62 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 185. 



any plant, one has to examine only a very few plants along the row before 

 finding one bearing a tag with its number. Wlien any plant is self-fertilized 

 the fact is noted on the card along with the rest of the record for that 

 plant. A record of J:he original crosses is kept so that one may trace 

 readily the ancestry of any individual plant back to the original parents. 



As soon as the seed was well matured a Sngle bean from each plant 

 representative of those on that plant has been selected and preserved. 

 Unfortunately mice gained access to a portion of these seed samples and 

 destroyed many of them. Still, samples representing a majority of the 

 plants grown escaped destruction and are available for examination. 

 Many of the pigments found in the seed coats are subject to change with 

 age, and due allowance must be made in the study of old seed. 



It has been said that an attempt was made in recording observations 

 to designate the expression of each independent character by a separate 

 letter. The letter used, the color which each stands for, and the name 

 of a variety bearing each color character are as follows : — 



Found in — 

 Davis Wax. 

 Blue Pod Butter. 

 Giant Stringless. 

 Red Valentine. 

 Mohawk. 

 Burpee Stringless. 

 Challenge Black Wax. 

 Certain crosses. 

 All eyed beans. 

 Red Valentine. 

 Golden Carmine. 



All white and eyed sorts. 

 Burpee Stringless. 

 All black seed sorts. 

 Blue Pod Butter. 

 Certain crosses. 



The first eight letters stand for separate and quite distinct colors, most 

 of which may be found in one or more of the varieties used. The color H 

 does not appear in any of the varieties used, but does appear in several 

 of the crosses. Attempts have been made to distinguish different eye 

 sizes in eyed beans. There is no doubt that eye size is inherited, but the 

 data secured do not appear clear and definite enough to warrant any 

 positive conclusions; therefore only a brief general report on different 

 eye sizes is made. 



Mottled beans are of two distinct kinds, — one, designated as "dark 

 mottled," includes those sorts where the darker color or colors predomi- 

 nate, of which there are many varieties other than Red Valentine, the 



