182 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



THE INHERITANCE OF BLOSSOM COLOR IN 



BEANS. 



J. K. SHAW. 



For several years we have given considerable time to the 

 study of heredity in beans. Nineteen varieties have been used, 

 and the method uniformly followed has been to make a cross 

 of two diifering types and self-fertilize the progeny through 

 four generations, keeping careful records of the characters 

 under observation as they appeared. 



The self-fertilization has been done by covering the plants 

 with muslin bags, each supported by a short stick or bent wire. 

 Some have been grown in the greenhouse during the winter, and 

 these have of course required no protection. Some of the 

 crossing has been done in the greenhouse and some in the field, 

 in which case paper bags have been used for protection from 

 insect interference. The parent plants have each received a 

 number, and our records show just what plants were involved 

 in any particular cross. The system of records used has 

 already been described by the writer.^ In this way a vast 

 amount of data has been accumulated and many interesting 

 questions are presented for study. It is the purpose of this 

 pa})er to deal with the inheritance of blossom color, leaving 

 the other characters studied for later consideration. 



In the early part of the work the plants used were from 

 commercial seed bought in the open market. When the writer 

 took charge of the work the policy was adopted of securing 

 pure races as quickly as possible by self-fertilizing individual 

 plants, and since then these have been used in the crossing 

 work. It is probable that some of the plants used first, while 

 externally typical of the variety, were not gametically pure 

 and led to confusing results. 



> American Naturalist, Vol. XLV., p. 701 (1911). 



