The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-02-14
BREEDING CORN
Southern Pines Tourist

(Southern Pines Tourist
The term corn breeding" seems
little strange to the layman, but 10 the
corn grower ii means a great Geai. III
the old days farmers and
knew the value of FLOODED stock, anu
were as careful as possible to breed ny
their cattle, horses and mules pu'
corn-weli. wasn't corn corn! NOVA
DAYS the farmer Knows that there =
corn and corn and that IL he would
get big Yields of good corn he must
either breed something fine OF ms own
or pay fancy prices to somebody VINO
has succeeded. after years OF nara and
painstaking work, in developing a Va
riety tina IS worth it's weight IN goiu.
At one Of the seed-corn days al
Carthage, at which Noah Deaton s
corn was selected as the pest thdt
gentleman told the writer that he hdu
been twelve years breeding that corn
and that he hadn't done with it then.
There hangs in the Tourists exhibitor
window now q few ears of particularly
fine seed corn which Mr.. r. S. Marks,
one OF Southern Pines best farmers,
raised and which has cost him seven
years to develop TO its present excel
Ience.
The nan who begins farming Would
dc we'll to buy the best seed corn ne
can find, but he will have great salts
faction in keeping it UP TO its stand
ard-a pretty fair task in itself-or
carrying it still higher if it can be
done. An even greater JOY must lie
in the breeding of q new variety OF
fine qualities. Why should there not
be in these achievements a satisfaction,
SIMILAR, if not as great, as comes to the
n the d~iscoverer or the creator
,p oraat and DCaf1,1 tbinOS2 The man
who can add but one kernel to an ear
will have the satisfaction OF knowing
that he has added enormously to the
agriculture wealth of the country. To
add a row to an ear or an ear to a
stalk-Why, that Is almost equal to
discovering q continent.
III National corn Exposition is
now in session in Columbus, Ohio. In
writing of this great corn meeting in
the Washington Star, Frederick Has
kins says:
''Thc days of the exposition will be
devoted almost exclusively to the ses-
sions of the American Breeders Asso-
citation, whose work is the improve
ment of animal and plant life along
lines of heredity and segregation.
Scientists estimate that through the
breeders art 10 per cent may be add
ed annually to the value of our plant
products. This would mean an in
crease Of more thar $780, 900 900 in
our annual corn crop alone. To show
that these estimates are not purely i'm
aginatiVe. a concrete example nay be
given in the work which has been ac-
companied by w. NJ. Hays, now assist
ant secretary of the Department of Ag-
riculture in Washington. For a num-
Der of years Mr.. Hays was ngage in
a great work in the agricultural expe-
riment station Of Minnesota. Their he
succeeded in creating a corn seed va
riety which b~roadened the corn belt
for more than fly miles through three
States. The State Of Minnesota has
spent $4,000 at its agricultural sta
ton, and the estimated increased pro-
ductiOn OF corn, wheat, oats, flax and
barley resulted in the astounding total
thte investment.
The roceSS of improving the
strains and quality Of corn and other
cereals IS a long and laborious opera
ton, involving cross-breeding. selec-
ton and segregation. Sometimes it
takes ten years to develop a single va
riety of corn to its full yielding power,
but once the propagation is completed.
with ordinary care to prevent a pull
lns-doWn process by mixing with in
ferior grains, the world is permanently
enriched"