202 GENETICS 



play any role whatever in heredity. The phenotypic 

 character does not always indicate what the germ- 

 plasm will subsequently do, and when the true geno- 

 typic constitution of the germplasm is still further 

 masked by the temporary fluctuations caused by a 

 modified environment it is increasingly difficult to select 

 wisely from the display of variants those which will 

 produce the best ancestors for the future stock. 



That this common procedure of selecting the best- 

 appearing animal in the flock and the biggest ear of 

 corn in the bin has met with a large degree of success 

 in the past is due entirely to the fact that in many 

 instances the phenotypic character is an actual express 

 sion of the genotypic constitution. This is not always 

 the case, however, and we cannot now fail to see thali 

 the method is blind and full of error. Its successes\ 

 are due to the indirect results of chance rather than j 

 to a direct control of the factors of heredity. 



b. The Method of Rimpau 



Contrasted with the method of Hallet of augment- 

 ing acquired characters and then selecting from them 

 the best display, is the method of Rimpau, who ex- 

 perimented for two decades with various grains and, 

 finally, among other results, produced the famous 

 Schlandstedt barley. 



Rimpau's method is to sow grain under ordinary 

 conditions with a minimum rather than a maximum 

 amount of fertilizer and then to select individuals, 

 neither from the rich spots nor from the edges of the 



