HORTIOULTUBAL DIVISION. 437 



main stalk, so that tihe plants, which, had fortunately been placed 

 some feet apart, had the appearance of two ' hills,' one of the two 

 having nine and the other twelve stalks ascending fi-om a common 

 base," The centi'al stialk also branched higher up on its trunk, 

 and these side branches, as also those from the basie of the plant®, 

 had a tassel upon the end and bore several ears along their length! 



The taisisel was veiy large, with di'ooping branches. Mi". Wat- 

 son sihowed me these plantis late in the summer of 1890, with 

 much enthusiasan; and it was easy to see that in the robust habit 

 and multiple ears of the plant there were possibilities for the 

 breeding of a new type of corn. 



Mr. Watson concluded that this com is a new and distinct 

 species, rather than the original of the conmion corn, and he there- 

 fore published it* as Zea canina, or dog-tooth corn, thus adding a 

 second species to the genus Zea. 



In 1891, I gi*ew the com again from the original Mexican 

 samples — which ^ii\ Watson divided with me — starting in late 

 under glass (May twenty-second), and setting it out of doors June 

 twelfth, in a heavy clay loam, when about half a foot high. The 

 plants grew vigoi^ously, and ears began tO' form late in summer, 

 being borne upon strong lateral branches as before. The illustra- 

 tion on page 435 shows a typical plant. It will be seen ihat six 

 aiinis or branches spring from the main stalk. A dozen or fifteen 

 ears set upon these arms. The detail di'awing in the upper comer 

 shows neai'ly half of an average eai*, full size. These plants appeared 

 to differ from those which I saw at the Haa-vai'd Botanic Grarden 

 the year before only in smaller size and earliness. The smaller 

 size may have been due to the isoil, which was poorer than at 

 Harvard, but I thought I saw a decided tendency towai'ds accli- 

 matization in the plants, and this is now apparehtly waiTanted 

 by the results of this year's experiment Some of the plants did not 

 make latei'al arms, but sunply sent up a straight almost earless 

 stalk. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the plants were 

 ciM>wded. Some of the plants matured several good ears. 



Experiments must now be tried with hybridizations. A cross 

 with the common field com or sweet com would perhaps be too 



* Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci. , xxv. , 158. 



