PLANTS FOR EXPERIMENT 185 



sweet vernal grass were obtained presenting the 

 widest range of characteristics. 



Thus varieties were produced that would bear 

 almost no seed, and others that bore seed abun- 

 dantly, some which increased from the roots 

 with great rapidity, and others that increased 

 very slowly. 



From among the thousands of plants that were 

 raised and scrutinized, I found two or three that 

 would grow more than one hundred times as fast 

 as the smaller ones. Not only was this startling 

 increase in vigor of growth shown at the outset, 

 but it was continued at the same rate season aftei; 

 season, where the plants were raised by division. 



The differences in the growth of the various 

 plants could be detected almost from the moment 

 when their tips appeared above the soil. 



But, of course, the selection involved very close 

 scrutiny, and I sometimes spent hours at a time 

 over a box containing perhaps ten thousand to 

 twenty-five thousand plants, selecting two or 

 three that outgrew all others. Here, as with the 

 other grasses, rapid growers in the boxes were 

 almost invariably rapid growers throughout. 

 The seed of the strongest growers was preserved, 

 and the experiment was carried forward with the 

 expectation of developing races of perennial 

 sweet vernal grasses that would not only show 



