INHERITANCE— IMPROVEMENT BY BREEDING 145 



Table XXVIII. 

 ANALYSIS OF YIELDS OF 100 EARS OF SKINNER'S COURT 10. 



CHAP. 



V. 



25 per cent appears to be an ample allowance for losses by 

 pests, etc. ; we should aim to secure a 75 per cent stand and 

 an average yield of at least 6 ozs. of grain per plant, which 

 would give 12 muids per acre. The writer confidently 

 believes that this standard will be reached, and the figures 

 given in Tables XIX to XXIX seem sufficient warrant for 

 the assumption. 



All the defects referred to can be largely remedied by com- 

 bining breeding with good farming; the tendency to produce 

 barren stalks can be reduced by careful selection ; misses in 

 planting will be reduced by greater uniformity in shape and 

 size of seed ; the tendency to produce " nubbins " can be 

 removed almost entirely by breeding ; and the effect of cut- 

 worm and stalk-borer are minimized by careful management. 



The tendency for like to produce like is found not only 

 among animals but among plants. It is well known to all 

 farmers that poor, weedy sheep, cattle and horses, reproduce 

 their kind ; and " nubbins " will generally reproduce the same 

 sort of plant that bore them. When the poor-quality parent- 



