Skip to main content

Full text of "The journal of heredity"

See other formats 


ese gt ether enna 
ae etd oe ote “ee Oe me 


6 Ae ene Cee nate Seis 


a ae 


owe 


ro 


mee Dy 
rat 


vs 


7 
1 
‘ 
* 
> 
i 
oy 
s 
> j 


ues 1h , } 


fi f ie 
utes. | } i 

Thi : ’ 

ee a d ‘ BY aT 

} : \ * 


jhe” 


‘The JOURNAL of HEREDITY 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


(A MONTHLY PUBLICATION DEVOTED 
TO PLANT BREEDING, ANIMAL BREEDING AND EUGENICS 


PUBLISHED BY THE 


AMERICAN GENETIC ASSOCIATION 


(Formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) 


VOLUME VI 


WASHINGTON, D. C. 
1915 


CLT 


apa aoe 


os 


Requirements for Membership 


UBJECT to the approval of the 
council, any person interested 

in the improvement of the human 
race or the creation of better plants 
and animals is eligible for member- 
ship. The Secretary will be glad 
to correspond with those interested, 
and to send a copy of the magazine 
for examination. Annual dues giv- 
ing the right to attend the annual 
and other meetings, and to receive 
the magazine, are $2.00; for life 
membership $50.00. Address all 
communications to the Secretary. 


American Genetic Association 


511 Eleventh Street N. W., Washington, D. C. 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


INDEX TO VOLUME VI 
THE JOURNAL OF HEREDITY, 1915 


A 


Age for Marriage, The Proper (A Review), 39 
A. G. A., Annual Meeting of, 256 
A. G. A., Berkeley Meeting of, 445 
America, The Peopling of. Ales. Hrdlicka, 79 
American Pet Stock Standard of Perfection. 
Wagner (A Review), 541 
Ancestry of the Goat, 519 
Animal Breeding, Report of Committee on, 21 
Annual Meeting of A. G. A., 256 
Apples Bloom Late? Why do, 472 
Breeding in Idaho. C. C. Vincent, 453 
Bud Selection in, 356 
Bud Selectionin. C. J. Crandall, 277 
Genetic Study of, 568 
Heredity in, 226 
of the Cordilleras. Walter Fischer, 357 
Statistics, Some, 528 
Association, Annual Meeting of the, 108, 322 
Ayrshires, Black and White. A. H. Kuhlman, 314 
Aztec Narcotic, An. W. E. Safford, 291 


J. Henri 


B 


Babcock, E. B., A New Walnut, 40 
Bailey, L. H., War and Biology, 51 
and Gilbert, A. W. Plant Breeding (A Review), 181 
Bark Breathes, How the, 490 
Barrows, W. M., and Phillips, J. Mcl. 
Spaniels, 387 
Barley, Breeding Hardier Winter, 168 
Barred Pattern in White Fowls, 218 
Baur, Prof. Dr. Erwin. Einfthrung in die experimentelle 
Vererbungslehre (A Review), 78 
Bean, Heredity in the Soy, 461 
Bean, The Georgia Velvet. John Belling, 290 
Beet Seed, Single Germ. O. Townsend, 351 
Belling, John. Conditions of Mendelian Inheritance, 108 
Prepotence in Plant Breeding, 45 
The Chromosome Hypothesis of Heredity, 67 
The Georgia Velvet Bean, 290 
Berkeley Meeting of A. G. A., 445 
Big Tree Photograph Contest, 383 
Billings, W. C. Oriental Immigration, 462 
Birds, Propagation of Wild. H.K. Job (A Review), 505 
Birth Rate, Wellesley’s. R.H. Johnson and Bertha J. 
Stutzmann, 250 
Blakeslee, A. F. Fancy Points vs. Utility, 175 
Blossoms, Protecting Pollinated. Dr. W.S. Chapin, 471 
Brazil, Cattle of. José Maria dos Reis, 203 
Breed? Whatisa. Orren Lloyd- Jones, 531 
Breeding for Energy. Francis Galton, 91 
for Horns. Frank N. Meyer, 96 
Hardier Winter Barley, 168 
Practical Dog. W. Haynes, 264 
in Nebraska, Experimental, 423 
Sugar Beets, 174 
Brown, B.S. Influence of Stock on Cion, 152 
Bud Selection Fails, 191 
Selection in Apples, 356 
Selection in Apples. C. J. Crandall, 277 
Variation, Would Utilize, 354 
Burns, W. A Working Model of Mendelism, 365 


Color in Cocker 


Cc 


Cactus, Hardier Spineless. David Griffiths, 182 
Cancer i in Mice, Inheritability of, 383 
Carman, E.S. E. M. East, 65 
Cattle, Jersey- Angus. Arthur H. Kuhlman, 68 
Crosses with Zebu, 144 
of Brazil, The. José Maria dos Reis, 203 
in Brazil, Zebu. B.H. Hunnicutt, 195 
Cereals, Production of New, 479 
Chapin, Dr. W. S. Protecting Pollinated Blossoms, 471 
Cherry Blossom, Green Leaf in. David Fairchild, 262 
Breeding, Sweet. V.R. Gardner, 312 
Development of a, 278 
Trees, Pollination of, 144 
Chile Pepper, Improving the, 397 


Chromosome Hypothesis of Heredity, The. J. Belling, 67 


Cion, Influence of Stock on. B.S. Brown, 152 
Citrous Fruits, Studies in, 537 
Clausen, Roy E. Ettersburg Strawberries, 324 


Cocker Spaniels, Color in. W. M. Barrows and J. Mcl. 


Phillips, 387 
Cockerell, T. D. A The Marking Factor in Sunflowers, 
542 


Cofer, Dr. L. E. Eugenics; and Immigration, 170 
Color in Cocker Spaniels. W. M. Barrows and J. Mcl. 
Phillips, 387 
Committee on Animal Breeding, Report of, 21 
Conditions of Mendelian Inheritance. John Belling, 108 
Conference, Race Betterment, 313 
Conformation of Cows and Milk Yield, 253 
Congress, Pan-American Scientific, 261 
Conklin, Edwin Grant. Heredity and Environment in 
the Development of Man (A Review), 240 
Value of Negative Eugenics, 538 
Contest, Big Tree Photograph, 383 
Value of the. W.H. Lamb, 424 
Controlled Cotton Breeding, 354 
Cook, O. F. Date Palm Allies in America, 117 
Two Classes of Hybrids, 55 
Cordilleras, Apples of the. Walter Fischer, 357 
Correlation, Studies in, 397 
Corriedale Sheep in the United States, 96 
Cotton Breeding, Controlled, 354 
Hybrids, Perjugate. C.G. Marshall, 57 
Pure Lines in, 548 
Coulter, John M. vue Fundamentals of Plant Breeding 
(A Review), 
Crandall, C. J. Bud Selection in Apples, 277 
Crosses in Tunisia, Zebu. M. Roederer, 201 
Crosses with Zebu Cattle, 144 
Crossing Wheat Flowers Unprotected after Emasculation. 
D. W. Frear, 350 
Cows and Milk Yield, Conformation of, 253 
and Milk Yield, Physical Conformation of. J. Arthur 
Harris, 348 
Plant Breeding in. F. S. Earle and Wilson 
Popenoe, 558 


Cuba, 


D 


Date Palm Allies in America. O. F. Cook, 117 
Davenport, Charles B. A Dent in the Forehead, 163 
Dent in the Forehead, A. Charles B. Davenport, 163 
Determination of Sex. Leonard Doncaster, 31, 269 
Development of a Cherry, 278 
Dog Breeding, Practical. Williams Haynes, 264 
Doncaster, Leonard. Determination of Sex, 31, 269 
Dorsey, M. J. Pollen Sterility in Grapes, 243 
Dos Reis, José Maria. The Cattle of Brazil, 203 
Double Seeding Petunias. Mrs. Myrtle S. Francis, 456 
Dwarf Mutant in Maize, A., 98 
Dynamic Evolution. L. Redfield. (Reviewed by 
Raymond Pearl), 254 


E 


Earle, F. S., and Popenoe, Wilson. 
Cuba, 558 

Early Marriage Question, The, 92 

East, E. M. E.S. Carman, 65 

Editor. Feeblemindedness (A Review), 32 

Genealogy and Eugenics, 372 
Maternal Impressions, 512 
Nature or Nurture? 227 

Education and Race Suicide. Robert J. Sprague, 158 

Effect of the Popular Sire. Williams Haynes, 494 

Effects of Selection, The, 527 

Einfiihrung in die experimentelle 
Prof. Dr. E. Baur (A Review), 78 

Eldest, Superiority of the. C. Gini, 37 

Elizabeth, John and. Jay Gee (A Review), 993 

Ellis, H. Race Regeneration and Law, 47 

Energy, Breeding for. F. Galton, 91 } ; 

Environment, Heredity and. E.G. Conklin (A Review), 
240 

Ettersburg Strawberries. R. E. Clausen, 324 

“Eugenic’”’ Laws, More. Dr. W. C. Rucker, 219 
Eugenic Legislation. (A Review), 142 
Eugenical Family Study, How to Make A, 476 


Plant Breeding in 


Verebungslehre. 


Eugenics and Immigration. Dr. L. E. Cofer, 170 
Eugenics and Marriage. L. A. Stone, 493 
Genealogy and, 72 
Congress Postponed, 31 | 
Genealogy and. The Editor, 372 
in the Colleges, 511 
New Light on. S. A. Kohs, 446 
Putting Over. A. E. Hamilton, 281 
Research Association, 256 ; 
Value of Negative. E. G. Conklin, 538 
Evolution, The Mutation Factor in. 
(A Review), 432 : 
Societal. A. G. Keller (A Review), 432 
Dynamic. C. L. Redfield (Reviewed by Raymond 
Pearl), 254 : 
Ewart, J. C. Origin of Shetland Ponies, 20 
Experimental Breeding in Nebraska, 423 
Extra-Floral Nectaries, 367 
Exhibit, A Race Betterment, 56 


R. R. Gates 


F 


Fairchild, David. Green Leaf in Cherry Blossom, 262 
Rosa hugonis, 429 
The Mangosteen, 339 b 
Family Study, How to Make a Eugenical, 476 
Fancy Points vs. Utility. A. F. Blakeslee, 175 
Feeblemindedness. Review by the Editor, 32 
in Michigan, Report on, 364 
First Born’s Handicap, The. Karl Pearson, 332 
Fischer, W. Apples of the Cordilleras, 357 
Flowers, Inheritance in, 371 
Forehead, A Dent in the. C. B. Davenport, 163 
Fore-lock, Heredity of White. Newton Miller, 165 
Fowls, Barred Pattern in White, 218 
Fowls, Xenia in (Review of some recent German Work), 
212 
Francis, Mrs. Myrtle S. Double Seeding Petunias, 456 
Frear, J. Crossing Wheat Flowers Unprotected 
after Emasculation, 350 


Frog's Hair, 362 
Fruit Breeding in Alaska. C. C. Georgeson, 268 
Fundamentals of Plant Breeding, The. John M. 


Coulter (A Review), 78 


G 


Gable, Chas. H. The Wild Tomato, 242 
Galton, Francis. Breeding for Energy, 91 
Garden Gladioli. A. C. Hottes, 499 
Gardner, V. R. Sweet Cherry Breeding, 312 
Gates, R. Ruggles. On the Nature of Mutations, 99 
The Mutation Factor in Evolution (A Review), 432 
Gee, Jay. John and Elizabeth (A Review), 493 
Genealogy and Eugenics, 72 
Genealogy and Eugenics. The Editor, 372 
Genealogy, International Congress of, 518 
Generation, The Next. F. A. Rhodes (A Review), 397 
Genetic Study in Apples, 568 . 
Genetics and Government. W. C. D. and C. D. 
Whetham, 91 
in New Jersey, 371 
Live-Stock (Committee Report), 21 
Georgeson, C. C. Fruit Breeding in Alaska, 268 
Georgia Velvet Bean, The. John Belling, 290 
German Zootechny. Georg Wilsdorf (A Review), 109 
Gini, C. Superiority of the Eldest, 37 
Gladioli, Garden. A. C. Hottes, 499 
Goat, Ancestry of the, 519 
Government, Genetics and. W. C. D. 
Whetham, 91 
Grains, More Profit from, 461 
Grape Breeding, 470 
Grapes, Improving Native, 366 
Pollen Sterility in. M. J. Dorsey, 243 
Great Men and How They Are Produced. C. L. Redfield, 
249 
Green Leaf in Cherry Blossom. David Fairchild, 262 
Griffiths, David. Hardier Spineless Cactus, 182 


and. GieD: 


Hadley, Philip B. The White Leghorn, 147 
Hair, Frog's, 362 

Hamilton, A. E. Putting Over Eugenics, 281 
Handicap, The First Born's. - Karl Pearson, 332 
Hardier Spineless Cactus. David Griffiths, 182 
Hardy Peaches for Missouri, 277 


Harris, J. A. Physical Conformation of Cows and Milk 
Yield, 348 
Hayes, H. K. Tobacco Mutations, 73 


Haynes, Williams. Effect of the Popular Sire, 494 ~ 
Practical Dog Breeding (A Review), 264 
Heller, L. L. Reversion in Sheep, 480 
Hen That Crowed, A, 482 
Hens, Profitable and Unprofitable, 488, 489 
Heredity eae Environment. E.G. Conklin (A Review), 
24 
and Sex. T. H. Morgan (A Review), 48 
in Apples, 226 
in the Soy Bean, 461 
of White Fore-lock. Newton Miller, 165 
Stammering and, 383 
The Chromosome Hypothesis of. J. Belling, 67 
Holmes, S. J. Unit Characters, 473 
Home-Grown or Foreign Seed, 557 
Horns, Breeding for. Frank N. Meyer, 96 
Hotel Accommodations at Berkeley, 336 
Hottes, Alfred C. Garden Gladioli, 499 
Hrdlicka, Ales. The Peopling of America, 79 
Hunnicutt, B. H. Zebu Cattle in Brazil, 195 
Hybrid Histology, 461 
Hybrids, Perjugate Cotton. C. G. Marshall, 57 


Two Classes of. O. F. Cook, 55 
Wheat X Rye. Fr. Jesenko, 47 
I 


Ice Melting From a Twig, 530 
Illustration of Inbreeding. D. F. Jones, 477 
Immigration, Eugenics and. L. E. Cofer, 170 
Oriental. W. C. Bellings, 462 
Improving Native Grapes, 366 
Improving the Chile Pepper, 397 
Impressions, Maternal. The Editor, 512 
Inbreeding, Illustration of. D. F. Jones, 477 
Influence of Stock on Cion. B.S. Brown, 152 
Inheritability of Cancer in Mice, 383 
Inheritance in Flowers, 371 
of a Profile, 541 
of Bad Temper, 528 
of Sex in Strawberries, 545 
Insane and Feebleminded in Institutions in 1910, 364 
Insane, Offspring of the. A. J. Rosanoff and Helen E. 
Martin, 355 
International Congress of Genealogy, 518 


4 
Jersey-Angus Cattle. A. H. Kuhlman, 68 
Jesenko, Fr. Wheat X Rye Hybrids, 48 
Job, H. K. Propagation of Wild Birds (A Review), 505 
Johannsen to Visit America, 151 
John and Elizabeth. Jay Gee, 493 
Johnson, D. S. Sexuality in Plants, 3 
Johnson, Roswell H. Natural Selection in War, 546 
and Stutzmann, Bertha J. Wellesley’s Birth Rate, 250 
Jones, D. F. Illustration of Inbreeding, 477 
Jordan, D. S., and Jordan, H. E. War's Aftermath 
(A Review), 404 
K 
Keller, A. G. Societal Evolution (A Review), 432 
Kin, The Marriage of. E. Nettleship, 257 
Kohs, S$. C. New Light on Eugenics, 446 
Kraus, E. J. The Self-Sterility Problem, 549 
Kuhlman, A. H. Black and White Ayrshires, 314 
Jersey-Angus Cattle, 68 


L 


Lamb, W. H. Value of the Contest, 424 

Law, Race Regeneration and. _H. Ellis, 47 

Laws, More ‘“‘Eugenic.’’ W. C. Rucker, 219 

Lectures in Eugenics, 162 

Leghorn, The White. P. B. Hadley, 147 
Rebuilding the, 569 

Legislation, Eugenic (A Review), 142 

Lewis, C. L. Plant Breeding Problems, 468 

Live-Stock Genetics (Committee Report), 21 

Lloyd-Jones, Orren. What is a Breed?, 531 


M 


Macoun, W. T. Plant Breeding in Canada, 398 
Maize, A Dwarf Mutant in, 98 
Man, Natural Selection in, 497 
Mangosteen, The. David Fairchild, 339 
Marking Factor in Sunflowers. T. D. A. Cockerell, 542 
Marriage, Eugenics and. L. A. Stone, 493 
Marriage of Kin, The. Edward Nettleship, 257 

poeont The Early,92 

he Proper Age for (A Review), 39 

Marshall, C. G. Perjugate Cotton Hybrids, 57 
Material for Plant Breeders, 46 
Maternal Impressions. The Editor, 512 


McHatton, T. H. The Tree that Owns Itself, 526 
Melons, Mendelism in, 279 
Men, Microbes and. R. T. Morris (A Review), 493 
Mendelian Inheritance, Conditions of. J. Belling, 108 
Mendelism, A Working Model of. W. Burns, 365 
in Melons, 279 
Meyer, Frank N. Breeding for Horns, 96 
Mice, Inheritability of Cancer in, 383 
Microbes and Men. Robert T. Morris (A Review), 493 
Milk Yield, Conformation of Cows and, 253 
Physical Conformation of Cows and, 348 
Milk Indications, 350 
Miller, Newton. Heredity of White Fore-lock, 165 
Morris, Robert T. Microbes and Men (A Review), 493 
Morgan, T. H. Heredity and Sex (A Review), 47 
Mulattoes in the United States, 311 
Mutant in Maize, A Dwarf, 98 
Mutation Factor in Evolution, The. R. R. Gates, 432 
Mutations, On the Nature of. R. Ruggles Gates, 99 
Tobacco, 73 


N 


Narcotic, An Aztec. W. E. Safford, 291 
Natural Selection in Man, 497 
Natural Selection in War. R.H. Johnson, 546 
Nature of Mutations, On the. R Ruggles Gates, 99 
or Nurture? The Editor, 227. 
Nectaries, Extra-Floral, 367 
Negative Eugenics, Value of. E. G. Conklin, 538 
Nettleship, Edward. The Marriage of Kin, 257 
New Light on Eugenics. S. C. Kohs, 446 
New Publication Planned, 504 
New Publications: Einfihrung in die experimentelle 
Vererbungslehre. Prof. Dr. E. Baur, 78 
Eugenics and Marriage. L. A. Stone, 493 
Heredity and Environment. E. G. Conklin, 240 
Heredity and Sex. T. H. Morgan, 47 
Insane and Feebleminded in Institutions in 1910, 364 
John and Elizabeth. Jay Gee, 493 
Microbes and Men. R. T. Morris, 493 
Plant Breeding. L. H. Bailey and A. W. Gilbert, 181 
Report of Feeblemindedness in Michigan, 364 
Sex, Its Origin and Determination. T. E. Reed, 48 
Societal Evolution. A. G. Keller, 432 
The American Pet Stock Standard of Perfection. 
J. H. Wagner, 541 
The Fundamentals of PlantBreeding. J. M. Coulter, 78 
The Great Society. Graham Wallas, 313 
The Next Generation. F. A. Rhodes, 397 
The Mutation Factor in Evolution. R.R. Gates, 432 
New Walnut, A. E. B. Babcock, 40 
Next Generation, The. F. A. Rhodes, 397 
Nurture? Nature or. The Editor, 227 
Nut-Bearing Trees, Seeks to Find Best, 498 


oO 


Offspring of the Insane. 
Martin, 355 
Orange, Washington Navel. A. D. Shamel, 435 
Oriental Immigration. W. C. Billings, 462 
Origin of Shetland Ponies. J. C. Ewart, 20 


P 


Palm, The South American Traveler’s, 384 
Pan-American Scientific Congress, 261 
Peaches for Missouri, Hardy, 277 
Pearl, Raymond. Dynamic Evolution (A Review), 254 
Pearson, Karl. The First Born’s Handicap, 332 
Pedigreed Seeds, To Grow, 181 
Peopling of America, The. Ales Hrdlicka, 79 
Pepper, Improving the Chile, 397 
Perjugate Cotton Hybrids. CC. G. Marshall, 57 
Perkins, Lindsay S. The Pomerange, 192 
Persimmon Tree, An Unusual, 525 
Petunias, Double Seeding. Mrs. Myrtle S. Francis, 456 
Physical Conformation of Cows and Milk Yield. J. A. 
Harris, 348 
Photographs of Large Trees, 407 
Plant Breeders, Material for, 46 
Plant Breeding. L. H. Bailey and A. W. 
Review), 181 
Correlations, 151 
in Alabama, 479 
in Canada. W. T. Macoun, 398 
in Cuba. F.S. Earle and W. Popenoe, 558 
in Maryland, 403 
in Michigan, 403 
in Minnesota, 472 
in South Carolina, 428 


