444 Journal of Agricultural Research voi. vi, no. 12 



(2) By recording the number of nodes with hairs completely encircling 

 the sheath. In the pure Esperanza maize this usually occurred at the 

 lowest node on which hairs were borne ; or at most there was a difference 

 of only one of two nodes. In the hybrid plants there were usually a 

 number of sheaths with tuberculate hairs at the side, but with a narrow 

 smooth strip at the back over the midrib. 



(3) By recording the length of the longest tuberculate hairs. In all 

 hybrid plants of both the first and second generation tuberculate hairs 

 were present, there being no plant that resembled pure Waxy Chinese 

 plants in this particular. The length of the hairs varied, however, in 

 different plants, thus affording another measure of the extent to which 

 hairs were developed. 



TASSEL CHARACTERS 



In the nature of the tassel the two varieties are hardly less distinct 

 than in the covering of the leaf sheath. The Waxy Chinese variety 

 has many branches, 15 to 30 primary branches in normally developed 

 plants, with numerous secondaries. The Esperanza (PI. LVII) seldom 

 has more than 5 branches and in many plants the tassel is simple, con- 

 sisting only of a large central spike. Associated with the difference 

 in the number of branches is a corresponding difference in length of the 

 axis or "branching space," the distance from the lowest to the upper- 

 most branch. 



In the Esperanza variety the glumes vary from 10 to 16 mm. in length 

 with a mean of 1 1.7 ±0.14. In the Waxy Chinese variety the range is 

 from 7 to 12 mm., with a mean of 9.2 ±0.09. All of the above characters 

 were directly measured or counted. 



The typical arrangement of the spikelets is also different in the two 

 varieties. In the Waxy Chinese the arrangement on the branches is 

 similar to that in most of the better known varieties of maize. The 

 spikelets are paired, one pediceled and one sessile, the pairs alternating 

 on the sides of the branch. In the Esperanza maize when branches 

 occur the spikelets are nearly all sessile and are borne in clusters of 

 from 2 to 5. They are also disposed on all faces of the branch instead 

 of being confined to the sides. The arrangement of spikelets and gen- 

 eral appearance of the branches in the Esperanza is similar to the arrange- 

 ment on the central spike. One result of these differences in arrange- 

 ment of spikelets is a greater crowding of spikelets in the Esperanza. 

 As a measure of this difference the number of spikelets in the last 10 

 cm. of the lowest tassel branch were counted. This number is referred 

 to as the "density of the spikelets." 



TASSEL EXSERT 



In the Waxy Chinese variety the base of the tassel is frequently 

 inclosed in the uppermost leaf sheath. In the Esperanza variety the 

 lowest branch of the tassel is usually well above the uppermost leaf 



