Sect. V, 1922 [15] Trans. R.S.C. 



II. Some Observations on the Inheritance of Awns and Hoods in Barley 



By Charles E. Saunders, Ph.D., F. R.S.C, assisted by 



G. G. MoE, M.Sc. 



(Read May Meeting, 1922) 



The Arlington barley 



In the year 1912 the writer procured a small amount of Arlington 

 barley from the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D.C. 

 This curious tj^pe was obtained by Mr. H. B. Derr from a cross 

 between Tennessee Winter barley, a white variety of Hordeum vulgare 

 (that is, of the type commonly called six-row or four-row), and Black 

 Arabian, a black variety of Hordeum distichum. After repeated 

 selection, the type to which the name "Arlington" was given was 

 isolated in the fifth generation from the cross. This barley is described 

 by Mr. Derr as a six-row variety without awns or hoods, but having 

 the disadvantage of dropping its grains very easily. 



At Washington this barley was always sown in the autumn. 

 At Ottawa, however, all kinds are sown in the spring because no 

 barleys have shown themselves sufificiently hardy for use as winter 

 sorts. In 1912 the Arlington was sown on April 30th and in 1913 

 on April 22nd — ^rather early for barley in this district. In both of 

 these seasons this barley behaved as a spring variety, growing very 

 rapidly and ripening even earlier than the ordinary six-row sorts. 

 In 1914 the Arlington was sown on May 7th. This time it behaved 

 as winter varieties usually do when sown in the spring: it produced 

 only leaves until about the middle of July, when a small number of 

 heads began to shoot out. These ripened very late. The next year, 

 1915, on April 26th, seed from the 1914 crop was sown and a plot 

 was also put in, using the same seed as had been sown in 1914. Both 

 plots behaved as early-ripening spring barley; thus showing that the 

 remarkable conduct of the Arlington in 1914 was due either to the later 

 sowing or to some peculiarity of the season or soil, and not to any 

 change or mutation in the variety itself. In 1916, seeding was 

 unavoidably late, May 13th, and the Arlington again behaved like a 

 winter variety. In 1917, sown on May 11th it ripened very early, 

 thus showing that rather late seeding is not in itself sufficient to cause 

 the variety to form the winter type of plant. In 1918 it was sown, 

 for the last time in our plots, on May 7th and again behaved as a 



KJi^ 



