Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1880 [PAGE 59]

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57

INCREASING NUMBER OF EARS PER STALK.

In 1870 a plat of land was planted with a yellow dent corn, locally known as Thomas corn. This variety usually produces but one ear to each stalk. This plat was planted with seed from stalks which had produced two ears each; one-half the plat with kernels taken from the upper ears, the other- from the lower ears. The first half gave 526, the second 512 pounds of corn. There was no appreciable difference in the quality of the corn, nor in the comparative number of ears produced. In eleven rows counted there were 1,014 stalks. Of these, 765, or 74.55 per cent., produced one ear each; 190, or 18.73 per cent., produced two ears each; and 68, or 6.70 per cent., were barren. All ears, large and small, were counted. There was an evident increase in the percentage of two-eared stalks. The corn was planted in rows four feet apart; two kernels in hills two feet apart. This and kindred experiments will be reported. Numerous tests show that the number of rows on the ears, the length and thickness of ears or kernels, the color, in fact all qualities of corn, can readily be changed by selection in a very few years.

TESTS OF VARIETIES.

At different times large numbers of varieties of corn have been tested on the University farms. During 1880 about twenty varieties were grown. Many named varieties differ but slightly from each other. Sometimes they are doubtless practically identical, the different names having been applied in the several localities in which they are grown. The most prized varieties on the farms are two yellow Dent — the Thomas, a rather large variety, and the Murdock, a smaller and earlier variety. Among other varieties now being tested, which promise well, are a large Dent from the Miami Valley, in Southern Ohio, and a smallish eared white Dent, seed of which was obtained at Anna, Illinois. This variety has a large, tall stalk, and produces three or four ears to the stalk, the kernels being unusually deep and the cob noticeably small. It is a late maturing variety, and this is the most serious objection noticed. Blount's White Prolific corn has been grown for three years, but has not given the results recorded elsewhere. The yields have not been noticeably large, and the habit of producing several ears to the stalk has not been well sustained. In few cases have more than three ears been found on one stalk. The cob of this variety seemsharder than that of most Dent varieties. It is noticeable that the Flint varieties, commonly grown in New England, while ripening early, and proving thoroughly well adapted for late planting, have not given as large yields as are reported of them in the regions where they form the chief crop.