350 The Journal of Heredity 



theoretically j^ivc just such a result as Nevertheless it must be admitted 



this. Biometricians have frequently that here is a set of measurements which 



warned against the dangers of just such show a far more intimate relationship 



spurious correlations as this. Ever\'- with milk yield than is generally found. 



one knows that races of cattle differ in The explanation suggested in this note 



physical dimensions and in milking may not be the correct one at all. 



capacitv. Until such cases as the present are fully 



What is really needed is a means of cleared up by those who have the 



predicting yield from more readily necessary biological facilities the prob- 



measured characters within a pure race, lem of the relationship between bodily 



Korreng's data are certainly not con- conformation and milk yield cannot be 



vincing in this regard.' considered finally solved. 



' Korreng states explicitly that he used the greatest care in the selection of his animals. If 

 they are really racially homogeneous the frequency distributions are very unusual. The only 

 other explanations that I can suggest are that the bimodal condition is due to random sampling 

 merely, or that personal equation played a part in the making of the measurements. 



Milk Indications 



For many years breeders have sought to find something in the appearance of a 

 cow which would indicate whether or not she would yield much milk. Kronacher 

 and Schmidt suggested that an animal with slender, delicate bones and horns 

 would prove the best milker, and Laurer in 1910 presented measurements to prove 

 this. He further attempted to show that there was a correlation in the growth of 

 these parts: the finer the skeleton, the finer the horns, and conversely that large 

 horns were always associated with a large skeleton. The numbers which he used 

 were inadequate, so Dr. Max Mullcr and K. Narabe, of the Imperial Japanese 

 University of Tohoku, have continued the investigation with 136 cows of different 

 breeds, reporting their conckisions in the Landwirtschaftliche Jahrbtich, XLVI, 1, 

 BerHn, 1914. They decide that the growth of bones and horns is closely related, 

 and that the animals with small skeletons or delicate horns are the best milkers. 

 Such "milk indications" have been reported many times in many countries dtiring 

 the last half century, and the breeder should take them all with a grain of salt, 

 but it may prove of interest to some of the members of this association to test the 

 theory in their own herds. 



Crossing of Wheat Flowers Unprotected After Emasculation. 



During the summer of 1<M1, 140 Turkey Red winter wheat flowers were emasculated. These 

 flowers were on seven heads, each head containing twenty flowers. Two flowers, the first and 

 second, were left in each spikelet, the upy)er flowers lieing removed by pinching off' the racliilla al)Ove 

 the second flower. Five spikclets were left on either .side of the rachis, making a total of ten 

 spikelets for each head. The spikclets left were the lower ones of the head, the upi)er spikelets 

 being removed by cutting off the rachis above the tenth spikelet. The remaining flowers of the 

 ten spikelets were emasculated in the usual way. The flowers were not artificially pollinated and 

 the heads were not covered or protected in any way. At the end of the season the lieads were 

 harvested, the grains from each head being threshed out and counted. It was found lliat out 

 of the total of 140 flowers emasculated, 112, or 80% had set seed. 



It has been the writer's practice always to cover and protect the heads worked witli after 

 emasculation and after yiollination to avoid the i)ossibility of foreign i)ollcn jJoUinating the stigma 

 before the desired poiien was ai)plied artificially and fertilisation had resulted. This test was 

 made for the purpose of determining whetlier there is any possil)ility of the ema.sculated flower 

 becoming pollinated if left unprotected liefore jjollination. Simultaneous with this trial another 

 was made, in which a numljer of flowers were emasculated and were covered but were not pollin- 

 ated. When these heads were harvested, it was found that less than l',, of the flowers had set 

 seed, the small number of seeds i)roduced apparently being the result of faulty ema.sculation, in 

 which the stigmas became fertilized in removing the stamens from the flowers. 



D. VV. Fki-.\r, 



Colorado Agricultural College. 



