14. Could the corn plant itself without the agency of man?
If you are able to draw, please make a sketch of a kernel of sweet corn and a kernel of field corn. Break an ear of corn in two and sketch the broken end, showing shape of the cob and its relation to the kernels.
Note on the New Corn Breeding.[58]
The particular materials that give the corn kernel most of its value are the oil, the protein and the starch. For the production of corn oil—for which the demand is large—a corn that has a high oil content is, of course, particularly valuable; while for the production of starch or for the feeding of bacon hogs, a relatively higher percentage of other materials is desirable. It is apparent, therefore, that races of corn should be bred for a particular content, depending on the disposition to be made of the grain. Equal economic results cannot be attained, however, in increasing the content of any of the three leading ingredients, since a pound of gluten is worth one cent, a pound of starch one and one-half cents, and a pound of oil five cents. The amounts of these ingredients in the corn kernel are amenable to increase or diminution by means of selection,—by choosing for seed the kernels of ears that are rich or poor in one or the other of these materials. Fortunately, the oil and starch and protein of the corn kernel occupy rather distinct zones. Next the outside hull is a dark and horny layer that is very rich in protein; in the center is the large germ, very rich in oil; between the two is a white layer of starch. It is found that the kernels on any ear are remarkably uniform in their content; the dissection of a few kernels, therefore, enables the breeder to determine the ears that are rich in any one of the substances. Experiment stations in the corn-growing States are already making great headway in this new breeding of corn, and one private concern in Illinois is taking it up as a commercial enterprise. All this recalls the remarkable breeding experiments of the Vilmorins in France, whereby the sugar-content of the beet was raised several points. It is impossible to overestimate the value of any concerted corn-breeding work of this general type. The grain alone of the corn crop is worth about one billion dollars annually. It is possible to increase this efficiency several percentages; the coming generation will see it accomplished.
An interesting cognate inquiry to this direct breeding work is the study of the commercial grades of grains. It is a most singular fact that the dealer's "grades" are of a very different kind from the farmer's "varieties." In the great markets, for example, corn is sold as "No. 1 yellow," "No. 2 yellow," "No. 3 yellow," and the like. Any yellow corn may be thrown into these grades. What constitutes a grade is essentially a judgment on the part of every dealer. The result is that the grain is likely to be condemned or criticised when it reaches its destination. Complaints having come to the government, the United States Department of Agriculture has undertaken to determine how far the grades of grain can be reduced to indisputable instrumental measurement. The result is likely to be a closer defining of what a grade is; and, this point once determined, the producer will make an effort to grow such grain as will grade to No. 1, and thereby attain to the extra price. Eventually, the efficiency points of the grower and the commercial grades of the dealer ought nearly or quite to coincide. There should come a time when corn is sold on its intrinsic merits, as, for example, on its starch content. This corn would not then be graded 1, 2 and 3, on its starch content, because that content would be assured in the entire product; but the grade 1 would mean prime physical condition, and the lower grades inferior physical condition. Eventually, something like varietal names may be attached to those kinds of corn that, for example, grade fifteen per cent protein. The name would be something like a guarantee of the approximate content, as it now is in a commercial fertilizer.
The first thing that strikes one in all this new work is its strong contrast with the old ideals. The "points" of the plants are those of "performance" and "efficiency." It brings into sharp relief the accustomed ideals as to what are the "good points" in any plant, illustrating the fact that these points are for the most part only fanciful, are founded on a priori judgments, and are more often correlated with mere "looks" than with efficiency. An excellent example may be taken from corn. In "scaling" any variety of corn it is customary to assume that the perfect ear is one nearly or quite uniformly cylindrical throughout its length, and having the tip and butt well covered with kernels. Now, this ideal is clearly one of perfectness and completeness of mere form. We have no knowledge that such form has any correlation with productiveness in ears, hardiness, drought-resisting qualities, protein or starch content,—and yet these attributes are the ones that make corn worth growing at all. We only know that such ears may bear more kernels. An illustration also may be taken from string beans. The ideal pod is considered to be one of which the tip-projection is very short and only slightly curved. This, apparently, is a question of comeliness, although a short tip may be associated in the popular mind with the absence of "string" in the pod; but it is a question whether this character has any direct relation to the efficiency of the bean-pod. We are also undergoing much the same challenging of ideas respecting the "points" of animals. Now, animals and plants are bred to the ideals expressed in these arbitrary points by choosing for parents the individuals that score the highest. When it becomes necessary to recast our "scales of points," the whole course of evolution of domestic plants and animals is likely to be changed. We are to breed not so much for merely new and striking characters, that will enable us to name, describe and sell a "novelty," as to improve the performance along accustomed lines. It may be worth while to produce a "new variety" of potato by raising new plants from the seed-bolls; but it is much more to the point to augment the mealiness of some existing variety or to intensify its blight-resisting qualities. We are not to start with a variety, but with a plant.
LEAFLET XLIV.
THE USES OF FOOD STORED IN SEEDS.[59]
By ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK.
"A mystery passing strange, Is the seed in its wondrous change; Forest and flower in its husk concealed, And the golden wealth of the harvest field."