EXPEEBIEXT STATION REPORT. 395 



Fnrrli^r growing of jilants from dark eaf"s may Idad to considerable 

 further eoinplications. 



At 5 is a long, slender, eight-rowed ear, the parentage of which 

 is not far to seek, for it agrees almost exactly in shape witli the 

 variety of popcorn known as the "Eight-Rowed," and was one of 

 1he sorts represented in the breeding plot the year before. The 

 v.rinkled grains are somewhat longer than the others — a fact still 

 more evident in the next set of crosses, and will be mentioned 

 again. 



^'Blach Pop-Coiiniry Gentleman" / 137/19). — The remaining 

 set of ears in the plate represents samples from the cross of ''Black 

 Pop" upon ''Country Gentleman," and, of course, are of two 

 widely different parents. The notes during the growing season 

 show that the plants were of large size, wdth stout stems that came 

 into bloom during the middle of July, bearing very large, reddish, 

 drooping tassels and dark purple silks. There were many suckers 

 tliat reached beyond the slender ears that were borne low upon the 

 stalks. The harvest was upon Septeml^er 13th, and the record 

 states that there was a fine lot of fairly uniform ears, three-fourths 

 of the grains of which showed the dark color of the popcorn parent. 

 An attempt was made to show, as far as possible, the gradations 

 between the two parents, with the type of ear most nearly like the 

 "Pop" upon the left (1), while the tapering, somewhat curved, 

 form of the mother is given at the right (5). The ears shown at 

 2, 3 and 4 are representative of the majority of the crop. It is 

 seen from this that the popcorn, which has a slender ear with 

 twelve or more rows of short grains, controlled largely the shape of 

 the ear in the cross. The zigzag disposition of the gi*ains in the 

 '"Country Gentleman" is evident in only a small per cent, of the 

 ears, none of them being strictly of the type of the mother. Where 

 the grains were irregularly placed this arrangement was confined 

 ro the upper end of the ear, as shown at 3 and 4. The difference 

 between the grains of the two parents is shown in the cross, the 

 black ones, for instance, being shorter than the white wrinkled 

 ones, the latter standing above the flint grains even after the former 

 have undergone the usual shrinking of "sweet" kernels. The same 

 fact of the influence of the parent upon the size of grain in ears 

 resulting from a cross has been observed a number of times else- 

 where. By placing a dry ear in a moist place until the grains are 

 fully swollen, the difference in length is emphasize<l, and the same 



