is directly a.ssociarcd 
with yi(‘!d. Short plants are almost always earlier 
in maturing and conseiiueutl.v less productive than 
t.,11 plants, although even here tin* ndathm is not 
very close. Tlie two high and Iow-(‘ared strains 
]>ictiir(‘d show this notlci'aldy. fl'lie .shorter plants 
tlowi'i- and mature some 15 to 20 da.vs (‘arlier tlmn 
the (dliers, and yii'ld considerably le.ss. On tin* 
(dlu'r hand the tall .strain is not as good a ]>rodue<‘r 
a'' other varieties of medium lu'ight whicli mature 
(‘;irli(‘r. because the iiiaids are too tall, are badly 
(lamagi'd by wind, and art* too late in riiiening for 
Connecticut. So it can he .seen that even height 
of iilant and tiim* of niatiuiiug ai'e not jierteetly 
associat(‘d with yield. q’lH*re is also no r(*lation 
between ilie number of rows on the ear and yield 
nor iK'tweeii llu' nnnih(“r of (‘ju's ]»(*r plant and 
yield. 'I’lien* are sevt'ral 10 to 12-rowed varieties 
(•f tlint corn grown in ('oma'cticut. Yellow Dutton 
aud Argeiitint' Repiililic iiia.v h(( cited as (*xauq»Ies. 
But both of tlit*s»‘ are (xxci'lled in jiroductivi'ue.ss 
by many eight-rowed Hints liaving about tlie .same 
jii-riod of growl h and ar«‘ miieh (‘asim- to husk be¬ 
cause the cob and shank are ihinner. 
YIKl.D AXD SRI.RC'I'IOX.—'I’oo dose selection 
313 
for some particular character may actually de¬ 
crease yield, t have in mind one farmer in Con¬ 
necticut who has selected for many yc'ars years a 
variety of flint known as Rhode Island Premium. 
He has cho.seii his seed very carefully each year 
from ears which wore ]>erfcctly capjiod ovci- at 
tlic tips, and wliich were borne on j)Iants with two 
or more ear.s. lie has produc('d in this way a 
^ariety of which practie.illy (‘vei'y plant j/rodimixs 
two or more I'ars, and a. largo ]H‘r cent of tlicin are 
hcantifull.v capix'd over, fl’ln* (‘ars. liowi'vc'r. are 
small, and this variety ns a produc<‘r of grain, is 
OIK' of (lu‘ low(‘st on tlie list aft(*r two years te.st- 
ing in the variety trials at the Conm*etieut Sta¬ 
tion. q'oo much (‘luphasis upon the s(‘lectiou of 
ears which are well tilled with grains over the tip 
is almost certain sooner <.r later to reduce the 
yielding caitacity of the variety seh'cted, for the 
reason that it is ('.-isier for a plant 
to fill out -its ears well if it is not 
]»rodncuig much. Conseqiu'idly, to 
g('t (‘ars that are fully c.-iiijied ov(‘r 
one usually must soled small (‘ars. 
While we do want ears Unit an* rea¬ 
sonably well filled we don't want 
mere handsomeness at the expense of 
prodnetivi'iH'ss. The man who is 
making a B'ti.sh of selection for some 
one particiihu- diaraetor, disregarding 
other features of the plant, is largely 
wasting his efforts and this practice 
may actually lead to a reduction in 
yielding caiiaeity. 
I'YRE AXD I.OCALITY.—As to 
what can lx* done towards inqiroving 
corn yu'lds, the first and most impor¬ 
tant thing is to mak(‘ sun* that one 
has the tyiK* of corn host suited io 
tin* locality and t' e piiri»os(‘s for 
wliiich it is gK.wii. q'hon* are roughly 
tilreiCdistiiict tyix's of flint corn. (1 ) 
q'iie long-(‘ared, larg(‘-s(‘<*ded, oight- 
row(‘(l varh'tie.s, of which Cold Xng- 
gel and Wammoth Whiti* are g(xjd ex¬ 
amples. 'Tlu'se varu'ries n'liuin* from 
115 to 125 days to matiiri* in Sonthei’n 
Connecticut, and cmu only he grown 
wlK'i-e llic soil is fairly rich aild the 
season long. Fmh'r favorable condi¬ 
tions IIk'.v yield more than any other 
t>pe of flint corn. Even in tin* most favorcxl locali¬ 
ties tlu'y may lx* cut short by frost in ssmie JK'iir.s. 
(2) 'i'lK' medium-sized flint.-; of the (’’anada Yellow, 
longfellow. King Rhilip, Rh(xle Island .Ydiite Cai* 
and Smut Nosed lyjx's wliieli are tlu' main stamlhy 
in New J'ingland and all short-season localities. \'a- 
I'icties of this class can bo counh'd on to mature 
practically every y(‘ar if jdanti'd at the riglit tiim*. 
fl'ht'i grain rip(‘ns without molding badly. (.*>) Small- 
ear(xt varh'ties of yt'llow and whil(> flint com liave 
been especially selected , for earliness. I-^ithrop’s 
Y(‘llow flint, tJriswoId’s 4M)' Day and Rluxli* Island 
Yliile Cai) (short-eared type^ .an* exanqih's of tliis 
class. riie.se mature in about KKt-days and yield 
j»roportioiiat(*ly less lliaii the larger' gror\ing vai-ifv 
12.'!1. you (le- 
(’orn’’ to 
yon would 
for field 
Broad Seeded High Yielding Dent Corn. Fig. 141 
ii- 
A NewrYork Diversified Farming Section of High Fertilitv—Orcharding, Dairying, Grain, Hay and General Gropping. 
• Iwc . ao .'loi;osia& loellu33/l .. 1 “ l;0 1,: - -r : y,., 
Fig. 142 
-A* 
