208 LUTHER BURBANK 



in the second generation will thereafter breed 

 true, thus affording us evidence of definite 

 progress toward the ideal of our experiment. 



AID FROM UNIT CHARACTEKS 



As the principles that govern these cases are 

 of very wide application, it follows that there is 

 very great advantage from the standpoint of the 

 plant developer, in the discovery of pairs of unit 

 characters and the demonstration of their rela- 

 tion toward each other as regards dominance 

 and recessiveness. 



An interesting illustration of this is afforded 

 by the experiments made by Professor R. F. 

 Biffin, of Cambridge University, in the suc- 

 cessful attempt to develop a new race of 

 >vheat. 



Professor Biffin through a series of experi- 

 ments showed that when beardless ears of wheat 

 are crossed with bearded ones, the beardless 

 condition proves dominant, so that all the off- 

 spring are smooth-eared; but that the recessive 

 quality of bearded grain reappears in the second 

 generation. 



The same thing held true for various other 

 pairs of unit characters, such as red chaff versus 

 white chaff, red grain versus white grain, hollow 

 stem versus solid stem, and the like. 



