Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-12-11

Experiments conducted by the depart
ment of agriculture have demonstrated
that important stalk characters, such
as height, height of ear, character Of
root growth, quantity and width OF
blades, number OF suckers, number Oh
ears per stalk, and similar traits are
transmitted to a strong degree. A de-
siraple stalk Is one without suckers,
thick at the base, with we'll developed
roots. The ear itself should be cylin-
drical in form with deep kernels, with
moderate sized, strong cob. The Sc
lection should be MADE from average
land, not unusually rich. One trou-
DIe with selecting ears from the corn
crib is tnat Whine they may be large
and well formed they may have been
Produced on an exceptionally fertile
spot and are not representative. On
average ground they cannot be expect
cd to reproduce themselves. Many far
lners use the he'd method Of selecting
dIl their seed and think they have gone
lar enough. On the contrary, a large
number of such flne looking ears may
nave been fertilized by barren stalks
ana the progeny will be either barren
Jr approaching that condition.
These 100 good ears should be care
fully preserved, numbered, and next
spring planted in 100 rows, an ear to
each row, we'll apart from other corn so
tnat no foreign pollen will be blown
Jn to the breeding patch. The grouno
used for the purpose should be aver
age, not better and the culture should
oe only thorough and usual. When
the stalks are nearly ready to tassel,
careful inspection of the rows should be
made. This will likely disclose that
nalf dozen or a dozen ears were very
poor seed, the rows being noticeably
poorer than the average. The first
elimination or wedding out should COM
lnence here and the safest way Is to
cut the stalks at once and get them
out of the way. Also the entire patch
should be carefully gone through and
all stunted, diseased or otherwise, un-
desirable stalks cut out. A little later,
as the facts develop to the eye all
barren stalks should be cut out. All
this cutting out Of stalks, poor for one
cause or another, should be done be-
fore such stalks have distributed any
of their pollen for the poor pollen is
the money loser.
Now there remain say S5 good rows,
with a more or less complete stand.
The next step is to detassel every al
ternate row. This should be done just
as the tassels show plainly in the top
of the stalks but before the pollen is
distributed. The detasseled stalks are
the ones which are to produce the seed
corn; the alternate rows are to be
used simply to supply pollen for the
detasseled corn. The ears from them
are not to be used for seed, as they
will be f-pollinated. The working
number Of the seed plat Is now reduced
to about 40 rows, but 1t is only from
the half dozen best Of these that
breeding seed Is to be selected. When
the corn is ripe each detasseled row
should be gone over separately and the
ears from the best stalks gathered,
weighed and spread out to dry, its
row number being given each lot. This
field selection, keeping in mind stalk
characteristics, Is obviously important
as against harvesting the ears from
the entire row, and picking out the best
looking ears. However, as each row
'epresents an ear Of seed, the total
product of the row should be deter
mined. Therefore when all the ears
are we'll ripened, the ears from each
row should be gathered and weighed
and the figures for each row added to
the weight of the seed ears previously
selected from the same row. At the
same time the stalks in each row
should be counted and a simple prob
lem in arithmetic will show what the
total yield per row would have been
had the stand been a perfect one.
Having now determined the average
production per stalk for each Of the
40 rows, the best ears from the ten or
dozen highest ranking rows are care
fully selected, kernels measured, etc.,
and a dozen to fifteen of the very best
ears from the highest ranking rows
preserved for the next years breed
ing plat. Thus by a series Of simple
steps of selection, or elimination, the
from the breeding plat have been saved
to start the strain Of new, heavy pro-
ducing corn. At the same time SIM
liar number of second best ears should
be preserved as safeguard in case the
first choice should be destroyed, either
1y vermin or in the following planting
season, by hail, flood or other disas-
ter to the breeding plat After the
has been continued for a
number Of years and a highly improv-
ID strain secured it is very important
to save this reserve supply Of seed.
The breeding plat work for the second
md succeeding years will be much les
ened as all Of the fifteen ears can be
depended upon to produce superior
corn.
Now for the money crop.
1t IS hardly practicable to secure
from the breeding plat improved seed
n sufficient quantity for general plant |
'ng or sale. The method outlined
shows how a highly productive strain |
can be originated. It Is not new idea |
md the plan described or various mod
ifications have been practiced for a |
ong time by plant breeders. The point
which II is desired to emphasize Is that |
very farmer should practice 1t, wheth-
ar he raises 10 acres or 1000 acres OF
,Crn. When this is done the average
Germ yield Of the United States VIII
not hang around below 80 bushels tc
he acre, and there will be many less
fields upon which the farmer Is not
sure whether he is making or losing |
Now we will say that we have worked
out the breeding plat idea and have
rotten the new strain started. To then
obtain seed for general planting and |