THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WEIGHT OF THE 
SEED PLANTED AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF 
THE PLANT PRODUCED. I* 
By J. ARTHUR HARRIS, Ph.D., Carnegie Institution of Washington. 
I. Introductory Remarks. 
In practical agriculture the quality of the seed planted is universally recognized 
as of fundamental importance. Three requisites are essential : freedom from 
noxious impurities, purity of breed and viability. All three of these points have 
attracted close attention, and have a voluminous literature. But given seeds 
belonging to the required variety, free from undesirable impurities and germinating 
successfully, it seems of theoretical interest at least, and j^erhaps of much practical 
importance as well, to ascertain the degree of relationship between the size of the 
seed planted and the characteristics of the individual into which it develops. 
This question although by no means so extensively discussed as the others has 
received considerable attention. Much has been written concerning the desirability 
of winnowing seed to remove the lighter grains. A review of the literature of 
this field would lead us too far from our immediate purpose, which is to present 
the data derived from some rather extensive quantitative investigations. 
It will not, however, be unprofitable to call attention to certain general 
deficiencies of the previous work, especially since this will define the point of view 
directing the studies described here. 
(1) In many cases the distinction between perfectly matured but small seeds 
and potentially large but immature, blighted or shrivelled seeds has been dis- 
regarded. 
(2) The method of grading the seed has, generally speaking, been neither 
uniform nor logical. Usually the separation has been only into " heavy " and 
* This first paper is limited to the presentation of the data for number of pods per plant in twenty 
series of garden beans belonging to three different varieties. Much material for other varieties is in 
hand. The constants for other characters, e.g. number of ovules and number of seeds per pod and 
seed weight, are being calculated and will be presented later with more general discussions. 
2—2 
