876 JOUJRNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



MENDEL'S PKINCIPLES APPLIED TO WHEAT HYBRIDS. 

 By Charles C. Hurst, F.L.S., F.R.H.S. 



In 1899 Prof. W. J. Spillman, of Washington, U.S.A., commenced a 

 series of experiments in the hybridisation of two species of Wheat, 

 Triticum rulgare and T. compactuni, his primary object being to raise 

 new varieties of good quality adapted to the climate of Eastern 

 Washington. These experiments were continued in 1900 and 1901, and 

 the results submitted to the Annual Convention of American Agri- 

 cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations held at Washington, D.C., 

 November 12 to 14, 1901. 



The proceedings of this Convention were published in 1902, and have 

 been kindly brought to my notice by our discerning and indefatigable 

 Secretary, the Rev. W. Wilks, to whom I am indebted for the opportunity 

 of making the following notes. 



As will be seen hereafter, Prof. Spillman's paper is of great biological 

 and practical importance, and as the medium through which it has been 

 presented to the world is not very accessible to the majority of the readers 

 of this Journal, I therefore venture to quote in full Prof. Spillman's tables 

 of facts, together with his description and interpretation of them, after 

 which I shall add a few notes of my own, showing how faithfully Prof. 

 Spillman's facts seem to follow the Principles of Mendel. The experiments, 

 on the whole, seem to have been admirably designed and carefully carried 

 out, especially having regard to the large numbers used ; the examination 

 and classification of many thousands of individual characters must have 

 entailed a vast amount of labour and care, for which we are duly 

 grateful to Prof. Spillman and his associates. It seems fitting that this 

 important paper should be published in the same Journal that first 

 published an English translation of Mendel's original paper. 



" Quantitative Studies on the Transmission of Parental 

 Characters to Hybrid Offspring. 



By Pbof. W. J. Spillman, of Washington, U.S.A. 



Beginning in 1899, we made 14 crosses, securing, in most instances, 

 several grains of each cross. From these grains 215 mature plants were 

 harvested in 1900. With a few exceptions noted below, those plants of 

 the same breeding were similar and intermediate in character between the 

 parent forms. A head from each was preserved for future reference, the 

 remainder of the seed being sown. The seed of each plant was kept 

 .separate, thus giving 215 plats. Of these, 149 proved to be true hybrids ; 



