120 
Pedigree  Seed  Corn. 
no  precise  definition.  Barley  of  this  class  is  described  in 
Germany  as  “ landgei’ste  ” (f.e.,  “the  barley  of  the  land”),  in 
contradistinction  to  “ Chevalier  gerste,”  “ Goldthorpe  gerste,” 
&c.,  for  varieties  the  origin  of  which  is  known,  and  the 
characters  well  defined. 
Local  varieties  have  been  to  a great  extent  replaced  in  the 
larger  corn-growing  districts  by  a large  number  of  distinct 
varieties  and  more  or  less  “ pure  races”  of  each  of  the  cereals, 
differing  from  the  former  in  that  the  individual  plants  making 
up  the  several  aggregates  are  much  moi'e  uniform.  There  is, 
however,  of  course,  a constant  tendency  for  these  stocks  also  to 
get  mixed.  At  the  same  time,  it  must  be  admitted  that  some 
of  them  differ  from  others  in  little  more  than  name. 
So  much  has  recently  been  written  on  the  subject  that  it 
is  not  necessary  to  enter  with  much  detail  into  past  and 
present  methods  of  raising  distinct  varieties  and  pure  races  of 
the  cereals.  Briefly,  however,  it  may  be  noted  that  most  of 
those  at  present  in  cultivation  are  the  progeny  either  of  single 
plants  or  of  a limited  number  of  similar  plants  selected 
originally  from  local  varieties  or  mixed  races  with  or  without 
resort  to  artificial  crossing.  The  method  of  raising  a stock 
from  a selected  individual  plant  (of  a species  which  is  normally 
self  fertilised),  without  artificial  crossing,  gives  rise  to  a “ pure 
race,”  the  individuals  of  which  (apart  from  such  accidental 
mixture  as  is  inevitable,  or  from  “ sporting,”  which  is  very 
infrequent  with  cereals  under  normal  conditions)  differ  only 
in  consequence  of  the  effects  of  external  conditions,  which  do 
not  affect  the  racial  character  of  the  stock. 
A plant  or  plants  selected  from  the  progeny  resulting  from 
a cross  may  or  may  not  give  rise  to  a uniform  “ pure  race,” 
according  as  the  plants  selected  are  or  are  not  genetically 
homogeneous  in  respect  of  every  structure  of  the  plant  in 
which  there  was  unlikeness  in  the  original  parents,  or,  stated 
more  simply,  are  “ fixed  ” in  respect  of  all  characters. 
Recently  the  extension  of  the  work  of  Mendel  has  led  to 
more  complete  (although  still  far  from  complete)  understanding 
of  the  principles  of  heredity  in  cultivated  plants,  to  much  more 
ready  combination  of  characters  and  to  much  more  systematic 
methods  of  selecting  individuals,  resulting  from  cross-fertilisa- 
tion, from  which  to  raise  pure  races  with  fixed  characters. 
Of  this  development  as  applied  to  cereals.  Professor  Biffen, 
working  at  the  University  Farm  at  Cambridge,  has  been  the 
pioneer  in  this  country.  I have  had  the  advantage  of  col- 
laborating with  him  in  respect  of  baidey  ; and  many  others  are 
also  at  work  on  similar  lines  in  this  and  other  countries. 
It  appears  certain  that  in  the  future  continued  selection,  by 
no  means  superseded  (rather,  indeed,  rendered  more  necessary 