Gilbert (A 


A. J. Rosanoff and Helen E. 


V 


Prepotence in. J. Belling, 45 
Problems. C. L. Lewis, 468 


The Fundamentals of. J. M. Coulter (A Review), 78 
Plants, Sexuality in. D.S. Johnson, 3 
Pollen Sterility in Grapes. M. J. Dorsey, 243 
Pollination of Cherry Trees, 144 
Pomerange, The. L.S. Perkins, 192 
Ponies, Origin of Shetland. J. C. Ewart, 20 
Poultry Breeding. R. B. Slocum, 483 
Practical Dog Breeding. W. Haynes (A Review), 264 
Prepotence in Plant Breeding. J. Belling, 45 
Prepotency. E. N. Wentworth, 17 
Problem, The Self-Sterility. E. J. Kraus, 549 
Production of New Cereals, 479 
Profile, Inheritance of a, 541 
Profit from Grains, More, 461 
Profitable and Unprofitable Hens, 488, 489 
Propagation of Wild Birds. H. K. Job (A Review), 505 
Proper Age for Marriage, The (A fo) iew), 39 
Protecting Pollinated Blossoms. . 9. Chapin, 471 
Publication Planned, New, 504 
Pure Lines in Cotton, 548 
Putting Over Eugenics. A. E. Hamilton, 281 

R 

Race Betterment Conference, 313 
Race Betterment Exhibit, A, 56 
Race Regeneration and Law. H. Ellis, 47 
Race Suicide, Education and. R. J. Sprague, 158 
Raspberry Breeding, 191 
Rebuilding the Leghorn, 569 
Redfield, L. Dynamic Evolution (Review by 


R. Pearl), 254 
Great Men and How They Are Produced, 249 

Redfield Offer Remains Open, 157 

Redfield’s Offer Still Open, 487 

Reed, Thomas E. Sex, Its Origin and Determination 
(A Review), 48 

Reversion in Sheep. L. L. Heller, 480 

Rhodes, Frederick A. The Next Generation, 397 

Richardson, A. E. V. Wheat Breeding, 123 

Riddle, Oscar (Review by), 48 

Roederer, M. Zebu Crosses in Tunisia, 201 

Rosa hugonis. David Fairchild, 429 

Rosanoff, A. J., and Martin, Helen E. Offspring of the 
Insane, 355 

Rucker, W. C. More ‘“‘Eugenic’’ Laws, 219 

Rye Hybrids, Wheat X. Fr. Jesenko, 47 


SS) 


Safford, W. E. An Aztec Narcotic, 291 

Seed, Home-Grown or Foreign, 557 

Selection, The Effects of, 527 

Self-Sterility Problem, The. E. J. Kraus, 549 

Sex, Determination of. Leonard Doncaster, 31 

Sexuality in Plants. D.S. Johnson, 3 

Shamel, A. D. Washington Navel Orange, 435 

Sheep, Reversion in. L. L. Heller, 480 

Shetland Ponies, Origin of. J.C. Ewart, 20 

Single Germ Beet Seed. C. O. Townsend, 351 

Sire, Effect of the Popular. W. Haynes, 494 

Slocum, Rob R. Poultry Breeding, 483 

Societal Evolution. <A. G. Keller, 432 

Society, The Great. Graham Wallas, 313 

South American Traveler’s Palm, The, 384 

Soy Bean, Heredity in the, 461 

Sprague, R. J. Education and Race Suicide, 158 

Stammering and Heredity, 383 

Sterility in Grapes, Pollen. M. J. Dorsey, 243 

Stock on Cion, Influence of, 152 

Stock Standard of Perfection, The American Pet. 
Wagner (A Review), 541 

Stone, L. A. Eugenics and Marriage, 493 

Strawberries, Ettersburg. R. E. Clausen, 324 

Inheritance of Sex in, 545 

Studies in Citrous Fruits, 537 

Studies in Correlation, 397 

Success with Sugar Cane, 354 

Sugar Cane Breeding, 354 

Sugar Cane, Success with, 354 

Sunflowers, The Marking Factorin. T. D. A. Cockerell, 
542 

Superiority of the Eldest. C. Gini, 37 

Sweet Cherry Breeding. V.R. Gardner, 312 


J. H. 


T 


Temper, Inheritance of Bad, 528 
Tobacco Mutations. H. K. Hayes, 73 


Tomato, The Wild. C. H. Gable, 242 

Townsend, C. O. Single Germ Beet Seed, 351 
Tree, An Unusual Persimmon, 525 

Tree That Owns Itself, The. T. H. McHatton, 526 
Trees, Pollination of Cherry, 144 

Trees, Photographs of Large, 407 

Trees, Seeks to Find Best Nut-Bearing, 498 

Two Classes of Hybrids. O. F. Cook, 55 


U 


S. J. Holmes, 473 


Unit Characters. 
A. F. Blakesle2, 175 


Utility, Fancy Points vs. 


AV: 


Value of Negative Eugenics. E. G. Conklin, 538 
Value of the Contest. W.H. Lamb, 424 
Variation in Pure Lines. C. V. Williams, 452 
Vincent, C. C. Apple Breeding in Idaho, 453 


WwW 


Wagner, J. H. The American Pet Stock Standard of 
Perfection, 541 
Wallas, Graham. The Great Society (A Review), 313 
Walnut, A New. E. B. Babcock, 40 
War and Biology. L. H. Bailey, 51 
Natural Selection in. R.H. Johnson, 546 


vi 


War's Aftermath. D. S. Jordan and H. E. Jordan 
(A Review), 404 

Washington Navel Orange. A. D. Shamel, 435 

Wellesley’s Birth Rate. R.H. Johnson and Bertha J. 
Stutzmann, 250 

Wentworth, E. N. Prepotency, 17 

What isa Breed? Orren Lloyd-Jones, 531 

Wheat Breeding. A. E. V. Richardson, 123 

Wheat X Rye Hybrids. Fr. Jesenko, 48 

Whetham, W. C. D. and C. D. Genetics and Govern- 
ment, 91 

White Fore-lock, Heredity of. Newton Miller, 165 

White Fowls, Barred Pattern in, 218 

White Leghorn, The. Philip B. Hadley, 147 

Williams, C. V. Variation in Pure Lines, 452 

Wilsdorf, Georg. German Zootechny, 109 

Working Model of Mendelism, A. W. Burns, 365 


xX 


Xenia in Fowls (Review of some recent German Work), 


Z 


Zebu Cattle, Crosses with, 144 r 

Zebu Cattle in Brazil, B. H. Hunnicutt, 195 

Zebu Crosses in Tunisia. M. Roederer, 201 
Zootechny, German. Georg Wilsdorf (A Review), 109 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine 
J to} 


Vol VI; No. 1 January, 1915 


CONTENTS 


Sexuality in Plants, by Duncan S. Johnson................-.-------- 3 
Prepotency, by Edward N. Wentworth................--------+-++++: V7 
Origin of Shetland Ponies, by J. Cossar Ewart..............--------- 20 
Live-Stock Genetics, a Report by the Research Committee on Animal 
"Ee BG Pr CS a eee ee ole re ee Se rar ee 21 
Eugenics Congress Postponed...........-.---- +--+ eee eee eee tees 3L 
The Determination of Sex, by Leonard Doncaster....................31 
Feeblemindedness, a review by the Editor.....................--.-.. 32 
Superiority of the Eldest, by Corrado Gini................----++----- 37 
The Proper Age for Marriage (a review)...........-..--..--++-+------39 
A New Walnut, by Ernest B. Babcock................-.-----+--+--++-- 40 
Prepotence in Plant Breeding, by John Belling..............---...-. 45 
Material for Plant Breeders (editorial note). Bee Mee ae Ady 
New Publications: Heredity and Sex, by "Ehoiwias H. ‘Morea Won dee He | 
Race Regeneration and Law, by Havelock Ellis...............---...-. 47 
New Publications: Sex: Its Origin and Determination, by Thomas 
E. Reed, reviewed by Oscar Riddle..................------+-+---- 418 
Wheat x Rye Hybrids, by Fr. Jesenko...............---.-----+++-++:> 48 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Fifty per cent. of the annual membership fee is specifically desig- 
nated as payment for the Journal. Canadian members who desire to receive it 
should send 25 cents a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, 
because of additional postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents 
extra for the same reason. Price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter August 27, 1912, at the postoffice at Washington, 
D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1914 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. CG: 


Date of issue of this number, December 30, 1914. 


fy 


LEAD AS A RACIAL POISON 


e germ-plasm of guinea pigs is indicated by experiments under 
f Wisconsin. These photographs of results were supplied by 
‘Bach of the photographs shows two young from the 
he mother being a normal (non-poisoned) albino. In each of 
s is from an albino father which received the lead treatment, 
is from a normal homozygous pigmented male. While these 
luals, they represent what tend to be average rather than 
ale was considerably larger than the pigmented male; 
tinctly smaller in size. Note also the brighter appearance 
Frontispiece. 


writ 
Wil 


SEXUALITY IN PLANTS 


Observed But Not Understood by Babylonians and Assyrians—-Not Proved 
Experimentally Until Seventeenth Century—Early Observers Hampered 
by Lack of Proper Methods—Evolution of the Problem 
Largely Due to a Few Great Men.' 


DUNCAN S. JOHNSON 
Professor of Botany, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. 


ROM the beginning of man’s 

thoughtful consideration of natural 

processes, the phenomenon of 

sexual reproduction, with the 
associated phenomena of heredity, have 
persistently engaged his keenest interest. 
The primary fact of the necessary con- 
currence of two individuals in the pro- 
duction of offspring was, in the case of 
animals, recognized from the beginning. 
The equivalent phenomenon was not 
established for plants until the end of 
the seventeenth century. At this time, 
however, little more was known of the 
essential features of the sexual process 
in animals than had been familiar to 
Assyrians, Egyptians and Greeks twenty 
centuries before. 

Of the additions made since 1700 to 
our knowledge of sexual reproduction, 
of its varied types and of the associated 
phenomena, no mean share has been 
contributed by botanical investigators. 
Noteworthy among such contributions 
are the work of Koelreuter and Mendel 
in the production and systematic study 
of plant hybrids, and the early work of 
Pfeffer on the chemoatactic response of 
spermatozoids. Of more recent work 
we may cite that of the plant cytologists 
on apogamy and apospory, on multi- 
nucleate sexual cells or gametes, and on 
the long-delayed nuclear fusion in the 
sexual reproduction of the plant rusts. 
It should then be of interest for us to 
consider just how and when the more 
important steps have been taken in 
building up the vast mass of somewhat 


incomplete knowledge that we now 
possess concerning the reproductive 
process in plants. Because of exigencies 
of time and patience, I shall confine 
myself primarily to an attempt to 
picture the chief steps by which our 
present knowledge of the essential 
sexual process, the union of two parental 
substances, has been attained.  Inci- 
dentally, we may note the changes in 
point of view of investigators and in 
their mode of attack on this problem. 
I shall attempt to suggest the trend of 
development more clearly by often 
grouping the chief phenomena dis- 
covered in such a way as to indicate the 
sequence of discovery, within each 
group, of the different phases of the 
sexual process, though the order of 
discussion may thus not always accord 
with the sequence of the discovery of 
individual phenomena in plants as a 
whole. 


WORK OF GREAT MEN. 


In following the evolution and change 
in aspect of our problem we shall often 
find it best to keep a few relatively great 
names prominent. This will serve in 
the first place to make the story more 
vivid and intelligible. It will at the 
same time often come nearer the essen- 
tial truth, for in each great forward step 
some one worker has usually been the 
dominating leader. 

The first discoveries pointing to the 
existence of sex in plants were evidently 
made very early in human history by 


1 Address of the vice-president and chairman of Section G, Botany, American Association for 


the Advancement of Science, December, 1913. 
-lished in Science, N. S., Vol. XX XIX, pages 299-319, 1914.) 


(This address, in its complete form, was pub- 
The illustrations have general 


bearing on the subject discussed and were selected as being more readily intelligible than the 
detailed technical drawings of the early investigators, whose works are referred to. 


4 The Journal of Heredity 


AS 


Z 
IONS bree 
Noi Aint /TAty 
—- | es & = 


THE DATE PALM AMONG THE ASSYRIANS 
Design from the palace of Sargon at Khorsabad (eighth century B. C.) showing that the male 


and female flowers of the date palm were clearly distinguished at that time. 


The worshiper 


in the middle is carrying a sprig of male or staminate flowers while the one at the right 


bears female or pistillate blossoms. 
graphs of actual flowers in fig. 2. 


The drawings should be compared with the photo- 
The winged deity at the left, who is usually identified 


as the Palm God, holds in his hand a cone which is thought to typify the spathe of the male 


palm, and thus the principle of fertility in general. 


peoples cultivating unisexual plants for 
food. The existence of fertile and sterile 
trees of the date palm, e. g., was known 
to the peoples of Egypt and Mesopo- 
tamia from the earliest times. Records 
of the cultivation of these trees and of 
artificial pollination have come down to 
us on bas-reliefs from before 700 B.c. 
found in the palace of Sargon at Khorsa- 
bad (Haupt and Toy, 1899)? The 
Assyrians, it is said, commonly referred 
to the two date trees as male and 
female (Rawlinson, 1866). The Greeks, 
in spite of their peculiarly keen interest 
in natural phenomena, failed to offer 
any definite interpretation of this well- 
known fact concerning the date palm. 
Aristotle and Theophrastus report the 
f apparently from the agri- 


fact, gained 
culturalists and herb-gatherers, that 


(Fig. 1.) 


some trees of the date, fig and terebinth 
bear no fruit themselves, but in some 
way aid the fertile tree in perfecting its 
fruit. But without recording a single 
crucial experiment on the matter, 
Theophrastus concludes that this can 
not be a real sexuality, since this 
phenomenon is found in so few plants. 
EARLY GUESSES. 

In this uncertain state the knowledge 
of sexuality in plants was destined to 
rest for 20 centuries, waiting for the 
experimental genius of Camerarius to 
give a conclusive answer to the question 
raised by the Assyrian and Greek 
gardeners and answered wrongly by 
Theophrastus. The English physician 
Grew (1676) did, it is true, accept and 
expand the suggestion of Sir Thomas 


? The dates in parentheses throughout this paper indicate the time each discovery was pub 


lished and also refer directly to the papers listed in the bibliography appended to this paper as 


published in Science. 


FLOWERS OF,THE DATE PALM 


On the left is a fragment of the female inflorescence, the short stigma being 
surmounted by a round ovary without any showy petals. On the right is a 
sprig of the more conspicuous male or pollen-b aring flower. It is branches 
of the male inflorescence like this that the date planter ties in the center of 
each female inflorescence, in order to ensure his crop of dates, which would 
be worthless unless pollinated. Photograph (much enlarged) from W. T. 
Swingle, Bulletin no. 53, U. 5S. D. A. Bureau of Plant Industry. (Fig. 2.) 


Johnson: Sexuality in Plants 


am 


and the China bean (S. niveum vat.). 


dredths of millimeters. 


Millington that the stamens serve as 
the male organs of the plant. Thus 
Grew concludes (p. 173) that when the 
anther opens the ‘“‘globulets in the thecae 
act as vegetable sperm which falls upon 
the seed-case or womb and touches it 
with prolific virtue.’”’ But this guess, 
though it proved correct in the main 
point, was still a guess, and not sup- 
ported by any critical evidence so far 
as recorded by Grew. The only ade- 
quate evidence that could be obtained 
on this question, while microscopes and 
technique were still so imperfect, was 


Photograph by John Belling, Gainesville, Fla. 


~I 


FERTILE AND STERILE POLLEN GRAINS 


Pollen of the first generation hybrid of the Florida Velvet bean (Stizolobium deeringianum) 


In this as in many other crosses of distinct species 
of plants, half the pollen is sterile and half the ovules aborted. 


Scale in tenths and hun- 
(Fig. 4.) 


experimental evidence. This kind of 
proof was first given, some 20 years 
after Grew’s work, by Rudolph Jakob 
Camerarius, of Titbingen. Camerarius 
fully appreciated the presence of a real 
problem here. He also had the genius 
to see that the philosophical attempts 
of many of his immediate predecessors, 
to discover its solution entirely in their 
own inner consciousnesses, were futile. 
With the insight of a modern experi- 
menter Camerarius put the question 
to the plants themselves. The results 
of his experiments, as reported in the 


§ The Journal of Heredity 


famous letter of 1694 to Professor 
Valentin, of Giessen, were clear and con- 
clusive. After noting that aborted 
seeds were produced by isolated—and 
therefore unpollinated—female plants 
of Mercurialis, and of the mulberry; by 
castrated plants of the castor bean; and 
by plants of Indian corn from which he 
had removed the stigmas, Camerarius 
gives his interpretation of these phe- 
nomena. Hesays (Ostwald ‘“‘Klassiker,”’ 
Dawe 

“In the vegetable kingdom there is 
accomplished no reproduction by seeds, 
that most perfect gift of nature, and 
the usual means of perpetuating the 
species, unless the previously appearing 
apices of the flower have already pre- 
pared the plant therefor. It appears 
reasonable to attribute to these anthers 
a nobler name and the office of male 
sexual organs.”’ 

In the seventy years after Camerarius 
had proved in this way the existence of 
two sexes, and the fertilizing function 
of the pollen in plants, little advance 
was made. Bradley, of London, Gled- 
itsch, of Berlin, and Governor Logan, 
of Pennsylvania, confirmed parts of 
Camerarius’s work, and the great 
Linnzeus accepted the conception of the 
stamens and pistils as sexual organs as 
clearly proven, not, be it noted, by the 
results of Camerarius’s experiments but 
by “‘the nature of plants.” 


KOELREUTER’S HYBRIDS. 


In 1761 J. G. Koelreuter, of Carls- 
ruhe, published an account of the first 
systematic attempt that had been made, 
with either plants or animals, to pro- 
duce and carefully study artificial hy- 
brids. In his work with hybrid tobac- 
cos, he demonstrated that characters 
from both parents are often associated 
in a single offspring. He thus not only 
completed Camerarius’s work, but also, 
by showing that the male parent par- 
ticipates in the makeup of the offspring, 
he helped materially to break down the 
“emboitement theory’? of Christian 
Wolff, which assumed that the embryo 
came entirely from the egg, and that its 
characters could not be influenced by 
the male parent. It is true that Koel- 
reuter was mistaken in believing that 


fertilization is accomplished by the 
mingling of the oil on the pollen grain 
with the secretion of the stigma to form 
a mixed fluid, which he supposed then 
penetrated to the ovule. Nevertheless, 
his conception of the mingling of twe 
substances was a move with the proper 
trend: 

Koelreuter also demonstrated that in 
nature the pollen necessary to fertiliza- 
tion is often brought to the stigma by 
insects. He thus opened up a field of 
research which was cultivated with such 
splendid effect by Konrad Sprengel 
thirty years later, and by Darwin, 
Miller and others a century afterward. 

In spite of the absolutely conclusive 
work of Camerarius, Koelreuter and 
Sprengel on the sexuality of plants, their 
conclusions were often rejected during 
the first half of the nineteenth century. 
Certain devotees of the nature philos- 
ophy, for example, occupied themselves 
either in proving over again, after 
Cesalpino, that plants can not be sexual, 
because of their nature, or in trying, by 
ill-conceived, and carelessly performed 
“experiments,” to prove the conclusions 
of Camerarius and Koelreuter erron- 
eous. These objectors were finally 
silenced, however, when Gaertner, in 
1849, published the results of such a 
large number of well-checked experi- 
ments, entirely confirming the works of 
Camerarius, Koelreuter and Sprengel, 
that no thinking botanist has since 
doubted the occurrence in flowering 
plants of a sexuality essentially identical 
with that found in animals. 


DISCOVERY OF THE POLLEN TUBE 


During the opening years of the nine- 
teenth century a number of botanists, 
who believed in the sexuality of plants, 
tried to discover by the aid of the 
microscope just how fertilization is 
effected. Most botanists of the day 
believed the pollen grain burst on the 
stigma, and that its granular contents 
found a way through the style to the 
ovary. An entirely new aspect of the 
problem of fertilization was opened up, 
however, when in 1823 Amici, of Mo- 
dena, saw on the stigma of Portulacca 
young pollen tubes arising from the 
pollen grains. Seven years later he 


Johnson: Sexuality in Plants 9 


followed these tubes through the style seen.”” The dispute even approached 
to the micropyle of the ovule. At about the acrimonious, as when Schleiden 
this time also, Jakob Matthias Schlei- (1843) says of one worker’s figures, 
den (1838) took up the study of this 
same problem. He was a man of 
vigorous intellect and great versatility, 
who sometimes misinterpreted what he 
saw, but who proved a most stimulating 
opponent to a number of other workers 
who did observe accurately. After 
denying Robert Brown’s assertion that 
the pollen tubes of the orchids arise in 
the ovary, Schleiden proceeded to 
describe and figure the pollen tube as 
penetrating not merely the style and 
then the micropyle, but even far into 
the embryo sac itself. 

Here, as he says in his Grundztige 
Chi tp:.373): 

“The end of the pollen tube soon 
swells, either in such a way that the 
vesicle arising in it fills the whole 
cavity of the portion of the tube within 
the embryo sac, or there is left, between 
the apex of the embryo sac and the 
embryonal vesicle of the tube, a long or 
a short cylindrical portion of the latter, 
the suspensor.”’ 

He thus regarded the embryo sac as a 
sort of hatching place for the embryo, 
which he thought formed from the end 
of the pollen tube. This idea of the 
origin of the embryo really denied the 
occurrence of any actual sexual process, 
and made the pollen the mother of the 
embryo. 


ORIGIN OF EMBRYO. 


