Quality of There are a number of races of dent corn (Zea indentata) which for the most part are the result of the selection of sports or striking variations. The individuals of these races are not uniform, and from the fact that corn is normally cross fertilized, a pure race frequently becomes mixed with other races. In fact there are practically no pure races under general cultivation, and owing to the difficulty of tnaintaining the pure type, little attention has been given to systematically breed ing these races. As a rule the seed corn used for planting the crop of the world is subject to little, if any, intelligent selection of seed ears. Considerable fraud has been practised by un scrupulous seed dealers in the past, who, in order to humbug the public, bought up ordinary corn, gave it a fancy name, advertised it widely without careful tests and, through extravagant claims for its productiveness, obtained a wide sale, with consequent loss to the farmers buying the seed, but with considerable financial gain to themselves.
Pioneer Com Breeders.—Previous to 1900, little was done in the way of the systematic improvement of corn. A few men early in the last century realized the value of carefully selected seed, and began to select their corn with reference to some type particularly desir able to them. One of these men was James Learning, of Wilmington, Ohio, who began the selection of the ordinary yellow corn of the Miami Valley for larger and heavier ears. His idea was to secure ea,-s with small cobs, deep grains well filled over the tips and butts, which would mature under his conditions of soil and climate. In order to get early maturity he nat urally selected a rather tapering type of ear. This seed was carefully preserved during the winter, and all irregular kernels, such as tip and base kernels, were discarded before plant ing. Mr. Leaming began this work about 1825, and continued the selection of this type of seed for more than half a century, keeping the race as pure as possible. Some of the pioneers of Illinois, Iowa and other Western States car ried seed of this race with them from Ohio to their new homes. It was found that under the very favorable conditions of the Mississippi Valley this race improved in size of ear, depth of kernel and productiveness. Naturally, it was carried over a large territory and during the past few years has been the subject of con siderable attention by corn breeders who have effected further and marked improvement in the feeding quality and yielding power. The Improved Learning strains of to-day bear little resemblance to the original Ohio stock, and are living evidences of the possibilities in careful selection of seed corn.
Another pioneer in the work of the improve ment of corn and the establishment of new races was James Riley, of Thorntown, Ind.
Mr. Riley began the selection of the ordinary white corn of his community about the middle of the last century. He was convinced that by the selection of large, well-developed ears for seed, and the weeding out •of barren stalks before pollination, a large-eared, uniform type of corn could be secured. By persistent planting of such seed cars in isolated fields, preventing mixture with other types, hc achieved success in this work, and produced a race called the Boone County White, which stands foremost among all races of white corn grown in the corn belt. Other races were produced by Mr. Riley, among them a yellow type, which he called Riley's Favorite. The production of this race is interesting because it illustrates the de velopment of new types by crossing, and fixing of type of the hybrid by selection. He crossed a large and late Southern race of yellow corn on a small, early maturing, Northern yellow race, his aim being to secure a new race having a medium or large ear and early matunty. He accomplished this object successfully, and the Riley's Favorite is now largely grown in north ern parts of the corn belt.
Improved Races are Most Productive, The results of these systems of selection are shown by the comparative tests of races of corn at the Illinois and other State agricultural ex periment stations. It has been found that during a series of 10 years' tests of comparative yields per acre, the Learning and Boone County White varieties of corn have consistently and on the average for 10 years outyielded all other races. In fact, it has been shown that under widely different conditions these two races have yielded more than double the amount of the ordinary types of corn. It has further been shown that corn growers who have selected these races for feeding purposes have naturally selected the types which were most beneficial for feeding purposes, and have developed strains which have a chemical composition better suited for feeding than the ordinary races of corn now grown in any region.
The benefits of improved seed corn are that larger returns are secured with the same effort required to produce ordinary and smaller yields. It does not cost any more to grow a race of high yielding power, possessing a desirable pro portion of protein for feeding purposes, or of oil and starch for manufacturing purposes, than to grow the ordinary types of corn. Taking into account the great area devoted to corn in the United States, even a slight increase in yield per acre, or a small improvement in qual ity, means an enormous increase in the profit from breeding. The past fcw years have dem onstrated the practicability of such improvement beyond a doubt, and the results obtained on the farms and by experiment stations have attracted world-wide attention.