an a means of IncreasiiKj the Crop. 
375 
grains, I select the finest one, which I accept as a proof that its 
parent grain was the best of all, under the peculiar circum- 
stances of that season. This process is repeated annually, start- 
ing every year with the proved best grain, although the verifica- 
tion of this superiority is not obtained until the following harvest. 
During these investigations no single circumstance has struck 
me as more forcibly illustrating the necessity for repeated selec- 
tion than the fact, that of the grains in the same ear one is found 
(jreathj to excel all the others in vital power. 
Thus, on reference to the foregoing diagram, it will be seen 
that the original two ears together contained 87 grains ; these 
were all planted singly. One of them produced 10 ears contain- 
ing 688 grains, and not only could the produce of no other single 
grain compare with them, but the finest 10 ears which could be 
collected from the produce of the whole of the other 86 grains 
contained only 598 grains ; yet, supposing that this superior 
grain grew in the smaller of the two original ears, and that this 
contained but 40 grains, there must still have been 39 of these 
86 grains which grew in the same ear. So far as regards 
contents of ears. 
Again, this year (1861) the grains from the largest ear of the 
finest stool of last year were planted singly, 12 inches apart, in a 
continuous row ; one of them produced a stool consisting ot 52 
ears ; those next to and on either side of it of 29 and 17 ears 
respectively •, and the finest of all the other stools consisted of 
only 40 ears. By planting grains so as to form a plan of the 
position occupied by each when in the ear, I have endeavoured 
to ascertain whether this superior grain grows in any fixed place, 
but hitherto these endeavours have proved unsuccessful. 
We have thus far seen that " pedigree " in wheat, combined 
with a natural mode of cultivating it, has increased the contents 
of the ears, — let us now consider whether this combination can 
produce a number of ears equal to that usually grown per acre 
under the present system. 
In order to ascertain this we ought to know the number of ears 
ordinarily grown from 7 or 8 pecks of seed, but there are really 
no data upon this point. It has, however, been considered as 
about equal to the number of grains in a bushel,* or under 
800,000, which is about one ear for every two grains sown. 
I will, then, compare the numbers grown in 1861 upon two 
pieces of land only separated by a hedge, where the two systems 
were fairly tried, the same pedigree wheat being employed as 
seed in both cases. In the one instance 6 pecks per acre Avere 
* Stephens's 'Book of the Farm,' 2ud edition, vol. ii., par. 4.')T4. 
