THE WHEAT CULTUKIST. 



83 



by wliat he has styled " careful breeding." How far he 

 has been successful the result clearly shows. 



As a startmg point, in the fall of 185Y he selected 

 two heads of " nursery wheat," coming as near as pos- 

 sible up to his standard of what a head of wheat sJioiild 

 be. The grains of these two heads were kept separate 

 and carefully dibbled in, one grain in a place, nine inches 

 apart. Of one head the best grain produced ten stalks, 

 with heads varying from seventy-nine to fifty-five grains, 

 or a total of 688 grains. The finest ten ears, selected 

 from the product of the other head, contained from 

 seventy to fifty-one grains, and a total of 598 grains. 

 Of the two original ears, one contained 43, and the 

 other 44 grains, showing a gain of from 30 to 36 grains. 



IS^ext year the best head from the first-mentioned ear 

 was planted as before. From this the best grain pro- 

 duced 21 heads, containing from 91 to 55 grains per 

 head, or in all 1,190. The best random head of the 

 other ear was also planted ; but it was thrown out as 

 being evidently inferior to the others. 



From this, Hallett deduces the first proof of the cor- 

 rectness of his idea that careful breeding and cultiva- 

 tion was correct, and not the random selection of good 

 specimens. 



During the fall of 1859, the best head as above, con- 

 taining 91 grains, and the worst, containing 65 grains, 

 were separately planted. The best grain of the former 

 produced 39 ears, containing 2,145 grains ; but, owing to 

 the extraordinary season of 1861, the}^ were so injured 

 by the wet that the two best ears, containing respectively 

 Y4 and 71 grains, were the only ones sutiiciently unin- 

 jured to carry on the experiment ; so that the head con- 

 taining 74 grains was selected to carry on the experi- 



