The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-12-11
THE SIZE OF A GRAIN OF CORN.

what small affair grain Of corn
seems. Yet an aggregation of the
grains of corn which are produced in
one crop, on 40 acres of good corn
land, seems of considerable import
ance.
An ear of corn is produced for the
aggregate of the grains of corn which
it contains. Yet almost all corn
growers when selecting corn for
planting select it by the ear, paying
very little attention to the size or
character of the grain.
During my % years experience as
a breeder Of the corn plant, have
noticed that some individual ears in
field of corn contained almost
twice as many grains as other ears.
But their grains were narrow, thin,
and sharp pointed, and grew on
large cob. An average sized ear of
corn, such as ismost generally grown
in the great corn belt, may contain
(and often does) "a rows, with /, 900
or l, 200 grains, and not have as much
corn IN weight, as another individual
ear of the same size, which contains
but 16 rows, with but 700 or 800
grains. But the grains on an ear of
the latter type are much wider larger
and thicker. I have seen from my
experience in corn breeding, in all of
its numerous phases, that those indi-
vidual ears which have the fewest
and largest grains are the most pro
gressive ones. In fact they are much
more free from barrenness and it's
attendant tdegeneracy-dry rot, smut,
nubbin- producing tendency, and low
terminating power. Large grains of
corn germinate more quickly than
the smaller ones, provided they are
equally mature. Their terminating
power is also much stronger, on &C
count of being more free from bar
renness and inherited weakness. The
writer personally knows such a vari-
ETY. of large grained corn that sell
dom terminates less than 100 per
cent. It's grains have so much in
herited vigor that their germs are
not easily affected, as regards i'm
paired terminating power, by Un-
favorable weather conditions prior
to planting, or unfavOrable weather
or soil conditions after being planted.
Truly a most valuable feature. And
which, if it was universal in all the
seed corn annually planted, would,
in the writer 5 opinion, increase our
average yield of corn to 100 bushels
per acre eventually. But it is
very far from being universal. In
fact,a rare exception rather than the
rule.
Large grained corn, from it's inher-
tied vigor, progressiveness, and high
terminating power, terminates more
quickly, and pushes the young plant
on much more vigorously than does
small grained corn. This early gain,
as it does, at one of the most critical
periods in the life of the plant, makes
a uniform and rapid early growth,
especially if all the grains in a plant
ing are of about equal size and
weight) good even stand, and uni
form and thorough pOllenatiOn.
With the result of doubling the yield
of merchantable grain per acre. To
many farmers this may seem to be
strong claim. But will merely say:
try it yourselves and be convinced.
To seek to bend to our will, and
guide harmoniously to triumphant
result, the dimly understood, but
minutely, and immutably potent
forces of nature, that from time even
prior to termination, control in the
production of plant life, is certainly
an endeavor calling for the highest
of the grandest study-the
study of nature.
It has been well proven by several
eminent experimenters that the
largest typed seeds always produce
the largest yield; yet most farmers
pay little heed to this fact in select
ing their seed corn. Besides pro-
ducing the largest yield of grain,
large grained corn best meets the re-
of modern milIers.
J. G.. SUFFERN.