BULLETIN :N'o. 185. 



DEPARTMENT OF HORTICULTURE. 



THE INHERITANCE OF SEED COAT COLOR 

 IN GARDEN BEANS. 



BY J. K, SHAW AND JOHN B. NORTON. 



Introduction. 



Investigation of inheritance in garden beans at this station was begun 

 in 1907 by Mr. C. S. Pomeroy, then assistant horticulturist, who made 

 several crosses during that summer and grew the Fj generation in 1908. 

 Additional crosses were made during the same summer. In the fall of 

 1908 this crossed seed and that of the Fi generation above referred to fell 

 into the hands of the senior writer, who has been responsible for the con- 

 duct of the investigations since. In the summer of 1913 the junior author 

 came into the work and has since borne a large share. During all this 

 time Prof. F. A. Waugh has had general supervision, and his helpful 

 criticisms and suggestions made from time to time are gratefully ac- 

 knowledged. 



Review of Literahire. 



A number of investigators have given time to the study of the in- 

 heritance of seed coat color in beans. Mendel (1) after his classical experi- 

 ments with peas gave some attention to beans, but he discovered little 

 beyond the fact that he had here a more complex problem than that pre- 

 sented by peas, and he was not able to apply the simple 3:1 formula to 

 explain his results. 



Emerson (2) made many crosses of different horticultural varieties, and 

 observed among other things the behavior of seed coat color. He con- 

 sidered that the mottled offspring exhibited characters not visible in either 

 parent. In a later paper (3) the same author gives the numbers of seeds 

 resulting from a cross of a dark brown and a yellow brown, and from a 

 cross of a black and a white variety. The results of these crosses were 

 similar to those of Burpee Stringless, Giant Stringless, Challenge Black 

 Wax and White Marrow. 



