88 



MAIZE 



CHAP, stems in a crop of maize. This subject has been much dis- 

 cussed by maize breeders, but it is still a moot point whether 

 the tendency to produce barren stems is an inherited char- 

 acter. Some writers, e.g. Hunt (i), maintain that "if it were 

 an hereditary characteristic the fact that the stalks are barren 

 would tend to eliminate them". If barren stems were abso- 



Fig. 33. — Bisexual tassel of a sucker-shoot. 



Fig. 32. — Young ear with husks removed 

 to show silks. Note that the silks at the tip 

 of the ear are not yet fully grown. 



lutcly barren, in the strict sense of the word, this would be 

 true, but the fact that they produce tassels and pollen lends 

 colour to the view that they ma) 7 tend to reproduce their 

 kind. 



The percentage of barren stems on a given soil is said 



