436 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOKD. 



stamens, and stigma, and of general types of over 100 selections of tobacco 

 varieties and strains is reported. 



Deli tobacco a mixture of types, J. A. Honing {Bui. Deli Proefstat. Medan, 

 No. 4 {1915), pp. 29, pi. 1). — ^This article, printed in both Englisb and Dutch, 

 gives the results of a study of the types of Deli tobacco, and considers the 

 number of leaves, measurements of leaves, height of the stem, and time of 

 flovrering. It is noted that leaf number is dependent on environment. Sis types 

 of tobacco vpere distinguished in Deli tobacco. 



The chemical composition of the tobacco plant in its various stages of 

 growth, E. Pannain {Intemat. Inst. Agr. [Rome'i, Mo. Bui. Agr. Intel, and, 

 Plant Diseases, 5 (1914), No. 11, pp. 1450-1452). — Analyses of the tobacco 

 variety Xanthi Taka, at various stages of growth as produced at Abruzzi, Italy, 

 are reported. 



" These results show that seedlings are richer in ash, nitrogen, and organic 

 acids than half-grown or full-grown plants. In plants before flowering, the 

 apical leaves are richer in ash, nitrogen, and substances soluble in ether and 

 alcohol than the lower leaves, but they contain less nicotin and organic acids. 

 In ripe leaves, the ash content decreases from the basal (first picking) to the 

 apical leaves (fourth picking), and the leaves of the first and second pickings 

 are also richer in nicotin, containing double the quantity of the leaves of the 

 third and fourth pickings. The leaf blades are always richer in nitrogen, 

 nicotin, and substances soluble in alcohol and ether than the ribs, and generally 

 also in ash, but they are poorer in organic acids. The stems and roots contain 

 less ash, nitrogen, substances soluble in ether and alcohol, and nicotin than other 

 parts of the plant, but the roots contain more nicotin than the stems." 



Determination of wheats, K. Fliaksbeeger {Trudy Biuro Prlkl. Bat. {Bui. 

 Appl. Bat.), 8 {1915), No. 1-2, pp. 9-210, pi. 1, figs. 43).— The author has here 

 classified and described 185 varieties of wheat grouped under the following 

 eight species : Triticum monococcum, T. dicoccum, T. durum, T. turgidum, T. po- 

 lonicum, T. spelta, T. vulgarc, and T. compactum. 



Mass selection of spring wheat, A. I. Smebum {SelsJc. Khoz. i Liesov., 245 

 {1914), June, pp. 226-246; July, pp. 369-3S2). — Mass selection of spring wheat 

 {Triticum vulgare lutescens and T. vulgarc erythrospermdim) was undertaken 

 in 1912 and 1913 at the Saratof experimental station with smooth white spikes 

 of the first and bearded white spikes of the second. These were first selected 

 in the field and the collected ears were afterwards separated in the laboratory 

 into groups. The result obtained in the field was the separation from the wheat 

 of botanical admixtures, i. e., the botanical purification of the basic form of 

 wheat. 



In the laboratory the ears were selected by type and classified by size, shape, 

 compactness, distribution of spikes, and formation of scales (glumes) ; by com- 

 pactness, the maximum being over 2.2 spikes per centimeter and the minimum 

 below 1.7 ; and by character of the grain, dividing it into mealy, vitreous, 

 coarse-grained, and mixed. Botanical admixtures found among these heads 

 were the milturumj ferrugiueum, and hordeiform, also velutinum. 



The results obtained from the work of 1912 and 1913 showed that the effect 

 of selection noticed in the first generation disappeared entirely in the second. 

 A repetition of the selection on the same lines gave scarcely any results what- 

 ever. The effect of selection on the first generation is of practical importance 

 only when the generation is immediately put to practical purposes. 



Individual selection of T. vulgare lutescens and T. vulgare erythrospermum 

 gave sharjily defined types with determined heredity, from which whole series 

 of generations, differing widely from their progenitors Qud from each other, 

 were evolved. Thus the wheat, which in mass selection gave no marked groups, 



