The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-02-04

/ notice that YOU say that Cookies
Prolific is one Of the talleSt growing
cOrns you know Of. l wish that you
could see it as it has been bred mere.
1t is by no means tall growing corn
as compared with the general charac'
ter of corn here In fact, it has been
planted Oh the College farm in rows
three feet eight apart and ten incheS
in the row, and cn dry. sandy npland
made eighty eight bushels per acre. 1t
is corn of very moderate stature.
medium sized ears. ana very proilhc.
If the original Cookies Prolific was,
as YOU say. very tall growing corn.
the fact that we have ii here of per-
fectly medium stature. with ears near
the ground and near the middle of the
stalk shows that we can breed corn
i'm the South to a medium stature. Nor
is it now late corn though latenesS
is minor consideration in this eli
mate. for the past summer we ripened
a crop perfectly, planted on wheat
Stubhle some time after the wheat was
harvested. The fact is that the corn
breeders West have devoted all their
attention to the character of the ear
very erroneous plan for breeding
any plant. In the Improvement of a
plant we must take the whole plant
into consideration. form an ideal OF
what we want the plant to be. and
breed towards that ideal continually,
taking note of every character Of the
plant ard not merely I single feature.
Our farmers have for generations
been breeding for the best ear, and
they have gotten the big ear at the
expense Of other important characters.
Breeding for single feature only in
any plant will not result i'll the best
production OF course we want we'll
formed ears. but we do not want
them borne on stalks that have the
ears out of reach. and but a little stalk
above them. We want 4 plant that
will bear its ears about midway the
stalk. and within easy reach. | have
recommended the use OF the lowest ear
in breeding our long legged corn
down to 4 better stature. because IT
will have that tendency. rs l have
abunlantly proved. When we get the
ideal plant it will be time enough to
breed for the ideal ear along with it.
but we need the ideal plant in the
South now more than anything else.
Then. too. the breeding of corn must
%n1- hn nli 70 inf i1nr1 finn
EarlinesS is very important point
in the North and West. but can be
entirely ignored in the South, or at
least not particularly sought after. In
breeding for prolificacy in any plant
we invariably reduce the size of the
individual fruit. The PonderoSa toma-
to. for instance. has been bred for size,
but it will not produce tenth part
of the number of fruits that the little
pear shaped ones bear. The breeding
for the big ear of corn produces the
big ear and only one on stalk. and
that with the tendency to get higher
and higher from the ground, while the
breeding for better stature and more
prolific character decreases the size of
individual ears. but greatly increases
the general product not only by reason
of the increased number of ears. but
by the decreased stature of the plant.
enabling us to get more stalks OH the
acre No true Improvement can be
made in any plant while we breed
for single character and neglect the
Scy, in Southern Planter.