42 THE WHEAT CTTLTTTRIST. 



least favorable to cross-fecundation.&quot; In 1851, however, 

 prize medals were awarded at the Industrial Exhibition, 

 in London, to Mr. B. Maund, and to Mr. H. Raynbird, 

 of the United Kingdom, for their respective collections 

 of &quot; hybrid Cereali.&quot; In their award, the jurors speak 

 of the process, not as impracticable, but merely as being 

 difficult, in consequence of the care requisite in remov 

 ing the unexpanded anthers from one plant, and apply 

 ing the pollen of another, and subsequently guarding 

 them from the attacks of birds, insects, and other dis 

 turbing influences. 



&quot; Mr. Maund experimented with Cone wheat, which 

 contains much gluten, in the hope that by crossing it 

 with a race containing more starch, he might obtain a 

 whiter quality of equal value ; but it is not stated that 

 he was wholly successful. Mr. Eaynbird commenced 

 his experiments in 1846, with the Hopetoun, a white 

 wheat, of long ear and straw, and fine grain, and 

 Piper s Thickset, a coarse red wheat, with thick, 

 clustered ears, a stiff straw, and very prolific, but liable 

 to mildew. Mr. Maund enumerates eight instances in 

 which successful cross-fecundation had taken place, as 

 follows : 



&quot; Mr. Maund found, as a general rule, in the cross- 

 fecundation of wheat, that a strong male and a weak 

 female produced a better result than a weak male and a 

 strong female. This principle holds equally good in 

 the animal kingdom as well as in the vegetable. 



&quot; The entire feasibleness of the production of new va 

 rieties of wheat by cross-fecundation, and its great de 

 sirableness, being thus established, it is not doubted that 

 many intelligent agriculturists of the United States will 

 be willing to institute further experiments for the pur- 



