134 EXPERIMENT StATIOl? RECORD. f Vol. 36 



Rate of seeding tests for wheat have not been conclusive. Kherson oats 

 sown at the rate of 6 bu. per acre has yielded better than at lower rates, while 

 Svanhals barley has yielded better at 2 and 3 pk. per acre than at higher rates. 

 For flax, 15 lbs. per acre has given the highest average yields. 



Early sowing of winter wheat during the first half of September, has given 

 tlie highest average yields, and the middle of April for spring common wlieat and 

 oats. Svanhals barley has yielded best when sown from the middle to the latter 

 part of April, and flax about June 1. 



The effect of difEerent nitrogenous fertilizers, especially guanidin nitrate, 

 on oats and mustard, L. Hiltner (Prakt. Bl. Pflansenbau u. Schutz, n. ser., 

 IS (1915), No. 11-12, pp. 14I-I55, fig. 1). — A series of pot experiments were con- 

 ducted in 1913, 1914, and 1915 with lime nitrate, ammonium sulphate, guanidin 

 nitrate, and urea nitrate as fertilizers for oats and mustard. The results of 

 other investigators in experiments with guanidin nitrate are compared with the 

 data I'eported in tables and discussed at some length. 



In the work described guanidin nitrate in 1913 had an injurious effect on 

 the growth of oats but gave a marked increase in the yield of mustard. The 

 average total results with oats and mustard for 1913 and 1914 were in favor 

 of guanidin nitrate as compared with the other nitrogenous substances. It was 

 furtlier observed that lime nitrate gave a large increase in yield the first year, 

 showing little or no residual effect the second year, while ammonium sulphate 

 did not become active until the second year and guanidin nitrate and urea 

 nitrate gave a much more evenly distributed eifect, as indicated by the yields 

 for the two years. The residual effect of the guanidin nitrate in 1914 appeared 

 to be a little above the initial effect of the application in 1913. 



The results also showed that where mustard and oats were grown together in 

 the same pot, the mustard was capable of using the nitrogen of the guanidin 

 nitrate, while the oats were not. In experiments carried on in 1915 it was 

 shown that oats grown mixed with mustard did not make use to the fullest 

 advantage of the nitrogen supplied by the four different forms, while wlien 

 grown alone they made good use of the supply of nitrogen from all sources 

 except the guanidin nitrate. In view of these results the relation between the 

 growth of wild mustai'd and oats in the open field is considered. 



Anomalous endosperm development in m.aize and the problem of bud 

 sports, R. A. Emerson (Ztschr. Induktive Abstam. u. Vererhungslehre, H 

 (1915), No. 5, pp. 241-259, fig. 1). — Two anomalous seeds of maize from a cross 

 between colorless parents, one homozygous starchy and the other sugary, are 

 described. One seed, starchy throughout, was about half colorless and half 

 colored purple, while the other, colored purple throughout, presented an endo- 

 sperm part starchy and part sugary. A description is also given of a third 

 anomalous seed from a cross between colorless seeded and heterozygous, 

 colored-seeded parents, the seed being wholly colored, but half purple and half 

 red. 



These seeds are regarded as inexplicable on the hypothesis that the second 

 male nucleus and the fused polar nuclei may each independently develop a 

 part of the endosperm, or on the alternative hypothesis that the second male 

 nucleus may finite with one polar nucleus to produce part of the endosperm, 

 the other polar nucleus developing independently to pi'oduce the other part. 

 The seeds are considered explainable on the basis of the hypothesis that subse- 

 quent to normal endosperm fertilization there occurs a vegetative segregation 

 of genetic parentage. It is believed to have been shown that if such a segre- 

 gation occurs it is not a typical Mendelian segregation, as in neither of the 

 three cases all the independently inherited genetic factors present in a hetero- 

 zygous condition could have been involved. It is suggested that such seeds 



