Every farmer knows that corn must
be planted in large quantities closely to
gether that a single kernel of corn
planted in one corner of a lot, apart from
other growing corn, will be non-productive.
Yet how many of those who depend
upon corn for their living know the rea
son for this?
The reason is simple enough. It is
obvious when the method by which corn
reproduces itself is understood.
All plants depend upon pollination, in
some form, for reproduction perpetuation.
Most of the flowers depend
upon bees to carry their pol
len from one to another. And
similarly other flowers and
many fruits depend upon
other insects, or upon hum
ming birds or other birds,
to carry the pollen which
means perpetuation propa
gation multiplication.
Corn has an entirely differ
ent method of propagation.
It relies not at all upon birds,
bees or other insects. It is what
is called a wind-loving plant.
If you will call to mind a
stalk of corn as you have seen
it standing in a field, you will
remember that at its very top
there is a bunch of tassels.
These tassels bear the repro
ductive pollen.
Lower down upon the stalk
arc the cars containing the
seed and from each car
protrudes a quantity of silk.
The silk is the female or
gan, or pollen duct
Every separate strand of
silk leads to a separate ker
nel on the car.
Thus it will be seen that, in
a waving field of corn as the
wind swisjies it gracefully to
and fro, the pollen dust is
showered from the tassels at
the top and, descending, is
deposited upon the silken pol
len ducts.
Where you have seen an
ear of corn with defective or
immature kernels, you may
be sure that the cause was
that the particular strands of
silk dusted to those kernels
were not dusted with pollen.
So, Nature's provision for the repro
duction of corn demands that it be
planted closely together, in large quan
tities, in order that the pollen dust may,
during the reproductive season, fill the
air in showers.
As a definite example of the absolute
necessity of pollinating corn, the direct
color photograph reproduction on this
page is shown
The full car of corn depicted at the
left is a normal car from a patch of corn
planted in such a way that pollination
naturally took place.
The figure at its right is an ear of corn
from the same stalk, picked at exactly
the same time, which had been covered
during the pollinating season with a
common paper bag, so that the pollen
could not reach the silks.
A close examination of this undevel
oped corn will show the white, immature,
unformed, mushy kernels beneath the
strands of silk of no value, of course,
cither for food purposes or as seed.
Corn is one of the easiest plants with
Corn Pollinated and Unpollinated
which to work by cross breeding because
results are shown the same season.
The reason for this is that it is one of
the few plants m which the seed itself
(the kernel of corn) is the crop which
the plant gives us. In most plants the
crop which brings us profit is the fruit
or food which grows around the seed.
Many interesting experiments may
thus be tried with corn.
If a selected ear is covered with a
paper bag shortly before the receptive
Ul
period, the pollen tassel from any other
corn with which it is desired to make a
cross, can, when mature, be carried to it,
and dusted upon it by hand, after which
the pollinated ear may be rc-'covercd
with the bag. This latter precaution is
not wholly necessary. Once the silk has
received its first pollen, it usually be
comes unreccptivc to all other pollen.
In a very few weeks the result of the
pollination will be seen. The kernels of
that hand-pollinated car will represent a
cross between the two selected parent,
whereas the kernels of another ear on
the same stalk, pollinated by
its neighbors, will be entirely
different. In fact, pollen
may be selected from three
or four or more different
kinds of corn and dusted up
on the silk of a single ear
with the result that the indi
vidual kernels will show in
color, flavor, size and shape
the different characteris
tics of the two parents.
Corn is America's most
important crop.
To add a single kernel to
the car means a five million
bushel crop increase in this
country alone.
Already much has been
done along the lines of cross
breeding, selection and culti-
ttiiiuii lunui u nil. uiijiiut .-
ment of corn.
Yet in spite of all of the
effort expended, corn in the
best corn states usually
grows to a height of eight or
nine feet, and averages
slightly less than two ears to
the stalk.
During the past summer,
Luther lhirbank, after nearly
forty years of experiment
with corn, has produced
stalks sixteen feet in height,
bearing thirty-two cars to
the stalk.
In doing this, he made use
of the facts which he learned
while taking corn back ten
thousand years in its evolu
tion. He developed latent
tendencies of which present
day corn gives no indication,
but which, in the corn that
grew before Columbus came,
were obviously manifested.
Luther IHirbank's corn experiment is
not a completed experiment, but the re
sults already achieved show the way to
increasing America's corn crop not only
in quantity but in quality, without adding
expense, cither in ecd, in land, or in
equipment, and effecting an actual econ
omy in harvesting the crop.
As these experiments progress, bul
letins for free distribution, illustrated
with direct color photograph prints, will
be issued by The Luther Burbank Society.
