HYBRID SEED CORN 
VERSUS HIGH-BRED OR OPEN 
POLLINATED SEED CORN 
F ARMERS everywhere in the United 
States are becoming intensely interested 
in Hybrid Seed Corn. Questions that 
have been addressed to us from many sections 
of the country not only indicate considerable 
interest but also give evidence that some 
confusion exists in the minds of many as to 
what Hybrid Seed Corn really is. 
For several generations types and varieties 
of Seed Corn were obtained by selection, and 
much excellent work was done resulting in 
not only producing strains that give higher 
yields but earlier types were developed which 
sent the corn belt farther north by leaps 
and bounds. Improvements were also accom¬ 
plished in other physical directions. It was 
perfectly natural that growers who had de¬ 
voted themselves to this task of improvement 
by selection should describe their product as 
High-bred, but with the revolutionary meth¬ 
ods involved in the production of Hybrid 
Corn it seems desirable to give this explana¬ 
tion as there is no relationship between the 
so called High-bred, sometimes spelled Hy- 
bred, and Hybrid Corn. 
A simple explanation of the history of 
Hybrid Corn may be interesting to many of 
our readers. 
KNOW YOUR HYBRID CORN 
By Joe L. Robinson and Don L. Helt 
“The story behind the production of hybrid com¬ 
binations which may be expected to give you more 
corn in your crib and more cash in your pocket is 
fascinating. It is a £..ory of countless trial-and-error 
breeding experiments, years of study and research. 
It is a story about men who have made the produc¬ 
tion of the commercially superior seed corn their 
major work. To you, as a corn grower, the story is 
offered with every essential detail, in the hope of 
saving you money on each bushel of hybrid seed 
you buy and of making you money on every acre 
of hybrid corn you plant. 
THE MYSTERY OF HYBRIDS 
EXPLAINED 
Most of the commercial hybrids offered on the 
market are either three-way or double crosses. When 
grown commercially the crossing is accomplished by 
planting the parent which is to furnish the pollen 
in every third, fourth, or fifth row r throughout the 
field. The parent from wdiich the seed ears are to 
be harvested is planted in the intervening rows. The 
tassels are removed from the ear-producing parents 
before they shed pollen in order to insure cross 
pollination. 
BUY NEW HYBRID SEED FOR 
EVERY CROP GROWN 
“Seed saved from a field wdiere hybrid corn has 
been planted will not grow a crop equalling the 
original hybrid in yield. The yield will drop as much 
as 10 to 20 per cent. The original hybrid is the 
result of a cross between two definite parents. Seed 
harvested from a field where the original hybrid 
seed was planted is not necessarily the result of a 
definite cross. A certain proportion of inbreeding 
takes place. This inbreeding reduces the vigor of 
the plant and the resulting yield will be less.” 
The DAKOTA IMPROVED SEED COMPANY 
“Hybrid Corn seed is produced from inbred or 
self-pollinated lines. Each inbred strain has been 
subjected to self-pollination for a period of at least 
5 years, and usually much longer. Through this care¬ 
ful inbreeding a line of corn becomes uniform in 
certain characteristics and will breed true. When 
two such inbred strains are mated together a “single 
cross hybrid” is the result. When a single cross and 
another inbred strain are mated together a “three- 
way cross” is obtained. When two single-cross 
hybrids are mated a “double cross hybrid” involv¬ 
ing four different strains results. 
HYBRID CORN ROOT SYSTEM 
One of the interesting features of Hybrid Corn, 
and one which Scientists believe contributes in no 
small measure to increased value to the corn grower, 
is the unusually strong root system of Hybrids that 
have given outstanding results. The above illus¬ 
tration which is of the Iowealth Hybrid serves to 
convey this very clearly. 
