30 BULLETIN 183^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



the highest success in any form, and any methods that mil secure 

 normal development will secm'e an ideal shape of scutellum, so far 

 as the barley imder consideration is capable of such development. 



To what extent ideals in barley morphology, and especially in the 

 form of the scutellum, may be affected by breeding, is not as yet fully 

 known. There are many barleys which never produce a desirable 

 malting organ. There are others which, under favorable conditions, 

 invariably do. These facts indicate a usable varietal difference. 

 "\¥hether or not experiments in breeding such hopeful varieties will 

 result in stable forms of scutellum having ideal shape and in epithelial 

 layers having maximum enzymatic power can not at present be stated. 

 But it is safe to assume a priori that these organs are as plastic and 

 capable of improvement as those other parts of the barley plant, such 

 as the shape of the head, the rigidity of the straw, etc., which have 

 been so extensively modified by modern breeding methods. And 

 when these morphological changes are brought about, the writers 

 are certain that the fimctional qualities which these studies have 

 demonstrated to be correlated with them will show a truly parallel 

 improvement. 



In the trials at St. Paul, Minn., in cooperation with the Minnesota 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, a 6-rowed strain with an unusually 

 large scutellum has been isolated from a mixed culture. As it was 

 weak in point of yield and in strength of straw, crosses were made 

 with it upon the Manchuria variety. The large scutellum was trans- 

 mitted to the Fi hybrids. In the Fj generation the large scutellum 

 was retained, but correlated mth the weakness of straw and lesser 

 yield of the better malting parent. One or two plants, however, 

 seemed to be more intermediate in character, and if these breed true 

 in the third generation they may form the basis for a superior strain. 



FOREIGN BARLEYS. 



A word should be said upon the question of the importation of 

 foreign barleys. Barleys of superior quality are readily found 

 abroad, and it would seem a simple matter to select the ones which 

 most nearly satisfy American requirements and to import them for 

 dissemination in this country. The results are, however, uniformly 

 disappointi' ^. The quality of such barleys is in a large part due to 

 their adaptation to their local climatic and soil conditions. Trans- 

 ferred to this country they at once present other characters. In time 

 they become acclimated, but with a few exceptions, such as the 

 Svalof Svanhals, their performance is far from encouraging. The 

 truly successful barleys of the future must be bred in this country. 

 It may be that they will come from foreign stocks; indeed, there are 

 no native sources of seed. New introductions of mixed races are, as 

 a whole, much better material for the selection of breeding strains 



