104 PRIMITIVE FORMS OF LIFE 



develop when the stalk is at its full activity. With this in mind, 

 Blaringhem cut the Maize-stalks at different stages of growth, 

 thus suppressing the first male ear and a large part of the stalk 

 that had borne it at the exclusively male stage. This stalk was 

 replaced by numerous lateral shoots, which can be considered 

 as new stalks. If the section of the original stalk took place 

 when the roots were only partially developed, that is to say, 

 under the conditions which produce the male plume of this 

 stalk, all the shoots likewise terminated in a plume exclusively 

 male. If the section was delayed till the roots developed, 

 an increasing number of female flowers appeared on the terminal 

 crowns of certain shoots. If he waited till the approach of the 

 period of maximum growth of the stalk, which was obviously 

 the period in which the roots exhibited great nutritive activity, 

 the terminal plumes of a certain number of shoots bore only 

 female flowers. Finally, if the section was made during or 

 after the blossoming period, all the shoots terminated in a 

 head of female flowers. Blaringhem succeeded equally well in 

 obtaining the transformation of female ears into male ones. 

 All that was necessary was to twist the stalk below the terminal 

 bud, thus arresting its development. The lateral buds benefited 

 by the nourishment which the other would have absorbed, 

 and grew actively. Instead of forming a short thick crown, 

 with flowers exclusively female, they elongated at the expense 

 of their width, tended to ramify like the male ear, and finally 

 produced a certain number of male flowers. The same result 

 can be obtained even more consistently by twisting either the 

 peduncle of the female ear itself in the process of development, 

 or the same ear at a certain point of its length. In the latter 

 case the twisted portion, being less well nourished, produces 

 male flowers. 



The influence of nutrition on sex is thus quite evident. But 

 these operations are not confined to sex determination in 

 flowers ; they also confer upon the seeds arising therefrom 

 a special aptitude for getting nutriment. If we go on to plant 

 the seeds obtained from a male ear, the terminal ear of the 

 young stalks issuing from them would normally contain both 

 male and female flowers ; a new factor comes in in the 

 development of these new growths — heredity. 



It is even possible to make new organs appear in the flower, 

 which, of course, also implies that they can be suppressed. 



