I was in the garden center today and looked at this package again. I'm guessing its a missprint. The packaging clearly describes 'Golden Bantam' characteristics (intro 1902, 8 row ears, 80 days, etc) but the variety label says 'Golden Cross Bantam' (an F1 hybrid). So I'll write this off as a goof by whomever they contract to package seeds, rather than an attempt to broaden the definition of heirloom seeds!

I have bought some Golden Bantam corn to grow this year, so your question interested me.

I looked for answers on the net and what I came up with is that: Golden Bantam (OP, heirloom)
and Golden Bantam 12 row (OP, heirloom). And, Golden Cross Bantam is both a hybrid and an heirloom.

There were numerous comments of not being able to keep the seed of the Golden Cross Bantam.
Sounds to me that it is considered an heirloom strictly, because it has been around since 1933.

So, this is news to me also, that an heirloom can be both a hybrid and an heirloom. It kinda ruins the idea of what I thought heirlooms were to be.

I hope other's continue the research/explanation on this.

Most Heirlooms are OP(Open Pollinated.) F1 Hybrids(First Generation of a cross to produce a variety) have not been around as long. The late 1920's and early 30's is when F1 Hybrids first came into existence to be sold by seed companies.
So to be considered an heirloom a variety has to be around for awhile. I think most people would say at least 50 years. So for a F1 hybrid to be considered an heirloom, it would have to be from the 1930's to 50's. That is not a large time frame, and not many F1 hybrids produced then are still around today for sale. F1 need to be produced by a company to keep going as opposed to OP seed when can be perpetuated by home gardeners. So an heirloom hybrid would be have to be a very popular variety. Silver Queen corn would be a good example of this. It has been around since the 50's and is still very popular with home gardeners.
There is nothing wrong with a F1 hybrid being considered a heirloom. All OP varieties were F1's at some point. OP's are dehybridized which means seed saved from the babies of the original cross (seeds from F1's) were grown out, and the ones that were the most desirable looking/behaving like F1 had seeds saved from them, and so on until a stable from seed variety is obtained. (Of course some F1's for sale are more complex crosses like Sunsugar tomato and grow outs to duplicate it have been unsuccessful so far, but for simplicity's sake, it is as described above.)
Remy

Since it's a marketing advantage, I'm sure seed companies will use the most generous definition of an heirloom, which seems to be any variety more than about 50 years old.

Personally I prefer a narrower definition of heirloom: age>100 years, no hybrids, no GMOs. So I consider Golden Bantam corn an heirloom, Golden Cross Bantam not. Furthermore, 1001 years from now, Golden Cross Bantam still wouldn't be an heirloom. How do you define an heirloom?

That's not to take away from Golden Cross Bantam's importance in corn history, being introduced in 1933 it became the very first commercially successful hybrid corn.

Not sure if I'd consider "Golden Cross Bantam" to be an heirloom, although that definition has evolved a bit since its inception. There are, for example, many OP vegetable varieties which were once strictly commercial, with just numbers for names. Having been dropped in favor of hybrids, they were preserved by seed savers & are now considered to be heirloom.

Yes, it meets the generally accepted age criteria for an heirloom. However, "Golden Cross Bantam" is not an OP variety that can be passed down. It is a hybrid that has never been available outside of commercial sources. IMO, that disqualifies it as an heirloom. Maybe we need a new term... Venerable Hybrid?

Regardless of what we choose to call it, it is a remarkable achievement for any variety to persist so long in modern agriculture.

