EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 459 



of a fair-sized banana. The exposed ends of the grains are more 

 regular in oiithne than upon the "Gentleman," a fact doubtless due 

 to their being in well formed rows. There is a shade of amber 

 in them all that might also serve to distinguish them from the 

 "Gentleman" grains. The ear figured next to the left of the "Gen- 

 tleman" is very much like the one already described and differs 

 from it in being somewhat larger in diameter and having the four- 

 teen rows, quite distinct at the base but much less so above the 

 middle, and in this it is a further approach to the male parent. 

 There are six grains that show the darkness that suggests the 

 "Mexican" parentage. 



The differences between the reciprocals in this cross are very 

 striking. The mother plant in each case has given in the first 

 generation an ear that resembles more the male than the female 

 parent. In other words the two crossed ears upon the left of the 

 middle of the plate are from a "Country Gentleman" ear fertilized 

 by the "Black Mexican" and they would be classed with the latter 

 rather than the former; in other words, they go with the male 

 parent and three-fourths of the grains are of the same dark color 

 and to be distinguished from the "Mexican" chiefly by their much 

 greater length. In the same way the enrs that have come from 

 white grains in "Mexican" ears of last season have given ears this 

 year that in their size and shape and the color of the grain, closely 

 resemble the "Gentleman." In short, the male parent in both 

 crosses has controlled to a large extent the character of the ear. 

 Perhaps the most subject to remark is the almost entire removal 

 of the dark color from "Black Mexican" grains in the first season 

 after the cross, while in the reciprocal it is retained in nearly 

 three-fourths of the kernels. 



A glance at the sections of the cobs in the lower portion of the 

 plate shows something of the differences in the size and shape 

 of the cob and of grain between the parents and the two crosses. 

 The pair to the left is of the "Mexican", the outer most showing 

 the upper end of the section and the embryo (chit) of the grains 

 while the obverse is seen to its right. The broad grains with their 

 large embryo are quite in contrast with the corresponding pair 

 from the "Gentleman" ear shown at ihe extreme right of the 

 plate, with the long narrow irregular grains. In the "Mexican" 

 the embryo is upon the upper side of the grain, that is. occupies a 

 large part of the side toward the tip of the ear. The "Gentleman" 

 grains observe this general rule only in part, as many of the 

 kernels have their embryo in the opposite direction. The two 

 sections shown in the plate are broken from the same ear and the 



