F. KiDD AND V. West 



The figures indicate, not only that the yield per plant from heavy 

 seed is greater (about 20 per cent.), but also that the yield per head is 

 greater independently of the tillering, which, if anything, is also greater 

 in the plants from plump seeds. 



Edler(i8 & 19) carried out experiments with seeds weighing 50-9 and 

 33-9 gms. per 1000 respectively. In one test the same number of grains 

 of the heavy and of the light seed were sown. It was found that the 

 heavy seed produced the heavier plants, having a larger number of 

 productive stems and producing heavier and a larger number of grains 

 than plants from the light seed. 



Before leaving the case of cereals a brief reference must be made to 

 various other authors whose results, although they cannot be critically 

 interpreted from the point of view of physiological pre-determination, 

 make it clear that from the practical point of view the balance of evi- 

 dence, as we have said before, is in favour of the use of large seed^. 



Author 

 8anborne et al. (64) ... 



Latta(46) 



Georgeson et al. (24) ... 



Dcsprcz(15) ... 



Deherain etDupont( 13 ) 



Hickman (40) ... 



Description of experiments 



4 years' continuous selection of 

 large and shrivelled grain of 

 wheat 



3 years" discontinuous selection of 

 heavy and h'ght wheat grains 

 separated by a fanning mill 



3 years' discontinuous selection of 

 light and heavy wheat grain 



3 years' continuous selection of 

 large and small grain of five 

 varieties of wheat 

 Experiment extending over a single 

 year with large and small grain 

 of five varieties of wheat 



9 years' continuous selection of 

 larse and small grain of wheat 



Average yield of seed- 

 grain 



7-47 bushels per acre in 

 favour of the heavy 

 grain 



2-5 bushels per acre in 

 favour of the heavy 

 grain 



1-88 bushels per acre in 

 favour of the heavy 

 gi'ain 



761 kilograms per hec- 

 tare in favour of the 

 large grain 



150 kilograms per hec- 

 tare in favour of the 

 large seed 



0-25 bushel per acre in 

 favour of the small 

 (jrain 



^ Many other workers have obtained similar results; for example, Cobb ( 10), Bolley (4), 

 Lyon (51), Blanchard (2), and Richardson (61) with wheat; Dietrich (16), Buckmann (7), 

 Sorauer (66), and Welton and Gearhart (79) with oats: Lubanski (49) with winter wheat, 

 barley, and oats; and Von Lochow (48) with rye. 



9—2 



