Notes on Cereals. 
i7 
on though we no longer consist of the same material particles, and 
in the same way the chromosome may retain its individuality 
though it has at one time been fed by chromatin from the nucleolus, 
and at another time given up its chromatin to the nucleolus. 
It is quite true that “ le dernier mot n’est pas encore dit sur la 
question de l’heredite, la question de la reduction, de l’essence des 
divisions sexuelles, ni meme sur la nature de la cinese somatique,” 1 
but still I think we may say of the most recent view which is in 
essentials common to the Louvain and Bonn schools, “ Se non b 
vero, e bene trovato.” 
1 F. A. Janssens. “ La spermatogenese chez les Tritons.” La 
Cellule, T. XIX. 1901. 
NOTES ON CEREALS. 
By Eric Drabble. 
Through the kindness of Messrs. Gartons, Ltd., of Warrington, 
1 have recently had the opportunity of examining very fully their 
methods of producing new breeds of Cereals on their experimental 
farm at Acton Grange, in Cheshire. A full account of their 
methods and results will be published elsewhere, but several points 
of general botanical interest have been noticed in the course of the 
work, and a short account of these is given below. 
Methods Employed in Producing New Breeds. 
Wheat, Oats and Barley have all been used experimentally. 
Races already possessing desirable qualities, in many cases combined 
with less desirable or even undesirable characters have been chosen 
as parents. Crosses have been made by removing the anthers of 
the female parent at an early stage, and applying to the stigma 
pollen from the male parent. It is necessary to remove the stamens 
at a very early stage indeed, as it appears that the cereals are 
normally self-pollinated before the pales open. It is certain that 
the unopened flower shows the presence of pollen upon its stigmatic 
lobes. When the stamens protrude they appear at first sight to be 
entire, but careful examination shows that a partial dehiscence 
has already taken place, and through this the pollen grains found on 
the stigma have come. Hence it is evident that the stamens must 
be removed carefully before such dehiscence has taken place. The 
pales are opened with forceps, the stamens removed, pollen from 
