42 
These plats, as mentioned above, are not strictly comparable, there 
being two series; in addition, the same number of trials were not 
made under each treatment, hence the average figures have not 
equal values. The general conclusion, however, must be that the 
fertilizer showed little effect, and the figures indicate the best results 
from moderate applications. 
LARGE AND SMALL SEED. 
Kernels of Waushakum corn were divided into two selections, the 
one comprising the largest, the other the smallest seed. The plant- 
ing was in hills 42 x 44 inches, four plants to a hill, and 400 Ibs. 
phosphate per acre was applied. 
The figures of the crop were:— 
Yield per plat. 



No. of No. of No.of Wt.of good Wt.of poor 
plants. goodears. poorears. ears, lbs. ears, Ibs. 
D. 12 Large seed 637 700 77 271.5 8.0 
D. 13 Small seed 637 724 98 277.5 8.2 
D. 14 Large seed 623 726 85 282.5 9.0 
D. 15 Small seed 632 715 97 266.2 8.7 
We do not find much difference between the crop from the two 
kinds of seed. The average for the two plats planted with like 
seed, per acre, is as below, corrected to ike number of plants:— 
No. of No. of Bus. of Bus. of Av.wt. 
good ears. poorears. good ears. poor ears. ears,ozs 
D. 12 and 14 Large seed 14,360 1630 69.7 2.1 ~ 6.21 
D. 18 and 15 Small seed 14.390 1950 67.9 PB | 6.04 
The explanation of these slight differences must be sought for in 
the experiments of Francis Galton, recorded in a lecture before the 
Royal Institution of England, Feb. 9, 1877. In this trial, seed 
separated into large and small was distributed to many places in 
England, and the resultant crop returned to him for study. He 
found that the offspring did not tend to resemble their parent seed 
in size, but to be smaller than the parents; if the parents were large, 
to be larger than the parents, if the parents were small. The ex- 
periments showed further that the mean filial regression towards 
mediocrity was directly proportional to the parental deviation from 
it. (It is unfortunate in our case that the seed planted was not 
weighed. ) 
The explanation offered by Mr. Galton is ingenious and appears 
trustworthy, and is based upon additional data collected from an- 
thropological enquiries, and relating to the heights of children and 
their parents. ‘* The child inherits partly from his parents, partly 
from his ancestry. Speaking generally, the further his genealogy 
goes back, the more numerous and varied will his ancestry become, 
until they cease to differ from any equally numerous sample taken at 
haphazard from the race at large. Their mean stature will then be 
the same as that of the race.” * * * ‘The average regression 
of the offspring to a constant fraction of their respective mid-parent- 
al deviations, which was first observed in the diameter of seeds, and 
then confirmed by observations on human stature, is now shown to 
be a perfectly reasonable law which might have been deductively 
foreseen.” He then goes on to explain that ‘‘ the heritage derived 
