FIELD CROPS. 735 



tiated, namely, that by the selection of seed the yield of potatoes may he materially 

 mcreased and the rapid deterioration of varieties prevented. 



Correlation and transmission in the rye plant with special reference to the 

 color of the g-rain, A. (Ieekkkxs (Jour. Landw., 49 {1901), No. 2, pp. 178-192). — 

 For the purpoj^e of this work 8 kinds of rye — Goettinijer, Pirna, and Russian — were 

 urrown in pot and field experiments. The (ioettin<ierand Pirna rye lunl been selected 

 on tho basis of typically formed heads with a (lesiral)le nund)er of \veil-f(jrmed grains, 

 while in tlie case of the Russian rye, strongly yellow and green-colored grains were 

 selected from a quantity of seed. In the pot experiments the tillering capacity, the 

 weight of the plant, and other data concerning the different parts of the plant were 

 determined. Owing to the quantity of the material, the plants grown in the field 

 were not studied so minutely. In the pot experiments all poorly developed plants 

 and in the field test all single-stemmed plants were not considered. 



The only difference noticed before the heads appeared was in the development of 

 the plants due to the difference in weight of the grains used for seed. Immediately 

 before the blossoming j^eriod it became quite noticeable that the progeny from broad 

 heads with many spikelets produced strong, stiff, upright standing spikes, as com- 

 l^ared with long, loose, and bending spikes from square, loose heads with a smaller 

 number of spikelets. This observation leads to the conclusion that the form of the 

 head of parent plants is to a considerable degree transmitted to the progeny. A 

 comparison of the other data showed that as a rule a decrease in the length of the 

 rachis is associated with a decrease in the length of the stem and an increase in the 

 numl)er of spikelets per 10 cm. of the rachis. The number of grains decreased regu- 

 larly and quite perceptibly as the rachis shortened. There was no great difference 

 noticeable in the number of grains per 10 cm. of the I'achis, but the different varieties 

 did not give similar results. In tlie case of Goettinger and Russian rye this factor 

 remained constant through the different groups, while with the Pirna variety it was 

 greatest where the rachis was of medium length. A short i-achis was associated with 

 a smaller number of grains per spikelet than a long rachis. It was further found 

 that the weight per 100 grains decreased slightly with the decrease in length of the 

 rachis. The thickness and the weight of the stems, heads, and grains decreased con- 

 siderably and regularly with the length of the rachis. The weight of the heads and 

 grains showed a decrease in proportion to the decrease in w^eight of the stem. Con- 

 cerning the color of the grains the author concludes that there seems to be a relation 

 between green grains and heads crowded with spikelets, and between yellow grains 

 and loose heads, but that this relation is too weak to manifest itself in all cases. In 

 the progeny of sliort and crowded heads the weight of the grain and the heads were 

 the lowest of the variety. The number of grains jier head was also lowest in the 

 progeny of short, crowded heads, and the weight per 100 grains was in general a little 

 lower than the weight per 100 grains of the progeny from loose heads. The form of 

 the head had no influence on the tillering capacity. The weight of the plant and of 

 the grain per plant was lowest in the progeny of short, crowded heads. From these 

 data it is seen that the best results in tiie i)rogeny were obtained from the square, 

 1 (»(!.«(' 1 leads. The field exi)eriments showed that in all instances the color of the 

 grain had lieen transmitted in a high degree to the progeny. There was no discern- 

 able difference in the tendency of transmission between the two colors. In most 

 cases with (ioettinger and Pirna rye the progeny of green-colored grains had the 

 heavier heads, the heavier weight of grains, and the largest number of grains per 

 liead. In the case of the Russian rye, however, the i)rogeny of the yellow grains 

 proiluced heavier heads and grains. The weight per 100 grains of the Pirna rye was 

 largest in the plants grown from the yellow seed, while the Goettinger and Russian 

 rye gave the heavier weight per 100 grains from the green-colored seed. The tiller- 

 ing capacity wa« greatest in the ))lants grown from yellow grains. In the pot experi- 

 ments the weight of the plants and the weight of the grain per i)lant were in favorof 

 the progeny of green-colored seed, w liilc in the tit-Id t'xi)criments tiiese weights were 