In 1846, however, the error of this 
conception was clearly demonstrated by 
Amici, who showed that the embryo of 
the orchids arises from an egg which is 
alreadly present in the embryo sac 
when the pollen tube reaches it. It is 
this pre-existing egg, according to 
Amici, that is stimulated to form the 
embryo by the presence near it of the  sTAMENS AND PISTIL OF TOBACCO 


pollen tube. This view was confidently FLOWER 
supported ae _Mohl f (1847) and Hof- In the center rises the tall stigma with 
meister (1847) in the following year, and its glossy, knob-like end, the pistil. 
the controversy with Schleiden became About it stand five stamens, the 
even more spirited. As Mohl afterward anthers of which have already burst 
wrote (1863), men were “‘led astray b open and released the light yellow 
4 oe ; yy grains of pollen, which show in the 
their previous conceptions to believe photograph as a brilliant white. 


they saw what they could not have Photograph highly enlarged. (Fig. 5.) 


10 


The 


MALE FLOWER OF 


corn 


The Journal of Heredity 


made up ¢ 


yf 


ve 
V ¢ 


MAIZE 


many 
of small flowers, 
- of light 


\der 
LLL 


llow 


fila- 


“Solche Praparate sind ohne Zweifel 
aus den Kopf gezeichnet.”’ 

Hofmeister, from the beginning of 
his study of fertilization in seed plants, 
had sought in the pollen tube for some 
equivalent of the spermatozoids, those 
motile male cells of the mosses and 
ferns that had first been understood by 
Unger in 1837. He was unable, how- 
ever, to do more than point out the 
mistake of earlier observers in regard- 
ing the starch grains of the pollen tube 
as spermatozoids, and to:suggest the 
likelihood that these motile cells might 
be discovered in the gymnosperms, a 
prediction the fulfilment of which was 
realized by Ikeno and Webber 50 years 
later. In his study of pollen tubes 
Hofmeister demonstrated to his own 
satisfaction that the tube does not open 
in accomplishing fertilization. His view, 
which was the one current till 1884, was 
that the egg is stimulated to develop 
into the embryo by some substance 
that diffuses through the itmperforate 
wall of the pollen tube. 


DISCOVERY OF PROTOPLASMIC FUSION. 


We come now to consider a series of 
discoveries of supreme importance in 
the investigating of the essential sexual 
process in plants. This is the period in 
which the problem that had _ baffled 
naturalists for twenty centuries was at 
last solved, at least in one most essential 
feature, by the demonstration of the 
occurrence at fertilization of a mingling 
of paternal and maternal substances. 

It will not be without interest at this 
point to note the intellectual stimuli 
which led an unusual number of workers 
to investigate this phase of our problem. 

In the first place, there were on 
record, and under discussion, at the 
middle of last century, the many puzzling 
observations of the ‘“‘Spiralfaden,”’ or 
animalcule, as they were thought to be, 
that had been found arising from a 
number of plants. These motile, spiral 
filaments had been seen in a liverwort 

Fossombromia) by Schmiedel (1747), 
in Sphagnum by Esenbeck (1822), in 
Chara by Bischoff (1828), and finally, on 
the fern prothallus by Naegeli (1844). 
Unger (1834-37) studied these bodies in 


Johnson: Sexuality in Plants 11 


the mosses (Sphagnum and M archantia) 
and declared his belief that they are not 
infusoria, but are the male fertilizing 
cells. At. this time also the zoologists 
of the day were making the first 
detailed studies of the spermatozoa of 
animals. Barry (1844) had seen a 
spermatozoén within the egg of the 
rabbit; Leuckart (1849) saw them enter 
the frog’s egg, and then, in 1851, Bischoff 
and Allen Thompson proved — that 
fertilization is accomplished by the 
actual entrance of the spermatozoon 
into the egg. A no less important influ- 
ence, in stimulating the botanical work- 
ers on the problem of fertilization, was 
the magnificent work of Hofmeister, 
on the reproductive structures of the 
mosses, ferns and conifers. By these 
splendid researches he had indicated to 
men of less insight, and less compre- 
hensive imagination, just the points in 
the life cycles of plants where the 
critical phases of the reproductive 
process are to be sought. 

The first step toward the demonstra- 
tion of a union of two masses of living 
substance at fertilization resulted from 
the study of a group of plants in which 
sexuality had not hitherto been proven 
or even generally admitted—namely, 
the alge. It had, however, long before 
been suggested in the case of Spirogyra 
by Hedwig (1798) and Vaucher (1803). 


STUDY OF ALG. 


The alga were in fact especially 
advantageous for the study of fertiliza- 
tion, since the development and behavior 
of the reproductive organs and cells 
could, without elaborate preparation, 
be readily seen under the microscope, 
and often followed through in living 
material. Thus Thuret, in 1853, for 
the first time saw the active sperms 
attached to the egg of Fucus, and in 1854 
proved experimentally that only eggs 
to which spermatozoids have had access 
will germinate. He thus demonstrated 
in this alga the correctness of Unger’s 
unsubstantiated surmise (1837) thac the 
spermatozoids are the male fertilizing 
cells. In Cédogonium, Pringsheim, in 
1856 (p. 9), watched the spermatozoid 
push into the receptive tip of the living 
egg and saw the characteristic oOspore 


wall formed in consequence. This, 
except for the less satisfactory observa- 
tions made on Vaucheria by the same 
worker a year previous, is the first case 
recorded of the observation of the actual 
union of male and female cells in any 
plant. Such a union of the protoplas- 
mic masses of the two sexual cells was 
soon shown to be a characteristic feature 
of fertilization in a number of alge. 
Thus de Bary saw it in Spirogyra (1858), 
and Pringsheim (1869) repeatedly ob- 
served the gradual fusion of the motile 
gametes of Pandorina. It was nearly 
30 years later, however, that this phase 
of fertilization was first seen in seed- 
plants by Goroschankin and Strasburger. 


LACK OF PROPER METHODS. 


The workers on this problem were on 
the lookout for further details of the 
process of fusion, and even knew rather 
definitely what they were looking for, 
but failed to discover it from lack of 
proper methods of preparation of ma- 
terial. Thus, e. g., Strasburger, in 
1877, carefully studied the process of 
conjugation in Spirogyra and found 
that ‘‘Hautschicht fuses with Haut- 
schicht, Kernplasma with Kernplasma cs 
— “The chlorophyll bands unite by 
their ends’’—and then goes on to say 
of the feature that evidently interested 
him most, ‘‘the cell nuclei of both cells, 
however, become dissolved; the copula- 
tion product is without a nucleus.” 
Two years later, Schmitz (1879), when 
studying hematoxylin-stained material 
of this alga, was more fortunate. He 
saw the two nuclei in the zygote, as he 
says, “approach nearer and nearer, 
come into contact and finally fuse to a 
single nucleus.” This observation by 
Schmitz is an important one, for in it 
we have the first clear statement that 
the nucleus of the male cell passes over 
intact to the female cell, there to fuse 
with the female nucleus. 

Strasburger had, it is true, seen a 
second nucleus fusing with that of the 
egg in the archegonia of Picea and Pinus 
in 1877. He did not, however, really 
know the source of this second nucleus, 
though he suspected some relation to 
those that are present earlier in the tip 
of the pollen tube. These tube nuclei 


‘WOMOY OlUeS oY} UT poyrUN Sureq sues10 (o7eU9}) o7eT]TysSId pure 


CL “8ty) 
. (oyeur) OJPUIWIEIS 944 “OUT] 1ydeutioy SD. (Gr a 099eq0} 9Yy} pure 
yue[d oyeredes uo UO SULEq SIOMOY e[PUloy pue [eur oY} ‘snoroaorp st (Zz By) wiyed oyep ayy opty !yuryd oures 94} UO Ynq ‘sIaMoy 
oye1edes Ul auIOd are suB3I0 o[euloy pue seul ‘st yeyJ—snor1oo0uoul 


uoT]e} Apworye aaevy Yor Jo outos ‘sureI3 usT[od MoTJaA uspjos yrep YIM paroAoo WUN]OO JoyjUe oy St ‘pesie[ue aiour yonut yy 3u 


pesivjus AT{YSI]s UMOYsS st WLOsso]q MOTPPA JURITILIG 94} Ie] ey2 IV 


YAMOTH NIMdWO1d ATVI 


SUF FV “UAMOP Joq Joduin1z} peosq sz Jo apts au y3IM ‘uado yno pur 


The male flower, stripped of its petals and highly enlarg 1. 
anthers are designated by a and the filame rbin 
a column) by b. The anthers are just burst 
row, labyrinthine slits reveal the poll 
swollen base of the stamens is hollow and hi 
so that one can see through it, in order to mi 
tion clear. (Fig. 8. 


14 The Journal of Heredity 


STIGMA OF 


A PUMPKIN FLOWER 


[t is upon the rough, sticky surface of this irregular body that the male pollen grains 


fall and 


germinate. 


Each one sends out a tube which grows down into the 
> 


tissue of the stigma (see the following figure) and finally reaches the ovary which 


lies below. 


The nucleus of the pollen grain slips down this tube, comes in con- 


tact with one of the ovules in the ovary and unites with it, thus fertilizing it and 


permitting it to grow into a pumpkin seed. 


before fertil- 
ization, and then just after fertilization, 
to quote (De 7aqayes 


olved just 


he says are diss 


“The male nucleus formed from the 
contents of the pollen tube is found now 
near the end of the tube, now near, or 
in conta h, the egg nucleus. 

‘The protoplasmic contents of the pollen 
tube, I hold, pa hrough the (imper- 
forate) tube-mem e 1 diosmotic 
Manner 

be Lust eggs, pollen tubs 
and nuclei, was at this time being studied 


Photograph much enlarged. (Fig. 9. 

by a number of workers. One of these, 
Goroschankin, in 1883, was able to 
demonstrate that in Pinus pumilio the 
pollen tube opens at the end, and that 
through this pore the two male cells 
pass bodily into the egg. Goroschan- 
kin’s mistake, in supposing both male 
nuclei to fuse with the egg nucleus, was 
corrected by Strasburger the following 
year. The latter (1884) saw the same 
bodily exit of both male nuclei from the 
ypen pollen tube of Picea, but found only 
one male nucleus fusing with that of the 
egg. In the same publication Stras- 


so 


> oat 


+ lRign, : cag : 
os , : 


eis 
, > 
: Li ] 
t we 4 
a= 
‘ Yes! 
= & =) : 
te \< So! 
5 ea eK Geter tows 
} ie, ~ tyes 
Ve “av teecee 
Are 


he 


HOW THE POLLEN TUBES GROW 


Vertical section of ovule of a pine, shortly before fertilization; 


magnified about 100 diameters. Three pollen tubes can 
be seen growing down from the micropyle, the narrow 
channel at the top by which they entered. s.n. is the 
sperm nucleus, ¢.1. the tube nucleus, sf. c. a stalk-cell. 
There are two archegonia (arch.) or egg cells, each with its 
egg nucleus (e.n.). When a sperm nucleus from one of 
the pollen tubes finally reaches one of these egg nuclei, 
it will unite with and fertilize it, thus initiating the 
development of the seed. After Ferguson, Life History 
of Pinus, Washington, 1904. (Fig. 10.) 


16 (he journal 


burger also records numerous instances 
in which he had been able to observe 
the same mode of escape of the contents 
of the pollen tube into the ripe embryo 
Sac in angiosperms. At last, as Stras- 
burger puts it, in discussing fertilization 
in the conifers: 

“The most important morphological 
facts are clear. It is established that 
the male nucleus that copulates with 
the egg nucleus, passes as such out of the 
pollen tube into the egg.”’ 

Thus, finally, was the actual] material 
contribution of both parents to the 
embryo of the seed plants first seen. 
This was just two centuries, lacking a 
decade, after Camerarius (1694) had 
proven that the presence of pollen on 
the stigma is indispensable to seed- 
formation. One chief reason why this 
important problem so long baffled all 
investigators was the lack of proper 
methods of preparing material for study. 
The older method of studying unfixed 
and unstained sections had certain 
advantages, it is true. The sequence of 
developmental stages was often deter- 
mined with certainty by actually follow- 
ing their succession in living material 
under the microscope, and there was 
less cause also for dispute about arti- 
facts. But structures of the same 
refractive qualities were not readily 
distinguished in such sections. As 
Strasburger himself Says (1884, p. 18): 

“The negative results of my earlier 
studies and of those of Elfving were due 
to the lack of a method which permitted 
the nuclei to be distinguished in the 
strongly refractive contents of the 
pollen tube up to the moment of 
fertilization.”’ 

That these studies of 1884 were 
successful was largely due to the use of 
material fixed in 7% acetic acid. 1% 
osmic acid or absolute alcohol, and 
stained in borax carmine, hematoxylin 
or iodine green, 

The extreme significance of the 
that those most highly 


fact 
organized _por- 


of Heredity 


tions of the cell substance—the nuclei— 
were SO prominent in the process of 
fertilization was at once appreciated 
by Strasburger, who in 1884 announced 
the following general conclusions as the 
outcome of his consideration of the 
phenomena observed: 

“(1) The fertilization process depends 
upon the copulation with the egg nucleus 
of the male nucleus that is brought into 
the egg, which is in accord with the’ 
view clearly expressed by O. Hertwig. 
(2) The cytoplasm is not concerned in 
the process of fertilization. (3) The 
sperm nucleus like the egg nucleus is a 
true cell nucleus.”’ 

In the years since 1884 the nuclei have 
been found to be the structures chiefly 
concerned in fertilization, Whenever 
such a process occurs. Among the 
earlier observations of this nuclear 
union at fertilization in each of the 
great groups are the following, named 
in the order of discovery: It was seen in 
Pilularia (Campbell, 1888), in Riella 
(Kruch, 1891), in (Edogonium (Klebahn, 
1892), in the plant rusts (Dangeard and 
Sapin-Trouffy, 1893), in the toad-stools 
(Wager, 1893), in the red alga Nemalion 
(Wille, 1894), in Spherotheca (Harper, 
1895), in the rockweed, Fucus (Farmer 
and Williams, 1896). F inally Zeder- 
bauer (1904) reported it for the Peri- 
dineze, and Jahn (1907), Olive (1907) 
and Kraenzlin (1907) made it out in the 
myxomycetes. 

The observations just referred to, and 
many others on plants in all groups, 
warrant the general application of 
Strasburger’s conclusion that a nuclear 
union is the characteristic feature of 
every sexual process. The few cases 
where the male cytoplasm seems more 
prominent than usual, as in the three 
conifers studied by Coker ( 1903), Coulter 
and Land (1905) and Nichols (1910), 
can not yet be said to have rendered it 
very probable that this cytoplasm plays 
a primary part as an inheritance carrier. 


Peer OLENGY 


A Quality Belonging to Characters Rather Than Individuals—Something More 
Than a Result of Inbreeding—Linkage or Coupling of Separate Factors in 
Heredity Explains Observed Prepotency, and the Difference Be- 

tween ‘‘Breeders of Breeders” and ‘‘Breeders of Performers.” 


Epwarp N. WENTWORTH 
Professor of Animal Breeding, Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kans. 


CCORDING to the opinion of 
leading live stock men, the chief 
essential to success in breeding 
is the possession of prepotent 

breeding animals (particularly sires). 
Very few of these men will attempt to 
explain what this prepotency is and 
fewer still can give more than an ex- 
tremely fragmentary idea. Yet the fact 
is self-evident to the student of pedigrees 
that there are marked differences among 
breeding animals, since only 3 to 5% 
of the breeding stock existing a few 
generations back is represented in the 
tables of ancestry of the present-day 
individuals. 

Just what factors are responsible for 
this condition? Without doubt, fashion 
and advertising play an important part 
in determining the blood lines that shall 
survive, but the breeder in final analysis 
is a business man demanding perform- 
ance, and as has been shown in numerous 
studies,’ there is actual difference in the 
breeding power of individuals. Daven- 
port in his “Principles of Breeding”’ 
sums up a distinction common among 
practical breeders when he points out 
“breeders of breeders’’ and “breeders 
of performers,’”’ or those that transmit 
performance through more than one 
generation and those that simply confer 
the good qualities upon their offspring. 

It has been customary in defining 
prepotency to state the manner in which 
the breeder thinks it occurs. According 
to popular idea, prepotency depends 
upon the presence of a “high percentage 


“Distribution of Prepotency,” 
Breeding,’’ Eugene Davenport. Pp. 551-567. 


Francis Galton. See ae 
‘“‘Prepotency of Different Plants,’’ W. W. Tracy. 


of blood”’ of some particular individual. 
The means by which prepotency is 
brought about is by a supposed narrow- 
ing of the bloodlines, either through 
inbreeding, linebreeding, or some form 
of pedigree selection. Prepotency is 
assumed to be the result of a cumulative 
effect of ancestry. In correspondence 
conducted by the writer a few years ago 
to obtain prevalent ideas on the nature 
of prepotency, the following communi- 
cation was received from Dean Eugene 
Davenport of the University of Illinois. 
It is of interest in that it very clearly 
expresses the popular idea on the 
subject. 

‘““Prepotency, of course, is a corollary 
of the law of ancestral heredity. That 
parent that has behind him the largest 
mass of back ancestry selected to the 
same characters, will, of course, be 
prepotent. If you take the series of 
fractions, 4, 144, %, etc., and divide 
them by 2, representing the contribution 
of the sire and dam, you will obtain 
the possibilities of each expressed in 
fractional form so far as prepotency is 
concerned. If, now, all the indi- 
viduals represented by these fractions 
have been selected to the same standard, 
then, of course, the sire himself backed 
by his ancestors will control one-half of 
the possibilities of the offspring, regard- 
less of what the female will be. Of 
course this same would be true for the 
female under like conditions. This, 
it seems to me, 7s the essence of pre- 
potency, and it 1s all there 1s of 1t.’’* 


Nature LVIII, 246-247. 


“Principles of 


Proc. Soc. Prom. Agr. Sci. 1900, pp. 57-59. ‘‘Result of Selecting Fluctuating Variations,’ F. M. 
Surface, Conf. Internationale Génétique 1911, pp. 221-256. 


2 The italics are mine. 


18 The Journal of Heredity 


While this idea is widely held by 
animal husbandmen, the man who has 
conducted genetic experiments and 
watched the segregation of individual 
factors cannot help but feel that the 
conception is manifestly outside of the 
facts. The behavior of hereditary char- 
acters as though controlled by unit 
factors in the germ plasm leaves no room 
for a cumulative effect of ancestry 
(unless the increased opportunities tc 
bring about homozygosis through selec- 
tion in hereditarily limited stock be 
thus considered). 


NATURE OF THE GERM PLASM. 


Even the parent himself has no effect 
on his progeny in an hereditary way, 
as inheritance does not really consist in 
the passing on of characters from one 
generation to the next. The similar 
characters of parent and progeny devel- 
op because both parent and progeny 
arise from qualitatively the same germ- 
plasm (as far as the particular characters 
are concerned). When one mixes lime 
chloride and sulphuric acid he will 
obtain lime sulphate and muriatic acid. 
These are the end products of the 
reaction. If he sets apart a portion of 
the lime chloride and sulphuric acid 
the first day and a few days later mixes 
them, he will get the same result. The 
results of the first day have no effect on 
the results of the later day. When the 
germ cell of the animal begins develop- 
ment it corresponds to the first chem- 
icals, the developed body to the end- 
product of the reaction. Characters 
that are alike in parent and offspring 
arise because they come from similar 
origin, but the body, an end-product of 
development, no more affects the germ 
cells that produce the progeny, than the 
end-products of the chemical reaction 
affected the reaction of the later day. 
This shows by analogy how far outside 
the facts of inheritance the conception 
of a cumulative ancestry lies. 

To indicate the principal difference 
between the prepotent and non-pre- 
potent sire, the roan Belgian referred 
to by the writer in a previous paper, that 
sired only red roan colts (256 in number) 

3’ There are two 
the roan pattern. 


from various colors of mares may be 
compared to another roan Belgian 
therein mentioned that produced about 
half roan colts and the other half grays, 
bays, browns, blacks and _ chestnuts. 
Obviously the first horse was the more 
prepotent of the two. He must have 
transmitted red roan in every germ cell. 
To do this, he must have been homo- 
zygous or pure for the dominant char- — 
acters of roan pattern and bay color; 
that is, he must have received both roan 
and bay from sire andfrom dam. While 
there is no way of exactly determining 
what was transmitted in the germ cell, 
the fact that both parents were bay 
(red) roans* and that only bay roan 
colts were produced would show that 
there was only one chance out of ap- 
proximately 18,062,500,000,000,000,000 
that the assumption is wrong. 

The second horse, on the other hand, 
was sired by a blue roan stallion out of 
a bay mare. This indicates at once 
that he cannot be homozygous for roan 
since he received it from only one 
parent, nor could he be pure for bay 
since it came only from the dam. Yet 
he sired about 50% of red roans and 
blue roans, a performance which some 
breeders might also consider prepotent. 


PREPOTENCY AND PURE BREEDING. 


