DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 131 



I believe our fields of clover to-day contain nearly or quite as great a variety 

 of plants as would a field of Indian corn, if we were to mix in a little seed of 

 all the varieties cultivated in any one State. 



I suppose for the Northern States we want a red clover which starts early, 

 grows rapidly, has numerous erect stout stems which are not large. The plant 

 should be smooth throughout, with thick leaves. The plant should endure 

 dry weather well and seed freely. 



I remember to have seen something written by an apiarist who spoke of 

 breeding and selecting bees with a view to get those with tongues long enough 

 to take nectar from the flowers of red clover. 



To obtain this result, why not save seeds of the red clover from which some 

 honey bees are seen to gather nectar? Plant the seeds apart from others and 

 repeat the operation. Our ideal red clover then will have a short corolla to 

 permit the visits of honey bees. 



Since writing the above, I collected within about ten feet of each other some 

 ripe heads of red clover from five different plants looking much alike. I 

 selected fifty heads from each plant. The seeds were shelled and counted. 

 Fifty heads contained 1,260 seeds, 1,275, 1,460, 1,485, 1,820 respectively. 

 Between these two extremes is a difference of nearly one-third in the number 

 of seeds. Mr. Troop selected a lot in another place, fifty heads of which 

 contained 2,290 seeds, or nearly twice as much as the highest of those above 

 mentioned. There is a marked difference in tlie color of seeds of different 

 plants, though every seed in any one plant is not the color of every other seed. 

 In some plants nearly all the seeds were a light yellow; in others purple on one 

 side, while others were quite dark brown. Among those very dark were a few 

 lighter in color. 



•■ts' 



"WILL WHEAT TURN TO CHESS? 



Of all the numerous farmers' institutes which I have attended scarcely one 

 has adjourned without bringing up this subject. No other question has been 

 so frequently asked. I have often been urged by the farmers to make experi- 

 ments on the subject. Scarcely a harvest passes that some one does not send 

 me a specimen or two for examination and explanation. Many of these have 

 a few kernels of chess fastened to the spike of wheat by a breaking off of a 

 part of the panicle of chess as it was pulled downwards and through or against 

 the spike of wheat. A careful separation of the chaff of wheat has never 

 failed to reveal the end of the branch of chess; yet there are many who 

 stoutly maintain that they all grow from "the same head." One sample had 

 a portion of a panicle of chess temporarily attached to the straw of wheat 

 just below the spike. It entered the wheat straw and ran down about 

 one inch, where it terminated abruptly. Another small stool of chess 

 had an old shell of a wheat kernel held to the end of one of its roots 

 which had grown in there by accident or for nourishment. I have many times 

 sprouted chess, although there are farmers who say it will not grow. I have 

 raised chess from chess, though there are many who maintain this cannot be 

 done. 



This season I pulled up from the apple orchard several stools of chess in. 

 flower or past this condition. They were placed in water till the next day. I 

 spent about an hour making the examinations below described. A plant was 

 washed under a pump till the roots were quite clean. The ends of the roots 

 were cut off with shears after ^observing that there was nothing in the line of 



