DISCOVERY OF MARQUIS WHEAT 223 



hard, red, and fairly plump, but shatter readily even when 

 the straw is green, rrom Hard Red Calcutta, its female 

 parent, Marquis has inherited its early-ripening habit. 

 Marquis also has straw which is a few inches shorter and 

 heads which are somewhat smaller than those of Red Eife, 

 and here again the maternal influence of Hard Red Cal- 

 cutta can be traced. 



Marquis is exceedingly like its male parent. Red Fife, 

 in general appearance. Thus it is not bearded like Hard 

 Red Calcutta but, like Red Fife, has a few short awns at 

 the tip of its head. Also its straw is not nearly as short 

 as that of Hard Red Calcutta but, while shorter than 

 that of Red Fife, is of good length. When Marquis and 

 Red Fife are growing in adjacent fields before the ripening 

 of the grains, even experts find it difiicult to tell off-spring 

 and parent from one another. However, careful com- 

 parison shows that Marquis is a few days earlier in its 

 development, is not quite so tall, and has glumes enclosing 

 the young grains which are somewhat broader and shorter. 



It thus appears that Marquis stands in a more or less 

 intermediate position between its two parents in respect 

 to length of straw, length of head, and earliness in ripen- 

 ing. In one character, however, it is not intermediate, 

 namely, in resistance to the shattering of its ripe grains. 

 While Hard Red Calcutta shatters readily, and Red Fife 

 shatters to some extent. Marquis resists shattering in a 

 high degree. 



XXV. The Future of Marquis 



There is no reason to believe that plant breeders have 

 already obtained the utmost possible in their endeavors to 

 improve the varieties of wheat now grown, for the wheat- 

 plant is a plastic thing and the limits of its variability have 

 not yet been ascertained. Moreover, the number of plant 



