Vol. LXXX. 
Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co., 
3.13 W. 30th St.. New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, JULY 16, 1921 
Entered as Second-Class Matter, June 26, 1879, at the Post 
Office at New Y'ork, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
No. 4647 
crossing is well shown in the accompanying illustra¬ 
tion, Fig. 375. A curious type of corn with golden 
colored leaves instead of the normal green has heed 
known for some time, and breeds true to that color. 
Such plants are weak and usually small. When this 
type is crossed with a dwarf form, another heredi¬ 
tary freak, the result the next year is a very fine, 
tall-growing, dark green lot of plants which are 
An Armful of Alfalfa 
perfectly nox'mal in every way and fully productive. 
The healthy green color comes from the dwarf pa¬ 
rent, and tali stature from the golden parent. What 
one race lacks is made up by the other. This is a 
universal principle, and applies to both animals and 
plants. It seems to be a wise provision on the part 
of Nature to enable the offspring to make the best of 
bad ancestry. 
HIDDEN CHARACTERS.—It is important to 
know' that the undesirable qualities which have been 
suppressed are still there, covered over and hidden 
from sight, but they are not lost. Like a “drowned 
cat,” they reappear later, but in increased numbers. 
The first cross of two different types is usually bene¬ 
ficial, but when these hybrid plants are bred to¬ 
gether all the poor qualities which their ancestors 
had will reappear in 
their offspring. More¬ 
over, every seed on 
those fine-looking ears 
selected for planting has 
an unknown inheritance 
on the staminate side. 
That is, no matter how 
carefully the mother 
plant and the ear which 
it produces are exam¬ 
ined, they can tell us 
nothing as to the good 
or bad qualities of the 
plants which furnished 
the pollen that must be 
carried to the silks be¬ 
fore the seeds can de¬ 
velop. This pollen may 
have come either from a 
barren plant or from a 
sturdy producer. Wheth¬ 
er the pollen comes from 
a prince or a pauper 
among corn plants will 
have as much to do with 
the plants grown from 
that seed as the sire 
will have in the dairy 
herd on his offspring. 
Unfortunately the seed 
carries no family tree 
inscribed on its co\er- 
ing. 
DIFFICULTIES OF 
I M I' R O V E M ENT.— 
What would animal 
breeders think of a sys¬ 
tem which considers 
only the dam and pays 
no attention whatever 
to the sire? Such a meth¬ 
od of breeding w'ouhl 
absolutely ruin any 
purebred herd, yet it is 
tolerated as a method 
of producing seed corn, 
and corn is the most 
valuable plant in Amer¬ 
ica. The reason that no 
better method is used is 
because up to the pres¬ 
ent time none has been found which is practicable. 
Individually plants are of such small value that one 
cannot select particular plants as seed parents and 
other fine plants as pollen parents, hand pollinate 
them and keep a record of their ancestry, as is done 
in principle in pedigreed live-stock breeding. 
INBREEDING.—But there is a method now avail¬ 
able which will give the same and even better 
S ELECTING SEED EARS.—Anyone who is par¬ 
ticular about the corn he raises spends some 
time and effort in selecting the best ears for seed. 
But it is well known that even the very best speci¬ 
mens never produce uniformly as good ears as the 
seed ear planted. From the several hundred plants 
grown from a prize winner at a corn show only a 
very few or perhaps none will yield ears equal to the 
type planted. To get 
satisfactory seed ears 
in quantity the wdiole 
field must be looked 
over. To choose a dozen 
ears that will attract at¬ 
tention at a corn show- 
many thousands of ears 
must be examined care¬ 
fully. In every field 
there are many barren 
stalks. Plants w-itli nub¬ 
bins and ears with 
poorly developed grains 
are all too common in 
the best cared-for fields. 
Mony plants are stunted 
and often badly at¬ 
tacked by smut and 
other diseases. 
PECULIARITIES OF 
POLLINATION. — The 
reason for this unde¬ 
sirable state of affairs 
is not generally appre¬ 
ciated. The corn plant 
is pollinated by the 
wind which “bloweth 
where it listeth,” and 
the result is that corn 
is in a constant state 
of crossing and recross¬ 
ing. This brings about 
a very unstable and 
mixed condition, as 
every live stock raiser 
knows who attempts to 
breed from mongrel 
stock. When two indi¬ 
viduals are crossed 
there is always a ten¬ 
dency to suppress, for 
the time being, any un¬ 
favorable qualities each 
may have, and the best 
from both parents being 
uppermost enables the 
hybrid to make a good 
showing. This principle 
has long been used by 
live stock breeders. Dif¬ 
ferent breeds of cattle', 
sheep and swine have been crossed for many years. 
The mule, that sturdy combination of horse and ass, 
has been known since the time of Moses. But in 
this well-recognized practice of cross-breeding care 
is taken to use only fixed breeds. The hybrids them¬ 
selves are worthless for further propagation. 
SUPPRESSING THE UNDESIRABLE.—The way 
in which undesirable features are suppressed by 
Double-Crossed Corn for Hi^hYielding, Seed 
