NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



245 



Corn Breeding", Methods of. By C. G. Hopkins, Ph.D. (U.S.A. 

 Exp. Stn. Illinois, Bull. 82 ; 12 / 1902 ; 2 figs.).— It is pointed out that 

 of one bushel (56 lb.) of maize the germs weigh 4^ lb., the dry starch 

 36 lb., gluten 7 lb., bran 5 lb. The darker coloured horny layer, about 

 65 per cent, of the whole grain, contains a large proportion of the total 

 protein content ; the white starchy part (about 20 per cent, of the whole) 

 contains only a small quantity of protein ; the germ (about 10 per cent, 

 of the whole), while rich in protein, contains 85 per cent, of the total oil 

 content of the grain. It is easy to make an approximate estimation of 

 the composition of the grain by simply cutting it across the middle, and 

 comparing the proportionate size or quantity of germ or of white starch 

 in the grain. It is found that while the variations in composition of 

 grains taken from different ears of the same variety of corn is con- 

 siderable, the variation in the grains of the same ear is very slight ; e.g. 

 the protein content of the individual grains from one ear varied between 

 12*14 per cent, and 12'71 per cent., while from another ear of the same 

 variety the variation lay between 8*02 per cent, and 9*02 per cent. Thus 

 grains from the same ear can be reasonably depended upon to give fairly 

 constant results. Chemical selection may also be carried out. The 

 best place for a breeding plot " is in a larger field of corn planted with seed 

 which is as nearly as possible of the same breeding as that planted in 

 the breeding plot itself." The alternate rows should be completely 

 detasselled, and the seed corn taken from these rows. Selection is carried 

 on in the field, seed not being kept from any dwarf or otherwise undesirable 

 plants. — F. J. C. 



Crataegus, The Genus, in Newcastle County, Delaware. By 



C. S. Sargent (Bot. Gaz. xxxv. Xo. 2, p. 99). — The author describes 

 nineteen species and varieties of this genus. — G. H. 



Cydonia Sarg'enti {Wien. III. Gart.-Zeit., April 1903, p. 129).— 

 A coloured illustration is given under this name, which appears to be none 

 other than our familiar friend Pyrus Maulei, described by Dr. Masters in 

 1874. According to the Editor of the Vienna Journal, who also recognises 

 its close relationship (selir nahcstehcnd) to P. Maulei, Cydonia Sargcnti 

 was received from the Arnold Arboretum, U.S.A., by M. Victor Lemoine 

 of Nancy and named by him in compliment to the distinguished Director 

 of the Arboretum, and thus a new element of confusion has been added 

 to the nomenclature of this highly ornamental shrub. Rightly referred 

 in the first place by Dr. Masters to Pyrus, following Bentham and 

 Hooker, who had included in it the Tournefortian genus Cydonia, it soon 

 became better known in gardens as Cydonia Maulei than as Pyrus 

 Maulei. It is certain, however, that the plant first became known to 

 science about the year 1866 through the Russian botanist Maximowicz, 

 who named it Pyrus japonica alpina. In 1890 it was rechristened 

 Chcenomeles alpina by the German dendrologist Dr. Koehne, and this 

 name is retained by Dr. Leopold Dippel of Darmstadt in his " Handbuch 

 fur Laubholzkunde," published in 1894, and also by some later authors. 

 Where are these incessant changes in the names of familiar plants to 

 stop '? Can we wonder that horticulturists should grumble and refuse 

 to adopt new names even when they are strictly right ? — A. H. K. 



