238 Singing Valleys 



twins? One twin is the oil-rich germ. The other is the starchy 

 endosperm. 



After all, there are ways of knowing without the aid of 

 microscopes and test tubes. Does not Goethe say, 



Is not the kernel of nature 

 In the hearts of men? 



The male contributions to the germ and to the endosperm 

 are identical. So, too, are the female contributions, genetically. 

 But the female contribution to the endosperm is twice as 

 great, quantitatively, as it is to the germ. The mother in the 

 corn provides liberally for the child she carries in her womb. 

 Two of her nuclei went into that mating with one of the 

 pollen nuclei to create the protein and the starch stored in the 

 endosperm. 



The ten chromosomes of the male element and the ten 

 chromosomes of the female element meet, mingle and still 

 remain ten. They are the bearers of the plant's hereditary 

 characteristics the genes. Botanists have identified no fewer 

 than three hundred and fifty genes in the American corn 

 which are divided into ten groups, one of which is carried on 

 each chromosome. Some chromosomes carry a great many 

 genes; others are responsible for only two or three. But, by 

 inevitable law, the genes which are linked together on a 

 chromosome are inseparable. For instance, the gene for pod 

 characteristic and the gene for sugariness are united. You 

 cannot have one without the other. Apparently their union 

 is as indissoluble as the Hapsburg lip and the genius for 

 political blundering. 



The genes located on the same pair of chromosomes tend 

 to be transmitted from parent to offspring. This law of 

 heredity which never fails and which the researches of Mendel 

 and of later botanists and geneticists have worked out into a 

 mathematical formula, has recently disclosed a hitherto un- 

 known chapter in corn history. It has presented science with 



