410 Tricotylous Races. 



a mean of 6%. The two other parents 2 to 10% and 

 3 to 14%, with means of 6 and 7%. Obviously the 

 difference was not sufficiently considerable to base a se- 

 lection among the grandparents upon. On the other 

 hand it was evident that the race had been improved by 

 the process of selection wdiich now extended over six 

 generations ; and this improvement w^as afterwards main- 

 tained. 



For the culture of 1897 I selected the tricotylous off- 

 spring of three seed-parents with 11 — 11 and 15% tri- 

 cotylous offspring, and planted out 100 of them, which 

 were all strong plants with a ternary first whorl of leaves. 

 The harvest was recorded in the spring of 1898 in the 

 usual way. The three parents, however, which were now 

 grandparents, again showed no essential difference in 

 their offspring. 



VALUE FOR VALUE FOR THE PARENTS NUMBER 



THE GRANDPARENTS MIN. MED. MAX. OF PARENTS 



11% 2 7 15 20 



11% 3 7.5 15 24 



15% 4 8.5 13 28 



Here again the figures were the same as in the i)rc- 

 vious generation. 



Although, as we have seen, the selection of grand- 

 parents, in this case, afforded no reliable ground from 

 which an improvement of the race could be started, yet 

 this must be the case whenever the hereditary capacity 

 of the grandparent is much influenced by fortuitous cir- 

 cumstances which affect the selection of the seeds. There- 

 fore the special object of such selection is mainly to ex- 

 clude such cases as much as possible from the main trunk 

 of the pedigree, by simply not planting out their seed 

 lings. 



