352 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



At tile iH'ginning <il" tlie investigation the ]>r(>i)ortioii of nitrogen and dry matter 

 was 1:28 and at the end 1:70. On July 28 the proportion of nitrogen to sugar was 

 1:19 and on October 30 1:40. The dry matter and the sugar increased nmch more 

 raj)idly than the nitrogen. The thinned beets had a liigher nitrogen content than 

 the unthinned and smaller Ijeets. It is believed that owing to a greater assimilating 

 surface the larger plants al^sorbed more nitrogen salts, especially nitrates. In the 

 thinned and unthinned beets 35 and 48 per cent, resjiectively, of the nitrogen was 

 in the form of nitrates. The nitrogen content was largest in the crown and dimin- 

 ished toward the point, Iteing in this respect tlie reverse of the sugar content. 



The author discusses the albuminoid, nitric, and anud nitrogen content of fodder 

 beets. All of the nitrogenous compounds except the amido acids increased relatively 

 much faster in the roots during ripening than in the tops. The roots contained 

 approximately 0.7 of the dry jnatter, 0.8 of the sugar, more than half of the total 

 nitrogen and albuminoids, and 0.7 of the amids. The feeding value of the roots and 

 tops is considered. 



Improvements in cereals, W. Saunders ( Connecticut State Bd. Agr. Rpt. 1902, 

 pp. 119-129, ]tl. 1). — This article contains a brief review of the work in this line by a 

 nund)er of plant })reeders, and has special reference to the improvement of wheat, 

 barley, and oats by the Canadian Experimental Farms. General directions for car- 

 rying on the work are given. 



A partial record of the crossing with wheat at these farms shows that from 1,650 

 flowers carefully worked, only 220 kernels were obtained. Crosses of Hard Red Cal- 

 cutta and Gehun, early Indian varieties, and Ladoga, an early maturing Russian 

 sort, with Red Fife and White Fife, were made to combine the earliness of the Indian 

 varieties with the vigor, i^roductiveness, and high quality of the Fife wheats. The 

 cross-bred varieties thus obtained ripen 3 to 4 days earlier than tlie Fife varieties and 

 are vigorous and productive. Of the different new sorts, Preston, a cross of the Red 

 Fife with Ladoga, has taken the lead in productiveness, showing an average yield 

 for 6 years of 33 bu. and 53 lbs. per acre, or an increase of 1 bu. and 28 lbs. over Red 

 Fife. Laurel, a cross of Red Fife with Gehun, has produced even higher yields, but 

 has been under observation only 3 years. 



The best results for earliness were obtained from a cross with Onega, a variety 

 from the most northern wheat district of Russia, and Gehun, which comes from a 

 high elevation in the Himalayan ]\Iountains. Two of the resulting crosses. Early 

 Riga and Harold, ripen a week earlier than Red Fife, but the grain is small and the 

 yield only medium. In the author's experience any marked gain in earliness has 

 usually involved a reduction in the weight of the crop. 



In a recent experiment Red Fife was fertilized with pollen from the large-grained 

 Triticum polonlcnm for the purpose of producing a v^ariety with a larger kernel than 

 the ordinary grain. The progeny thus far obtained has shown remarkable variation. 



Distinct hybrids of 2-rowed and 6-rowed barleys produced at the Experimental 

 Farms are described in a general way and the work with oats and peas is mentioned. 



The structure of the corn kernel and the composition of its different parts, 

 C. G. Hopkins, L. II. Smith, and E. ]\I. East [lUinoix Sta. Bui. S7, pp. 77-112, figs. 

 4). — This bulletin contains additional data relating to the improvement in the 

 chemical composition of the corn kernel, as treated in previous bulletins (E. S. R., 

 11, p. 633; 14, p. 855). The chemical and physical composition of the different parts 

 of the corn kernel was further studied and the additional results, together with 

 some of the data previously obtained, are here given in tabular form and discussed. 



The authors consider the corn kernel to consist of the following 6 physical parts: 

 Tip cap, hull, horny gluten, horny starch, white starch, and germ. The tip cap is 

 described as covering the tip or base and comprising about 1.5 per cent of the grain, 

 and the hull as the very thin outer coat, comprising about 6 per cent of the kernel 

 and containing a lower percentage of protein than any other part of it. The horny 



