42 



THE WHEAT CULTTJEIST. 



least favorable to cross-fecundation." In 1851, however, 

 prize medals were awarded at the Industrial Exhibition, 

 in London, to Mr. B. Maund, and to Mr. H. Raynbird, 

 of the United Kingdom, for their resj)ective collections 

 of " hybrid Cereali." In their award, the jurors speak 

 of the process, not as impracticable, but merely as being 

 difficult, in consequence of the care requisite in remov- 

 ing the unexpanded anthers from one plant, and apply- 

 ing the pollen of another, and subsequently guarding 

 them from the attacks of birds, insects, and other dis- 

 turbing influences. 



" Mr. Maund experimented with ' Cone ' wheat, which 

 contains much gluten, in the hope that by crossing it 

 with a race containing more starch, he might obtain a 

 whiter quality of equal value ; but it is not stated that 

 he was wholly successful. Mr. Raynbird commenced 

 his experiments in 1846, with the ' Hopetoun,' a white 

 wheat, of long ear and straw, and fine grain, and 

 'Piper's Thickset,' a coarse red wheat, with thick, 

 clustered ears, a stiff straw, and very prolific, but liable 

 to mildew. Mr. Maund enumerates eight instances in 

 which successful cross-fecundation had taken place, as 

 follows : 



'' Mr. Maund- found, as a general rule, in the cross- 

 fecundation of wheat, that a strong male and a weak 

 female produced a better result than a weak male and a 

 strong female. This principle holds equally good in 

 the animal kingdom as well as in the vegetable. 



" The entire feasibleness of the production of new va- 

 rieties of wheat by cross-fecundation, and its great de- 

 sirableness, being thus established, it is not doubted that 

 many intelligent agriculturists of the United States will 

 be wilhng to institute further experiments for the pur- 



