10 VALUE OF FIRST-GENERATION HYBRIDS IN CORN. 



of increasing the yield. Though the expected increase is usually 

 associated in the minds of the natives with superstitious ideas 

 regarding sexuality in the plants, the vigor secured by such crosses 

 may well have been an important factor in establishing this custom 

 with primitive tribes. 



The value of first-generation hybrids is further recognized in a 

 widespread belief among practical seed growers that the plants 

 produced by accidental crosses of pure strains are often exceptionally 

 vigorous. The following statement from Dr. W. W. Tracy, who 

 has had a wide experience in the practical breeding of plants and in 

 commercial seed production, voices this belief: 



The. second step is the selection of a few plants which shall come as near to the ideal 

 as possible and the saving of the seed of each of these separately. I recommend this 

 instead of selecting the best one because it often happens that the very best plant is in 

 reality a crossed one which owes its superiority to a cross of some exceptionally vigor- 

 ous but otherwise inferior plant, and this "bar sinister " will be revealed in the inferior 

 quality of plants grown from its seed.o 



PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS WITH FIRST-GENERATION HYBRIDS. 



EXPERIMENTS IN MICHIGAN. 



That the immediate result of crossing two varieties is to increase 

 the jneld was shown by definite experiments as early as 1878 by 

 Dr. W. J. Beal, of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 The plan for such experiments had been outlined two years before, 

 in 1876, the same year that Darwin published his classical work on 

 self and cross fertilization in plants, but without knowledge of 

 Darwin's results. Doctor Beal's first statement was as follows: 



To improve or infuse new vigor into varieties (or races I should more properly call 

 them) I propose in case of corn and some other seeds to get seeds from remote parts 

 where it has been grown for some years, and plant near each other and mix theni.& 



Even at this early date Doctor Beal appreciated the fact that the 

 benefits were largely confined to the first generation. 



The good results of such crossing will last for several years, though most apparent 

 the first year.c 



The nature of the first experiment and its relation to the similar 

 experiments of Darwin are shown in the following quotation: 



From several different sources in remote parts of our State I obtained white dent corn 

 and yellow dent corn for seed. So far as possible I obtained good seed from men who 

 had raised the corn for ten or more years in succession on the same farm. 



a Tracy, W. W. Importance of Uniformity of Varietal Character in Vegetable 

 Seeds. Market Growers' Journal, October 30, 1909, p. 2. 



6 Beal, W. J. Report, Michigan Board of Agriculture, 1876, p. 206. 

 c Loc. cit. 

 191 



