CORN growers' association. 63 



y^i. He saved the seed from these plants, planted them and carried on 

 the same polhnation process, and in the second generation the cross- 

 polUnated plants average 85 inches, vv^hile the self-pollinated plants 

 averaged 66 inches, or a ratiof of 100 to 79. In every case the cross- 

 pollinated plants were taller and more vigorous than those which had 

 been raised from seed pollinated by its own pollen. Now the difference 

 was not due to one or two unusually tall individuals which brought up 

 the average. The difference was due to every plant being larger than 

 the corresponding plant from the self-pollinated seed. 



Again he carried on some experiments with carnations on the effect 

 of cross-pollination and also the effect of self-pollination. He had three 

 lots, one which had grown in his own garden and were pollinated from 

 flowers brought from London, another lot was pollinated from other in- 

 dividuals grown in the same garden and the third lot was pollinated from 

 its own flowers. So we have what he calls the London crossed, the inter- 

 crossed and the self-fertilized plants. In comparing the London crossed 

 with the self-pollinated, we have the greatest difference, the average 

 height was in the ratio of 100 to 81, the weight of seed in the ratio of 

 100 to 33. The ratio of the London crossed to the inter-crossed, that is, 

 the relation of those crossed with a new stock to those crossed by their 

 own brothers and sisters, was 100 to 45 and the weight of seeds the 

 same. The ratio of the inter-crossed to the self-fertilized was 100 to 67 

 and the ratio of the weight of seeds 100 to 73. 



This plainly shows one or two things. First, there is an advantage 

 in crossing from a fresh stock. It gives new vigor. Second, the gain 

 in the weight of seed is greater than in the height or general vigor of 

 the plant and further shows that the plants which were cross-pollinated 

 even with their own stock were more vigorous and produced more seed 

 than those which were self-fertilized. So we can appreciate to some 

 extent the value of cross-pollination in the corn. 



Now as a result of this crossing, we sometimes get undesirable 

 things in our fields, that is especially true where we are raising corn for 

 seed purposes. These considerations should teach us that we must be 

 very careful about keeping our seed plat some distance from other corn 

 if we want it to be vigorous and hardy. It is as important to pay atten- 

 tion to the plant which bears the pollen as to the plant which bears the 

 ear, because the offspring is as likely to inherit the characteristics of one 

 as the other. To guard against this possibility, we must use great care 

 as to where the pollen comes from and the best thing to do when the 

 corn is ready for pollination is to go through the patch and cut off all 

 the tassels on weak stalks so that the pollen will come only from the 



