INHERITANCE— IMPRO VEMENT B I * BREEDING r 5 7 



sinte {Euchlcena mexicana var. luxurians), with a view to 

 adding to the maize plant the greater fertility and greater 

 resistance to chlorosis of the teosinte. The results were not 

 satisfactory ; the first generation of hybrids resembled teosinte 

 chiefly, but were uniform and intermediate in kind, while in 

 the second generation all of the original characteristics had 

 disappeared and still only intermediate forms were obtained. 

 In the third and fourth generations marked chlorotic symptoms 

 occurred while the fruitfulness and ear characteristics were still 

 intermediate {Exp. Sta. Rec, Vol. XXVI, p. 40, 19 12). 



CHAP. 

 V. 



Fig. 70. — Result of weak stalk. The weakness of the stalk allowed the 

 ear to fall to the ground before harvest ; the grain then germinated with the 

 late rains. By breeding stouter stalks this can be avoided. 



115. Loss from Weak Stalks, Shanks, or Cobs. — The de- 

 velopment of strains with exceptionally thin cobs and shanks 

 sometimes results in loss. If the cob is very thin, it is apt to 

 break in two before harvest, and part of the ear is lost. If the 

 shank or stalk are very thin they break off with the increasing 

 weight of the ear, often before the main crop is ripe ; such ears 

 fall to the ground and become food for rodents, or the seed 

 germinates (see Fig. 70) and is worthless. 