ok plants can be both hierloom and hybrids...hierloom simply means gaurunteed NON-GMO thank god! Hybrids are normally grown crossed with other plant species. GMO's are terribly wrong wheras they have DNA/gene spliced with non- plant usually cross species. EXAMPLE'S (which have already been done for years VIA bio-tech MONSANTOTomatoes cross dna w flounder fish, potatoes w mosquito dna,
frankenfish salmon cross dna w other salmon type and an eel like creature,cats and chickens cross dna w jellyfish glow dna,goats w spiders to create spider silk from utters..all true and terrible...this is just a small example of your terrible biotech co.'s Sugar beets 90% GM w ?, cotton w?, soy 90% with ?,wheat w ?, corn w roundup grown right into seed...roundup ready is 50% agent orange so your eating that. Corn back in early 1990's started Genetic mod. w cross dna w tomatoes but ive even heard they are creating edible vaccines. Such as corn grown with HIV already into it how sick is that! If you dont believe me do the research yourself! some info comes from BBC news and natural news website, Dr mercola etc. Take a stand and require labeling for gmo's.......this is just whats in the media now....think of the things they
've been doing years ago under national security umbrella....monsanto does its own safety studies as other biotech do to get approved by fda. This is ordinary bussiness allowed by our FDA, no independant studies required. The independant studies done show with gmo's by third generation all lab animals become completely sterile Period! big bio-tech wont tell that part! Our government and bio-tech are in bed together...monsanto had one researcher who did study to get an gmo product approved then got hired by FDA and approved it himself..hmmm nice ha?

Here is a link that might be useful: The Gaurdian

HEIRLOOM

1
: a piece of property that descends to the heir as an inseparable part of an inheritance of real property

2
: something of special value handed on from one generation to another

3
: a horticultural variety that has survived for several generations usually due to the efforts of private individuals

Many of the early hybrids are gone.
I looked at my late mothers old gardening encyclopedia to see what it said of corn and beyond Golden cross Bantam all the others listed are gone.
Each hybrid had the word "cross" in the name.

The old hybrids have the corn taste I like that too many of the new cloyingly sweet ones lack, so to me they are heirlooms as the definition says.

Burpee hasn't corrected the packet for 2013.

RpR, take a look at the indian type corns and similar--they are 'old fashioned' in that they have an 'old time' corn taste in the sweet stage of growth/development that you might like.

Good luck!

GMO--remember, folks, this takes place in a lab, directly manipulating the genetic material, and not by traditional crossing and grow-out methods. Good old fashioned selection of traits through crossbreeding is NOT GMO.

I think "Heritage" or a similar word would be a good description for hybrid varieties that have survived for a long time and have some historical significance. Some of the old hybrids are better than varieties being promoted today, or have different characteristics.

I also prefer reserving the word "heirloom" for OP varieties, and would prefer that they be old ones. Some people also call newly-introduced OP cultivars "heirlooms" -- sometimes before the cultivar has even been stabilized. They could also be lumped into the "heritage" category, since most of them are bred from heirlooms and thus have a fine heritage.

I noticed this too and a friend showed me this thread. I normally don't buy Burpee because I simply don't trust them as a seed provider. I want to be able to save seeds for next years' grow. But I was in a pinch and I went to Menards to get a pack of "heirloom" corn and noticed this very thing. I decided to go elsewhere and buy from Seedsavers. You pay more, but you get better seeds IMHO.

This may not be the right thread for this question, but it is about the Golden Cross Bantam Corn. A friend gave me some seed. I also have some True Platinum Corn from Seeds of Change.

Should I plant both these varieties in my garden? This is my very first year gardening, I am doing a three-sisters garden with my kiddos. I am hoping that the experience is rewarding enough that we all want to do it again next year. We're in a community garden.

Thanks for your help!

Hate to dredge up an old thread, but have you-all considered that the seed may not really be a hybrid anymore?

I'm a little skeptical that all these different providers go to the considerable trouble of maintaining the crossing stock year after year for off-patent varieties where the profit margins are rock bottom.

The reason I ask is that a tomato variety 'Redbird' Robin's is commonly mislabeled as hybrid when it is not.

jsschrstrcks...you said F4 can be tricky. Will you please elaborate on this? Is it just corn, or other seeds, too?

kokopellifivea...I have often wondered this myself..if it's not a ploy for seed companies to discourage saving seed, and getting you to keep coming back to them?

jsschrstrcks, Could have not said it better myself. Everybody in question read and re-read that post!