This indicates the first essential of 
prepotency, homozygosis in a dominant 
character. Of course, the breeder be- 
lieves that prepotency is a property of 
the individual and not of the character. 
But in almost every instance the idea of 
prepotency is based on some superficial 
and striking character like color, and 
it is assumed that since this character 
appears with fair uniformity, the rest 
of the characters must appear also. As 
a matter of fact, it is highly improbable 
that there ever occurred the ideally 
prepotent animal described by _ the 
breeder; that is, one which is able to 
impress most of his characters upon his 
progeny in spite of the females to which 
he is mated. The livestock man reads 
with interest of that great line of 
Clydesdale sires from Darnley down 
through Topgallant, Sir Everard, the 


classes of red roans corresponding to bays and chestnuts, but each carrying 


Wentworth: 


long lived and redoubtable Baron’s 
Pride, the $47,500 Baron o’ Buchlyvie, 
and the sensational five-year-old sire, 
Dunure Footprint; each a son of the 
animal preceding and, with the exception 
of Topgallant, each a distinct step in 
advance of his progenitor, as far as 
siring prize winners is concerned. Here 
is an exceptionally prepotent line, 
because all but Topgallant were the 
leading sires of Scotland during their 
tenure in stud. Yet even these great 
horses begot a percentage of failures that 
is startlingly large, even though smaller 
than that of any other line of sires in 
any breed. Prepotency 1Ses NEVEL a 
property of the individual, but belongs 
to a certain few characters that are part 
of the hereditary makeup of the indi- 
vidual, and their condition as to homo- 
ZYgZosis OF heterozygosis is the entire 
determining factor. The degree by 
which one animal is more ‘‘strongly 
bred” for a character than another 
animal is this wide degree of purity or 
hybridity. 


EXISTS IN BOTH SEXES. 


Many breeders deny the existence of 
prepotency in the female, and consider 
it entirely a property of the male sex. 
This belief has come about as a result of 
two conditions. Since in all domestic 
breeds polygamy is practiced, rie FS 
obvious that a smaller number of males 
is required than females. This admits 
of a more stringent selection in one sex 
than in the other, and increases the 
chances of the male’s having both 
greater numbers of homozygous char- 
acters and also more desirable combina- 
tions of characters. Furthermore, in 
uniparous races, such as the horse and 
ox (the species in which the art of animal 
breeding has largely been developed), 
there is only one individual in a season 
that may be compared to a female, 
while numerous individuals occur that 
may resemble the male. Where there 
is much diversity among the females, 
the fact that only one out of the season’s 
progeny may show resemblance to any 
particular female, while numbers may 
partake of the characters borne by the 
sire, is bound to over-emphasize the 


Prepotency 19 


importance of the male as far as heredi- 
tary influence is concerned. 

Thus far the discussion has applied 
only to simple qualitative characters 
that depend on relatively few and easily 
recognizable factors. When one ap- 
proaches quantitative characters such 
as size, vigor, etc., from which domi- 
nance is probably absent, the problem 
becomes more complex. It seems very 
doubtful if the principle differs here, 
but the presence of larger numbers of 
factors or of factors for greater develop- 
ment must be assumed to take the place 
of the dominant factors already dis- 
cussed. At least the writer does not 
believe that there are two schemes of 
heredity involved in inheritance, and 
since one has been found to hold in the 
qualitative characters, and since the 
data assembled on quantitative char- 
acters seem to follow the same system 
as far as they have been investigated, 
it is no more than logical to make the 
preceding assumption. 

Another cause of prepotency in quan- 
titative characters may arise where the 
male bears one factor necessary to link 
up the factors in the female to produce 
the desired character. Thus, in the 
ordinary white mouse, the base for 
pigment production, a factor denoted by 
C. is lacking. In one variety of 
Japanese waltzing mouse, white with 
faint yellow marks, Darbishire found the 
factors for agouti, black and chocolate 
missing and the yellow diminished 
quantitatively. Yet the progeny of 
the cross were agouti, because the 
Japanese variety supplied the color 
base which the white mice lacked. 
While the prepotent animal usually 
breeds true for its character, this 
extreme case is interesting because it 
shows how one individual may supply 
the one factor necessary to a relatively 
uniform somatic expression. Breed his- 
tory records many prepotent sires that 
bred better than themselves. Perhaps 
the trotter George Wilkes and the 
Shorthorn Champion of England would 
fall in this class. 


LINKAGE OF CHARACTERS. 


Emphasis has been laid on the usual 
custom of declaring prepotency on the 


20 The Journal 


basis of some striking superficial char- 
acter. Attention was directed to the 
fact that it is probable in the main that 
this character is transmitted alone and 
independently of other characters, yet 
such need not by any means be the case, 
since the phenomenon of linkage and 
coupling assures us of a mechanism 
whereby totally unrelated characters 
physiologically may be part of one 
hereditary complex. Thus T. H. Mor- 
gan and his associates have demon- 
strated in the pomace-fly, Drosophila, 
the tendency of miniature wings, yellow 
body, and white eyes to be grouped 
together, in segregating out of crosses 
with the normal fly that has the gray 
body, red eyes, and long wings. Many 
other combinations of similarly linked 
characters have also appeared in their 
work, some linked to sex as the char- 
acters just mentioned, and some unin- 
fluenced by the sex determining factor. 
They have interpreted these results 
on the basis of the factors in the germ 
cells that produce these characters 
somatically, having practically a com- 
mon locus (probably a chromosome). 
If such be the case in the domestic 
mammals, and there is no more reason 


of Heredity 


for doubting it with them than with 
Drosophila, there is really a genetic 
foundation for the belief of the breeder 
that the superficial characters on which 
the degree of prepotency is determined 
also indicate the transmission of other 
characters, at least characters that find 
their origin at the same germ locus 
(chromosome). 

As a result of this, one can see very 
clearly that the distinction between the 
“breeder of breeders”’ and the “breeder 
of performers” is almost entirely a 
question of character linkage, the 
“breeder of performers’’ ending his 
function when he has contributed a 
number of characters to his progeny, 
so distributed among different heredi- 
tary complexes that the segregations in 
germ cell formation separate the neces- 
sary interacting factors. The “breeder 
of breeders’’ must bear his factors that 
interact to produce performers in one 
hereditary complex only. The ‘‘ breeder 
of performers” possibly has similar 
factors to the “breeder of breeders,”’ 
but they are located in two or more 
complexes, thus permitting segregation 
and separation. 


LITERATURE CITED. 


DaRBIsHIRE, A. D.—‘‘Note on the Results of Crossing Japanese Waltzing Mice with European 


Albino Races.”’ 


Biometrika II, pp. 101, 165 and 2825, L0L, pike 


Davenport, E.—‘‘Principles of Breeding.”’ Ginn & Co., 1907. 
MorGan, T. H.—'‘Mechanism of Heredity as Indicated by the Inheritance of Linked Charac- 


ters." Pop. Sci. Monthly, Jan., 


1914. Pp. 1-16. 


WENTWortH, E. N.—‘Color Inheritance in the Horse.” 
bungslehre, 1913. Bd. 11, Heft 1 u. 2, p. 14. 


Zeit. f. ind. Abstammungs- und Verer- 


Origin of Shetland Ponies 


“The Making of the Shetland Pony”’ 


is discussed by J. Cossar Ewart as an 


appendix to ‘‘The Shetland Pony” by Charles and Anne Douglas (Edinburgh and 


London: W. Blackwood and Sons, 


1913). 


He comes to the conclusion that 


“Shetland ponies are mainly descended from the ‘small and fleet’ race yoked to the 


chariots of the Caledonians at the battle of Mons Graupius. 
blend of 


again, was probably to begin with a 


This ancient race, 
the slender-limbed, Arab-like ponies 


of the Swiss lake-dwellers, and of a thick-set race of the elephant-bed [a fossil deposit 


near Brighton] type.”’ 


Their small size he explains as follows: “If Shetland ponies 


have not sprung from a small wild pigmy race, it may be safely asserted that their 
small size is mainly due to isolation in small areas where they were forced to shift for 
themselves under, as a rule, extremely unfavourable conditions.”’ 


DivE-orock GENETICS 


Review of the Work in Experimental Animal Breeding, Now Under Way at the 
Various Agricultural Experiment Stations in the United States. 


THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE ON ANIMAL BREEDING 


REEDING domesticated ani- 
mals for research in genetics 
is restricted by the great expense 
it involves, the long generations, 

and the small number of individuals pro- 
duced at a generation, not to mention 
other difficulties. Genetists have there- 
fore used plants for experiment, wher- 
ever it appeared that a problem could 
be solved equally well in either medium. 
Furthermore, a good many lines of 
experimental animal breeding do not 
lend themselves to any immediate end 
of economic importance. For these 
reasons, the agricultural experiment 
stations in the United States have gone 
into this line of research only to a 
limited extent, and some of the work 
they have done is little known as com- 
pared with the purely experimental and 
more fully reported investigations made 
at universities and other institutions. 

In order that the contribution which 
the experiment stations are making to 
genetics may be appreciated, the Re- 
search Committee on Animal Breeding 
of the American Genetic Association 
presents the following report, reviewing 
part of their work. No doubt it will be 
found that some important lines of 
investigation have been omitted; and to 
save space the committee has ignored 
many breeding projects, some of them 
on a large scale, which have for their 
purpose the improvement of a breed 
by the same method used by farmers 
and ranchmen, and which are likely to 
throw little, if any, new light on the 
laws of heredity. Experiments of this 
nature often take up most of the atten- 
tion of genetists who work with live-stock 
at the experiment stations, and their 
economic importance is very great, but 
a review of them was thought to be of 
little interest in this Journal. 

Probably no station has made more 


contributions to the theory of animal 
breeding than has that of Maine, whose 
department of biology, organized in 
1907, is directed by Raymond Pearl, 
and whose staff includes 10 associates 
and assistants and a number of graduate 
students. To date 72 papers have 
appeared from this laboratory, most of 
them dealing with some phase of 
genetics. Among the problems now 
under investigation is the tmportant 
one of the inheritance of fecundity in 
poultry, to which some notable contri- 


butions have already been made. ‘Two 
definite and clear-cut results have 
already come to light. These are: 


“Birst: that the record of egg pro- 
duction or fecundity of a hen is not of 
itself a criterion of any value whatsoever 
from which to predict the probable egg 
production of her female progeny. An 
analysis of the records of production of 
large numbers of birds shows beyond 
any possibility of doubt that, in general, 
there is no correlation between the egg 
production of individuals and either 
their ancestors or their progeny. 

“Second: that, notwithstanding the 
fact just mentioned, fecundity is, in 
some manner or other, inherited in the 
domestic fowl. This must clearly be so, 
to mention but a single reason, because 
it has been possible to isolate and 
propagate from a mixed flock ‘pedigree 
lines’ or strains of birds which breed 
true, generation after generation, to 
definite degrees of fecundity.”’ 

This interesting conclusion was 
reached after the failure of a long-con- 
tinued experiment to increase the egg- 
production of hens by simple “mass 
selection.”” As to the real solution, 
Pearl thinks the capacity for high egg 
production is inherited through the sire 
rather than the dam, experiments having 
shown that high egg producing hens 

21 


22 The journal 


and low ones produced daughters having 
the same grade of egg productivity, 
when mated to the same cock. If this 
be the true result, it is obvious that 
poultrymen should seek above all to 
secure cocks from strains noted for their 
high egg records and obtain hens from 
these cocks for high egg production. 
Pearl further attributes the fecundity of 
the breeds of fowl studied by him to 
three distinct Mendelian factors, one 
of which is sex-linked. The study of 
sex-linked characters—that is char- 
acters which are transmitted through 
the male to half of his grandsons, or 
through the female to her sons, etc., 
is being carried on at the station along 
many lines. 


INBREEDING. 


Considerable theoretical contributions 
to the subject of inbreeding have been 
made from this station, one of them 
being a mathematical method of measur- 
ing the intensity of inbreeding. The 
practical breeder has been content to 
say, in measuring the amount of in- 
breeding of a descendant of the Short- 
horn bull Ringmaster, let us suppose, 
that a certain calf was “‘seven-eighths 
Ringmaster blood.’ This statement, 
however, does not give any definite 
idea of the pedigree of the calf; European 
zootechnists therefore evolved the count 
of so-called ‘free generations’’ which is 
a good practical measurement and easily 
understood. If, for example, Ring- 
master appeared three generations back 
in the calf’s male line, and two genera- 
tions back in the line through the dam, 
there are two free generations on the 
male side and one on the female; adding 
these together, the calf is said to have 
three free generations, in respect to 
Ringmaster. It has been found, to 
carry the matter a step further, that 
most winning English racehorses during 
the last half century have had five free 
generations; prior to that, four free 
generations was the rule. When there 
are no free generations, Thoroughbreds 
are likely to be deficient in vigor (a 
result commonly attributed to high 
inbreeding), when there are more than 
five free generations, they fail because 
their speed (the product largely of 


of Heredity 


inbreeding) has been swamped by out- 
crossing, or lost by reversion. 

Pearl proposes to measure the degree 
of inbreeding of any individual alge- 
braically, by calculating the possible 
number of ancestors in previous genera- 
tions and comparing this number with 
the number actually found in the 
animal’s pedigree. By the use of some 
such accurate measurement as _ this 
(which is described and illustrated in 
bulletins 215 and 218 of the Maine 
station) a further study of inbreeding 
will be much more practicable, and 
should throw light on one of the most 
fundamental and debated problems of 
practical genetics. 

That a certain amount of inbreeding 
is advantageous in the maintenance of 
blooded stock is now generally admitted; 
that an excessive amount is dangerous 
is also pretty widely believed. Pearl, 
like a great many other genetists, thinks 
the question of degree, in itself, is of 
secondary importance, the real question 
being the quality of the animals inbred. 
The Maine station has issued the follow- 
ing counsel to breeders: 

“That a mating of such close relatives 
[as brother and sister or parent and 
offspring| will surely result in disaster 
is one of the carefully nursed super- 
stitions of breeding, which has often 
been exploded but will doubtless always 
be with us. It may be said that all the 
evidence which may be gleaned from 
the experience of stock breeders indicates 
that the results which follow inbreeding 
depend entirely on the nature of the 
individuals bred. If one inbreeds weak 
animals, lacking in constitutional vigor, 
and carrying the determinants of unde- 
sirable qualities in their germ cells, the 
offspring resulting from such a mating 
will undoubtedly be more nearly worth- 
less than their parents. If, on the 
other hand, one inbreeds in the same 
way strong and vigorous animals, high 
in vitality and carrying the germinal 
determiners of desirable qualities, there 
may be expected a corresponding in- 
tensification of these qualities in the 
offspring. The time has come when a 
vigorous protest should be made against 
the indiscriminating condemnation of 
inbreeding. It should be clearly recog- 


Live-Stock Genetics 


SIRE OF A NEW BREED 


Pure-bred fat-rumped ram from Siberia, owned by the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment 
Station, and expected to aid in the production of a type of sheep that will be able to with- 


stand the severe winters of that state successfully. 


The Fatrump breeds of Siberia are 


noted for their hardiness: when the food supply is entirely cut off by snow, they are able to 


subsist for some time on the fat stored in the rump. 
acteristic can be retained in the hybrids bred in the United States. 


nized that if the experience of stock- 
breeders extending throughout the 
world, and as far back as trustworthy 
data are available, means anything at 
all it plainly indicates that some degree 
of inbreeding is essential to the attain- 
ment of the highest degree of success 
in the breeding of animals, poultry 
forming no exception to this rule.””* 


STUDIES OF CATTLE. 


At the Massachusetts station an 
attempt is being made to work out a 
comprehensive correlation between 
Dairy Form of cattle (as called for 


It is hoped that this valuable char- 
(Fig. 11.) 


in the show ring, and in text books) and 
butter-fat and milk production. This 
work is necessarily statistical and 1n- 
cludes complete measurements of a 
large number of cows on which produc- 
tion records have been maintained for 
three ot more years. The object is 
twofold: to seek a clue to the mode of 
inheritance of milk and butter-fat 
production in dairy cattle, and to 
determine whether the present standards 
of judging dairy cattle are really based 


on sound genetic knowledge. Studies 
in the inheritance of coat color in 
mammals are also under way, and 


furnish material for an incidental inves- 


1 “Of course,’’ Pearl notes, ‘Gf the term inbreeding makes too violent a strain upon anyone’s 


intellectual, moral or merely human prejudices, there is no objection to his using for the practice 


the term line-breeding, or some other even milde 


r designation.” 


24 The Journal 


tigation of the effect of inbreeding on 
fertility. 

At the Massachusetts station the 
poultry department is using both fowls 
and ducks in an endeavor to get as much 
genetic information as_ possible, the 
principal point under consideration 
being the inheritance of fecundity. An 
investigation is also being carried out on 
the inheritance of hatching power of 
eggs, of comb form, color and color 
patterns, shank feathering and rate of 
growth. Some of the latter researches 
parallel those that have been made by 
Bateson, Davenport and other investi- 
gators, the Massachusetts station desir- 
ing to confirm or apply their results, and 
to find satisfactory interpretations for 
the new facts observed. 

Influence of management and feeding 
on vigor of germ in hen’s eggs has been 
investigated in West V irginia. The 
data already in hand indicate that chicks 
are less vigorous when hatched from 
eggs laid by hens which have been 
laying heavily for a long time. 

A study of inheritance-in the honey 
bee has been pursued in Texas for 
several years. 

The Porto Rico station is improving 
native cattle by crosses with zebu 
hybrids brought from Texas. 

As a result of hybridizing wild and 
tame cavies for past six years, the 
Illinois station has reached some inter- 
esting conclusions which have just been 
published by the Carnegie Institution 
of Washington? (publication no. 205). 
The investigators are convinced that the 
Mendelian mode of inheritance prevails 
for individual characters in species 
crosses in mammals in the same Way as 
in variety crosses, contrary to what has 
sometimes been asserted. Many differ- 
ent characters have been studied and 
their mode of inheritance is reported in 
this paper. Fertility in the male hy- 
brids seems to be a very complex 
character which segregates out in the 
Mendelian fashion. At present work 
of selection and hybridization is under 
way with mice and other small mammals. 
There has been room for plenty of more 
practical work, for over a million cows 


of Heredity 


are kept for dairy purposes in Illinois, 
of which not more than 2% are purebred. 
The station has induced many breeders 
to add purebred bulls to their herds and 
is endeavoring to get as many COWS as 
possible accurately tested, although at 
present only a fraction of 1% of the total 
number can show accurate records of 
production, kept either officially or 
privately. “It should be considered 
little less than a crime to use a scrub 
bull, or one whose dam has not produced 
300 Ibs. of butter fat in 365 days,” the 
breeders are told, and they are gradually 
taking the advice to heart. 


TO PRODUCE BROWN EGGS 


By crossing suitable breeds, the 
Maryland station has undertaken to 
produce a breed of general utility fowl 
that will lay a white shelled ege. The 
superior market value of the white egg 
over that with a brown shell is well 
known; and although the preference 
seems to be wholly irrational, breeders 
must be prepared to meet the situation. 
Unfortunately the breeds that lay white 
eggs are, as a rule, small and ill adapted 
for marketing. It should be possible 
to transfer the capacity to produce white 
shelled eggs (which seems to be a 
Mendelian character) to a breed that 
will also make good ‘‘broilers.” It is 
this task which the Maryland station 
has undertaken. 

Heredity in sheep is being studied in 
New Hampshire, observations on the 
mode of inheritance in horns having 
already been published. In cattle, the 
polled condition seems to be a regular 
Mendelian dominant except that, ac- 
cording to Spillman, the dominance is 
not entirely complete in male hetero- 
zygotes. In sheep, the inheritance of 
horns does not follow the same rules, 
although it is thought by many students 
to follow an equally simple system. 
The New Hampshire station has worked 
principally with Merinos, and in order 
to interpret its data has postulated two 
“determiners” in the germ cell, the 
behavior of which differs in each sex, 
and has also postulated the presence of 
hypothetical ‘inhibitors,’ which further 


> Most of the actual breeding, results of which are reported in this publication, was done at 


the Bussey Institution, Forest Hills, Mass. 


Live-Stock Genetics 2 


complicate the explanation of its find- 
ings. 

Crossing Tunisian sheep with native 
breeds, and with Shropshires, Oxfords, 
Hampshires and Rambouillets, has been 
under way for several years at the 
Arizona station. There are now more 
than 150 rams bred by the station, 
from one-half to one-eighth Tunis, in 
use in Arizona, which means that about 
10,000 lambs containing Tunis blood 
are produced each year. They are not 
only particularly hardy and vigorous, 
but have proved of great value in eradi- 
cating Johnson grass (Andropogon hale- 
pensis) along the irrigating ditches. 


MULE BREEDING. 


The breeding of mules is being studied 
in Mississippi from almost every possible 
aspect. Influence of the type, size and 
quality of sire and dam respectively, on 
offspring are being watched, the fertility 
of the mule is being investigated in a 
search for that apparently more or less 
mythical ‘fertile mule’’ which is re- 
ported in live-stock publications at 
constant intervals, along with the equal- 
ly mysterious “‘sheep-goat hybrid”’ for 
which every breeder has _ probably 
sought with interest at some time in his 
experience. Finally, the relative quali- 
ties of mules and hinnies are tested and 
measured. 

The supposed existence of ‘‘racial 
poisons”’ is being submitted to rigorous 
scientific test in Wisconsin. It has 
long been admitted that certain poisons 
—as well as unfavorable conditions—to 
which a mother is exposed during preg- 
nancy might injure the offspring, but 
there has been more doubt as to the 
effect of similar factors on the father, 
although it has been widely believed 
that alcohol and lead poisoning might 
influence the reproductive capacity of 
the male. After treating male rabbits 
with lead and alcohol, Leon J. Cole has 
compared their offspring with those of 
normal males. ‘‘What appear to be 
decisive results have already been ob- 
tained. In the case of alcoholic poison- 
ing of the male the most marked result 
has been a lessening of his efficiency as a 
sire, the alcohol apparently having had 
some effect on the vitality of his sperma- 


on 


tozoa. The ‘leaded’ males, on the 
other hand, have produced as many or 
more offspring than the normal fathers, 
but their young have averaged smaller 
in size and are of lowered vitality, so 
that larger numbers of them die off 
at an early age than is the case with 
those from untreated fathers.’’ Such 
results, like the earlier ones of Stockard 
with guinea pigs, must not be inter- 
preted as meaning that exactly the 
same thing occurs in man, but strong 
presumption is at least raised as to the 
actual existence of ‘racial poisons,”’ 
which the eugenist must investigate 
directly in his human material. 

