Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1911 — Winter Months on the farm [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Winter Months on the farm

How to Improoe Them

CORN BREEDING How to Build a Good Strain Suited to Local Need* Which Will Yield Abundantly

By PROF. R. A. MOORE

K'tKMwfn i College of Jtgiicnltnn

An essential of profitable farming little appreciated in the past by the general farmer is the development of strains of seed corn well adapted to local conditions. Heretofore the corn grower has not practised rigid selection to find the variety best suited to his environment He has not appreciated that he could introduce into his locality grades of corn which have proved successful in other Btates and then acclimate this corn to his local conditions thereby gaining greater yields. It is a relatively simple matter where a standard variety is grown to •elect the best ears from the year’s crop, cure them properly, store them for the winter, and plant those showing the highest germination test the following spring. What little extra time the farmer consumes in these operations is amply repaid by the larger net returns be realizes from his next crop. Field experiments comparing the character of the crop resulting from the use of rigidly selected pure-bred seed and that from seed corn as ordinarily handled on the farm prove conclusively the vast superiority of the rigidly selected, purebred strains. Yields of 55 to 60 bushels per acre resulted from use of the former grade, while returns averaging 36 bushels attended the use of the latter variety. Begin by Selection. In the atteiqpt to eliminate all poor ears the best plan in the case of cured corn is to lay out all the earß in rows on the floor. A best ear should be selected as an ideal, so that 1n going over and sorting the corn the ears corresponding most closely to the Ideal will be selected. All others

■which do not correspond to the ideal in sixe, shape, color, uniformity of kernels and quality should be discarded. Then a second sorting should be made to remove ears whose kernels do not intimately coincide with the ideal kernel. In general the characteristics most desired in ears of seed corn are good Bise, regular rows of uniform kernels, well filled out at the butt and tip, deep and closely fitting on a well shaped, moderate-sized cob. All ears haring defects and undesirable features should be rejected. Grow a Seed Plot. The selection of seed corn from the general field crop Is usually attended by poor success. A special seed plot Is essential where field selection Is practiced. The advantages of this system are that there are better chances of fertilization; the plot is isolated from other corn fields precluding crossings by undesirable strains; crossing may be controlled on the plot; the elimination of undesirable plants and the marking of exceptional rows of plants is possible as well as the determination of yields of the crop from certain plants. A quarter-acre or a half-acre plot should be chosen and the soil put into the best condition. A good plan is to select the finest ears and to plant one row from each ear to discover the superior strains and to control pollenation. When the plants begin to tassel each row should be carefully inspected and every plant detasseled that indicates barrenness or undesirable characteristics in order that they may not pollenate any desirable plants. If cross pollenation is sought, every other row should be detasseled for most perfect pollenation. To eliminate chances of injury from freezing the seed ears should be selected from this plot as soon as the crop is well matured. The ears to select are those that grow reasonably low on moderately strong shanks Just long enough to allow the ear to bend over and hang down. The husks should not be excessively long. The stalks should be from six to ■even and one-half feet tall, strong at the butt, tapering gradually to the top with perfect, strong brace roots, and broad, healthy leaves free from diseased spots. The foliage should be of such a character as will elaborate an abundance of plant food and produce good fodder. Grading the Seed. The next process consists in grading the seed for the planter. The ears should be butted and tipped because the middle kernels produce

more and are more regular in size and shape and accordingly are more regularly dropped by the planter. Each ear Should b«? shelled and graded. In some cases two or three gradations can be made profitable. Thin kernels, thick broad kernels, flat kernels, and other odd sizes can be sep-

A short, thick cpb will carry more.com than a long, slender one. Long ear* are not the largest producers. arated into groups and even handpicked to remove all black, broken or rotten kernels. A more perfect method of corn breeding is known as the ear-to-the-roW system of breeding and consists of Selecting ears of the preferred variety, possessing uniform ebarao-

ters, and growing them separately. The germination test discards all except the best ears and butts and tips in these tests in each case should be rejected. This seed Is planted in an isolated plot, the grain from each ear being put into a separate row. Throughout the growing season all poor stalks should be removed. At harvest the best ears from each row are picked and cured for breeding seed for succeeding seasons. An accurate record Is kept of the number of each row and the number of ears used from each row. The remainder of the corn from the seed plot Is placed in numbered sacks and used as seed for the main crop of the subsequent year. The breeding seed first chosen is subjected to rigid selection; the corn retained for the breeding plot for each succeeding year is taken from the best producing rows. Accurate records regarding selection and careful management practised in the breeding of seed corn are Just as essential as tests of the milk and butter fat production of dairy cows, to determine the wage-eaarners. Inferior management and selection of breeding corn decreases the efficiency of the farmer. When one considers how easily the countryman can checkmate this handicap by a simple system of selection and discrimination In the various strains of breeding corn, one almost believes the relative simplicity of the problem Is its greatest drawback. The farmer will not or can not comprehend that such an easy method in breeding corn will increase his yield to 40 to 60 per cent and will correspondingly Improve the quality of hts product. No one can compel the farmer to Institute and practice methods of management to which he is radically opposed. However, when the farm profits are so vitally concerned as they are in this problem of Increasing the corn production in this country and when a correct solution of the difficulty has been placed under the farmer's noee, only obstinacy against the adoption of advanced methods or mherent laxity and shiftlessness can be offered as excuses against the universal adoption of proper methods of selection, breeding, curing, storage, and general care of selected strains of seed corn. yields of corn would be increased by millions of bushels annually if farmers would only take a little time to properly cure, test and keep up the standard of seed corn. Acreage productions in excess of 70 bushels would be common where today 80-bushel results are In the majority.

Corn from two rows, one planted with selected seed and the other with ordinary seed.