FROM GRAIN TO EAR. 83 



that and your neighbor's corn. Now, if you cross that with 

 your neighbor's corn, you will get a cross between varieties. 

 Does that answer the question ? 



Mr. Ware. Not exactly. What I want to know is this : 

 you have a single ear of corn, that is filled with yellow and 

 white kernels, perhaps the different kernels all mixed in. 

 Now, are those kernels of white corn a distinct variety of 

 white corn, and are the yellow kernels a distinct variety 

 of yellow corn, or are they hybrids? Each kernel is as 

 distinct and separate as if they grew on separate ears, but 

 they are all mixed on the same ear. As you said, and as 

 we all know, the pollen falling from the tassel makes a ker- 

 nel of the same variety as that from which the pollen comes. 

 Now, suppose there is a white kernel and a yellow kernel in 

 the same ear, are they hybrid kernels, or are they distinct 

 varieties, and, if so, is there any mixture in the varieties? 



Dr. Halsted. In a case like that, 3'ou have two varieties 

 of corn. You have white and yellow corn growing side by 

 side. You are not at all sure that the pollen from the tassel 

 of the yellow corn fertilized any particular grain in the ear. 

 If we took the pollen from a yellow variety and put it on the 

 flower of a white variety, and find a yellow grain in the ear, 

 I should say that that particular yellow grain that has grown 

 on a stalk that has developed from the white corn is a 

 hybrid, because its father is yellow and its mother is white. 

 I should think that that would be it, exactly. 



Mr. Ware. There is one other point. I have noticed 

 at huskings that the whole life and zest of the party depends 

 upon a red ear. Now, here is a red ear that probably grew 

 with this yellow corn, and there are no yellow kernels mixed 

 with the red ones. I htive noticed that when red ears grow, 

 the kernels are all red. Why should they not come with 

 yellow kernels and red kernels all mixed u[)? Or does 

 nature provide for the fun and zest of a husking party by 

 keeping these red ears entirely distinct? I cannot see why 

 the kernels should not be all mixed in, the same as in other 

 cases. If white and yellow and black corn are planted 

 together, you know the kernels will be all intermixed. It is 

 not so with red ears; they are red, decidedly. Perhaps 

 this is a scientific question. At any rate, I do not under- 



