Cross -fertilisation of Cereals. 
701 
Oat (A. nuda , L.), in which the axis of the spikeletis elongated, 
and beai’s from four to fourteen flowers : the glumes and pale 
are paper-like, and do not adhere to the seed. Though the 
differences between these three forms are very obvious, they may 
represent only one species, and this view is confirmed by the 
fact that they all freely cross, and produce fertile progeny. The 
Messrs. Carton have made full use of this property, and have 
produced some marvellous heads from a mixed parentage. 
Some of the parents employed are represented half the natural 
size in fig. 5. Individuals of the three groups into which the 
oat is divided are given, the Common Oat being in the centre, 
the Tartarian Oat on the left, and two forms of the Chinese on 
the right. 
The result of repeated crosses has been to produce a 
considerable variety of luxuriant new forms, possessing 
characters which can be traced to one or more of the parents. 
The form represented in fig. 6, No. 2., is strongly influenced by 
the common Potato Oat, but has a much larger panicle, more 
upright branches, and greater seeds. The form shown in fig. G, 
No. 1, displays the characters of the Common Oat, overpowered 
by those derived from the two other parents, the Tartarian and 
Chinese Oats. In fig. 7, No. 1, the influence of the Tartarian 
Oat is predominant ; but in No. 2, the great length of the 
spikelets, and their numerous flowers, show the potency of the 
Chinese Oat. 
The photographs of the cross-bred oats here reproduced 
exhibit the gain in size of the heads, but the size and quality of 
the grain have been attended to with the result that the large 
heads yield heavier grains. 
The important services being rendered to agriculture by the 
Messrs. Garton will be more appreciated when they have secured 
sufficient quantities of the seed of their new varieties to permit 
of their being grown as farm crops. 
It may.be useful to add here that an interesting series of 
observations and experiments on cross-fertilisation in Pears is 
given by Mr. I. P. James in a recent number of the American 
Agriculturist. He had found that the blight in the flowers of 
the pear was carried from flower to flower by insects ; but in 
excluding insects he found that the blossoms did not set fruit. 
He tried to fertilise the ovules with pollen taken from the same 
flower, from another flower of the same cluster, from a different 
flower on the same branch, from another tree of the same variety, 
and from a tree of a different variety. The result was that 
when Bartlett pollen, whether from the same flower, or a differ- 
