430 NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



The "Black Mexioan-Conntry Oemtleman" Crosses. 



Four blocks upon the Home Grounds were devoted to the crosses 

 between the '"Mexican" and "Gentleman" crosses of sweet corn. There 

 were two in which the cross was with the "Mexican" as the male 

 parent, namely, one planted with the black grains in this cross and 

 the other with the white grains. Thus, by referring to the report for 

 last year (1904) it is seen that of this cross — first generation — prac- 

 tically three-fourths of the grains upon any ear were dark and the 

 remaining ones white. This is in accord with the law in breeding that 

 was discovered by Mendel, and bears his name. 



The two plots, while planted upon the same day, and so far as 

 possible receiving like treatment, were not alike in soil and situation, 

 being upon opposite sides of the trial grounds, and therefore the 

 plants themselves were not strictly comparable. One block was upon 

 land that was much better able to bear the long dry spell than 

 another. 



" Mexican " npon " Gentleman " (Black Seed Grains). 



The crop from the dark grains of the above cross ("Mexican" upon 



99 



''Gentleman") ( 'jg ) is quite uniform, as is shown in the group of six 



ears in the upper left-hand corner of Plate I. There were many 

 eight-rowed ears and several of them were solid black — that is, carried 

 no white grains — while others were ten and twelve-rowed, made up 

 entirely of black grains, as shown in the ear at the left of the set of 

 six. There were no ears of strictly the "Country Gentleman" type, 

 but several had the grains zigzag throughout the upper half. The 

 ear at the extreme right of the set is a fair representative of the ex- 

 ceptional t}^e in question. A solid black ear, showing strongly the 

 "Gentleman" blood, is to be seen at No. 4. The three ears to the 

 left favor the "Mexican," and the three to the right the "Gentleman" 

 type. The amount of white grains is fairly well represented in the 

 plate, for those thus marked have more than the average, while two — 

 that is. No. 1 and No. 4 — ^are solid black. A count of the grains 

 from ten representative ears gave 3,095 black and 611 white grains, 

 which is not far from the theoretical numbers for the third gener- 

 ation, when the colors obey the Mendel law of heredity, there being 

 83.57 per cent, black and 16.43 per cent, white. 



