9 



odly occurs, in sonio plants at Icasi. no matter wliat its interpretation 

 may 1)(\ 



While it has ])een chiimed that xenia is a somewhat common phe- 

 nomenon in many phmts, there are very few cases on record that are 

 not open to sonu^ (lou})t; but in no phmt is its occurrence so well sub- 

 stantiated as in maize. Indeed, the entire belief in the existence of 

 xenia may be said to depend upon its occurring in this plant. That 

 corn crosses readily in the field and shows the eftect the first year 

 is a o-enerally recognized fact among agriculturists in this country. 

 The majority of the cases reported, however, arc open to the criti- 

 cism that the seed planted was not definitely known to be pure, and 

 thus the supposed immediate efiect of crossing might be explained as 

 due to hybridization which occurred the previous year, or might pos- 

 si])ly be interpreted as cases of reversion. 



As earl}^ as 172-4 Dudlej-' said: 



Inrliau corn is of several colours, a.s blue, white, red, and yellow; if these sorts are 

 planted ])y themselves, .«o that no other sort he near them, they will keep to their 

 own colour, i. e., the blue will produce blue, the white, white, etc. But if in the 

 same field you plant blue corn in one row of hills (as we term them) and the white, 

 or j'elli)\v, in the next row, they will mix and interchange theircolours; that is, some 

 of the ears of corn in the blue-corn rows shall be white, or yellow; and some in the 

 white or yellow rows shall be of tlie })lue colour. 



In iSlC) Dr. Savi, according to Darwin,' ".sowed yellow and black 

 seeded maize together, and on the same ears some of the grains were 

 yellow, some l)lack, and some mottled, the differently^ colored seeds 

 beino- arrano-ed irre<;ularlv or in rows." Probablv the most convinc- 

 ing series of experiments which have been carried out were those con- 

 ducted in 186«), by the famous French plant l)reeder, the late Henry L. 

 de Vilmorin.^ In the spring of that year he planted a dozen varieties 

 of maize from 1.000 to 1.300 feet apart, which distance had been 

 found sufficient to prevent intercrossing by wind-blown pollen. The 

 ears to be crossed were enveloped in thin flannel, which excluded 

 pollen perfectl}'. Such ears, unless artificially pollinated, never 

 yielded a single kernel. To have a standard for comparison an 

 inclosed ear from each sort was artificially pollinated with pollen 

 from the same sort. The ears thus obtained were imperfectly filled, 

 but the kernels were all true to the type of the race. On the other 

 hand, when inclosed ears were artificially crossed "with pollen from 

 another sort * * * the ears often, but not alwa3's, contained ker- 

 nels showing the characters of their male parent. The proportion of 



'Dudley, P. An Observation on Indian Corn. Philosophical Transactions, 

 Ar)ridgement. Vol. 6, pt. 2, pp. 204,205. Oct., 1724. 



'■'Darwin, Chas. Animals and Plants under Domestication. Vol. 1. Second edi- 

 tion, pp. 4.30,431. 



•' Vilmorin, Henry L. de. Bui. de la. iSoc. Bot. de France, T. 14, p. 24t>, Seance du 29 

 Nov., 1867. 



