THE ORIGIN OF RED BOBS 265 



the next year the grains produced from the hybrids give 

 rise to a large number of distinct types. The red-seeded 

 Eed Bobs plants of 1910, which apparently differed only 

 in their seed color from White Bobs, correspond to the 

 cross-bred plants or first filial generation in an artificial 

 cross ; and the numerous types which were obtained from 

 these red grains in 1911, correspond exactly to the numer- 

 ous types one frequently obtains in the second filial gen- 

 eration of an artificial cross. 



That such natural crosses as that suggested for the origin 

 of Eed Bobs do actually occur occasionally under plot con- 

 ditions, although flower self-fertilization is the rule, has 

 now been sufficiently established by the observations of a 

 number of cerealists. Dr. Charles Saunders was the first 

 on this continent to record such a cross. In 1907, in a 

 Bulletin on the Quality of Wheat, in order to show the 

 value of the chewing test for indicating the gluten value 

 of wheat types, he says : " Some years ago an experi- 

 ment was tried in order to obtain if possible a natural 

 cross between two varieties of wheat. Red Fife (beard- 

 less) and Eio Grande (bearded) were sown mixed in a 

 small plot. When the grain was ripe a few heads of 

 Eed Fife, which were borne on rather short straw, were 

 selected, and from these the next season about 200 kernels 

 were sown. Among the plants produced from these seeds, 

 one was found on which the awns were somewhat better 

 developed than is usual in true Eed Fife. When some of 

 the seeds of this plant were chewed, it was found that 

 the gluten quality was altogether distinct from, and de- 

 cidedly inferior to that of Eed Fife. In this way it was 

 proved that the plant was a cross, the pollen from the 

 Eio Grande having fallen on the head of Eed Fife during 

 the blossoming period in the year previous. As this 

 proof, however, would not perhaps be accepted by other 



