PLANT HYBRIDIZATION BEFORE MENDEL 175 



"There was under discussion [p. 80] the matter of the immediate work- 

 ing of the foreign pollen upon the quality and color of the seeds, and 

 the fact was cited that the genus Pisum shows the peculiarity, that the 

 seeds of the different varieties of Pisum sativum assume immediately an- 

 other color through the foreign pollen : therefore arose in our case the 

 presumption, that this would likewise also obtain with the different 

 varieties of Zea mays. Earlier experiments with Zea mays, by R. J. 

 Camerarius, Logan, Pontedera, and Henschel, which Schelver has assem- 

 bled, give no information on this point." {ib., p. 322.) 



In 1824, as stated above, Gartner pollinated Zea mays nana 

 with small yellow seeds, with pollen of Zea mays major^ with 

 grey, red, and striped seeds. Of the various pollinations (on thir- 

 teen plants), only one of the crossed ears grew; viz., the one pol- 

 linated from a plant of the red-striped variety, which produced 

 five seeds. 



In 1825, these five seeds were grown, and produced four ears. 

 Two of these had only yellow seeds, somewhat larger than those 

 of the female plant. Of the two others, however, one ear had 64, 

 out of 288 seeds, "more or less reddish and gray" ; the other, out 

 of 143 seeds, had 39 which, like the preceding, were more or less 

 colored. 



"it is, however, to be remarked that the yellow color of these inter- 

 mingled yellow seeds was not pure yellow like that of the maternal 

 parent, but dirty yellow; thus, therefore, as well in size as in color 

 somewhat altered," {ib., p. 323.) 



The experiment was carried over to the second generation. 



For further determination as to the alteration of the colors of 

 the seeds obtained in the preceding experiment, the seeds from 

 each ear were separated, especially according to the colors, into 

 four parts, and sowed apart, in order to obtain the result, in 

 the second generation, of each color separately. The seeds were 

 divided into : 



(a) pure yellow (c) clear grey 



(b) dirty yellow (d) dark reddish-grey. (p. 323.) 



The pure yellow seeds, (a) above, produced 5'9 ears, 32 of 

 which bore yellow seeds ; several others are reported to have had 

 only a few colored seeds ; in the case of several, there were "a 

 number of seeds dissimilarly colored, distributed at random, but 

 by far the greater part of the seeds were yellow." 



The dirty yellow seeds, (b), gave 5 ears, on which markedly 

 more colored seeds were found than on the ears from (a), the 



