MAIZE V/ITH SILKS MATURING BEFORE THE TASSELS. 



the distal half of the branch bore 2.13 

 times as many spikelets as the prox- 

 imal half. 



It was in connection with this va- 

 riety that tins character was first 

 noted, and consequently the data for 

 making comparisons with other varie- 

 ties are meager. Measurements of 50 

 plants taken at random from a neigh- 

 boring field of Boone County White 

 corn showed the distal portion to 

 have only 1.33 times as many spike- 

 lets as the proximal portion. In other 

 varieties the distribution of the spike- 

 lets is still more nearly uniform. 



The increase in the number of the 

 spikelets toward the end of the branches 

 is brought about by a change in the 

 arrangement. In the basal portion of 

 the branches the arrangement is normal, 

 that is, the spikelets are arranged alter- 

 nately in pairs, each of which consists 

 of a stalked and a sessile spikelet. 

 Toward the end of the branches all the 

 spikelets are sessile and the number in 

 each group increases from two to three 

 or more. 



Another peculiarity, perhaps asso- 

 ciated with the proterogynous habit, 

 is that the silks in most of the plants, 

 instead of appearing first on the upper- 

 most ear, appear almost simultaneously 

 from three ears, and in a number 

 of plants the silks of the second 

 ear showed before those of the first 

 ear. 



Daily notes were taken on the indi- 

 vidual plants, and the flowering time 

 of both male and female flowers was 

 noted. Of 59 plants, 8 had sterile 

 tassels and failed to produce pollen. 

 Of the remaining 51 plants, in 1 the 

 anthers opened two days before the 



[Cir. 107] 



*J* 







1 ft v^ % s V 





Qc% 





Or? 



4* Ft 



Fig. 2.— Proterogynous variety of maize. 

 Ear No. 2. (Natural size.) 