The inheritance of various characters 
is being pursued exhaustively in pigeons, 
particularly with a view to working out 
the heredity of the small color differences 
which are so important to fanciers; the 
physiology of reproduction is also being 
studied. Tri-coat color in guinea-pigs, 
one of the favorite subjects for genetic 
analysis, has been taken up, while the 
effects of inbreeding are being noted in 
fowls, and the inheritance of color in 
Rhode Island Reds is made the partic- 
ular subject of investigation. Inherit- 
ance of certain peculiarities in the 
reactions of rats to definite rations is 
being investigated, and finally, the 
inheritance of unit characters in cattle 
has been attacked in a project that will 
require many years for completion. 
Two very distinct breeds, the Jersey and 
the Angus, are being cross-bred, and in 
addition to merely superficial points, 
the behavior of such hereditary char- 
acters as total milk production, per- 
centage of fat, size and shape of oil 
globules, viscosity and other properties 
of fat, rate of growth and form of 
animal’s body are being watched. 

The Delaware station has for six 
years been studying the effect of close 
breeding in pigs, and has now begun the 
same work with Guernsey cattle. As 
results in investigation of this subject 
are slow in appearing, the station can 
not yet publish any conclusions. 


GRADING UP THE SCRUBS. 

The grading up of a flock of scrub 
fowls is being carried on in a systematic 
way at the North Dakota station, by the 


26 The Journal 


of Heredity 


PURE-BRED RAMBOUILLET EWE 


The Rambouillet is a French improvement of the Spanish Merino, in which fineness of wool has 
been particularly developed but in which mutton quality has also received careful con- 


sideration. 


The breed is comparatively resistant to parasites, is long-lived, can travel a 
long distance for feed and water, and instinctively herds closely. 


It is hoped that these 


valuable characteristics can be retained in the cross with the Siberian fat-rump, and 


greater hardiness gained. 


use of Plymouth Rock males. Such a 
method of improving live stock has 
long been in use among cattle breeders, 
but the precise results to be expected 
when it is followed by poultry breeders 
are not so well known. The experiment 
is planned to yield information on this 
point. A carefully recorded experiment 
in grading up western range Merino 
sheep is also on foot. 

How the white belt characteristic of 
Hampshire swine is inherited is being 
studied by the Iowa station, by cross 
and pure breedings. The slow work of 
studying heredity in cattle was taken up 
eight years ago, when a number of black 
polled Galloway females were bred to a 
white, horned, Shorthorn male. A con- 
siderable number of F, animals have 


1 The ewe here shown is owned by the South Dakota Agricultural 
Experiment Station, and is the dam of the lamb shown in the following cut. 


(Fig. 12.) 


been obtained and the study of inherit- 
ance of coat color and of the polled 
condition is well under way. An inves- 
tigation of the significance of scurs in 
cattle is about to start. 

The Ohio station is slowly accumu- 
lating data which will eventually provide 
material for analysis. The principal 
study in hand is that of the respective 
influence of sire and dam upon wool 
production, both in the grease and 
scoured, of the progeny; also upon the 
rate of gain and size of progeny. Indi- 
vidual laying records of Leghorn hens 
and their progeny are being kept and 
some cross-breeding in poultry done. 
The Department of Dairy Husbandry is 
just starting a study of the effects of 
long-continued inbreeding of dairy cattle 


Live-Stock Genetics 2 


be | 


FAT-RUMP RAMBOUILLET LAMB 


The first product of the attempt at the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station to breed 


a valuable type of sheep that will flourish in deep snow. 


This lamb was two and one-half 


months old when photographed. The tail is somewhat reduced in size from that of the 
maternal (Rambouillet) stock, and it is hoped to get rid of it altogether, and substitute a 


development of fat as in the paternal stock. 


on the form, size, vigor, production, etc., 
using Jerseys and Holstein-Friesians. 

Creation of new breeds of sheep for 
the semi-arid conditions of the north- 
west has been undertaken by the South 
Dakota station, with the fat-rump sheep 
which N. E. Hansen brought back from 
Turkestan last summer. They will be 
crossed principally with the Down 
breeds. ‘‘We have the first crossbred 
lamb of this breed,’’ Director James W. 
Wilson reports, ‘“‘and I do not believe 
there is another sheep in the United 
States exactly like it. I intend to 
eliminate the tails in the crossbreeds 
and increase the development of the 
rumps so that the new breeds will be 
able to withstand the deep snows that 
we get frequently in the winter time on 
the range, when sheep can not get 


(Fig. 13.) 


anything to eat. At this time they will 
live on the fat stored up in their rumps. 
These sheep came from the home of the 
camel and are noted for their endurance 
of hardships.’’ Observations are also 
being made on the relation of feed and 
care of parents to the condition of 
offspring. 


A NEW BREED OF FOWLS 


Rather striking success has been 
produced in the Rhode Island station’s 
study of inheritance in poultry. ‘The 
aim of this study has been to produce 
‘barring’ as aresult of crossing pure-bred 
black with pure-bred white fowls; and 
then to ascertain whether the manites- 
tation of barring can be accounted for 
by any known methods of inheritance.” 
A barred race has actually been pro- 


bo 
Co 


The Journal of Heredity 


A PHENOMENAL EGG PRODUCER 


Queen Utana, a Single Comb White Leghorn hen bred ana owned by the Utah Agricultural 


Experiment Station. 
never been equaled. 
itance of egg production. (Fig. 14.) 
duced; it is evident, then, that an unsus- 
pected factor for barring is carried 
latent in the germinal constitution of 
White Leghorns, the white parent used 
in the experiment. 

Inheritance of egg weight is also being 
tested, the data appearing to show that 
any individual fowl lays eggs which 
vary only slightly from a certain average 
weight. Comparison with the record 
of the mother indicates that the weight 
of an egg is a character which is actually 
transmitted from one generation to 
another; the observers are now trying 
to find out how. 

A parallel to the classic selection ex- 


In five years she laid 816 eggs, a record which her owner thinks has 
She is one of a flock in which the Utah station is studying the inher- 


periment of W. E. Castle on hooded rats 
is under way at the Rhode Island 
station with rabbits, in which material 
an attempt is being made to influence, 
by selection, what is known as the 
‘English pattern.’’ Selection is made 
of both plus and minus variations in 
each generation, in order to discover 
whether selection produces a cumulative 
effect, and can modify a character, 
which is recognized as a Mendelian 
unit. Should the experiment produce 
that result, it will add confirmation to 
the claim of Castle and others, that 
so-called unit characters are not the 
immutable things that they have some- 


Live-Stock Genetics 


times been supposed to be, but that 
they are capable, within certain limits, 
of actual change by selection.’ 

The inheritance of egg production 1s 
a subject for study in New Jersey, 
where an attempt is being made on an 
adequate scale to breed a strain of fowls 
that will vindicate the genetist’s claim 
that he can control this character. In 
this connection the question of close 
inbreeding is being studied. At present, 
the experiment is being run on two lines, 
one dealing with birds of high capacity 
and the other with low producers. It 
is by interbreeding these two lines that 
light is sought on the problems of hered- 
ity. General studies of inheritance 
have also been undertaken by the cross- 
ing of White Leghorns and Black 


i 1 


29 


= 


of animal husbandry, is just starting 
an experiment to determine the relation 
of ancestry to prepotency. It is hoped 
that six years of experimental breeding 


will throw some light on the very 
important practical question of pre- 
potency, about which at present the 


average breeder has usually vague and 
often incorrect ideas. The object of 
the study will be to measure the relation 
of cumulative effect of ancestry to 
character transmission in color, weight 
and size of bone; and to observe the 
type of inheritance of (a) preorbital 
brachycephalic face, (b) number of 
nipples, (c) fertility, (d) meat type as 
related to sex. 

The department of zoology of the 
Kansas station is working with more 


A 
ca eaatin HP 
Heed, Mh, 
A A 


QUEEN UTANA AND HER PRODUCE 


In the first year of her test, she laid 195 eggs, in the second year 193, third year 138, fourth 
year 161, fifth year 128; total production in five years 816 eggs. The Utah station believes 
tests of egg production which extend only over a year or two are likely to furnish misleading 
results, and is accordingly testing each hen as long as practicable. So far these tests have 
failed to confirm the belief that the inheritance of the egg-laying character is Mendelian 
in nature. (Fig. 15.) 


Langshans, interesting facts about the 
source of barred pattern and the inher- 
itance of black pigment having already 
come to light. 

Coat color in horses has been exten- 
sively studied at the Kentucky station, 
a report of results appearing recently in 
the JOURNAL OF HEREDITY, under the 
name of W.S. Anderson. The breeding 
of dairy cows from a scientific point of 
view is also under way. 


PREPOTENCY. 


The Kansas station, in its department 


technical subjects, one of which is the 
breeding of grasshoppers to determine 
the laws of inheritance in them. This 
work, Robert K. Nabours writes, “‘shows 
clearly the Mendelian type of inher- 
itance, and the essential result of these 
experiments has been the extension of 
this principle to a considerable number 
of types” of a group of insects that is 
very low in the evolutionary scale. An 
attempt is now being made to find 
whether there is some correlation be- 
tween the hereditary behavior of these 


3 On the other hand, several experimenters have shown that these results can be fully acc punted 


for on the hypothesis of multiple factors. 


If this explanation is accepted, it means that the 


supposed unit character, which was modified by selection, is not an ultimate and indivisible 
unit at all, but an aggregate of a number of smaller units, which usually hang together, but may 


split up in certain crosses. 


30 The Journal of Heredity 


grasshoppers, and the chromosome com- 
plex of their germ-cells. 

The crosses of Zebu with native cattle 
have been studied from a genetic point 
of view by this department, and a coop- 
erative experiment in the inheritance 
behavior of crosses of Karakul and 
Lincoln sheep has been started. 

From the Utah station, Director E. D. 
Ball writes: 

“By breeding fowls, we are attempt- 
ing to determine the possibility of 
improvement of the laying qualities of 
hens by continuous selection. In order 
to accomplish this it was considered 
necessary first to establish what the 
original laying capacity of an unselected 
flock of hens really was, as study of all 
of the records available did not seem to 
throw very much light on this question. 
Most of the records have been based 
entirely on the first year production, 
and the first year production as is shown 
in our Bulletin 135, appears to be a very 
poor indication of the laying capacity of 
a given individual or of a given strain of 
fowls. Therefore, the first object sought 
was to keep a sufficient number of 
flocks of unselected fowls under as near 
as possible normal conditions, to deter- 
mine through a series of years what 
production could be normally expected 
from a flock and what the range of 
variation due to seasonal influences, 
individual differences, etc., really was. 
Bulletin 135 contains a summary of this 
work to date. It will be continued for 
some time in order to get still more 
accurate data and especially to deter- 
mine the actual longevity and laying 
period of the White Leghorn hen. 

PERIODICAL EGG RECORDS. 

“This year’s records, which are not 
included in this bulletin, are strikingly 
confirmatory of the general results. 
The records this year under identical 
care and attention of last year have 
fallen almost to the poor record of 1911, 
while every indication up to date is that 
next year’s record will again be a good 
one, more forcibly illustrating the 
periodicity in production. We have in 
manuscript at the present time a 
detailed study of the winter egg pro- 
duction of these same flocks of hens in 


an attempt to determine whether there 
is any possibility of discovering a 
Mendelian factor, as is claimed by the 
Maine Station. We have been unable 
to find any Mendelism in the inheritance 
of this characteristic. Taking the 
records of hens from three to seven 
years and comparing them, we find that 
the individual fluctuates up and down 
in the same way that the flocks do, and 
that our winter egg production is even 
more variable than our total, that entire 
flocks have produced as low as 15 to 17 
eggs in the first winter and from 35 to 40 
the second year. According to Dr. 
Pearl’s conclusion, it would seem that 
they must have acquired the high laying 
unit the second year. A third portion 
of this bulletin will take up the possi- 
bilities of improvement by selection,— 
it is, of course, only a preliminary study 
as it will be necessary to carry on the 
work many years to obviate seasonal 
variations and to select strains. We 
have, however, been able materially to 
modify productions by strain selection 
based on three years or more of produc- 
tion, and tested by an equal amount of 
production in the offspring.”’ 

A series of experiments of far-reaching 
importance, which should attract the 
attention of eugenists as well as live- 
stock breeders, is under way at Missouri. 
‘The influence of the age of the parents 
upon the offspring is at the present time 
largely a matter of opinion. A careful 
study is being made of the ultimate 
effect of mating young animals con- 
tinuously. It is proposed to determine 
first the effect upon the immediate 
offspring; second the effect upon the 
mother; third the effect, if any, upon 
the race. Some interesting results have 
already been secured, particularly upon 
the effect of early mating upon the 
mother and immediate offspring. aes 
most important positive result is ap- 
parently the stunting effect on the young 
mother. Careful measurements indi- 
cate that early pregnancy interferes 
with the rate of growth and the ultimate 
development of the maternal parent.” 
Several hundred animals are included in 
this experiment to date. 

Sex-linked characters are being traced 
in poultry, where they have been found 


Live-Stock Genetics 31 


particularly abundant in plumage pat- 
tern. The spangled pattern of the 
Silver Spangled Hamburg, for instance, 
is found to be sex-linked but, curiously 
enough, it is not transmitted as a unit 
for the entire body, the tail seeming to 
follow a scheme of distribution of its 
own; for in all reciprocal crosses, the 
tails of the F; birds are solid black. A 
correlation between the hen feathering 
characteristic of male Sebright bantams, 
and diminished fertility, is being sought 
by a series of bantam crosses. 

Heredity scores another victory in its 
popular contest with environment, as 
the result of nutrition tests on Cows. 


“The development of dairy heifers on 
different planes of nutrition, which has 
been under investigation for the past 
seven years, has resulted in some 
interesting facts. The results indicate 
that the method of feeding can influence 
the size, age of maturity and conforma- 
tion of the dairy cow to some extent. 
The milk secreting function, however, 
does not seem to be influenced to any 
marked degree, if at all, by any ordinary 
variation in treatment. The milking 
function is inherited and cannot be 
influenced to any great extent by the 
ration the animal receives when young.” 


Eugenics Congress Postponed 


The executive committee of the Seco 


sent out the following notice: 


nd International Eugenics Congress has 


“On account of the situation in Europe and America created by the Great War, 
the Executive Committee for the Second Eugenics Congress has regretfully decided 
that it will be impossible to hold the proposed Congress in September, 1915. The 


existing organization will be maintained, pending the reestablishment of settled 
conditions, when the Committee will determine upon a new date. 

“The Executive Committee asks for the continued interest of those who have 
consented to serve as members of the several committees and as officers of the 


proposed Congress.” 


The Determination of Sex 


Leonard Doncaster of Cambridge University contributes to Nature (October 1, 


1914) a note on his breeding experiments with the gall-fly. 


It is well known that 


many Cynipid gall-flies have two generations in the year, one generation of par- 


thenogenetic females and a second generation of males and sexual females. 


He has 


previously shown that any individual parthenogenetic female has either only male 
or only female offspring, and that the eggs of the male-producers undergo maturation 


of a different type from those of the female-producers. 
that the difference depended on the existen 
finds this a mistake and decides that the 

and female-producing females is derived from the sexual female parent.” 


He suggested the possibility 
ce of two kinds of spermatozoa, but now 
“difference between the male-producing 
This type 


of sex-determination has not previously been known in the Hymenoptera, but the 
examination of over 9,000 flies bred make the experimenter certain “that nearly, if 
not quite, all the grandchildren of any sexual female are of one sex, and that of the 
sexual females, those which have male or female grandchildren are about equally 


numerous.” 


FEEBLEMINDEDNESS 


A Ser‘ous Problem to Eugenists—Two-thirds Due to Heredity—Many Grades of 
Arrested Development, Shading Imperceptibly Into Normal 
Population—Manner of Inheritance. 


A REVIEW BY THE EDITOR. 


O THE eugenist, no problem is 
more immediate and_ serious 
than that of feeblemindedness. 
Ever since eugenics became a 

recognized science, its followers have de- 
voted to feeblemindedness what many 
have thought was an altogether dispro- 
portionate amount of time. Withadded 
knowledge, the problem has increased 
rather then decreased in complexity and 
urgency. It is still far from being 
settled, but the past year has seen 
studies which do much to dispel the fog; 
and among these the most noteworthy 
by far is the work’ of Dr. H. H. Goddard, 
director of the research laboratory of 
the Training School at Vineland, New 
Jersey, for feebleminded boys and girls. 
As a result of five years of research, Dr: 
Goddard is able to present detailed 
pedigrees of 327 children in the institu- 
tion, nearly all of them representing at 
least three generations. They are suffi- 
ciently complete, it appears, to furnish 
material from which anyone who cares 
to investigate can draw his own con- 
clusions. 

Feeblemindedness has been defined as 
‘a state of mental defect existing from 
birth or from an early age and due to 
incomplete or abnormal development in 


‘ 


consequence of which the person af- 
fected is incapable of performing his 
duties as a member of society in the 


position of life to which he is born.”’ It 
is, in other words, merely a state of 
arrested mental development (with some 
physical abnormalities in the lower 
grades), and is thus easily distinguished 
from insanity, which is a disordered 


rather than an arrested development of 
the mind. The feebleminded are for 
convenience classed as idiots, imbeciles 
or morons, according to the point at 
which their development was arrested, 
the idiot being one whose mental age is 
two years or less, as measured by such 
a test as the Binet scale. An imbecile 
may have a development of from three 
to seven years, mentally, while the 
term “‘moron’’ in the United States 
designates one whose mental age is 
from eight to twelve years. As a fact, 
the moron class shades off imperceptibly 
into the normal bulk of society. 


DEFECTIVES NUMEROUS. 


The amount of feeblemindedness in 
the community is much larger than 
anyone suspects who has not investi- 
gated conditions. In the United States 
Goddard thinks there are between 
300,000 and 400,000 feebleminded per- 
sons, but the distribution is very irreg- 
ular; in some communities few are to 
be found, while in the state of New York 
alone the number has been placed as 
high as 30,000. These figures refer 
only to the feebleminded who can 
actually be distinguished as such—the 
‘patent’? individuals. The number of 
“latent” individuals, those not actually 
feebleminded themselves but carriers of 
the defect in their germ-plasm and 
capable of passing it on to their descend- 
ants, is necessarily vastly larger. 

The taint, then, is so widespread that 
the student of heredity is amply justified 
in looking on it as the most important 
cacogenic factor in the community, 


1 Feeblemindedness, its Causes and Consequences, by Henry Herbert Goddard, Ph. D. Pp. 


xii + 599, price $4.00 net. 


New York, The Macmillan Company, 1914. 


* Every eugenist should be familiar with the principles of the Binet test, which has often been 


described. 
the Training School, Vineland, N. 


‘““The Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for Intelligence,’’ by H. H. Goddard, is sold by 
J. J., for 15 cents. 


See also ‘‘Tests for Mental Defect,’’ by Dr. 


Howard A. Knox, in the JOURNAL OF HEREDITY, V, 3, 122, March, 1914. 


32 


The Editor: Feeblemindedness 33 


Fortunately, however, not all feeble- 
mindedness is due to heredity. Just 
how much is due to other causes, no one 
can say: Goddard thinks that one-third 
of the cases examined in his work at 
Vineland may be ascribed to some other 
cause than inheritance. These appear 
to be due in some cases to a neuropathic 
ancestry, in others to accident before, 
at, or after birth, in others to some 
disease such as scarlet fever or spinal 
meningitis, during childhood. Cases of 
such origin are not transmitted to 
offspring, and therefore are of little 
importance to the genetist. By no 
means all cases where accidents are 
blamed for feeblemindedness are really 
due to that cause, it appears, further 
investigation showing enough feeble- 
mindedness in the ancestry fully to 
account for the child’s condition; on 
the other hand, the fact that a certain 
child is left feebleminded by an attack of 
disease, while a dozen others who have 
it at the same time escape unscathed, 
indicates that here too a weakness of 
some sort in the family stock may 
explain the resulting arrest of mental 
development in the particular case. 
There are a number of supposed 
causes of feeblemindedness which God- 
dard finds to have little reality, as far 
as his own experience goes. Thus there 
seems reason to doubt that parents’ 
alcoholism arrests the child’s mental 
development to the extent of leaving 
it among the feebleminded. Paralysis, 
epilepsy, insanity or syphilis in the 
parents seem of themselves insufficient 
to account for a child’s feebleminded- 
ness; neither can tuberculosis or consan- 
guineous marriage explain such a result. 
Where these things occur, they occur 
not as causes, but as corrollaries or 
effects, of a defective germ-plasm. 


