426 The Journal 
these being Nos. 1, 4, and 52. Nos. 
1 and 4 are described as follows: 
No. 1.—By parentage half wheat, half rye. 
Mother parent Armstrong. Heads compact, 
symmetrical, pointed, bearded; brown chaff. 
Three grains to a spikelet, eight spikelets to a 
side. Kernels hard, reddish or dark amber. 
Straw very strong and of medium height. As 
early as rye. Thought to be very hardy. 
No. 4.—By parentage half wheat, half rye. 
Mother plant crossed progeny of Armstrong. 
Heads symmetrical and absolutely beardless; 
brown chaff. Three grains to a spikelet, eight 
and nine spikelets to a side. Dark amber 
kernels. Stems very strong. Ripens with 
re, 
No. 52.—Originated as a pure wheat cross. 
From the data given it cannot be 
ascertained whether these two varieties 
were actually descended from the true 
wheat-rye hybrid or whether they were 
descended from the supposed hybrids 
as were No. 2 (Willits) and No. 3 
(Roberts). 
No. 1 apparently survived longer 
than any other of the varieties intro- 
duced up to this time, as it was offered 
to the trade by the seedsman intro- 
ducing it up to and including 1898, 
while in the meantime the others had 
been dropped from the lists. It is 
not known to the writer that any of 
these varieties are now grown, although 
a variety called ‘“‘No. 4” was seen 
growing in New York State in 1912, the 
characters of which agreed with the 
meager description obtainable of the 
variety. 
In 1894 two further introductions of 
wheat varieties were made, these being 
No. 57 and No. 6. Although No. 57 
was not originated as a cross with rye, 
it is perhaps the best of all introductions 
made by Mr. Carman, and a description 
is appended. 
“Peter Henderson & Co., of this city, 
now offer for the first time two of our 
wheats which the firm has kindly named 
Rural New Yorker No. 57 anid Rural 
New Yorker No. 6. The first is a 
heavily bearded variety, the parentage 
of which is one of our crossbred varieties 
fertilized with a crossbred of Velvet 
Chaff. The down (‘‘velvet’’) upon the 
glumes is very light, though perhaps 
heavy enough to resist the green fly, 
but not dense enough to invite mildew, 
which is often an objection to Velvet 
of Heredity 
Chaff. We have raised our hybrids 
and crossbreeds only upon very small 
plats. From such trials, the No. 57 
appeared to be a heavy yielder, with 
large, symmetrical, heavily-bearded 
heads, and tall wiry culms. It is a 
strong, vigorous grower, stools freely, 
and has never been winter-killed. 
“The Rural New Yorker No. 6 is one 
of the rye-wheat hybrids, though all 
appearance of rye has disappeared 
except that the culms just under the 
heads are now and again downy as in 
rye. The downiness of the stem is 
variable. We have tried by selection 
for many years to fix it without any 
approach to success. Of all our rye- 
wheat hybrids, the downy culm is 
permanent in but one, and that resem- 
bles rye in several other respects. The 
Hendersons have found that No. 6 
‘succeeds and produces heavy crops on 
poor, thin land, where pure wheat 
could not be successfully or profitably 
grown.’ This surely is a most valuable 
characteristic. Figure 165, page 630, 
shows the plant, one head, and several 
kernels.”’ 
THE ONLY REAL HYBRID 
From this description and from a 
statement made elsewhere concerning 
its origin, it seems that No. 6 is actually 
descended from the true wheat-rye 
hybrid obtained in 1883. It is note- 
worthy for this fact, since it is the only 
variety introduced by Mr. Carman 
whose record, so far as determined by 
the writer, clearly indicated such origin. 
This variety is also still being grown, 
at least a variety bearing this name is 
now included among the wheat varieties 
of several experiment stations. 
In common with the breeders of his 
day, Carman believed that the parents 
of a hybrid were equally represented in 
all self-fertilized individuals of subse- 
quent generations. There might be 
variation in form but not in composition. 
He thought that by again fertilizing 
with rye pollen any plant of his first or 
later generations of wheat-rye hybrids, 
all intervening generations having 
been naturally  self-fertilized, plants 
three-quarters rye by parentage would 
be secured. These plants or their 
