JUDGING AND SELECTION 259 



ones, and, other things being equal, it is preferable to select CHAP. 



long ears which are not so well covered than uniformly short 

 ears which are well covered. In judging, however, length of 

 ear is dealt with independently and must not affect the scoring 

 for covering of the tips. In a well-covered tip the grains 

 should continue in straight rows up to the very end, and not 

 be scattered irregularly ; for irregular grains the tips should 

 be scored down according to degree of irregularity. For 

 every exposed or badly covered tip i inch long, a cut of '5 

 ma)' be made, while less is taken off for shorter exposed tips. 



218. Colour of Grain. — Yellow grains on a white ear in- 

 dicate crossing, whether the yellowness is dark or pale ; this 

 means either : — 



(i) that the crop has been grown too near to a yellow 

 breed ; or 



(2) that the seed used was not quite pure, containing some 



(perhaps only a few) yellow grains or white grains 

 carrying a yellow " factor " ; or 



(3) that grains from a crop of yellow previously grown on 



the same ground have produced volunteer plants 

 which have caused the crossing. 



In the first case the yellow grains are usually most plenti- 

 ful near either the tip or the butt, owing to the fact that the 

 volunteer plants, or the neighbouring field of yellows, came 

 into flower at the beginning or close of the flowering period 

 of the white breed. 



The effect of crossing a yellow breed with white pollen is 

 not always as clearly marked as in the case of yellow on 

 white ; in some cases the whiteness on the yellow is quite 

 imperceptible, in other cases it shows in the form of a white 

 cap on the yellow grain. Some pure breeds have a normally 

 white-capped grain, e.g. White-cap Dent and Bristol 100-Day ; 

 in such cases a white cap does not necessarily indicate crossing. 



For one or two yellow grains on a white ear, or white 

 grains on a yellow ear, a "cut" of '25 points is made; for 

 three or four such grains, -5 ; for five or six, 75 ; for seven or 

 more, cut 1 point. 



Missing grains are considered as having been crossed, for 

 the judge has no means of telling that they were not removed 

 by the exhibitor to prevent a " cut " for crossing. In practice 



i7* 



VI. 



