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that they were not only not equal but that there was one superior 

 to all the others ; in other words, among all the grains of the ears 

 of any plant there is one ultimate lest grain. Further on it was 

 found that this ultimate best grain of any plant lies in its best ear. 

 Thus, then, we arrive at last at the following as the law of 

 development : 



1. — Every fully developed plant, whether of wheat, oats, or 

 barley, presents an ear superior in productive power to any 

 of the rest on that plant. 

 2. — Every such plant contains one grain which, upon trial, proves 

 more productive than any other. 



3. — The best grain in a given plant is found in its best ear. 

 4. — The superior vigour of this grain is transmissible in different 



degrees to its progeny. 

 5. — By repeated careful selection the superiority is accumulated. 

 6, — The improvement, which is at first rapid, gradually, after a 

 long series of years, is diminished in amount, and eventually 

 so far arrested that, practically speaking, a limit to im- 

 provement in the desired quality is reached. 

 7. — ^By still continuing to select, the improvement is maintained 

 and practically a fixed type is the result. 



A " pedigree " cereal, then, is one re-started from a single 

 grain every year and thus descended from a long line of single 

 grains each the ultimate best grain of the best plant of its year 

 actually proved so (in the year following) by planting all the grains 

 of the plant in competition with each other. Stated otherwise, 

 the ultimate best grain of its year is proved to he so by its actually 

 producing the best plant in the year following. In illustration of 

 these principles of selection, I now give the following results due 

 to their influence alone — as the kind of seed, the land, and the 

 system of culture employed were precisely the same for every plant 

 for four consecutive years ; neither was any manure used, nor any 

 artificial means of fostering the plants resorted to. 



