Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1914-09-02
SELECT SEED CORN.
Select Ears For Seed From
Stalks Before Harvesting,
Do Not Select In
Crib.

The most important point tc pe
emphasized in selecting seed corn
is that the selection should be made
in the field instead of in the crib.
The advantages of field selection
are many and we'll known. For an
ear transmits not simply its own
qualities (if these qualities represent
similar characters in number OF
preceding generations,) but the ear
also hands down to the corn plants
that grow from it the vegetative
peculiarities of the parent plant,
such as the height of the stalk.
length of shank, height at whscaa
ears are borne and, most important
of all, the tendency to bear one OF
more than one ear.
That this tendency to bear single
or multiply ears is hereditary sugT
gests at once the main ADVANTAGES
of selecting seed corn in the hetds
For in the field one should usually
select only from plants that bear at
least two ears. This is because eIi
periments, notably those at the Alaf
bama Experiment Station, Indicate
that the largest yields in the South
are made, on the average, by pro
life varieties Of corn. &
Careful experiments have also
taught US that even in a variety
bred to produce only one large ear
per plant, the selection of seed from
the occasional two-eared plant In
creases the yield.
By selecting ears in the field one
can take them from only those
stalks whose ears are borne about
the desired distance from the ground,
Indeed, by continual selection With
in the same variety the Illinois Ex5
pertinent Station was able In 10
generations of selection to breed
two separate strains. one OF which
bore its ears twice as far far from;
the ground as the dther.a
Another advantage of field selec-
ton is that it gives better opportu-
nitv to choose as seed ears those
having a good length of shuck
growing beyond the ear. This
serves to protect the ear not only
from rotting at the tip, but it also
has a decided tendency, as has
been long observed, to exclude wee
wills to a considerable extent.
The special purpose Of this artl-
Gle is not alone to emphasize the
well-known advantages Of field Sc
lection in years of normal yield, hut
also to encourage field selection
even where the yields are poor and
the ears Uniformed az the result of
the unusual heat and dryness of :he
present summer. Where these con-
ditions occur, the owner may he
inclined to consider everything in
the field. except perhaps the few
we'll filed ears as unfit for seed.
Ordinarily poorly shaped ears
should not be employed as seed
corn, since such ears as are poorly
developed in normal season proba-
bly, represent line of defective
ancestors, and hence these poor ears
serve to transmit their inferiorlty
to their offspring.
On the other hand ears that in an
abnormal season like the present
one show untitled spaces on the cob
will probably not transmit this de,
feet.
This is because injuries and &C,
cidental peculiarities are not in
herited. The reason why so many
spaces on the cob are bare of grain
this wear is because the silk arising
1t each of these spaces failed to re,
ceive at the proper time on its ex-
posed tip the grain Of pollen neces'
sary to capse the kernel to develop
The intense heat and dryness at the
time of tasselling destroyed much
of the pollen before it could PER
perform its usual function of fer
tilizing the silks. Hence the bare
spaces.
SO he who selects seed corn thi:
year should be lenient when he
comes to consider an ear. which
though otherwise satisfactory, l.
marred by many missing grains
Progressive Farmer.