EXPERIMENT STATION REPOKT. 279 



The upper row of ears in Plate IV. show some of the results 

 of this first step in the breeding of two eomniereial varieties of 

 corn together. Upon the left are fi\e sample ears of the "Black 

 Mexican," the twO' end ones entirely black (slate), while the other 

 tliree show white grains, one of them in large numbers. Ear 2 

 lias ten grains more or less white, none absolutely; ear o has five 

 white and sixteen whitish grains, while ear 4 bears thirty-eight 

 white and forty-two showing a pale color of the same shade as 

 many of those upon the "Stowell" ears to the right. This ear has 

 344 grains, deseribed as follows : Black, 274 ; pale slate, 42 ; white, 

 38 ; it seems that the mother grain wasi a cross between a "Mexi- 

 can" and some white sort, and growing alone or with its own cross 

 might yield under the Mendelian rule, 86 pure black (slate), 172 

 cross, and 8(> white. As a matter of fact the pollen exposure for 

 any one ovule was nearly equal between the white and black sorts, 

 so that regarding the dominance of the black on the white as three 

 to one in fa\-or of the black, the white grains would be greatly re- 

 duced. 



It seems probable that the solid black ears^, as shown at 1 have 

 utilized white pollen in many instances without any signs of it 

 ap{>earing in the grains thus produced. The greater trouble comes 

 witli the ears that shoAV only an occasional grain, one to ten or less 

 when the half l)lack mother assrimiption does not hold. If the 

 progeny from such white grains show the "Stowell" influence, it 

 will be necessary to attribute it tO' a crossing taking place of the 

 white upon the black with no dominance for the black. 



The "Stowell's Evergreen" showed all degrees of the mixing; 

 no ear was entirely without dark grains, while some had fully a 

 third or more marked. Sonie ears had the crossed grains generally 

 much darker than others, suggesting that the taking of the color is 

 somewhat of a plant quality. This variation among the ears as a 

 whole has often been noticed in years past, and is not to be dis- 

 missed as a question of age of the grains. When a plant bears 

 two or more ears and consequently of different ages of ripening, 

 one of the striking things is the great uniformity in the matter of 

 displaying the same shade of color. The same is true whether the 

 color in question be black and white or yellow and white. 



In addition to the variation, among the ears, of the intensity 

 of the color, there is a wide range upon the same ear. Even with 

 those ears where the color generally is strong there will be grains 



