The Southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1895-1909, 1909-08-21
Professor Massey's
Editorial Page.
Corn Breeding.

in Selecting Seed Corn by Hon. w. \. Graham
Commissioner OF Agriculture, and in general
endorse what Major Graham has TO say What
J object TO Is the following too closely the West
ern method and the Western scorc-card. Stress
is laid on the importance of cross-breedng. and
the method is given OF detassellinE tho alternate
rows This will. OF course. IN the first place. pro-
mote cross-brecdlng But is It not easy 10 see
that II this method is kept M year after year
there will be the closest sort az nbvcediug7 The
fact ia. that there will be more cross-brecding In
the general field than in these oar-rows after tho
first year for. rs rule there f. little sciffertili
zation tn tho field. as tho wind blows tho
pollen generally over tho field while in taking
seed from the dciasscled the second year the
corn will he nearly all bred in the aame line. and
every year wtll go, more and more inbred. II
one goes through his seed plot carefully when
the tasscs first show. and pulls out mot cutsl
every tasse from a barren or otherwise undcsir
able plant. tho pollen Nili then he furnished by
the best and most prolific plants. and there will
be less inbreciing than in the alternate row plan
II IL Of. course desirable TO have the corn bred
90 n uniform type but that In really all that tho
scorc-card does. and n corn may pass all tho re-
quiremen;s of the card and stiil be poor for seed
IL /, has rot been bred 10 prollhcncy Passing all
these requirements nc simply have pretty car
and know no more about IL. while right along
side Of the prize ear there may 30 Others that do
not meet the requirements Of the score card but
will be better seed because Of more prolinc char.
acter. IL H. bushels of curn pr that tho
farmer n-eds. and nine times out of ten the bis
snowy car that passes tho Hcote-cayd IL tho only
one on the plant. and 10 increase tho yield per
acre wc have got 30 get more oars on the plant
than one. and in getting these we nnd that II n
n Law Of nature that eonn as we Increase ih"
number OF fruits any plant "a" decrease the
siEc of tho fruits. Hence prolific corr. a corn
that wiii pile NJ the bushels Per acre will never
be aa large an ear the show ears that the
corn ehop judges prefer.
Bat | have proved time and again that two
medium sized on "A plant will make moro corn
than big While tho aeorotard In a
means for comparison in shape. etc. Il should 80
further and give prolncacy the highest place. for
no matter what the style Of ear may be. II Is the
corn that makes tho largest crop that R the most
desirable.
MAS very much amused al the remark made
by "A director Mt of the Maryland Institutes
lie hald that no tried the Cookies Prolific from
North Carolina. and f. made rAorc corn than any
other corn he had. but his objection was that
there were many ears Ia shuok." would
not think this n very great objection II got the
bushels Of corn wanted
There should be IA card for tho whole
plant, 4 plant that makes n very stout stalk
will almost invariably make IA big cob and thick
stalk 10 the ear that will hold II sticking up In
stead OF hanging as II should. and tho big cob
will generally mean shallow grains.
On the other hand. plant with very slim stalk
IN not only easily blown down. but viii have a
cob so small as not to be able 10 carry more than
eight rows. and in the South want more That
IT, we want medium cob. "a medium stalk 90 the
plant. and stalk 20 the that will let II hang
down and be protected from the weather and the
crows Then want IA short-jointcd stalk that
carries broad leaves for the leaves the I'm
portant organs In making the grain. since the
starch is formed from the air by the leaves. A
short jointed plant too will have the formed
at IA convenient place and will not have them up
out of reach with IA short top above them. n top
heavy plant that will blow over In IA light breeze.
Now the score-card judging from ears alone.
tells us nothing about all this and these points
far more important than the particular STYLE