Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1890-10-10
SELECTING SEED CORN.
There Is Only One Proper Way to DO
1t and That Is to Select 1t In the Field

There Is Only One Proper Way to DO
1t and That Is to Select 1t In the Field.
Ipresume, says a writer in the Breed
er's Gazette, that no class of farmers
are better prepared to appreciate the
Importance of seed-breeding than are
stock breeders. From seeds spring all
important organic life on the farm
They, therefore, in their development
become the measure of the cost of ami
NAL growth and in large degree of its
character. However successfully a
farmer may breed his steers, he Is
doomed to failure if his crops are of low
capacity, The pounds of beef per acre
is measured not mainly by his skill as
a stock-breeder, but more by his skill
as plant-grower. 1t follows that our
genius o farmers should expend its
first or chief force upon the plant rather
than upon the animal Few men pos
sessed of one absorbing purpose but
what fail to give proper attention to
other important factors in life. This
general truth is not without its illus
tration in the ranks OF stock-breeders,
although no class should appreciate
potent seed more. Very nearly the
round of the laws of heredity in animal
life are found with analogous relations
in plant life. need not review them
to the readers of the Gazette nor mar
shall supporting evidence, for assertion
of these laws is the equivalent of evil
dence to breeder who has familiarized
himself with the laws that govern sue.
cession of organic life,
Hereditary qualities may be fixed in
corn by selection, or may he produced
by crossing and fixed by selection.
shall confne my statements to selection
as a means Of improvement, and mainly
to those phases of the question that will
be suggestive and of value at the com
ing harvest.
One right way exists for corn selec
ton, and only one right way; and thai
way is to select the corn in the field and
from the plant at date early enough
to determine the character of the whole
plant. The Western practice, though
wrong, measures the value of the corr
crop almost wholly by the ears pro
duced. This demands a plant that
gives the maximum amount of ear ant
the minimum amount of stalk. By Sc
lecting the ear from the stalk, and b,
= no other method, can this result be Sc
cured. The ratio Of seed to stem is d
= variable for corn as it Is for othe
: plants. The seed is but fraction
l part of the whole life-and the ratio o
the parts vary in the plant as in the an
imal, and are as susceptible of bein
! fixed as are the parts of an animal.
have carried out trials in selection G
Il seed corn for several years. will nc
< in all these cases prolong articles wit
9 tables of results, and in accordance wit
|" this design state that by weight l fin
L that the ratio of ear to stalk is yer
L variable; that the largest ear is not net
. essarily found on the largest stalk, an
!" is not usually so found Il am conside
s. ing plants within given Variety; tina
. an ear from a tall stalk reproduces
y tall stalk and from a short stalk is n
"a produced short stalk, and that ears s.
Z lected from short stalks produce MOI
Z corn per acre than do ears selected fro
tall stalks. The yield of stalks is O
the reverse order The total crop
quite as large from the seed of the ia
stalks as it is from the seed of the sho
# stalks-really larger. When corn
4 grown for ensilage different Lolicy
a seed selection should be pursued fro
A. that advisable when selection is mac
v for corn grown for its ear alone.