The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-01-15

It's maturing season, but requires
| about five of it's kernels placed end
wise to span it's cob. While two
kernels of the White Pearl variety
will often span their cob. Some
farmers contend that cit takes a lot
of corn to go around big cob" But
! after frequent personal visits to
many localities in the corn States,
and many years of personal tests, I
have concluded that it does not
necessarily require large amount
of corn to cover a large cob. And
thatit depends entirely on the length
of the grain, as to the amount of
corn that can be grown on large
cob.
L have personally grown large
cObbed varieties of corn which pro-
| duced large per cent. of grain to
the bushel of ears. But the afore-
mentioned checks of natural selec-
tion, which control the productive
capacity, also controlled the length
of the ear inasmuch as the length of
the ear was shortened in proportion
to the increase of per cent. of grain
/ to the bushel of ears. l have also
| personally grown large-cobbed, long
cared deep grained varieties of corn
that produced a large per cent. of
grain to the bushel of ears. But l
was compelled to plant them much
thinner on the ground than the
smaller cared varieties. Their ma
turing season was also so long (about
$50 days. that they rarely matured
fully, even during our most favor
able year.
If the breeder endeavors to con-
tinue the growing of such corn, the
many checks exerted through natural
/ selection, by the means of cOrrel-
lated variation, interferes by re-
/ ducing the length of the ear and
! grain to the extent that it will not
contain any more weight of we'll ma
/ tured grain than will our medium
sized, long grained, medium-cObbed
varieties of corn. The writer has
/ been repeatedly defeated in endeav-
oring to breed up very large deep
grained, long cared variety of corn
in this latitude, for the reason that
the correlated checks of natural
selection that control the natural
1;,,,;+ -;o15 1r-OT,11 not ,Oo,,y,oiE mo 70
succeed. A few years ago certain
experimenters claimed that when a
variety of corn would produce large
ear at each joint of the stalk, was
bred up, we would have then reached
the millennium in maximum corn pro
ductiOn. About ten years ago the
writer came into possession of new
variety of pop corn of Iowa origin,
that was claimed to produce an ear
at each joint of it's stalk. In the
writer's fields very few stalks ex,
hibited this tendency. And such
stalks that did produce an ear al
each Joint Cor say IA ears) gave ears
much below the normal in size, and
very immature in quality. Prof. 0
E. Blount, now of Colorado, endeav
Ored Gin Tennessee) through selec
tiOn covering a long series of years
to revOlutionize corn growing by
breeding up a variety of corn that
would produce "a large ear at eacI
Joint of it's stalk. But this same Law
5 of correlated variation prevented hi!
l doing so. During a year of long
: growing season, the writer has sue
? ceeded in growing a stalk of BlOunt'
l Prolific corn which produced eigh
ears. But the ears were of insigniti
f can't size, and immature quality, anC
consumed about $50 days of growing
2 season. In fact, a medium sizeC
/ white dent main crop corn whicl
D nroduced only one good ear to it
I stalk. Droduced shelled corn of NOR
e marketable value than the eigh
/ ears produced on. one stalk Of Prof
e Blount's corn.
f The writer's experience IN corr
!, breeding, and seed production, 1
: that the concentration of the corn
q producing capacity of the soil IN tn
r production of only one good ear, o1
a a short, thick, whip-shaped stalk
a such an ear producing 81 to 80 pc
: cent of shelled corn to the bushel o
e ears consistent with its perfect ma
+ turitv, in our average growing sea
: ,- Irv1,icb in this latitude ar