30 BULLETIN 183, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the highest success in any form, and any methods that will secure 
normal development will secure an ideal shape of scutellum, so far 
as the barley under consideration is capable of such development. 
To what extent ideals in barley morphology, and especially in the 
form of the scutellum, may be affected by breeding, is not>as yet fully 
known. There are many barleys which never produce a desirable 
malting organ. There are others which, under favorable conditions, 
invariably do. These facts indicate a usable varietal difference. 
Whether or not experiments in breeding such hopeful varieties will 
result in stable forms of scutellum having ideal shape and in epithelial 
layers having maximum enzymatic power can not at present be stated. 
But it is safe to assume a priori that these organs are as plastic and 
capable of improvement as those other parts of the barley plant, such 
as the shape of the head, the rigidity of the straw, etc., which have 
been so extensively modified by modern breeding methods. And 
when these morphological changes are brought about, the writers 
are certain that the functional qualities which these studies have 
demonstrated to be correlated with them will show a truly parallel 
improvement. 
In the trials at St. Paul, Minn., in cooperation with the Minnesota 
Agricultural Experiment Station, a 6-rowed strain with an unusually 
large scutellum has been isolated from a mixed culture. As it was 
weak in point of yield and in strength of straw, crosses were made 
with it upon the Manchuria variety. The large scutellum was trans- 
nutted to the F x hybrids. In the F 2 generation the large scutellum 
was retained, but correlated with the weakness of straw and lesser 
yield of the better malting parent. One or two plants, however, 
seemed to be more intermediate in character, and if these breed true 
in the third generation they may form the basis for a superior strain. 
FOREIGN BARLEYS. 
A word should be said upon the question of the importation of 
foreign barleys. Barleys of superior quality are readily found 
abroad, and it would seem a simple matter to select the ones which 
most nearly satisfy American requirements and to import them for 
dissemination in this country. The results are, however, uniformly 
disappointr j. The quality of such barleys is in a large part due to 
their adaptation to their local climatic and soil conditions. Trans- 
ferred to this country they at once present other characters. In time 
they become acclimated, but with a few exceptions, such as the 
Svalof Svanhals, their performance is far from encouraging. The 
truly successful barleys of the future must be bred in this country. 
It may be that they will come from foreign stocks; indeed, there are 
no native sources of seed. New introductions of mixed races are, as 
a whole, much better material for the selection of breeding strains 
