The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1902-01-25
FARMERAND PLANTER
ABOUT CORN BREEDING.
remarkable Discoveries Have Been
Made In the Improvement Of
Corn Varieties.

"a H. W., NeW lndso ILL.,, sends
the s%ubjoined queries:
What is meant by the terms corn
breeding as commonly employed by
the experiment station men? What
is the object of corn breeding? With
what varieties of corn have you ex-
perimented with a view to improving
their chemical composition? Please
mention the varieties best adapted to
conditions in this part of the state"
During the last six or eight a
remarkable discoveries and progress
have been made in all branches of ag-
riculture, and among the most i'm
portant discoveries made during that
period was that of DR.. C. G. Hopkins,
of the Illinois experiment station,
who proved by thorough experiments
hat corn could be not only much i'm
proved physically by the intelligent
and persistent selection of the best
ears Of a variety, but that it's chem
ical composition could be controlled
in large measure by planting seed
from ears a part of whose kernels
had been chemically analysed. These
processes of improvement in corn
have very properly been referred to
and become generally known as corn
breedings," which may be used in
substantially the same sense as "ani-
NAL breeding. In breeding animals
the same general principles are fol-
lowed which have brought about the
improvement of corn. Epitomized,
corn breeding mean the careful and
persistent selection Of the best ears
of any variety which it is desired to
improve, planting the seed under the
most favorable conditions possible to
provide, and giving the plants the
best of culture. Ultimately this pro-
cess will evolve a corn less prone to
very and truer to type than the orig
inal stock, and its prepotency will be
much greater. Certainly there will
always be variation in corn regard
less of the purity of it's breeding, but
the longer it is bred pure the greater
its prepotency and hence, the more
certainty there will be that it will
produce after it's kind"
1t is well known that there is no
variety of corn which, under average
conditions, will produce a very large
per cent. of ears true to type. 1t fol
lows, therefore, that the type has not
been firmly fixed. Corn breeders arc
trying to fix the type of the several
breeds, and that they will succeed is
no longer problematical. Results al
ready obtained prove conclusively
that the continued application of the
principles governing the initial work
will produce the ends sought. Aside
from the improvement of the physical
characteristics of corn a great of i'm
portant work has been accomplished
in the way of improving it's chemical
composition.
Corn breeding has as it's chief OBJ
ject the adaptation of the cereal to
special purposes. There is a growing
demand for a corn having a higher
starch composition than the corns
commonly grown. Likewise there is
n demond omonr +ooLu,a. r~N
having q HIGHER nrotein oortant 81
the average corn of the present time.
Corn for the m~opufactrr. 90 s+onah
olcoboI ~glucose sirnn shor,d aon
tain a high percentage of carbohy-
drates. and tho val,,e Of oorn - ~
used as feed for gro,yipn an;rna1s ~
manufactured int oorn a..
ma, food will certoin,v 10 -,
If tic nroteip co,+ent ~ ;nouaaaa1
Experiments were conduotaS ..
this station tho nost aasas az
crease the ~cento - nro+a;n -
p;ar,s Favar;+a L.an.r