h ojA 
Vol. XLIV. No. 1866 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 31, 1885. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
*i.OO PER YEAR. 
(Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1885, by the Rural New-Yorker In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
J Some of the heads were seven inches long. 
These were selected for seed the next season. 
Again planted in the same way, they again 
passed the Winter with little loss. Again the 
longest heads were selected and planted. The 
third Winter, however, though apparently uo 
severer than the others, killed all but a plant 
or so here and there. 
Deflance (Spring) wheat, a cross by Mr. 
Pringle, of Vermont, was treated in the same 
way and with much the same result. The 
second year many heads of this wheat meas¬ 
ured from seveu to eight inches. They were 
things. The plants developed but two or 
three heads; the straw was short and weak 
and every plant raised from them was killed 
by the subsequent Winter. The Black beard¬ 
ed Centennial, though the finest heads were 
alone selected, seemed to grow less vigorous 
every year until that too was abandoned as 
being an unfit subject for winter acclimation. 
CROSSING WHEATS. 
Our first efforts at crossing wheats were 
entire failures, for the reason that, in our ex- 
the glume or outer covering of the flower 
(corresponding to the calyx of other flowers), 
and then the palet (corresponding to the 
petal) without ‘“breaking their backs,” so that 
after the anthers are removed, they will spring 
back and cover and protect the pisfciL 
These (the glumes and palets) are to be 
steadily held open with the thumb and fore¬ 
finger of the left b .nd while the anthers, yet 
immature, are to be removed with a pointed 
piece of wood held in the right hand. When 
one learns the position of the three anthers, it 
Experiment Ernmdsi oi the gtuxal 
$ew-Uother. 
WHEAT CROSSES AND WHEAT AND 
RYE HYBRIDS OP THE RURAL NEW- 
YORKER. _ 
SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR ORIGIN 
AND OF THEIR PRESENT PROMISE. 
THE RESULT OF EIGHT YEARS’ EX 
PERIMEN fS. 
NOTES FROM THE RURA.L EXPERIMENT 
GROUNDS. 
Eight or nine years ago (it is not certain 
which), the writer first turned his attention to 
attempts to improve wheats, first by selection, 
second by changing spring into winter wheats, 
third by crossing, and, last, by hybridizing 
wheat and rye. 
TYPICAL HEADS OF THE RURAL’S CROSS BETWEEN ARMSTRONG AND DIEHL-MEDITERRANEAN WHEATS. FI 
The best known of the spring wheats were 
selected and planted iu the Fall, one kernel in 
the intersections of 10x10 inch squares. This 
thin seeding has always been chosen as giving 
the severest test of the hardiness of varieties. 
The patience of our readers need not be 
tried with the unimportant details of this 
endeavor to change spring into fall wheats. 
Lost Nation passed through the first Winter 
with so little barm that little doubt was felt 
as to the probability of effecting the change. 
Then came the great Black-bearded Centen¬ 
nial and other kinds of Eastern wheats, which 
were sold at fabulous prices and advertised 
as either Spring or Winter varieties. For two 
years splendid crops were raised on small 
plots. We were so hopeful that this would 
prove a valuable winter variety, that its 
pollen was used upon other late winter wheats 
in the hopes that cross-breeds which might 
prove the beginning of a distinct race, would 
be effected. But the cross-breeds were puny 
perieuee, the flower envelopes (glumes and 
palets—chaff), or the stigmas or ovaries were 
so wounded by our rude manipulations that 
fruit* could not form. Iu very truth, the 
crossing of wheats, even to those who may 
have been easily snccessful in crossing other 
plants, is a delicate operation to perform, and 
requires patience, great care, practice and 
skill. The first trouble is in bending back 
♦The kernels of all grains are true fruits. 
is easy to remove and throw them out with a 
single upward movement of the point of the 
stick for each anther. But until their posi¬ 
tions are learnt by practice or a study of the 
flower, one is apt to harm the stigmas or 
ovary, in which case impregnation can not 
occur. 
The whole story of crossing wheats, with 
illustrations, was given in these notes several 
years ago. It auswers our purpose now 
merely to remark that anything short of 
