FUNCTIONAL VARIATION 85 



The wide variation in all constituents, particularly in protein 

 and fat, indicates that profound differences existed in the func- 

 tional activities of the plants that produced these ears. In order 

 to determine whether these differences are constitutional and 

 therefore hereditary, the twenty-four ears highest in protein 

 were planted (separately) for the "high protein plot" and the 

 twelve lowest for the " low protein plot." In the same way the 

 twenty-four highest and the twelve lowest in fat were planted 

 for " high fat " and " low fat," respectively. This has been 

 continued from its beginning in 1896-1897 until the present 

 (1907), and is still in progress, the practice being each year to 

 plant separately the ears that show the highest and the lowest 

 values in respect to these particular constituents. The follow- 

 ing table shows the average composition of the seed corn and 

 the crop for the first year of the experiment : 



PROTEIN 



Highest protein ear out of 163 analyzed 13-87 



Lowest protein ear out of 163 analyzed 8.25 



Difference 5.62 



Average of 24 high protein ears planted I2 -54 



Average of 12 low protein ears planted 9.03 



Difference 3.51 



Average of crop from high protein seed 1 1 . i o 



Average of crop from low protein seed IO -55 



Difference .55 . 



FAT 



Highest fat ear out of 163 analyzed . . ...... 6.02 



Lowest fat ear out of 163 analyzed 



Difference ............... 2.18 



Average of 24 high fat ears planted ........ 5-33 



Average of 12 low fat ears planted ......... 4-4 



Difference ......... . ..... 1-29 



Average of crop from high fat seed ........ 4-73 



Average of crop from low fat seed ......... 4-6 



Difference . ....... 6 ? 



