20 Eric Drabble. 
which threshes the wheat in the process of harvesting, such breeds 
are useless. 
One of the peculiarities often shown by the products of 
composite crosses is that the spikelets instead of producing the 
normal number of grains—about six—become elongated and carry 
as many as fourteen grains. In certain cases the whole head 
becomes vegetative and the pales grow out as foliage leaves— 
four inches or more in length. 
Barley. 
In the Barleys on each side of the rachis are rows of spikelets. 
These spikelets are in sets of three, a central one, and two lateral 
ones. In the two-rowed barleys only the central spikelet of each 
triplet produces grain, and hence there is a single row of grains on 
each side of the rachis. In the six-rowed forms all the spikelets 
produce grain, leading to the development of three rows of grain on 
each side. By crossing two- and six-rowed varieties, all forms are 
found in the offspring from the development of grain in the central 
spikelet on each side only, to the development of grain by all three 
spikelets; also forms occur in which the normally fertile central 
spikelet becomes barren and only the lateral ones are fertile. This 
leads to a four-rowed barley—the only truly four-rowed form known, 
the so-called four-rowed barleys of commerce being only irregular 
forms of the six-rowed types. A point of some interest is found in 
connection with these hybrid barleys. In the earlier generations of 
many of these six-rowed hybrids, the lateral grains are very much 
smaller than the central ones—that is they contain much less 
endosperm. But by collecting the small lateral grains and growing 
them separately the progeny is as vigorous vegetatively and repro- 
ductively, and gives as great a percentage of germinating grains as 
the progeny from the large central grains. Indeed, cultivation has 
led to the development of more endosperm in the grain than is 
necessary for the nutriment of the young plant. 
A lmlled barley is one in which the pales adhere to the ripe 
grain. In a liull-less barley the grains are free. In the hulled forms 
the stamens though detached at the base are not completely thrown 
out, but are held by the pales. They seem to serve as a point of 
attack for fungal parasites, the mycelium then invading the grain. 
In hull-less forms the danger is obviated as the anthers are com¬ 
pletely shed. In the hulled varieties the style also persists and 
seems to serve as a second point of fungal attack. All forms found 
