1883. 



AM) HORTICI'LTURIST. 



19 



Natural History and Science. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



CAN WHEAT BE CROSS-FERTILIZED? 



BY A. \i:iICH, Ni:\V HAVICN, CONN. 



In the MoNTMLV for November. 1882, Mr. Car- 

 man writes: "During two seasons past, I have 

 spent much time in crossing wheats. I have been 

 very careful to remove the anthers from each 

 flower while yet they were immature. Whenever 

 they (the anthers) showed a tint of yellow, an indi- 

 cation of approaching maturity, I have destroyed 

 the anthers. Nevertheless, seventy-five per cent. 

 of the heads from plants raised from the crossed 

 seed could not be distinguished from those of the 

 mother plant." 



The attempts at crossing as recorded above do 

 not seem to have been successful, and if statements 

 long since given to the public are true they could 

 not have been otherwise. The cause of failure is 

 owing to the fact that wheat, in common with other 

 members of the grass family, is cleistogamous, 

 in all of which cases fertilization takes place 

 while yet the flowers are within the folds of the 

 sheaths. This characteristic can be seen in Vilfa, 

 Leersia and Sporobolus, as well as in wheat ; and 

 the remarkable fact also that when the terminal 

 flowers of spike or panicle escape confinement they 

 are less productive of seeds than those which never 

 reach the light. 



As having a direct bearing upon this subject, we 

 may be permitted to quote a sentence or two from 

 an article on the cross-breeding of plants by the 

 late D. Beaton, written at the request of C. Darwin. 

 Mr. Beaton says : 



" No kind of wheat has ever been naturally 

 crossed, and never can be. When the Royal 

 Agricultural Society talk about the wheat being in 

 blossom, they are just one month behind nature. 

 But what they and the bulk of the country people 

 take for the flowering of the wheat is one of the 

 most beautiful contrivances in nature as means to 

 an end. A departure from the law of nature, as it 

 were, to preserve food for man. The wheat is in 

 full flower, and the seed is fertilized while the ear 

 is yet in the folds of the sheath, before the wheat is 

 in ear. At that period the anthers might be said 

 to be sessile, or to have hardly any length of sta- 



mens under them ; but as soon as the pollen is 

 shed, the husk of the anther might rot in such close 

 confinement, and endanger the safety of the staff of 

 life, now having just received vitality. To prevent 

 famine for lack of wheat, however, nature alters 

 her common process in this matter. As soon as 

 the anther is emptied of the pollen the filaments be- 

 gin to grow, and to push up the husk of the anther 

 away from the embryo seed, and by the time the 

 ear is seen the husk is well-nigh out of the scales 

 which enclose the seed, but stops not then nor till 

 the husk is dangling from a white thread, far off 

 from the entrance to the seed-case ; and when all 

 dangers are thus provided against, the farmer con- 

 gratulates himself if the weather is propitious, for 

 his wheat is in blossom I " 



Thus it will appear that Mr. Beaton recognizes 

 no middle ground upon which to meet those who 

 believe that cleistogamous flowers can be cross-fer- 

 tilized, and from the evidence adduced Jie does not 

 seem to be much mistaken. I cannot speak author- 

 itatively in regard to wheat, but having bestowed 

 some attention upon several of the grasses which 

 belong to this class, more especially the different 

 species of Vilfa, it is safe to say, there is not one 

 chance in ten thousand that they ever cross. Even 

 this slim chance may meet the requirements of 

 those who believe that crossing is a necessity in 

 nature, although taking place only at very long in- 

 tervals. But there is an uncertainty about this 

 which must be removed, before we can see clearly 

 how much or how little species depend upon cross- 

 fertilization for their continuance in pristine vigor. 



THE FERTILIZATION OF CALOPOGON 

 PULCHELLUS. 



BY FR.\NK L. BASSKTT, H.\MMOMON, N. J. 



This plant though not as grotesque as some of 

 the orchids, is not one that will lack admirers. The 

 lover of flowers is charmed by its beautiful appear- 

 ance, both the single specimen and the general 

 effect in the meadow, while the botanist finds it a 

 subject for no little study. 



Probably its nearest relatives are Pogonia ophiog- 

 glossoides and Arethusa bulbosa. It differs in the 

 spiral development of the flower, which brings 

 the lip — the lowest division in its relatives and 