THE ‘“‘CRIMINAL TYPE” 


On the other hand, feeblemindedness 
itself is at the bottom of an amount of 
social abnormality which the ordinary 
sociologist—much less the layman— 
rarely realizes. The so-called “criminal 
type,” Goddard believes, is merely a 
type of feeblemindedness, a type mis- 
understood and mistreated, driven into 


criminality for which he is well fitted by 
nature. The chronic alcoholic is often 
to be explained by an arrest of mental 
development, rather than by original 
sin or moral perversity. The prostitute, 
in from one-fourth to two-thirds of the 
cases investigated in different cities, is 
found to be feebleminded, and should be 
humanely segregated rather than pun- 
ished or “reformed.” The ne’er-do- 
wells of a community are usually found, 
if adequately tested, to be morons; the 
adult vagrant and the confirmed child 
truant usually belong to the same type. 
The expensive “‘special classes”’ of the 
public schools are filled with children 
a large part of whom are morons; an 
attempt is made to educate them, when 
an examination of their ancestry would 
show that it is humanly impossible to 
educate them, in the way that their 
playmates are educated. In fact, such 
tests as those of Binet, wherever 
applied, have rarely failed to show that 
the number of social problems whose 
solution lies with genetics rather than 
with ordinary sociology is far greater 
than anyone except the eugenist realizes. 

Unfortunately, the exact réle of 
heredity in any given case can only be 
found by an investigation of the pedi- 
gree—a labor that involves much expense 
and time as well as the indispensable aid 
of a skilled field worker. Nay, the 
very presence of feeblemindedness is 
often ignored, and an individual blamed 
for perversity, incompetence or stupid- 
ity, when the examination of a trained 
psychologist would show a discrepancy 
between mental age and physical age. 
The lower grades, the idiots and im- 
beciles, can indeed be distinguished by 
almost anyone, but the moron, partic- 
ularly of the higher grade, is detected 
only by the careful observation of a 
competent investigator equipped with 
psychological tests and experience in 
using them. And even there, one finds 
a border line where one can not with 
confidence say whether the subject is 
normal or abnormal—these words being 
merely relative terms without exact 
definition. 

“The feebleminded in bulk—if we 
exclude special types of idiots—are not 


34 The Journal of Heredity 


a special race, sharply differentiated 
from normal-minded folk,’ says Karl 
Pearson. ‘‘There is every grade of 
feeblemindedness and as far as 
mentality is concerned no sharp line 
can be drawn across the population, 
and those on one side of it treated as 
normal and those on the other as 
mentally defective,’—a statement of 
the case that I think Goddard and most 
other students would accept. 

This fact of continuity has an im- 
portant bearing on all work with the 
feebleminded asa class. To the student 
of heredity it is particularly important, 
because most of the present-day studies 
of heredity start with the assumption 
that each character inherited is a unit. 
Can we speak of a unit character, when 
it shades off imperceptibly into another 
—can we call feeblemindedness a unit, 
when no line can be drawn between it 
and its supposed alternative or “‘allelo- 
morph,”’ a normal mind? 


THE UNIT CHARACTER QUESTION 


This question has caused bitter disa- 
greement among eugenists. The earlier 
students of the subject assumed that 
it was a unit character and interpreted 
their pedigrees in that lhght. They 
called it a recessive trait, normal 
mentality being dominant. From the 
very beginning, psychologists had on 
the whole refused to assent to this prop- 
osition. Goddard himself ‘‘confesses to 
being one of those psychologists who 
find it hard to accept the idea that the 
intelligence even acts like a unit char- 
acter,’’ although his own figures force 
him to say that “there seems to be no 
way to escape such a conclusion.’ But 


3 Mendelism and the Problem of Mental Defect. I. 
Pp. 62, price 2 s. net. 


by David Heron, D. Sc. 
4 Eugenics Record Office Bulletin No. 11. 


the question was not really made a 
crucial one among genetists until the 
publication of three bulletins from the 
Galton Laboratory of London, devoted 
largely to an attack on exactly this 
feature of recent American work in 


eugenics. 
In the first one* Dr. Heron teiae 
assistant director, devoted himself 


wholly to a destructive criticism of 
studies which considered mental defect 
from a Mendelian viewpoint—which 
assumed, in short, that feebleminded- 
ness was a unit character and so behaved 
in inheritance. He was answered* by 
some of the men he attacked; but as the 
controversy was fairly well aired in the 
daily as well as the scientific press, it 
will not be renewed here. 

Following this came another contri- 
bution from London,’ in which measure- 
ments of the intelligence of school 
children in Stockholm were presented to 
prove that feeblemindedness was not a 
unit character but showed continuity 
with the normal population. Still later 
Karl Pearson published in the same 
series a lecture’ reviewing the whole 
situation, and pointing out the need for 


some accurate measurement of the 
higher grades of mental deficiency. 


“That a real measure will be found— 
short of the experimental method of 
testing actual success or failure in the 
rough and tumble of life—I am con- 
vinced,”’ he concludes, “but I doubt 
whether it has been found at present 
and its discovery will not be expedited 
by any scientific dogma that asserts all 
mental defect is of one kind, and is due 
to the absence of a determiner, a lack 
which the feebleminded share with our 
ape-like ancestors.’’! 


17 


A Criticism of Recent American Work, 
London, Dulau and Company, 1913. 


‘ Reply to the Criticism of Recent American Work 
by Dr. Heron of the Galton Laboratory, by C. B. Davenport and A. J. Rosanoff. 


A Discussion 


of the Methods and Results of Dr. Heron's Critique, by C. B. Davenport; Mendelism and Neuro- 


pathic Heredity, by A. J. Rosanoff, M. D. 
Island, N. Y., February, 1914. 


5 Mendelism and the Problem of Mental Defect. II. 
Karl Pearson, F. R. 5., and Gustav A. Jaederholm, Ph. D. 


Company, 1914. 


6 Mendelism and the Problem of Mental Defect. 


Pp. 44, price 10 cents. 


Cold Spring Harbor, Long 


The Continuity of Mental Defect, by 
Price 1 s. net. London, Dulau and 


III. Onthe Graduated Character of Mental 


Defect and on the Need for Standardizing Judgments as to the Grade of Social Inefficiency Which 


Shall Involve Segregation, by Karl Pearson, F. R. S. 


and Company, 1914. 


7 This refers to the suggestion of C. B. 


Pp. 51, price 2 s. net. London, Dulau 


Davenport (see Popular Science Monthly, January, 


eS ae 


The Editor: Feeblemindedness 35 


The smoke of controversial battle 
must not obscure from the public the 
fact that as to the hereditary nature of 
much if not most feeblemindedness 
there is no doubt. This alone would 
suthce to justify a eugenic campaign. 
The further question of how it is inher- 
ited is purely atechnical one. Neverthe- 
less, it is one which has great importance, 
to society as well as to the professional 
genetist. What, then, is the layman to 
think about the way in which this 
condition is transmitted ? 

It seems impossible to overlook the 
ease with which the puzzle can be 
explained by the hypothesis that feeble- 
mindedness is due to not one but many 
unit characters, which in general, but 
not always, cling together in a group, 
when transmitted. When they stick 
together in one group, they produce the 
appearance of a single unit character, 
and thus yield the approximate Men- 
delian proportions which Goddard 
found when he tabulated his matings, 
and which his predecessors also found 
in their researches. But when some 
other factor comes into play, this group 
may be broken up and only a part of 
the units passed on to a given individual. 
They may be enough in number to 
produce obvious feeblemindedness; they 
may be so few that the individual who 
receives them appears, in any ordinary 
environment, to be little inferior to his 
comrades.® 


NEED FOR MORE RESEARCH. 


If this hypothesis be the true explana- 
tion of the behavior of feeblemindedness 
in heredity, the antagonism between 
the biometrists with their insistence on 
continuity and the Mendelians, with 
their insistence on the unit character, 
is only apparent. Neither side at 
present accepts such a solution, but it 
seems probable that the further prose- 


cution of genetic studies will result in a 
more general acceptance of the idea 
that supposed unit characters are multi- 
ple and that visible traits are complex 
in nature. 

But as I have already said, we must 
not get so much interested in a question 
of secondary importance as to forget the 
point of first importance—namely, that 
feeblemindedness is a widespread defect, 
largely due to heredity, which threatens 
to lower the intellectual level of the 
whole race unless careful selection in 
mating keeps it from infecting more 
sound stock each year. As _ feeble- 
mindedness involves a lack of self- 
control and an inability to understand 
ethical questions, the possessor of it 
can not be expected voluntarily to take 
any steps which will prevent the trans- 
mission of his defect. With society 
is the responsibility for protecting itself. 

But, the opponents of eugenics object, 
Nature will take care of the whole 
matter. These diseased conditions of 
the germ-plasm ‘“‘run out;’’ the stream 
always tends to purify itself. “A 
study of the charts here presented,”’ 
Dr. Goddard remarks, ‘‘will hardly be 
found reassuring in this direction.”’ 
In the absence of any interference, the 
number of feebleminded usually becomes 
larger with each generation; if they are 
of the very lowest grade, it is true that 
they leave no descendants, but among 
the morons the taint is more likely to 
spread than not. And even in cases 
where it seems to have died out, where 
no feeblemindedness appears for three 
or four generations, we can not be sure 
that the condition has not become 
merely latent. The genetist, indeed, 
who has: seen exactly analogous cases 
in his breeding experiments, will feel 
quite sure that it is merely latent, ready 
to appear again when the proper mating 
is made. There is no safeguard for 
society in a dependence on some 


1912) that feeblemindedness is a survival of the mentality that characterized the ape-man: that 
the condition has been carried down unchanged in the stream of germ-plasm ever since. 


8 For a clear statement of this hypothesis see ‘‘ Nature of Mendelian Units”’ 
JOURNAL oF HEREDITY, V, 10, 425, October, 1914. 


by G. N. Collins, 
This hypothesis will also harmonize the con- 


flicting views on albinism in man, where the same statistics are interpreted by biometricians to 


show continuity and by Mendelians to show segregation of a unit character. 
of the two sides of the case in the JouRNAL oF HereEpitTy, V, 11, November, 1914: 
in Man”’ (a review of the work of the Galton Laboratory) by A. E. Hamilton and 


of Naudin-Mendel”’ by Dr. E. Apert. 


See the statement 
‘** Albinism 
‘*The Laws 


36 The Journal 
mystical help from Nature; it must 
protect itself by deliberate intervention. 

At present society fulfils this obliga- 
tion in a very inadequate manner, by 
segregating, in some states, a small part 
of the most hopeless grades of defectives. 
Even then, they are not always pre- 
vented from propagating their kind. 
There is general agreement that effective 
segregation should be extended, but it 
is of course difficult to say who should 
and who should not be included. 
Pearson thinks that it is merely “a 
matter of practical utility where we 
draw the line which shall legally define 
mental defect for purposes of segrega- 
tion. It certainly should not be done 
under four years’ mental defect judged 
by adequate Binet tests. This will 
only cut off about 20 to 30% of those at 
present classed as feebleminded in the 
special schools. The remaining 70 or 
80% may be, and probably are, incap- 
able of fending for themselves in 
ordinary life; they are also socially 
inefficient, but ultimately, on other 
grounds, temperamental or moral, not 
merely intellectual: they take a view of 
life which is in distorted perspective, 
and they are out of harmony with their 
economic or social surroundings. They 
may be more dangerous than those in 
whom true mental defect is far greater, 
and they may more urgently stand in 
need of segregation,’’ because while the 
groveling idiot is unlikely to become a 
parent, the moron is almost certain to 
do so, either legitimately or illegiti- 
mately, unless prevented by society 
from doing so. 

How shall this restraint be exercised? 
In the first place, says Dr. Goddard, as 
many of the high grade defectives as 
possible must be effectively ‘“‘segre- 
gated’’ in their own homes, by the 
intelligent action of their own relatives. 
As to the rest, the lower grades must 
obviously be gathered together in col- 
onies, not only for the protection of 
society, but for their own protection. 
But if the higher grades are to be 
included, it will mean the establishment 
of at least a thousand colonies, each 
containing 300 or 400 individuals—a 
burden which the nation is not likely to 
assume at present. 


“The facts,”’ to Dr. Goddard, ‘‘ show 


of Heredity 


that we must colonize as many of the 
feebleminded as we possibly can, that 
we must sterilize some, and then we 
discover that we have only tithed the 
problem, we have not solved it.’ The 
rest—all of them, of course, representing 
the higher grades—should, he says, be 
educated. 

Impossible ? 

“That depends on our definition of 
education,’ he answers. They can be 
trained, if recognized and taken in hand 
at an early enough age, to do many kinds 
of work which do not demand the 
possession of judgment or real intelli- 
gence, but which depend rather on habit. 
Few of them can be taught usefully to 
read, write, or count, but there are 
many kinds of manual labor that they 
can be trained to do with sufficient 
proficiency to pay for their cost of 
maintenance. Even should the com- 
munity find itself unable to stop alto- 
gether the production of this class, at 
present, ““may it not be possible that we 
will find use for all these people of 
moderate intelligence, and that the 
production of so many high grade 
feebleminded is only the production of so 
many more people who are able and will- 
ing to do much of the drudgery of the 
world, which other people will not do?” 

There remains a question of first 
importance to the eugenist—the relation 
to marriage selection of the moron who 
is left at liberty. Here students some- 
times seem to fall into no more than two 
classes: those who propose wholesale 
sterilization, and those who propose 
nothing. Dr. Goddard takes a middle 
course, thinking sterilization adequate 
to dispose of ‘“‘a narrow zone”’ of cases; 
for the rest, it appears that general 
education of the public to realize that 
morons exist in large numbers, in all 
classes of society, and that they can not 
by outward appearance be detected, 
will do much, perhaps all that is possible, 
to abolish the problem. When the 
man or woman contemplating marriage 
realizes the desirability of investigating 
the ancestry of a prospective mate, the 
infection of sound stocks by marriage 
between normal persons and high-grade 
morons or those who, wholly normal in 
themselves, are carriers of latent feeble- 
mindedness, will largely cease. 


PUPE MOR Y OF THE ELDEST 


Investigation Among Professors in Italian Universities Shows that the First-born 
Are Most Frequent Among Them, While Children Born Late in the 
Generation Are the Rarest.' 


CorRADO GINI 
Professor of Statistics in the University of Padua, Italy. 


N SEVERAL occasions I have the fact that in a given family the 
called the attention of readers eldest were inferior to their successors 
of this Review to the impor- but to the circumstance that the sick 
tance of the study of the and abnormal are most common in 
characteristics of children with relation small families, which furnish no children 
to their order of birth in a fraternity. except those that are of relatively low 
The importance is double: birth-rank. In some way, then, it is 

(1) to determine whether the privi- necessary to elimate from the calcula- 
leges accorded in so much past legisla- tions the influence of family-fecundity, 
tion and some even at the present day, if we are to get a clear view of the in- 
to the first-born, are justified; fluence of birth-rank. 

(2) to judge what consequences the But there is another point to consider. 
habit, widely gaining ground, of limit- If in an investigation correctly carried 
ing the size of a family, will have on the out, it were shown that the first-born 
quality of future generations. present bad characters more frequently 

Before or after me, numerous authors than their brothers, still it would not 
have considered the question: Pearson, be demonstrated that they are, on the 
Heron, Macaulay, Weinberg, Crzellitzer, average, inferior. It might be explained 
March, Ploetz, Hansen, Goring, Green- by the assumption that the eldest are 
wood, Jr., Yule, Cobb, Rivers” Some merely more variable, and that they 
think defects and abnormalities are more frequently show in an extreme 
more frequent in the first-born; others, form either bad characters—or good 
of whom I am one, dispute the correct- ones.’ Investigations on the distribu- 
ness of the methods followed in many tion of maladies and abnormalities 
cases, and the consequent validity of according to birth-rank ought to be 
the conclusions. followed by direct investigations on the 

Often, indeed, a pessimistic conclusion distribution according to  birth-rank, 
about the quality of the first-born has in single families, of the persons who 
been announced, as a result of the excel in physical or mental characters. 
observation that defects and abnor- On this point the only observations 
malities were particularly frequent hitherto made, so far as I know,’ are 
among the first-born, or that eldest the inadequate ones of Axenfeld and 
children were found most frequently Robinovitch, based on insufficient 
among defectives and abnormals, with- numbers, and contradictory in their 
out taking into consideration the fact results. 
that such a result might be due not to The best way to fill up this lacuna 


1 Translated from Rivista Italiana di Sociologia, Anno XVIII, fasc. II, Marzo-Aprile, 1914. 
2 For the most recent contribution to the subject see Chase, John H., Weakness of Eldest Sons. 
JourNaL oF HEreEpirty, V, 5, 209, May, 1914.—The Editor. 


3 This is the explanation offered by Havelock Ellis in Hereditary Genius, for the fact that many 
of England’s most talented men have been eldest sons.—The Editor. 

4 Alexander Graham Bell has investigated the inheritance of longevity in nearly 3,000 cases. 
His figures (not yet published) show the first two children to be almost exactly average, as far 
as longevity is concerned. Beyond them the curve rises, and the next two children are superior 


to the average, the fifth child is again average, while the later children—from the sixth on—show 
an inferior longevity.—The Editor. 


a6 
o/ 


38 


in our knowledge is to address to all 
the persons who excel in any particular 
walk of life, either by physical or mental 
powers, a simple questionnaire contain- 
ing questions like this: 

(1) How many children had your 
parents? 

(2) Among these children what is 
your own order of birth? 

A questionnaire of this sort, signed by 
Sig. F. Floris, laureate in jurisprudence 
at the royal university of Cagliari, and 
by myself, was sent out during the pres- 
ent year to all the professors in Italian 
universities. We received 445 replies, 
of which 416 related to families con- 
taining at least two children, and there- 
fore of value to this investigation. They 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


ber of professors for each birth-rank as 
100, and thus obtain the theoretical num- 
ber which we would have gotten if, in 
each family, the quota of professors 
furnished was quite independent of 
birth-rank. 

The actual number of university pro- 
fessors is thus seen to be greater than 
theoretical expectation among the first 
born and less than expectation among 
the cadets: compared with theory, the 
difference is seen to be the less, the higher 
the birth-rank of the individual. 

Taking into consideration the rigor- 


ous system, hased on competition, by 


which entry to an Italian university is 
regulated, it must be admitted that the 
Italian university professors represent a 


b 
q Theoretical number | 

Number of profes- on the hypothesis | 100 
Grane reneon sors from families that distribution 5 

= ; ; of at least two of professors is b 

children. independent of or- 
der of birth. 

1 beep kt Ae IR Me etigh erase? Bicwte ek Ma ct Sk 141 87.4 161 
TSU. SN hs IRE bal asa Rear ert ae 82 87.4 90 
SH canes e oy EREERS ae er Peet aan ote cme oat arce 58 69.9 83 
ihe oh kee SNRs le rabies easy tae | 45 54.2 83 
Se GRE ee cmt. - ts] 32 Heh ai 83 
= (ee ees Ae ds sel ey | 31 44.9 79 
Fal als ALE NES MOEA) Sy och Gh tr 20 19.8 79 
LOmmap wardens | otc na = cee eee ere 7 sje! Ep 
Teta seteee chk eee ee 416 415.7 100 


show (a) how the professors in Italian 
universities are distributed in regard to 
birth-rank; and (b) whether, in a given 
family, the frequency of attainment of 
a university professorship is indepen- 
dent of the birth-rank, or whether it 
varies with the latter, and if so, in which 
sense. 

The second column of the following 
table answers the first question. The 
141 first-born professors came from 
416 families with at least two children, 
and 29 each of whom is an “only child” 
ought to be added; one thus obtains a 
total of 170 first-born professors among 
the 445 families which furnished univer- 
sity professors. Column 4 answers the 
second question: I take the actual num- 


stringently selected group of the popu- 
lation, and it can not be doubted that 
their intellectual level is, on the aver- 
age, notably above that of the class 
from which they spring. It seems fair 
to conclude, therefore, that the first- 
born, at least so far as concerns scien- 
tific attainment, are superior to their 
juniors and that, among these latter, 
the last-born are inferior to their pred- 
ecessors. 

Two objections particularly can be 
urged against these conclusions. 

(a) Women rarely aspire to a uni- 
versity career. To decide the influence 
of birth-rank on scientific attainment, 
we should therefore restrict our inquiry 
to the number of male children born to 


Gini: Superiority of the Eldest 39 


the parents of the person addressed, and 
to his own birth-rank among these 
males. . 

I reply that the proportion of the sexes 
does not vary much with the birth-rank, 
and that its slight variation could not 
possibly change the regular diminution, 
according to birth-rank, of the figures 
in column 4. It must be remembered 
that we paid no attention, in our 
questionnaire, to the sex of the professors 
addressed (an omission made desirable 
by the need of simplifying the demands 
as much as possible), and that this omis- 
sion can have no other influence than 
to make the influence of the birth-rank 
appear attenuated, in the results. 

(b) The frequency of _ professors 
among the first-born is favored by 
family circumstances, and in particular 
by the desire of parents to see their 
eldest child occupy a position that will 
reflect honor on the family. Quite apart 
from biological influences, among the 
various categories of children, social 
influences might thus explain the greater 
abundance of professors among the 
first-born. 

This objection must receive careful con- 
sideration; yet the fact remains that the 
relation of actual number of professors 
to theoretical calculation, even among 
the younger children, diminishes reg- 


ularly as the order of birth-rank 1in- 
creases. 

The conclusion that the first-born are 
superior to their juniors, at least so far 
as concerns scientific attainment, must 
nevertheless be acepted under reserve, 
until further data allow us to clear away 
all doubt. This result will probably be 
attained after similar questionnaires 
have been sent to other categories of 
persons, distinguished physically or 
mentally, among whom social consid- 
erations in the family would not act, 
or at least would not act in the same 
way, aS among university professors. 
The investigation reported above must 
not be taken—nor do I describe it—as 
more than a first step destined to be 
followed, in case of success, by more 
elaborate questionnaires among other 
classes of persons eminent in all branches 
of human activity: in the literary, artis- 
tic, military, bureaucratic, commercial, 
financial, political, and athletic fields. 

