132 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



December, 1921. 



plant have a certain type of colour (mean- 

 ing a uniform type of colour)* 



The inheritance of the seed colour: — 

 The information available on this subject 

 is rather fragmentary and incomplete, 

 but nevertheless not without interest. 

 Kajanus (3. pp. 768-772) found that plants 

 originating from seed of mother plants 

 having dark-purplish seed to a large per- 

 centage also possessed dark-purplish 

 seed. In four cases mentioned the per- 

 centage of the dark-seeded plants in the 

 progenies varied from 65 to 95 per cent, 

 the figures obtained indicating that 

 mother plants having the most intensively 

 purple seed are liable to produce a larger 

 percentage of daughter plants with dark- 

 purplish seed than are mother plants hav- 

 ing seed of a less pronounced colour. Not 

 a single pure-yellow seeded plant was ob- 

 tained from the four dark-purple seeded 

 mother plants mentioned. A yellow- 

 seeded mother plant, the progeny of which 

 was also recorded, produced about 13 per 

 cent plants with pure-yellow seed, the 

 balance having seed ranging in colour 

 from yellow with a purplish tinge to a 

 very dark purplish. From these and 

 other observations made Kajanus con- 

 cludes that dark-purplish seed colour is 

 dominant over lighter-purplish and that 

 both are doftiinant over yellow. GmeUn's 

 (3. p. 12) observations. on the subject are 

 also to the effect that the general type of 

 seed colour is hereditary although its 

 hereditar^^ nature in circumstances may 

 be somewhat obscured as a result of the 

 cross-fertilization which, as already 

 pointed out, it is necessary to resort to in 

 order to obtain germinable seed. 



Although few and incomplete, the ob- 

 servations made are important from a 

 practical point of view in as much as they 

 indicate, as the writer {Malte 1. p. 536) 

 has f-xpressed it, that "it might be pos- 

 sible to produce, by proper breeding, var- 

 ieties of clover with a special colour of 

 seed. . " 



The weight of the seed: — In respect to 



*The assertion made by Eastman (1. p. 

 93) that "neitlier the individual head nor 

 the plant bear uniformly coloured seed'' 

 is probably due to examination of seeds 

 and heads on widely different stages of 

 develooment. 



the weight of the seed from individual 

 plants great variations exist, as recorded 

 by Eriksson (1. p. 25) Malte (1. pp. 531- 

 532) Kajanus (3 pp. 770-772) and Gmelin 

 (3. pp. 12-17), the highest 1,000-seed 

 w^eight being recorded bj' Kajanus with 

 3.1 gram and the lowest by the writer 

 with 1.18 gram. 



Concerning the inherent character of 

 the seed weight, practically nothing is 

 known definitely. The findings of 

 Gmelin as a result of studying the 1000- 

 seed weight of numerous plants of var- 

 ious red clover varieties, seem, however, 

 to indicate that the average 1000-seed 

 weight may be considered as a varietal 

 characteristic. Whether the weight is an 

 hereditarj^ character or not, is not clear 

 from the figures available, although cer- 

 tain features in the tables presented by 

 Kajanus (Ic.) seem to indicate the exis- 

 tence of an hereditary relation between 

 mother plants and their progeny in res- 

 pect to the 1000-seed weight. 



(The third and concluding part of this 

 article will appear in the January issue. 

 It will deal with the correlation of char- 

 acters and will contain an index to the 

 literature quoted throughout the text). 



NEW EXPERIMENTAL FARM. 



An experimental farm for the South- 

 western section of Ontario has recently 

 been purchased by the Provincial Govern- 

 ment. The farm is in the County of Kent 

 bordering on Ridgetown. Experimental 

 work will be conducted in the culture and 

 treatment of tobacco for export as well as 

 experiments in relation to farm fertiliz- 

 ing, tlie production of seed corn and the 

 treatment of fungous diseases, particularly 

 those attacking tlie bean crop. A corn spe- 

 cialist will work on the i)rOduction of seed 

 corn. 



Possession of tliis farm will be procured 

 on March 1, 1922. The size of the farm is 

 190 acres and the cost to the Government 

 was $205 per acre. 



A meeting of the Central Ontario 0. A. 

 C. Alumni Association is being held on 

 Friday November 25th, at Hunts — cor- 

 ner of King & Bloor, Toronto. Wm. Chis- 

 hrlm (0. A. C. '16), is Secretary of the 

 Association. President Reynolds will at- 

 tend the niec'iiiir. 



