The Choice of Seeds in Selection. 335 



this way the plantlets derived from a single clump c(juld 

 he compared with one another throughout the wliolc 

 course of their development. The largest seed becomes 

 the largest seedling which produces the finest beet, and 

 lastly the most fertile seed-parent. The relative weights 

 of the five seedlings of a clump at the end of germination 

 were as follows: 100 — 7A — 67 — 51 — 46. The heaviest 

 seedling weighed 5.8 milligrams. The full-grown beets 

 derived from a single clump weighed in one case 1156, 

 859, 574, 344, 310 grams, and they furnished respectively 

 241, 167, 202, 239, 104 grams of seed at the end of their 

 second year. 



E. ScHAAF considers a very important advantage of 

 the so-called "cutting"-culture in beets to be the exclusive 

 development of the largest seed of each clump which is 

 effected by the close proximity of the plants during the 

 production of the clumps.^ 



Amongst cereals the matter has been most thoroughly 

 investigated and I refer the reader to the literature on 

 the subject which I have already cited. Tlie heaviest 

 grains are situated at the middle or somewhat below the 

 middle of the ear. Fruwirth showed this to be true 

 for barley, rye, wheat, spelt, and also for maize.- There 

 l)roved to be certain subordinate differences characteristic 

 of the various varieties and species.'^ Bruyning found 

 that in oats the low^er grains of the lateral ears are far 



^ E. ScHAAF, Blatter fur Zuckerriibcnbau, Jahrg. VTT. No. 24, 

 Dec. 1900. 



■ C. Fruwirth, Uehcr den Sltz des sehiversten Korues in den 

 Fruelifsflinden heim Getreide, in Wollnv's lM-)rschun.u:cii auf deni 

 Gebicte der Agric.-Physik, XV, 1892, p. 49. 



" E. NoTHWANG, Unters. i'lher die J^ertheihinv d. Korner(^e:i.'ieIifes 

 an Roggendhren, Diss., Leipsic, 1893; Bot. CcntralblaU. 189s, II. p. 

 263. 



