4 Journal of Agricultural Research voi. xix, no i 



decidedly flattened. The plants were much more proterandrous than even 

 normal maize, and the first silks appeared from the basal or prophyllary 

 node of the uppermost branch. About 95 days elapsed from the date 

 of germination before the first pollen was shed, and the first silks 

 appeared from 10 to 21 days later. The season proved to be too short 

 to mature the fruit properly, and no viable seeds were obtained. A 

 photograph of one of the F^ plants is shown in Plate 6, C, and the pistil- 

 late infloresence of the same plant in Plate 7. 



The two seeds remaining from the original cross were planted at 

 Chula Vista, Calif., in 191 5, but only one plant was brought to maturity. 

 This plant produced viable seed and became the parent of the second 

 generation discussed in the present paper. Although grown in a climate 

 decidedly different from that at Lanham, Md., the F^ plant at Chula 

 Vista was strikingly similar in every respect to its sister plants grown 

 the preceding year. It also was proterandrous, though requiring 102 

 days from germination to the shedding of pollen. The uppermost 

 branch was in the second node from the top, and the plant produced 

 many suckers arising from nodes below the ground. The terminal 

 panicle had an 8-rowed central spike, and the female spikes were all 

 4- rowed, as in the I^anham plants. 



Since the Fj plants were comparatively uniform, it was not until the 

 great diversity of the second generation became apparent that the 

 characters were formulated. Consequently many of the characters 

 subsequently used were not recorded for the F^ plants, and no direct 

 comparisons could be made. In any case, the very small number of 

 Fi plants precluded statistical analysis. 



SECOND GENERATION OF TEOSINTE-MAIZE HYBRID 



The second generation, consisting of 127 plants, was grown at Chula 

 Vista in the season of 1916. The hills were spaced 4 feet by 3 feet, and 

 only one seed was planted in a hill. This generous spacing, together 

 with the fact that the germination was low, removed all effects of crowd- 

 ing and allowed the plants to develop naturally, an important feature 

 with plants exhibiting such a wide range of size, habits of growth, and 

 season of maturity. 



The impression gained from the general appearance of the F2 plants 

 was that the great majority were of one type, with the remaining plants 

 falling into other fairly well-defined classes. This impression was dis- 

 pelled as the plants were carefully examined and the measurements of 

 individual characters recorded. The general impression of uniformity 

 was doubtless due to the fact that the branching habit of a plant is its 

 most conspicuous feature. (See Pi. i.) The measurements showed, in 

 fact, that the number of suckers was among the least variable of the 

 characters measured, 65 per cent of the plants having between 7 and 

 15 suckers. 



