374 
On " Pedir/ree " in. Wheat 
system of culture employed were precisely the same for every 
plant for four consecutive years ; neither was any manure used, 
nor any artificial means of fostering the plants resorted to. 
Table showing the importance of eacli additional Generation of Selection. 
Year. 
Length. 
Containing 
Nnmber 
of Ears on 
finest Stool. 
Inches. 
Grains. 
1857 
4i 
47 
1858 
H 
79 
10 
1859 
91 
22 
1860 
Ears imperfect from vet season .. 
39 
1861 
83 
123 
52 
Thus, by means of repeated selection alone, the length of the 
ears has been doubled, their contents nearly trebled, and the 
" tillering" power of the seed increased five-fold. 
Before explaining the method of procedure adopted in the 
above selection, I will briefly state why I commenced with so 
small an original ear. I had for several years previously experi- 
mented on accidentally large ears, irrespective of the quality of 
the grain they contained ; the invariable result was a sample so 
coarse as to be almost unsaleable. Convinced that this did not 
naturally result from the attainment of a perfect growth in the plant, 
but rather arose from the fact that the large parent ears from some 
peculiarity of their growth themselves contained coarse grain, 
I determined to commence with a fine quality of grain irrespective 
of the size of the ear, trusting to pedigree for the gradual attain- 
ment of fine ears. I therefore started with the " Nursery " wheat 
as the finest quality of red Avheat known, as I have since done 
with several kinds of white wheat, such as Colonel le Couteur's 
" Bellevue Talavera " (kindly sent to me by the Colonel for that 
purpose),* " Hunter's White," and several kinds of Australian 
white wheat, which were all fixed upon on account of their 
equality alone. 
The plan of selection pursued above is as follows : — A grain 
produces a " stool," consisting of many ears. I plant the grains 
from these ears in such a manner that each ear occupies a row 
by itself, each of its grains occupying a hole in this row ; the 
holes being 12 inches apart every way. At harvest, after the 
most careful study and comparison of the stools from all these 
* This was originally raised by Colonel le Couteur from a single grain. The 
ears and grains sent me by the Colonel in 18t;o are absolutely identical in charac- 
ter with specimens grown in 1841, and now in the collection of the Society, 
showing how the influence of the original selection has been maintained for 
nearly twenty years. 