Adopting our idea, the Italian Com- 
mittee for the Study of Eugenics has 
included in its program the carrying out 
of these investigations. The tmport- 
ance of this organization, and of the 
object of the study, ought to result in 
as numerous replies to further inquiries 
as have honored our first essay. 


The Proper Age For Marriage 


The intellectual qualities of the children produced must largely decide the 
question whether early or late marriages are the most desirable from a eugenic 
point of view, according to Dr. Varting, who has recently published * a study of 
75 distinguished Germans, whose parentage he has investigated. He comes to the 
somewhat unusual conclusion that the marriage of a young man with a woman of 
mature years is likely to produce the most talented children: 24 years he selects 
as the minimum age at which girls should wed, and 30 as the age beyond which a 
man ought not to venture into matrimony. Aside from the inadequate number 
of cases with which he deals, Dr. Varting’s conclusions hardly seem justified by 
his material, particularly since more than half of the fathers of distinguished sons 
listed by him were more than 30 years of age at the birth of the son in question. 
His ascription of Nitzsche’s insanity to the youth of his mother (18 years) can be 
matched by the fact that Frau Aja was only 19 when she bore Wolfgang von Goethe. 
On the whole, the book can not be considered a very substantial contribution to 
the interesting and important subject, which has been handled by Redfield in 
America in a far more worthy way. 


1 Das giinstigste elterliche Zeugungsalter fur die geistigen Fahigkeiten der Nachkommen. Pp. 
63, Wurzburg, 1913, C. Kabitzsch, M. 1.20. 


A NEW WALNUT 


Mutant Somewhat Similar to Live Oak Appears in California in Four Different 
Localities—Not a Walnut-Oak Hybrid—Origin of All Walnut 
Species Possibly by Mutation. 


ERNEST B. Bascock 
Professor of Genetics, College of Agriculture, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. 


N THE spring of 1901, in a southern 
California nursery owned by D. C. 
Disher, there appeared a dozen or 
more seedlings, the first recorded 

specimens of a new form of the native 
California Black Walnut, Juglans cal- 
fornica Wats. Two of these trees still 
remain where they were first trans- 
planted from the seed bed while several 
were given away and are now growing 
at various places in California. The 
two that remain on the site of their 
origin have been described and named! 
as a new variety, quercina, because the 
general appearance of these trees, with 
their small, dark green leaves, is some- 
what like that of the California Coast 
Live Oak, Quercus agrifolia Née. Fig. 
16 shows these trees as they appeared in 
1907. Their similarity to oaks is not in 
specific details but in general appear- 
ance, in spite of the fact that this same 
form has been named, but without 
a proper botanical description, ‘“ Juglans 
quercifolia”’ by another writer. I main- 
tain that the leaves are not oak-like in 
form, which is the important mark of 
resemblance. Neither are they closely 
similar in size, which is quite variable, 
nor in color and texture, which are dis- 
tinct from live oak as well as from black 
walnut. Fig. 17 illustrates most of these 
points, while fig. 18 shows that the fruits 
of quercina are simply reduced black 
walnuts. 

This lack of resemblance between the 
new form of walnut and the live oak is 
an important point when we consider 
the claim set forth that this form is a 


1Babcock, E. B. Studies in Juglans TI. 


*Pierce, N. B. A New Walnut. 


natural hybrid between walnut and oak. 
It happened that the wild black walnut 
tree which was the parent of the original 
specimens of the new form, stood beside 
a large Coast Live Oak tree and this 
fact led Mr. Disher to think that his 
peculiar walnut seedlings were natural 
hybrids between oak and walnut. Under 
the circumstances it is not strange that a 
layman should be led into error, but it 
is difficult to understand how any one of 
scientific training can persist in so evi- 
dent a fallacy. To be convinced that 
somebody not only maintains this fal- 
lacy but is actively engaged in misrepre- 
senting the true nature of these trees, it 
is only necessary to read the following 
communication.’ 


Gale 
August, 1914. 
“President State Normal School, 
ni@all: 
“Dear Sir: 

‘I am now able to offer you what I believe 
to be the rarest and the most remarkable tree 
in the world. It is a hybrid between a live oak 
and the California walnut. It bears oak-like 
leaves and walnuts. It has been named 
Juglans quercifolia. It is the dominant of 
Mendel from which I should be able to rear 
a recessive tree bearing walnut-like leaves 
and acorns. 

‘‘I have sold many of these trees to Kew, 
Edinburgh, Berlin, New York and elsewhere. 
I can supply these dominant trees at $10.00 
each and probably recessives next year. A 
discount on dozen lots. 

“Growing a dominant and recessive side by 
side you would have the most remarkable 
demonstration of Mendel’s law to be found on 
earth. An oak bearing walnuts and a walnut 
bearing acorns! 

“I am expecting to locate this tree at the 


; Study of a New Form of Juglans californica Wats. 
Univ. of Cal. Pub. Agric. Sciences, vol. 2, No. 1, 1913 
Science n. s. 


vol. 37, No. 955, p. 613, 1913. 


’This letter was sent to the writer by a member of the faculty of a state normal school with a 
request for an expression of opinion as to its veracity. 


40 


Babcock: A New Walnut 4] 


ORIGINAL SPECIMENS OF THE NEW WALNUT 


Two of the original trees of the California mutant walnut which has been named Juglans 


californica var. quercina. 


The left-hand tree bears both staminate and pistillate flowers 


and produces a crop of nuts each year, which when planted produce trees resembling the 


parent. 
flowers, and hence produces no nuts. 


Normal School at and therefore make 
you this offer. I may place some at————— 
also. 

Sincerely yours, 


(P. S.) “There is no more beautiful tree for 
school grounds to be found on earth!” 


I do not assert that this misrepresen- 
tation is made wilfully or even con- 
sciously. The purpose of this article is 
merely to expose the fallacy and inform 
those who are interested in this new 
form regarding its true nature. That it 
is not a hybrid but rather a mutation is 
proved by two supplementary lines of 
evidence, the result of my investiga- 
tions during the past seven years. 

In 1908, 1910 and 1911 I made a large 
number of cross-pollination experiments 
under bag on native black walnut trees 
with pollen from the live oak and two 
other native oaks with the result that 
from live oak pollinations alone I have 
70 seedlings, 48 of which are six years 


The right hand tree has only staminate flowers or, occasionally, abortive pistillate 
(Fig. 16.) 


old and, of these, 30 bore their first 
crop of nuts in 1913. The reciprocal 
cross was attempted but no_ seeds 
matured. Briefly, but accurately, I can 
state that no trace of oak nor of quercina 
characters can be found in any of the 
first generation seedlings from oak 
pollinations. Moreover, over 2,000 
nuts were secured from 30 of the F, 
trees in 1913 and the seedlings were 
raised this year. Again there was abso- 
lute failure to detect any oak or quercina 
characters. Both the F, and F, seed- 
lings appear like the California Black 
Walnut. Although this is negative evi- 
dence, it indicates strongly that the 
original quercina trees did not originate 
through natural hybridization between 
walnut and oak. 

In 1911, through the generous co- 
operation of William Tyler, of Garden 
Grove, California, I ascertained that the 
new form of walnut was produced by at 
least one individual in a row of 20 or 30 


WHY THE NEW FORM IS NOT A HYBRID 


Although the general appearance of the mutant is somewhat like that of the California live 


oak, its leaves show little resemblance, when studied in detail. In the center is a typical 
leaf of the Southern California black walnut (Juglans californica), the parent of the 
mutant; at the left is a series of leaves of the mutant, which has been given the variety 
name of quercina; at the right are typical leaves of the Coast Live Oak, Quercus agrifolia, 
which has been claimed as one of the parents of quercina. It will be noted at once, 
however, that the leaves of the mutant are compound, except in one case where there is 


a tendency toward a simple form. The two end leaves are the most characteristic of 
quercina, the other types being comparatively rare. (Fig. 17.) 


Babcock: A New Walnut 43 


California Black Walnut trees from 
which Mr. Tyler obtained nuts for his 
nursery. In 1912 I had the crop from 
each of 21 of those trees gathered sep- 
arately and thus selected the particular 
tree which produces quercina seedlings. 
This tree is known as No. 16. In 1913 
I had about 350 clusters of nuts on this 
tree gathered separately and tested and 
found that 42 clusters produced the new 
form, but, strange to say, there was 
only one quercina seedling among those 
from each cluster, the others being 
typical black walnuts. A fuller report 
on this work together with critical dis- 
cussion appears elsewhere.’ 


NO MENDELISM FOUND. 


No oaks, either native or exotic, are 
known to occur in the region of Garden 


istics of the mutant and the parent 
and so reproduces both types. The 
proportion of californica and quercina 
seedlings found in the progeny of fruit- 
ing specimens of the new form is quite 
different for different specimens. I have 
tested the seeds from three different 
quercina trees and can state positively 
that I have never found any oaks among 
the progeny nor any Mendelian ratios 
between the numbers of californica and 
quercina seedlings produced. These 
facts considered together with the com- 
plete absence of specific oak characters 
in the new form should effectually dis- 
pel the notion that hybridization with 
oak has had anything to do with the 
origin of the new form. 

The original source of the new 
variety was the tree discovered by 


NUTS OF PARENT AND MUTANT 


At the left, three nuts of the Southern California black walnut; on the right three nuts of the 


variety quercina which suddenly appeared as a mutant from it. 


There is no real distinction 


between the two nuts, and not the slightest trace, in those on the right, of any influence 
of an oak, which is alleged by some horticulturists to have been one of the parents of the 


new form. (Fig. 18.) 


Grove—certainly none in the imme- 
diate vicinity of tree No. 16. This 
eliminates the possibility of origin of 
the quercina progeny of tree No. 16 
through hybridization with oak. The 
limitation of the production of quercina 
seedlings to only one of the 21 black 
walnut trees tested, indicates that the 
mutation does not occur in the staminate 
flowers of No. 16 .0r its neighbors but 
rather in the pistillate flowers of No. 16 
itself. And, further, the fact, which has 
been amply demonstrated, that the new 
form does not breed true but usually 
produces some typical californica seed- 
lings among its progeny, shows con- 
clusively that the mutations occur in 
the pistillate flowers before fertilization, 
so that each quercina seedling produced 
by a black walnut tree is a hybrid in the 
sense that it combines the character- 


‘Babcock, E. B. Studies in Juglans II. 


Disher in Santa Ana canyon, the parent 
of the original quercina trees shown in 
fig. 19. This tree was destroyed before 
the writer had seen its progeny. The 
next source to be discovered was a 
single tree in Santa Monica canyon near 
Los Angeles. Among a lot of nuts 
gathered in 1909 from wild walnut trees 
growing in that region, there was one 
nut that produced a quercina seedling. 
The third tree found to produce the new 
form is No. 16 in Garden Grove, Cali- 
fornia. The row of trees, of which it is 
one, was planted perhaps thirty years 
ago and I have not learned the location 
of their parents but all the individuals 
in the row are southern California 
Black Walnuts. 

The fourth source of the new variety 
has just been discovered. It is of 
unusual importance for reasons of 


Further Notes and Observations on a New Form of 


Juglans californica Wats. Univ. of Cal. Pub. Agric. Sciences, vol. 2, No. 2, 1914. 


THE NUTS IN CROSS SECTION 


At the left, typical nuts of the Southern California black walnut, at the right, typical nuts of 
the new variety quercina. Although this has been called a walnut-oak hybrid, there is 
nothing in the nuts, leaves, flowers or any other part of the plant to indicate that an 
oak entered its parentage, and as it has been produced several times under controlled 
conditions, from walnuts which were known not to be cross-pollinated, the story of the 
walnut-oak hybrid must be set down as a myth. (Fig. 19.) 


Babcock: A New Walnut 45 


interest to biologists. The three quer- 
cina-producing trees above mentioned 
are all southern California Black Wal- 
nuts and would be classified botanically 
as Juglans californica. The newly dis- 
covered source of quercina is the nor- 
thern California Black Wainut, which 
has been named /uglans californica var. 
hindsii Jepson. It is a form so 
different from the southern type of tree 
that it might easily be mistaken for a 
distinct species. The circumstances in- 
volved in this new appearance of 
quercina are too complicated to be 
related in full here. Let it suffice to say 
that without doubt quercina has sprung 
from hindsii as well as from californica. 
Since quercina comes from californica by 
mutation it is practically certain that 
hindsii produces the new variety by the 
same process. Although it does not 
follow of necessity, yet these facts would 
seem to indicate that hindsii also origi- 
nated from californica by mutation. A 
full statement with illustrations con- 
cerning this latest development in the 
history of the oak-like walnut will be 
made as soon as it is feasible to do so. 
It is worthy of note that this is a 


® Bul. S. Cal. Acad. Sci. vol. 7, p. 23, 1908. 


mutation in which there has been a 
change in all gross characters—size, 
shape, color and texture of leaves, size, 
form and number of parts of flowers, 
color of bark, habit of growth, etc. 
Such a transformation has been called 
aggregate mutation and cases have been 
reported in cotton, tomato, tobacco and 
evening primrose. The walnuts and 
their relatives are recognized by botan- 
ists and paleontologists as among the 
oldest of the angiosperms. Many spe- 
cies of walnuts existed in the various 
periods of geological history back to the 
Cretaceous. The known occurrence of 
one such aggregate mutation as pro- 
duces quercina suggests that some if not 
all the species of walnuts existing or 
extinct may have originated in a similar 
manner. 

That this new walnut is not a natural 
hybrid between oak and walnut, is indi- 
cated by the negative results of my 
experiments in artificial hybridization 
and proved by the demonstration of its 
origin through mutation, which has oc- 
curred not once but many times in at 
least four different trees of the Cali- 
fornia Black Walnut. 


Prepotence in Plant Breeding 


The work of breeding new flowers, fruits and vegetables from natural or artificial crosses, has 
been, and I believe can still be, carried out excellently with a minrmum of Mendelian theory. 
The most important idea, I think, is that of prepotence, or transmitting power, or strength of 
heredity, as it is sometimes called. This rather loose term, so far as I have seen, has been used 
to embrace at least the following different Mendelian cases: 


(1) The dominance of a character in a first-generation hybrid. 


prepotent for the character.) 


(The dominant parent is 


(2) The presence in the prepotent parent of a number of separate dominant characters, or of a 


number of characters inherited as a dominant unit. 


(An important case of prepotence.) 


(3) The excess of dominants from the cross of a positive homozygote with a recessive, over 


those from the cross of a heterozygote with the recessive. 


than the mongrel.) 


(The pure-bred is more prepotent 


_ (4) The presence of the dominant character in all the progeny of the back cross of a hybrid with 
its dominant (prepotent) parent, whereas only a fraction show the recessive character when the 


hybrid is crossed with the recessive parent. 


(5) In cases of imperfect dominance, the difference in appearance, as well as in transmitting 


power, between the homozygous dominant and the heterozygote. 


by external characters.) 


(6) The large excess of dominants in the progeny of selfed hybrid plants. 


prepotent grandparent.) 


(Recognition of prepotence 


(Influence of the 


(7) The constancy of a selfed homozygous dominant, compared with a hybrid. (The former is 


prepotent.) 


(8) The constancy of a selfed recessive compared with a hybrid. 


transmitting power.) 


(The pure-bred has greater 


If, then, the breeder of improved plants uses pedigreed lines (centgener plots, or ear-row tests) 
instead of mixed cultures, and selects in each generation the plants which are most prepotent 
for the particular characters he needs, he can, I think, usually leave Mendelian formulae to those 


who are working to discover new facts. 


JouHN BELLING, 
Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. 


MATERIAL FOR PLANT BREEDERS 


ODERN plant breeding pro- 

ceeds on two principal lines: 

first, by confining itself alto- 

gether to present commercial 
varieties and trying to improve them, 
usually. by some form of selection; 
second, by the use of new forms, which 
may be either developed on their own 
merits, or combined with existing com- 
mercial strains through hybridization. 
The first method has preponderated 
during the last half century, but 
breeders at present show a tendency to 
adopt the second method in larger 
numbers every year. In the United 
States they probably find their greatest 
aid to this end in the Office of Foreign 
Seed and Plant Introduction, of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture at 
Washington. 

This office has just issued its Fourth 
Annual List of New Plant Introductions, 
in which about 300 species or varieties 
of plants and seeds which it has recently 
secured are succinctly described in an 
accurate and understandable way. This 
material is available now or will be 
later available to any bona fide breeder 
who has proper facilities for making 
good use of it. 

Much of it, as the introduction to the 
list points out, is as yet little known 
even botanically, and quite unknown 
horticulturally, as far as the United 
States are concerned. The plants de- 
scribed have been imported from all 
parts of the world because it is hoped 
that, indirectly or directly, they may be 
of use to Americans. ‘‘ They are intro- 
duced primarily for use by the Federal 
and State Experiment Stations of the 
country, but are available to such 
private experimenters as have the 
necessary facilities and are desirous of 
testing them, notwithstanding the fact 
that they are quite untried commer- 
cially. 

“Since these plants must ultimately 
be grown by private individuals before 


46 


their commercial success is assured, 
it may be well to point out that those 
private experimenters who test these 
problematical new plants are assisting 
in a very practical way in the plant 
introduction work of the country even 
though they are not paid for their work. 

“It is often around the successful 
cultivation of a new introduction by 
some private individual that a new plant 
industry begins.’ 


SOME OF THE FEATURES. 


While the list is made up largely of 
plants hardly known by name to the 
American horticulturist, there are also 
many species of common economic 
plants, in which every breeder will take 
an interest, now that the great potential 
value of wild relatives of our cultivated 
plants 1s being widely realized. There 
are, for example, 10 species of Amygda- 
lus inventoried, part of which are to be 
classed among peaches and part among 
almonds. Many of them are adapted 
to extreme climatic conditions, and may 
prove valuable in themselves, as well 
as for breeding. Similarly there are 
three promising species of Citrus, besides 
the rare Eremocitrus glauca or Australian 
Desert Lime, probably the hardiest of 
all the citrous fruits. The persimmon 
genus, Diospyros, which has lately been 
attracting a good deal of attention from 
American. br eeders, is represented in 
the list by three species, while eight 
species of Malus will attract the numer- 
ous apple growers who are seeking new 
‘“‘creations.”’ There are four promising 
species of Olea, the olive genus, 10 of 
poplar, some of which can hardly fail 
to be of value in the treeless regions of 
the Northwest, 12 of Prunus, including 
several hybrids, and 11 of willow. To 
cite even a fair selection of the isolated 
novelties would require too much space, 
but mention may be made of an edible 
chrysanthemum from China, the leaves 
of which are said to be a good substitute 


Material for Plant Breeders 47 


for kale and spinach; the Indian coral 
tree (Erythrina arborescens), whose 12- 
inch spikes of brilliant scarlet blossoms 
remind one of the peerless Royal 
Poinciana, but which has the advantage 
of greater hardiness; the romantic 
Hawaiian Cotton Tree (Kokia rockit) 
which apparently was saved almost by 
chance from absolute extinction a few 
years ago; the handsome Persea borbonmia 
of the southern United States, which 
may be of value to breeders of the 
avocado; an elm (Ulmus densa) from 
Turkestan, which should successfully 
withstand the alkaline soil and arid 
climate of the Southwest; and the large 


collection of melons from all parts of the 
world, any one of which may prove to 
be a prize in some locality adapted to it. 

Any person interested in plant breed- 
ing, and willing and able to make use of 
novelties, should communicate with the 
Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Intro- 
duction, stating the amount of land at 
his disposal, whether owned or leased, 
whether plants are desired for green- 
house or indoor culture, and his experi- 
ence in caring for and experimenting 
with plants. He will then be placed 
on the mailing list of the office, and be 
furnished with any of its material that 
he is able to utilize profitably. 


Wheat X Rye Hybrids 
Hybrids between wheat and rye are described by Fr. Jesenko in the Ztschit. i, 


ind. Abstammungs und Vererbungs-Lehre (X, 311-326). 
when wheat is used as the seed-bearer or mother plant. 
the experimenter secured 35 heads of gra 
appears to be blending in some character 


They are possible only 
From 6,100 pollinations 


in, which proved to be self-sterile. T here 
s and prevalence or dominance in others. 


These hybrids when crossed back on rye produced with one exception, nothing, 


when crossed back on wheat set grain in about 3% of the cases. 


The product of 


this cross was diverse; in general it much resembled wheat and the plants which 
seemed closest to wheat in appearance were in general the most fruitful. The one 
grain secured in the back cross on rye produced a plant strongly resembling rye 


A Department of Eugenics 


The Red Back Texas Medical Journal, published at Austin, now includes a 


“Department of Eugenics,” 
Hull, both of San Antonio. 
sanitary measures. 


edited by Dr. Malone Duggan and Dr. Theodore Y. 


It is devoted principally to sex hygiene and other 


Race Regeneration and Law 


If even the problem of the extirpation of the feeble-minded classes can be ap- 
proached and largely settled on a voluntary basis, without any risky experiments 
in legislation, much more is this the case with the higher breeding of the race, as 
it may be exercised by the fully sane and responsible classes. Here is emphatically 


the field of the moralist, who need not 


feel called on to I 


e 


orfeit his claim to being 


called a moralist by clamoring for the brute force of law. Even if scientific opinion 


and general public opinion were ready 


for marriage legislation in the interests of 


the regeneration of the race it would still be a problem how far such legislation is 


likely to be in accordance with sound morals. 


