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TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 798 
opinion, one of the best pieces of work that has been done in this country in recent 
years is the preparation of the scheme of joint experiments by the Agricultural 
Education Association. The problems set for solution under that scheme are of 
the simple, direct, practical kind that field-work is thoroughly qualified to deal 
with. But the essence of success lies in the power of numbers, and the control 
of this factor rests with the members of the Association themselves. Now, most 
of the members of that Association are not only investigators but also teachers, and 
many of the institutions that they represent have recognised the advantages of 
keeping in touch with their past pupils through the agency of collegiate Associa- 
tions. These old students, it seems to me, represent a large mass of most valuable 
material for carrying through co-operative experimental work of the class referred 
to, and I am convinced that the agriculture of the country would benefit in no 
small degree were this powerful agency fully utilised. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. The Organisation of Agricultural Research in America. 
By Professor ATWATER. 
2. The Improvement of Wheats and Mendel’s Laws. 
By R. H. Brrren, JA. 
In the past many attempts have been made to improve our farm crops by 
resorting to hybridisation in the hope that some valuable character in a variety 
otherwise worthless might be transferred to a better variety. In some cases 
results of great value have been obtained, but in others the complications have 
been too great, and unfixed varieties have found their way into commerce, whilst 
in other cases skilled observers have stated that the problem of obtaining fixed 
types was hopeless. 
The whole work, however, has been simplified by a knowledge of the princi- 
ples established by Mendel, and now in place of the former chaos we can even 
predict years ahead the results to be obtained from a given cross, and isolate the 
required fixtures in the second or at all events the third generation. To accom- 
plish this a detailed study of each crop will be essential. The experimental work 
will probably follow along the same lines for most crops, so that the case of wheat 
now to be described may, for the time at all events, be taken as typical of the 
experiments necessary in the case of our other crops. 
On crossing two varieties, A and B, the resulting plants are all similar. 
The same is true whether A or B is the female parent, and consequently B or A 
the male. Some of the characters shown by the hybrid may be present in one 
parent, some in the other. Characters appearing in this generation Mendel 
described as ‘dominant,’ those which do not appear as ‘ recessive.’ There is no 
particular virtue in a character being dominant or recessive. 
In wheat the more important dominant and recessive characters are :— 
Dominant. Recessive, 
Lax ears, Dense ears, 
Beardless ears, Bearded ears. 
Rough chaff. Smooth chaff. 
Grey chatf. White chaff. 
Red chaff. White chaff, 
Red grain. White grain. 
The seeds from the hybrid are then sown and produce plants, some of which 
show all dominant characters, some dominant and recessives, and some recessives 
only, in proportions readily deduced from a consideration of Mendel’s laws, The 
