ii6 



The Journal of Heredity 



disadvantages of such a system than to 

 work out a readjustment. Other coun- 

 tries have the problem of large holdings 

 that need to be broken up, for the same 

 motive of national interest in rural 

 welfare. "France must engender again 



in the minds of her agricultural popula- 

 tion — love for the native soil, and the 

 determination to find upon it the 

 secret of a happy, useful, and prosperous 

 existence." 



A Case of Heredity 

 Heredity and Social Fitnhss: A 

 Study of Differential Mating in a 

 Pennsyhania Family, by Dr. Wilhel- 

 mine F. Key, Fugenics Record Office, 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

 Publication No. 296, Carnegie Insti- 

 tution of Washington, 1920. 102 

 pages, 2 figures, 2 charts. 



An intensive study of the descend- 

 ants of two families of German immi- 

 grants who settled in a certain region 

 in western Pennsylvania toward the 

 end of the 18th century, and who have 

 been found to be the connecting link 

 between a great many of the deficient 

 indi\iduals living now in this region. 

 The special traits and general social 

 fitness of each indi\idual for six genera- 

 tions is brought out by their position 

 in life, the opinions of neighbors, 

 anecdotes, institutional records, etc. 



Certain lines of descent gradually 

 rose in the social scale while in others, 

 defectiveness became more and more 

 concentrated. There was a marked 

 tendency toward segregation in partic- 

 ular lines, of particular types of 

 deficiency, such as lack of aggressive- 

 ness, perseverance, or calculating abil- 



vs. Environment 



ity. Heredity is considered to be in the 

 main responsible for the low social 

 level of each family network as a whole 

 and for the differences between differ- 

 ent lines. Fn\'ironment is considered 

 a factor but a relatively unimportant 

 one in the rural community in which 

 all elements of the population mingled 

 freely in school, church and social life. 

 Considerable direct evidence, more- 

 over, indicated the ineffectiveness of 

 good environment with respect to poor 

 stock and the reverse. It is noted, how- 

 ever, that there was a marked tendency 

 for the superior members of the families 

 to leave the region, in some cases 

 expressly to escape the stigma which 

 attached to their family names. Mar- 

 riage selection was a very important 

 factor in the concentration of social 

 inefficiency. This concentration ap- 

 pears to be the precursor of eliiiiination 

 of the worst lines through heavy child 

 nif)rtality and segregation in institu- 

 tions. 



The study furnishes a vivid and 

 convincing picture of the play of factors 

 which result in socialh- injurious family 

 compilexes. — S. W. 



Farming Risks Greatest in the Plains States 



Risks in the production of three great 

 staple cn^ps — corn, wheat, and oats — 

 are greatest in the Plains States ex- 

 tending from Texas to North Dakota. 

 This general fact is established by the 

 average deviation of the yield per acre 

 from the average yield, computed by 

 the Bureau f)f Crop Fstimates, Fnited 

 States Deiiartmenl of Agricuhurc, for 

 these three crops for ea<-li .Si air from 

 the recr)r(ls of 50 \x'ars. 



On the other hand, the North Allan- 

 tic and the Western States are regions 

 of comparati\el\- low risk, or (le\ialioii 

 of yield per acre from ihe axerage, for 



wheat and oats, and the entire .Atlantic 

 coast and the West for corn. 



The great corn belt, with its enor- 

 mous production and surplus above 

 local consumplion, is, after all. prom- 

 inently subject to risks of weather, 

 insects, and disease in the production of 

 crops, and, while it would be going too 

 far to say of this region as a whole that 

 the results of its agriculture are either 

 "a feast or a famine," yet there is a 

 tendency in this direction as the area 

 co\ered by the a\erage becomes more 

 restricted to county, townshij), and 

 indixidual farm.— llVfy^/y News Letter, 

 r. S. Dept. of .Agri. 



