382 



The following table gives siiiiilar increixsed conteuts of ear obtained iu three other 

 varieties of wheat : 



Original red, commenced 1857 



Hunter's white, compienced 1861. 

 "Victoria white, commenced 1865.. 

 Golden drop, corameucod 1864 



It was supposed by the aucient writers that the powers of grains differed iu relation 

 to their positions in the ear. This I investigated in 1858 by planting the grains of teu 

 ears on a plan sliowiug their several positions iu the ear. The only general result, 

 among most conilicting ones, was that the smallest corns, those most remote from the 

 center of growtli, exhibited throughout, most unexpectedly, a vigor equal to that of 

 the largest ; and that the renuirked worst grains, in one or two instances, did not bj^ 

 auy means flxll so far short of the good ones as had been expected. I have also made 

 frequent trials of the comparative power of large and small, plump and thin graius — 

 and, in the case of oats, which produce a small grain attached to a large one, trials as 

 to their respective powers — with uniformly the same result, viz., that iu good graius 

 of the same pedigree neither mere size nor situation in the ear supplies any iudicatiou 

 of the superior grain. 



Very close observation during many years has led me to the discovery that the vari- 

 ations in the cereals which nature presents to us are uot only hereditary but that they 

 proceed upon a fixed principle, and from them I have educed the following law of de- 

 velopment of cereals : 



1. Every fully developed plant, whether of wheat, oats, or barley, presents an ear 

 superior iu productive power to auy of the rest on that plant. 



2. Every such plant contains oue grain, which upon trial jiroves more productive 

 than auy other. 



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



4. The superior vigor of this grain is transmissible iu different degrees to its iirogeuy, 



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 si)eaking, a 

 limit to improvement in the desired quality is reached. 



7. By still continuing to select, the improvement is maintained, and practically a 

 fixed type is the result. 



Thick and thin sowing has always been a mooted point among farmers. 

 Major Hallett's experience for a series of years proves most conclusively 

 that thick sowing of wheat is not only wasteful, but pernicious. Wliat is 

 called stooling in this country, is known in England and called tillering, 

 and he advocates the doctrine that tillered wheat is far preferable to 

 that which grows from the germ of the seed ; the advantage is twofold, 

 saving the expense of seed and the superior quality' of tillered plants. 

 His reasoning upon the subject marks the consideration which he has 

 given to it. He says : 



We find then that a perfect plant of wheat consists of three principal parts, viz., the 

 roots, the stems, and the ears. When a grain is planted iu a proper mauuer, these are 

 jjroduced as follows : shortly after the plant appears above ground it commences to throw 

 out new and distinct stems, upon the first appearance of each of which a corresponding 

 root-bud is developed for its support ; and while the new stems grow out flat over the 

 surface of the soil, their respective roots assume a corresponding development be- 

 neath it. 



This process, called "tillering," will continue until the season arrives for the stems 

 to assume an upright growth, when tillering ceases, and the whole vital power of the 

 plant is concentrated upon the production of the ears. These will be the finest it is 

 capable of producing, unless the growth of its roots has been in auy way interfered 

 with, as, for instance, by having been crowded by those of other iilants, when the size 

 of the ears will be proportionately diminished. 



This tillering is the great characteristic of all the cereals, and as an instance of the ex- 

 tent to which it may attain, I have known a plaut of wheat grown from a single grain 

 to cover in May a circle 5 feet inches in diameter, measuring from the extremities of 

 the opposite leaves as they lay tillered out Hat upon the surface. 



