;io SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Whilst in the following the heterozygote is intermediate in 



character : 



Lax and dense ears. 



Varieties with hermaphrodite lateral florets crossed with 

 those with rudimentary lateral florets give a heterozygote 

 with staminate lateral florets. 



Those with hermaphrodite lateral florets when crossed with 

 varieties with staminate lateral florets give a form in which 

 the laterals are hermaphrodite but less developed than in the 

 parent with hermaphrodite lateral florets. 



Barleys with staminate laterals crossed with varieties with 

 sexless laterals give a heterozygote with small but sexless 

 lateral florets. The F. 2 generation in these cases consists of 

 three types varying in the degree of development of the lateral 

 florets, and as a general rule readily distinguishable from each 

 other. 



It is also certain that the inheritance of many less readily 

 appreciable characters, such as those dealing with the surface 

 of the leaf, the structure of the straw, the general habit of the 

 plant, and so on, can be shown to follow the same Mendelian 

 laws. As a matter of fact these morphological characters have 

 relatively little economic importance, though in a few cases 

 among the cereals the substitution of one character for another, 

 such as smooth for rough chaff, might have a certain value. 

 The breeder of the future will have to direct his attention more 

 to such features as time of ripening, the quality of the grain 

 for special purposes, flavour, hardiness, etc., than has been done 

 in the immediate past. How far a knowledge of Mendelian 

 phenomena will aid him in such work still has to be determined, 

 and each case will have to be investigated on its own merits. 



The need for such investigations has become increasingly 

 obvious of late years, for in spite of the continuous introduction 

 of new varieties of our staple crops, the actual improvements are 

 slight or too often non-existent. The majority of these new 

 introductions fail in the competition with the older types, and 

 in the course of time disappear ; but the weeding-out is a costly 

 matter to the cultivator. This in itself has led to the extensive 

 variety tests which have become too much a feature of the 

 work of our agricultural stations. One need only point to the 

 results of the recent potato boom to emphasise this fact. In 

 the course of a few years hundreds of so-called improved 



