22 ORIGIN OF SEX. 
cundation of the ovules from which such stalks were produced. 
This point might be practically tested by planting a single stalk 
in a field far removed from any other corn. The tassel should be 
cut off as often as required to prevent the male flowers from form- 
ing, then the pollen from another plant should be applied to the 
female flower at the latest moment when fecundation is possible. 
By this method we should expect to get the largest possible pro- 
portion of exclusively male-generating grains. To get the largest 
possible proportion of female-producing grains, the female flower 
should be fecundated at the earliest possible moment—earlier than 
nature does it. The grains produced under these circumstances 
would, when planted, give the largest and the smallest proportion 
of exclusively male or female plants. 
It would be well to determine whether the grains near the tip, 
in the middle, or near the base of the ear, gave the largest pro- 
portion of exclusively male-producing grains. The following will 
illustrate how the facts might be tabulated :— 
Number Whole Whole Average 
Oraina. Of stalks Stalks Stalks number number number of 
BD eki: one ear, twoears, of ears, 
of stalks. ears to each 
stalk. 
PV 
ie ae x P v mae Se Ao 
From middle ¥ T WN. TW Y+T+W hte 
From base z N Oo N+20 - Z4.N40 aero 
Metzger* has observed that the effect of climate on Indian corn, 
as cultivated in Germany, causes “the lower seeds in the ear to 
keep to their proper form, but the upper seeds become slightly 
changed.” 
te Among species of Carex, it is a common thing for the spike to 
consist of male flowers at the top, and female flowers at the base ; 
though the converse is much more common.”+ Dickson, Mohl, 
Schleiden, Braun, Cranmer and others have observed cones of 
different species of pines, usually female, having male flowers in 
the lower part of the cone. 
M. Charles Girou de Bu 
zareignues{ has made many observa- 
Sr nei 
. Annales des Sciences Naturelies, L xvi. p. 140, extracted from hia Da la Céndration. 
8vo, Paris, 1828. 
+ WT. oa. to 
yr pote 
+ 
eroos 
bed 
1 gy; Ray Soc... I ondon, 1869. 8v0, pp- 191 (Het- : . 
Sisiyan 1817, also, Moquin-Tandon; Éléments de Teratologie Végétal, 1841, p. 126, 
