EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 281 



seed character and working somewhat independently of the other 

 grains and possible of immediate influence by the pollen, it is 

 evident that complications will arise in a field of the crop that at 

 first sight seem to be a striking illustration of utter confusion. 



The ear (14) next to the solid red one has beaked grains, a 

 peculiarity that is of the plant giving this shape tO' all kernels it 

 may produce in one or a, half dozen ears. 



This mixing of so many una at the same time is not recom- 

 mended in the breeding of corn, but it i& one of the metliods of 

 studying some phases of the subject. 



THE VOORHEES KED-EGYPTIAN CROSS. 



Some years ago the ''Black Mexican" was bred upon the 

 "Eg;)'ptian," a slate-black upon a whiter, and one of the results is a 

 variety ("Voorhees") with a distinct red color. In order to test 

 the behavior of this red-grained variety in breeding it was crossed 

 in 1907 with a large number of varieties and the following year 

 eight blocks of corn were grown from the crosses thus secured. 

 The dark grains from some of the ears of "Voorhees Red" upon 

 "Egyptian" of the crop of 1908 were grown in block the past sea- 

 son, and five of the many ears are shown in the lower right-hand 

 corner of Plate IV. E.ar 16 is short, thidc, with sixteen rows, 

 bearing a few Avhite grains among the slate^colored ones ; ear 17 

 differs chiefly in having no white grains, but about ten per cent, 

 that are pink-blue, alike in themselves, pink, but in striking con- 

 trast with the otlier kernels, which are slate colored. Ear 18, 

 long, blunt pointed, has both the white grains of the first and the 

 pink of the second scattered throughout the somewhat variable 

 slate grains. In ear 19 there is a larger percentage of white grains, 

 and the others range from those tinged with lilac to the full slate. 

 Practically the same states of things exists in the last ear (20). 

 It seems likely that by isolation these colors could be' secured, 

 namely, white of the "Egj^ptian" and the black of the "Mexican" 

 and the red of the "Voorhees." 



