The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-05-23

loves this work, and who is gifted b,
nature with the necessary qualifica
tions for successful n-breeding
In Illinois alone there are over thre,
hundred thousand corn-growers, re
quiring nearly one million bushels O
seed corn every year. From the fac
that a large per cent. of this sect
must be secured by the farmers every
year, the field is seen to be very large
The value of the work of the See(
Corn Breeders Association in supply
ing this demand for improved seec
cannot be measured, and the result.
from its work can even now be sect
to be of tremendous value and i'm
portance to the people of the United
States.
Corn-breeding is modification oI
livestock breeding, and follows the
same general laws and principles. II
is the application of principles ol
plant and animal breeding to the
compliant. The per cent. of sugar
IN the sugar-beet has been increased
from three per cent. to sixteen pei
cent. The ordinary beet was i'm.
proved by seed-selection, so that an
enormous industry has been built up
and a new source of sugar given to
the world. This has been done with
plant which seeds once in two years.
Corn produces crop every year, a
single seed producing return of over
thousand fold. From this great
number of offspring, varying in size,
shape, color and composition, a selec-
tion can be made which will develop
any feature of the seed or plant. By
continued selection, these valuable at
tributes can be fixed in the character
istics of the plant, and the usefulness
and Importance of the crop increased.
To illustrate the point: We have
been able, by selecting ears having
long shanks, to increase the length Of
the shank nearly two feet in five
years selection. By selecting ears
with tall stalks, we have been able to
increase the height of the stalk almost
three feet in five years. By selecting
ears from plants having wide leaves,
we have been able to increase the av-
erage width of the leaf, and by select
ing ears from stalks having narrow
leaves, we have been able to decrease
the width of the leaf. By selecting
ears high on the stalk, we have been
able to raise the average height of all
the ears in the field; and by selec-
ting ears low on the stalk, we
have been able to lower all of
the ears in the field. By selecting
ears high in protein, starch, oil or
mineral constituents, we have been
able to increase the per cent. of these
elements of composition in the kernel,
so that the value of the crop as feed,
or for glucose purposes, has been in
finitely increased. The aim OF breed
ing is to increase the yield per acre.
This is done by taking advantage of
t,sszz<Ss4y
and preserving the seed borne by the
most productive types. The ordinary
type of corn is very poor. For in
stance, in the cornfelds, if hills are
the ordinary distance apart, three
feet, six inches, by three feet, six
inches, with one stalk having we'll
developed ear in every hill, they
would yield about ffty-fve bushels of
corn per acre. With two stalks in
the hill, the yield would be over one
hundred bushels per acre, and with
three stalks, the yield would be over
one hundred and fifty bushels per
acre. There is an average of over
two stalks in the hills of corn in Illi-
nois. The average yield is not quite
thirty bushels per acre. Where is
the source of loss? In the first place,
all of the stalks in the field do not
bear ears, as they should. In other
words, there is large per cent. of
barren stalks. In the second place,
the ears are not all wel1-deve1oped
ears. There is large per cent. of
nubbins and dwarfed ears. There is
little uniformity in the type, shape,
size, weight and other characteristics
of the ears in the ordinary field. In
fact, we have found, by several years
successive count, that, in every coun-
ty of the State. almost one-third of
the stalks do not produce ears. When
we attempt and often fail to pick out
ten ears for exhibition from ten thou
sand bushels of corn, an idea of the
lack of uniformity can be gained.
Barren stalks are hereditary, and
by an indiscriminate system of selec-
ton the number of such stalks has
been on the increase. This is true
from the fact that barren stalk pro-
duces more pollen than a productive
stalk. Consequently, larger pro-
portion of kernels are fertilized by
the pollen from barren stalks than
from the same number of fertile stalks.
AS kernel will produce plant like
both parents, some of their stalks are
bound to be barren. The greater the
number of kernels fertilized by pollen
from barren stalks, the greater the
influence toward barrenness and,
consequently, the greater the number
of barren stalks. The corn-breeder
gets rid of this influence by removing
the tassels of the barren stalks before
the pollen falls in the breeding. fields:
In this way all of the seed selected
from such fields will have been fer
tilized by the pollen from the fertile
stalks. 1t has been found that such
practise will effectually reduce the
per cent. of poor and barren stalks.
In breeding corn, a small field
CASUALLY an acre in size) is used.
The land is prepared and the seed
bed treated as for the ordinary field.
They are usually about one hundred
and twenty hills long and thirty rows
wide. Each row is planted from a
separate ear. The barren stalks, poor
stalks and all undesirable stalks. such