LUTHER BURBANK 



of very wide application, it follows that there is 

 very great advantage from the standpoint of the 

 plant developer, in the discovery of pairs of unit 

 characters and the demonstration of their relation 

 toward each other as regards dominance and 

 recessiveness. 



An interesting illustration of this is afforded 

 by the experiments made by Professor R. F. Biffin, 

 of Cambridge University, in the successful attempt 

 to develop a new race of wheat. 



Professor Biffin through a series of experi- 

 ments showed that when beardless ears of wheat 

 are crossed with bearded ones, the beardless 

 condition proves dominant, so that all the off- 

 spring are smooth-eared; but that the recessive 

 quality of bearded grain reappears in the second 

 generation. 



The same thing held true for various other 

 pairs of unit characters, such as red chaff versus 

 white chaff, red grain versus white grain, hollow 

 stem versus solid stem, and the like. 



Professor Biffin was able to make an imme- 

 diate practical application of his experiments 

 through which he developed a new race of wheat 

 that is proving of great economic importance. It 

 appears that the best races of British wheat have 

 been peculiarly susceptible to the fungous pest 

 known as rust. There are, somehow, certain races 



[26] 



