MODERN PLANT-BREEDING METHODS 715 



as the strong ; but in such cases the surface of the grain has an 

 oily appearance which is fairly characteristic. Further, it some- 

 times happens that really strong wheats have a few starchy- 

 looking grains mixed with the translucent ones. It is evident, 

 then, that difficulties must arise when these characteristics have 

 to be distinguished by eye alone. To a certain extent, but not 

 entirely, by growing the grains of parents and hybrids under 

 the same conditions they may be avoided. 



Taking the evidence as a whole, it is safe to say that the 

 grain of the hybrid plants was as strong as, or nearly as strong 

 as, that of the' strong parents. Certainly no hybrids have yet 

 been raised in which the grain resembled the weak parent in 

 this respect. Further, the grain of the hybrid plants was 

 always of the same type, and no cases have been met with 

 where strong and weak grain occurred in the same ears. In 

 the generation raised from the hybrids segregation into strong 

 and weak forms occurred. In one case so far the proportion 

 in which these two types occurred was three strong to one 

 weak, but in the other cases it has proved impossible to grade 

 the types into two definite groups, owing to the occurrence of 

 individuals in which judgment by eye pointed to the existence 

 of an intermediate stage between strength and weakness. Under 

 such circumstances it is impossible to be precise, and the 

 suggestion that they occur in the proportion of one strong to 

 two intermediate to one weak individual must be taken with 

 a certain amount of reserve. This is most probably correct, 

 for in the majority of cases the strong wheats picked out from 

 this generation have retained this characteristic in the next. 

 Where the segregation into the two types was simple, then 

 the test of the subsequent generation showed that one in three, 

 on the average, bred true to the strong character. Comparison 

 with the strong parent showed that these types were fully as 

 strong as itself. In order to test this once for all, those which 

 were fixed in other respects as well as strength were grown 

 in quantity in the open field, and the grain from six varieties 

 was milled and baked. 



To make the results as conclusive as possible the operators 

 were given no information with regard to the origin of the 

 grain, and they were simply requested to report on it. The 

 man in charge of the milling operations gave it as his opinion 

 that the varieties milled like Manitoban wheat, this in itself 



