154 



The Journal of Heredity 



Mendelian recombination, but our ex- 

 periments indicate that most of the 

 characters of maize are independent of 

 one another in inheritance and that 

 recombination is only a question of 

 careful selection following hybridiza- 

 tion. 



CONCLUSIONS 



The work of discovering new and 

 valuable characteristics is one in which 

 a cooperative arrangement among the 

 different maize-growing countries of 

 America would be especiall}'^ applicable. 

 Once an adaptation is obser\'ed and 

 the discovery announced, it becomes 

 available to all countries. 



Of course, an important step to take 

 is the interchange of varieties, but it is 

 of equal im])ortance to have the varie- 

 ties studied in their native countries by 

 obser\^ers familiar with the maize plant 

 and its variations. 



I would strongly urge that each of the 

 maize-growing countries of America 

 make a canvass of the maize varieties 

 existing within its boundaries. In the 

 study of these varieties the particular 

 conditions under which they have de- 

 \'eloped should be kept in mind. Thus, 

 if a \'ariet\' is found growing in a region 

 of cool nights, high winds, or any other 

 ])ronounced environmental factor an 

 effort should be made to determine 

 how the variety meets the peculiar con- 

 dition. I venture again to call atten- 

 tion to the necessity of looking for 

 desirable adaptations rather than de- 

 sirable varieties and to urge that no 

 \-aricty be overlooked simply because 

 it appears insignificant or worthless. 

 If a variety is growing under climatic 

 conditions that are extreme in any 

 particular, it is more than probable 

 that the variety possesses valuable 

 characteristics. 



Improper Feeding among New York School Children. 



Thirty-three per cent of the girls and 

 38% of the boys in two New York pub- 

 lic schools are suffering from improper 

 feeding, due to ignorance of what con- 

 stitutes a suilal)le diet under present 

 conditions, according to studies made 

 by New York social workers, utilizing 

 the medical services of the Department 

 of Health and the Association for Im- 

 proving the Condition of the Poor. 



The school lunch is considered a di- 

 rect way of meeting the problem re- 

 vealed by these studies Nutritional 

 clinics have been established and a spe- 

 cial committee of the pediatric secti(jn 

 of the New York Academy of Medicine 

 has been appointed to cooperate in the 

 experiments now proposed. The first 

 of these experiments is an extension of 

 the existing school lunch service at 

 School No. ^0, ICast <!<ith Street, where 

 twenty-five of the children are to be 

 given one meal a day for three months. 

 The Post Graduate Hospital, the New 



^'ork School Lunch Comniiitee. and the 

 People's Institute are cooperating to 

 bring the utmost of scientific control to 

 the experiment and in making known 

 the results in terms of physical improve- 

 ment, sciiolarship. cost, and applicability 

 of the results to school children gen- 

 erally. 



The menus for the feeding experi- 

 ment have been carefully worked out 

 by Dr. Mary Schwartz Rose of Colum- 

 ])ia University and Miss Lucy K. Gil- 

 lette, dietitian of the Association for 

 Improving the Condition of the Poor. 

 These menus are to contain 900 calories. 

 The foods selected are those most easily 

 available to the people during the pres- 

 ent war time crisis and those which 

 should be used for purposes of conser- 

 vation. The lx)ys volunteered to eat 

 these meals for a i>eriod of three months 

 as "Food Scouts'' to prove what food in 

 war time children nuist eat in order to 

 reach proper physical develoiMiient. 



