Seven hundred ears of Illinois Non-Pedigree corn were used in an experiment to determine the effectiveness of selecting seed corn by means of ear characters as demonstrated by the germination test. Results show that ears selected or discarded for seed on the basis of their physical characters are significantly different in viability of seeds, vigor of seedlings, and amounts of disease (with the exception of Scutellum rot). The differences are in favor of the selected ears. Hence, ear selection is an important step in securing good seed corn.