692 
Cross-fertilisation of Cereals. 
The object of the cross-breeder is to secure the combination 
in a single variety of valuable characteristics now possessed by 
two or more varieties. A perfect wheat for cultivation in 
Britain should yield abundance of straw of good quality, and 
it should be sufficiently strong or tough to carry the ear until 
it is ripe, without being laid ; it should tiller freely and ripen 
early ; and it should produce a good weight of fine well-filled 
seeds. 
In selecting parents it should be remembered that the 
male appears to exercise a special influence on the seed, while 
the female affects the character of the vegetative parts of the 
plant. 
The practical outcome of cross-bi’eeding in wheat, as carried 
out by Messrs. Carter, has been placed before the readers of this 
Journal by Mr. Evershed . 1 I will use the results obtained by 
Messrs. It. and J. Garton in their experimental grounds at 
Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, in illustration of the success of 
cross-breeding. For thirty years these gentlemen have been 
carrying on their experiments, at first with practically no 
results, but these early years were not wasted, as they were 
spent in learning the difficulties they had to overcome, and in 
collecting numerous varieties from Britain, and from all 
quarters of the globe, from which to select suitable parents. 
Having grown this extensive collection on their farm, they 
have been able to detect the various qualities of the different 
varieties so as to guide them in their selections. They have 
kept in view the qualities of straw and gi’ain, and have 
selected parents, not only from the established varieties with 
which they began, but also from the improved vai'ieties 
which they have obtained in the course of their experiments. 
Where any good point was detected they have sought to 
maintain, if not to increase, it by using the plant in turn 
as a parent, and adding through another parent some ad- 
ditional quality. The varieties with which they are now 
experimenting are consequently not simple crosses ; they are 
the products of so many previous crosses that it is better to 
speak of them as composite crosses. While benefit accrues from 
this selected and repeated crossing, it brings also with it serious 
difficulties, for the progeny of every cross is subject to great 
variation, showing not only the qualities and characteristics that 
belong to both parents, but often peculiarities which one cannot 
detect in either parent. This tendency to variation increases 
with the number of parents that have had part in the produc- 
1 Varieties of Wheat and Methods of Improving Them. By Henry Evershed, 
Journal R.A.S.E , 2nd Series, Yol. XXV., 1889, p. 210. 
