The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1909-07-30
Car. Of tho Breeding PlsN.

The breeding plot should not be fer
'ilized any better than any OF the 9TH
er fields on the farm. and the prepare
ton OF the seed bed and cultivation
should be the same. The prime OBJ
ject Is to develop a strain OF corn that
will Yield well under average field con-
ditions. The extra work that Is put on
the breeding plot should be applied TO
the corn itself and not to the soil.
About the time cultivation ceases all
suckers should be cut on This can be
quickly done with straight bladcd
corn knife. These suckers take nour'
ishment needed by the good stalks
and produce inferior pollen to fertilize
the silks.
The most important part OF the work
is detasseling. When the tassels begin
to appear go through the plot and
carefully pull them out from every
other row. This should be done every
day for week or more-as long as
tassels continue to appear. At the
same time any imperfect stalks In the
other rows should be detasseled II
there are any rows that show mark
ed tendency to sucker, carry the ears
too high or low or have any other
marked defect, they should be dctas-
seled also.
Comparing tho Yields.
AS soon as the corn Is all ripe the
ears from the twenty-five detnsseled
rows should be husked. keeping the
produce Of each row separate. The
corn from the tasseled rows, as well as
from the imperfect rows that were de-
tasseled and from the border rows,
should be discarded. At the time Of
husklng the detasselcd corn any pc
culiarity of the stalks in row should
be noted. The number of stalks In each
row should also be counted. The
weight Of the corn from row divided
by the number OF stalks in that row
will give the weight per stalk, which
Is the proper basis for comparison. 1t
will be found that there Is very great
difference in yielding ability, some
rows yielding twice or three times as
much as others. This yield. togeth
err with the number of good seed
ears to the row, forms the basis for
determining from which row to select
ears to plant next years breeding plot.
The rest Of the ears worth saving
should be stored away to plant in the
increase field.
The increase field is not for the pur-
pose Of improving the corn. but merely
to secure larger quantities OF that
which has been improved in the breed
ing plot. Each year seed from the
highest quality and best yielding Of
the individual rows is saved to plant
the next years breeding plot and the
| remainder used In the increase field.
| In this way the standard keeps i'm.
| proving from year to year. Ten bush
| els to the acre increase is by no means
the limit to which the improvement
| can be carried. Indeed, almost the
only limit is the care and time be-
slowed upon the breeding plot
Tho Seed Corn House.
Where several hundred bushels Of
| corn are to be saved for seed, as is
the case where a speciality Is being
made Of well bred seed corn, 1t Is nee
| essary to have some sort of special
seed corn house. This may be filled
with Slated racks, on which the corn
is laid, or the ears may be hung from
the ceiling with binder Irvine. The
latter is the better method. as 1t per
mits a more thorough circulation OF
| air around the corn. The use Of two