For legislation can only demand 


actions that are both generalised and externalised, and the demands of the re- 
generation of the race must be both particularised and internalised, or they are 
meaningless and even void. The law may, for instance, enact prohibitions against 


certain kinds of people marrying, but it cannot so prevent procreation, 


and the 


mere prohibition to marry is both unjust and unnecessary in so far as it prevents 
the unions of people who may be fully aware of their racial disabilities and con- 


sequent responsibilities and ready to act accordingly. 


Thus it is that morals is 


called upon to retain jealously within its own sphere these aspects of racial re- 


generation, and to resent the encroachments of law.—Havelock Ellis: 


lem of Race-Regeneration (1911). 


The Prob- 


48 The Journal of Heredity 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


SEX: ITS ORIGIN AND DETERMINATION, by Thomas E. Reed, M. D.; 312 pages, 
$2.50. Rebman Company, New York, 1914. . 


In this well-advertised book the author, a physician, undertakes to supply some 
new conceptions concerning “‘The Nature of Life, Reproduction and Sex, the latent 
bisexuality of all animal life and the primitive hermaphroditism of the germ plasm; 
the nature and origin of twins, particularly of conjoined twins; the primitive alter- 
nating and metabolic nature of sex; the manifestations of lunar rhythms in labor, 


in infectious disease, their influence on births, deaths, surgical operations, men- 


struation, gestation and the determination of sex.’’ Obviously a big job. 

The thing that 1s new in the book is a theory that there is a cycle in animal 
life, of shorter duration than the well-known monthly cycle, manifested in the germ 
cells and the developed organism, and having an effect upon the determination of 
sex as well as on the progress of labor and other vital processes. The lunar day 
divided into two twelve hour periods, and these in turn divided into two six hour 
periods—a “‘positive”’ and a “‘negative’’—supplies this cycle. A positive period— 
based on the position of the moon—is one during which the moon passes from the 
eastern horizon to the zenith, or from the western horizon to nadir. A negative 
period is one during which the moon passes from zenith to the western horizon, 
or from nadir to the eastern horizon. The theory further postulates that the ovum 
is alternatingly male and female, and that the sex that arises from it depends upon 
the stage the ovum happens to be in when fertilized. If fertilized during a positive 
period a male results; fertilization during a negative period produces a female. 
This the author claims practically to have established for the human subject. 

The wonder is, however, that with so wide and extended a practice there were 
so few cases—about 20—to cite as evidence and that these were not all cited. 
And still greater the wonder that with all the energy spent in digesting literature 
and in deductive reasoning, the simple expedient of recourse to observation and 
experiment on animals—even domestic animals—was not resorted to. Here the 
whole theory of alternating hermaphroditism of the ovum and the author’s general 
theory of sex determination would have been quickly disproved. Indeed, merely 
to have glanced in this direction—without further experimentation—would, as 
every biologist knows, have been quite conclusive. Whatever the inherent virtues 
of a tide-table, there is no reason to suspect that within it there lurks the sentence 
of sex. OscaR RIDDLE. 


HEREDITY AND SEX, by Thomas Hunt Morgan, Ph.D., New York, Columbia University 
Press, 1913. Pp. xi + 282, $1.75 net. 

This book of Dr. Morgan, professor of experimental zoology at Columbia Univer- 
sity, is the standard authority on the relations between heredity and cytological 
research. It discusses in detail the recent microscopical studies of the cell and its 
chromosomes, and the Mendelian theories, as interpreting heredity, and partic- 
ularly, of course, the inheritance of sex. The author considers as exploded the 
idea that external conditions determine sex, believing that it is determined through 
the internal mechanism of the cell itself, as a result of the laws of chance. He 
explains some of the contradictory results published by other experimenters by 
saying, “‘the environment may slightly disturb the regular working out of the two 
possible combinations that give sex male or female. Such disturbances may affect 
the sex ratio but have nothing to do with sex determination.”’ ; 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


Vol. VI, No. 2 


February, 1915 


CONTENTS 


Wanand biology. byili- th. Dalley ry ..0 2-8 pe ye. Pees see oe - Ao! 
Hererts for sale ut lewsbrices 0-8 sro so re ee er ede pe eee gt Oe 
Swot lasses-of Hybrids, by O: FE. Cook ..0..: 6 a ee -e Aerie Sesh. 
Mghtace Betterment Pxbibit. 5.506 ck. 2g ee Sek eee ee 2. OO 
Perjugate Cotton Hybrids, by Charles G. Marshall...................57 
Eas sCarman. by mas Blasts to. 62s tacos es vies -k > eye ease | = 65 
The Chromosome Hypothesis of Heredity, by John Belling... .... pee Ou 
Jersey-Angus Cattle, by Arthur H. KuhIlman................--....-. 68 
Genealogy and Eugenics...-.............-.+--.---- mit Shee oy Ss yor? 
Tobacco Mutations, by H. K. Hayes................-----+-+--+---+--- 133 


New Publications: Einfiihrung in die experimentelle Vererbungslehre, 
von Prof. Dr. Erwin Baur; The Fundamentals of Plant Breeding, 


nv lola, Wl. Ooulterc. 2 og eee ere oe es oi ie anes hE Aon 78 
The Peopling of America, by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka....................... 79 
Genetics and Government, by W. C. D. and C. D. Whetham......... .91 
Breeding for Energy, by Francis Galton...................------.++-- 91 
The Early Marriage Question........-... 2.252. - +222 cette eee eel 
Breeding for Horns, by Frank N. Meyer..................-..---- .. .96 
Corriedale Sheep in the United States...............--.--..-----5--- 96 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Fifty per cent. of the annual membership fee is specifically desig- 
nated as payment for the Journal. Canadian members who desire to receive it 
should send 25 cents a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, 
because of additional postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents 
extra for the same reason. Price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter August 27, 1912, at the postoffice at Washington, 
D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1914 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, January 25, 1915. 


WAR AND BIOLOGY 


Militarism Can Not Be Justified by Appeal to Evolution and Natural Selection — 


The 


“Struggle for Existence”’ 


Misunderstood—The Present 


Responsibility of the Rural People.’ 


iy. He BAILEY. 


VERY great crisis imposes special 
obligations on the people; and 
certain classes or groups of the 
people may be met with separate 

phases of the obligation. So it is said 
that certain very definite responsibilities 
now rest on the farmer because of the 
upset of conditions produced by the 
great war. 

In times of great stress, when the ac- 
cessories of life and the unessentials are 
stripped from us, we come back sud- 
denly to the necessities and to the bare 
problems of maintenance. If any dur- 
able good is to come to us as a people 
from the carnage in the Old World, one 
of the gains will be a quickened apprecia- 
tion of our dependence on the essentials 
of the earth, and an accelerated de- 
termination to return to them as to 
the mother that gave us birth, and 
to the things that were ordained 
to us in the beginning. Every ex- 
perience that brings us back to the 
munificence of the earth and to a 
conscious dependence on it, brings us 
back necessarily to the farmer, and he 
is elevated in the essential plan of any 
enduring human society. When the 
armies shall have killed each other off, 
when the supplies shall have been 
exhausted, when the military organiza- 
tions shall have tired of their vanities, 
when vengeance has been spent, and 
when society becomes ashamed of 
itself, then we shall begin all over again 
at a slow and laborious process of 
reconstruction; and we must begin on 
the earth. 

In these days of popular education, 
and particularly in this country where 
there are no organic social strata, the 
farmer should gain in relative position 


Ithaca, N. Y. 


in society after every upheaval or 
devastation. He must make good the 
fundamental supplies. And for this 
reason, the farmer needs to prepare 
himself very well, that he may be a 
stronger citizen and better able to take 
his place. This, it seems to me, is 
the great message that you teachers are 
now to take to your people. 


IMPROVING THE CROPS. 


Much is said about the necessity of 
producing more crops and products be- 
cause of the war. This is always the 
farmer’s obligation. If this interna- 
tional slaughter quickens this obliga- 
tion, as I think it will, the gain will be 
good and it will be real. I hope it will 
stimulate us all to do our best. There 
is just now abroad amongst us a teach- 
ing to the effect that the farmer cannot 
afford to put much additional effort 
into his crop-producing; there may be 
much truth in it; but it is a weakening 
philosophy: it is the farmer’s ethical 
responsibility to society to increase his 
production; and if he is not remunerated, 
we must see to it, we all of us, that 
society so regulates itself as to correct 
the situation. It is specially important 
that the man at the bottom and in the 
background put forth his best efforts. 

I hope that this demoralization will 
make us more self-resourceful. I hope 
we shall have more appreciation of our 
position on the planet, more care of our 
natural resources, more determination 
to do things that will stand, more under- 
standing of the things that are worth 
while on the earth that is given to our 
keeping. 

We are onlookers on the greatest 
carnage and the most wretched destruc- 


1 Parts of an address delivered before the nineteenth annual meeting of the American Associa- 
tion of Farmers’ Institute Workers, Washington, D. C., November, 1914; and elsewhere. 


51 


52 bites otra 
tion of property that the world has 
seen. We are neutral. We try to see 
fairly, and to see all sides. This does 
not mean that we have no opinion. 
Quite the contrary; but it means that 
we do not take sides with any of the 
contending parties. There are at least 
three sides to this controversy: the side 
of the Teutonic allies; the side of the 
other allies; the side of the American or 
the outside observer. It is not my part 
to determine which side is right—if 
there is such a thing as right in a situa- 
tion of this kind—but only to state one 
opinion and the reasons for it. It is 
my privilege to state an American point 
of view. Of course I might not hold 
this point of view if I were a national 
in either of the sides to the conflict. 


RESPONSIBILITY FOR WAR. 


Much effort has been expended to 
lay the blame for the starting of the 
vast war. But it is of little consequence 
who sprung the trap. The great fact 
is that the trap had been set. 

It is a singular phenomenon, this 
effort to escape the responsibility. For 
years the military establishments have 
been glorified, and to be part in the 
establishment has been accounted the 
highest of honor. But now the re- 
sponsibility must be explained away. 
Where, then, is the glory of war? 

The effort to explain, to justify, to 
escape the responsibility, is a significant 
phase in this catastrophe. And every 
explanation only exposes the more the 
wretchedness of the situation. 

We must not take to ourselves too 
much luster for our escape from the 
present destruction. We are not es- 
sentially different, only as we are more 
fortunately placed on the planet and as 
we have a more flexible political organi- 
zation. We do not have the problems. 

We are not to deny or even to over- 
look the great results that have come 
from war. Virile races have forced 
themselves to the front and have im- 
pressed their stamp on society; the 
peoples have been mixed and also as- 
sorted; lethargic folk have been gal- 
vanized into activity; iron has been put 
into men’s sinews; heroic deeds have 
arisen; far reaches of the imagination 


of Heredity 


have been opened: The ‘state=er 
human affairs has been brought to its 
present condition largely as the result 
of war. 

On the other hand, we are not to 
overlook the damaging results, the 
destruction, the anguish, the check to all 
productive enterprise, the hatred and 
revenge, the thieving and hypocrisy 
and deceit, the miserable spy system, 
the loss of standards, the demoralization, 
the loss of respect and regard for the 
rights of the other, the thwarting of 
national and racial developments which, 
so far as we can see, gave every promise 
of great results. We naturally extol the 
nations that have survived; we do not 
know how many superior stocks may 
have been sacrificed to military con- 
quest, or how many racial possibilities 
may have been suppressed in _ their 
beginnings. 


NO JUSTIFICATION OF WAR. 


But even assuming the great gains 
that have arisen from war, this is no 
justification of war; it only states a fact, 
it only provides a measure of the con- 
dition of society at any epoch. It is 
probable that war will still exert a 
mighty even if a lessening influence; and 
it may still be necessary to resort to 
arms to win for a people its natural 
opportunity; but this again only indi- 
cates the wretched state of development 
in which we live; and so long as this 
condition exists, every state must be 
ready for defense. Undoubtedly, also, 
a certain amount of military training 
is very useful, but we have striking 
evidence before us that a military estab- 
lishment is also very dangerous. There 
should be other ways, in a democracy, 
to secure something of this needful 
training. 

The final conquest of a man is of 
himself, and he shall then be greater 
than when he takes a city. The final 
conquest of a society is of itself, and it 
shall then be greater than when it con- 
quers its neighboring society. 

Man now begins to measure himself 
against nature also, and he is beginning 
to see that herein shall he his greatest 
conquests beyond himself;in fact, by 
this means shall he conquer himself— 


Bailey: War 


by great feats of engincering, by com- 
pleter utilization of the possibilities of 
the planet, by vast discoveries ine une 
unknown, and by the final enlargement 
of the soul; and in these fields shall be 
the heroes. The most virile and up- 
standing qualities can find expression 
in the conquest of the earth. “in war, 
the rank and file do not rise to greater 
heights; but in the contest with the 
planet every man may feel himself 
grow. 

What we have done in times past 
shows the way by which we have come, 
it does not provide a program of pro- 
cedure for days that are coming; or if it 
does, then we deny the effective evolu- 
tion of the race. We have passed witch- 
craft, religious persecution, the inquisi- 
tion, subjugation of women, the en- 
slavement of our fellows except alone 
enslavement in war. 


THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 


Here I come to a very real situation 
that I want to present to you as farmers 
and as teachers of farmers, to you who 
stand close to nature and who ought to 
understand the meaning of the natural 
world. I want to ask you to interpret 
to mankind what is implied in the 
struggle for existence; for war is justi- 
fied as a necessary part of the nature of 
things, as all organisms must struggle 
in order to live. 

Before I enter on this subject, I must 
pause to say that I would not of myself 
found an argument either for war or 
against it on the analogies of the 
struggle for existence. Man has re- 
sponsibilities quite apart from the con- 
ditions that obtain in the lower creation. 
Man is a moral agent; animals and 
plants are not moral agents. But the 
argument for war is so often founded on 
this struggle in nature, that the question 
must be considered. I am making these 
statements only in the interest of a fair 
interpretation of nature and, I hope, for 
the guidance of ourselves. 

It has been persistently repeated for 
years that in nature the weakest perish 
and that the victory is with the strong, 
meaning by that the physically power- 
ful. I have heard such statements from 


and Biology 53 
boyhood. There can be no falser teach- 
ing than this, nothing that leads men 
farther from the truth. It is the result 
of an entire misconception of the teach- 
ing of evolution. 

Our minds dwell on the capture and 
the carnage in nature—the hawk swoop- 
ing on its prey, the cat stealthily watch- 
ing for the mouse, wolves hunting in 
packs, ferocious beasts lying in wait, 
sharks that follow ships, serpents with 
venomous fangs; and with the poet we 
say that nature is “red in tooth and 
claw.”’ Of course, we are not to deny 
the struggle of might against might; 
but the weak and the fragile and the 
small have been the organisms that 
have persisted. There are thousands of 
little and soft things still abundant in 
the world that have outlived the 
fearsome ravenous monsters of ages 
past; there were Goliaths in those days, 
but the Davids have outlived them, and 
Gath is not peopled by giants. The big 
and strong have not triumphed. 

I was impressed in reading Roose- 
velt’s ‘African Game Trails’? with the 
great extent of small and defenseless 
and fragile animal life that abounds in 
the midst of the terrible beasts—little, © 
uncourageous things that hide in the 
crevices, myriads that fly in the air, 
those that ride on the rhinos, that swim 
and hide in the pools, and bats that 
hang in the acacia trees. He travelled 
in the region of the lion, in the region 
that “holds the mightiest creatures that 
tread the earth or swim in its rivers; 
it also holds distant kinsfolk of these 
same creatures, no bigger than wood- 
chucks, which dwell in crannies of the 
rocks, and in the tree tops. There are 
antelope smaller than hares and antelope 
larger than oxen. There are creatures 
which are the embodiment of grace; and 
others whose huge ungainliness is lke 
that of a shape in a nightmare. The 
plains are alive with droves of strange 
and beautiful animals whose like is not 
known elsewhere.’’ The lion is mighty; 
he is the king of beasts; but he keeps his 
place and he has no kingdom. He has 
not mastered the earth. No beast has 
ever overcome the earth; and the 
natural world has never been conquered 
by force. 


54 The Journal 


My friend went to a far country. He 
told me that he was most impressed 
with the ferocity, chiefly of wild men; 
and e=xtOQe bin, nature = Said,-~ cat. one 
another.’”’ It came my time to go to 
that country. I saw that men had been 
savage—men are the most ferocious of 
animals, and the ferocity has never 
reached its high point of refined savagery 
until today. But I saw also that these 
savage men are passing away. I saw 
animals that had never tasted blood, 
that had no means of defence against 
a rapacious captor, and yet they were 
multiplying. Every stone that I up- 
turned disclosed some tender organism; 
every bush that I disturbed revealed 
some timid atom of animal life; every 
spot where I walked bore some delicate 
plant, and I recalled the remark of Sir 
J. William Dawson “that frail and 
delicate plants may be more ancient 
than the mountains or plains on which 
they live;’” and if I went on the sea, I 
saw the meduse, as frail as a poet’s 
drea m, with the very sunshine stream- 
ing ronal them, yet holding their own 
in the mighty upheaval of the oceans; 
and I reflected on the myriads of 
microscopic things that for untold 
ages had cast the very rock on: which 
much of the ocean rests. The minor 
things and the weak things are the most 
numerous, and they have played the 
greatest part in the polity of nature. 
So I came away from that far country 
impressed with the power of the little 
feeble things. I had a new understand- 
ing of the worth of creatures so un- 
obtrusive and so silent that the multi- 
tude does not know them; and I remem- 
bered the prophecy that a little child 
shall lead them. 

I saw protective colorings; I saw fleet 
wings and swift feet; I saw the ability 


of Heredity 


to hide and to conceal; I saw habits of 
adaptation; I saw marvellous powers of 
reproduction. You have seen them in 
every field; you have met them on your 
casual walks, until you accept them as 
the natural order of things. And you 
know that the beasts of prey have not 
prevailed. The whole contrivance of 
nature is to protect the weak. 

We have wrongly visualized the 
“struggle.” We have given it an in- 
tensely human application. We need 
to go back to Darwin who electrified the 
phrase ‘“‘struggle for existence’? into 
life. “I use this term,” he said, “ina 
large and metaphorical sense including 
dependence of one being on another, 
and including (which is more important) 
not only the life of the individual, but 
success in leaving progeny.” The de- 
pendence of one being on another, suc- 
cess in leaving progeny—how accurate 
and how far-seeing was Darwin! 

You know, you farmers, how diverse 
are the forms of life; and you know that 
somehow they live together and that 
only rarely do whole races perish by 
subjugation, You know that the beasts 
do not set forth to conquer, but only to 
gain subsistence and to protect them- 
selves. You know that they do not 
pursue indiscriminately. You know 
that a henhawk does not attack crows 
or butterflies. Even a vicious bull does 
not attack fowls or rabbits or sheep. 
You know that the great issues are the 
issues of live and let live. You know 
that there are whole nations of plants, 
more unlike than nations of human- 
kind, living together in mutual inter- 
dependence. You know that there 
are nations of quiet and mightless 
animals that live in the very regions of 
the mighty and the stout. And you 
know that you are glad it is so. 


Reports For Sale at Low Price 


Attention of members is called to the reduction in price of American Breeders’ 


Association annual reports Nos. 6 and 7 


7-8, announced on the inside back cover. 


In order to dispose of the stock it has on ee and get the volumes into circulation 


where they will be of use, 
which they were issued. 


the association is offering them at one-half the price at 
This gives a unique opportunity to acquire two volumes 


of genetics literature at a very slight expense. 


WO GCEASSES: OF. FY BRIDS 


First Generation Differs Widely in Character from Second and Following Cenera- 
tions and the Two Classes Should Be Distinguished by More 
Exact Names, In Order to Avoid Confusion. 


©; FF: Coor 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, Dre. 


HE use of distinctive names for 
the two principal classes of 
hybrids would be in the interest 
of convenience and _ intelligi- 

bility. The ordinal designations, “‘first 
generation hybrids,” “second generation 
hybrids,’ ‘‘third generation hybrids,” 
etc., are cumbersome and confusing in 
actual use. The Mendelian symbols 
fee oe “BS” -etc., Serve for tech- 
nical or esoteric writing, but are awk- 
ward typographically and have little 
meaning for the general reader. Both 
of these systems of designation are 
essentially misleading to the student, 
in that they leave out of account the 
biological differences between the so- 
called first or F, generations of hybrids 
and the second and later generations. 


THE NATURE OF CONJUGATION. 


Radical differences between first gen- 
eration hybrids and later generations 
of the same stocks seemed altogether 
mysterious to the earlier investigators 
of heredity, but now are looked upon as 
necessary consequences of the special- 
ized methods of reproduction followed 
by the higher plants and animals. The 
older idea of conjugation as a_ brief 
period of cellular fusion applies to some 
of the lower forms of life, but not to the 
higher. It is only among the lower 
organic types that the cellular body is 
built up in the interval between the 
completion of one conjugation and the 
beginning of another. In the higher 
groups the cells multiply chiefly during 
conjugation, that is, while the cells 
remain in a state of sexual fusion. The 
fusion that begins with the germ-cells, 


1 Cook, O. F., and Swingle, W. T., Evolution of Cellular Structures, Ue 
Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 81, 1905. 


of Sciences, Vol. IX, pp. 191-197, 1907. 


and gives rise to the new individual, 
does not cease when the growth of the 
new individual begins, but continues 
throughout its development. Beginning 
with the subdivision of the conjugating 
germ-cells, all of the cells that form the 
bodies of the higher plants and animals 
are double, with respect to their nuclear 
elements. Either there are two sep- 
arate nuclei in each cell, or the two 
parental sets of chromosomes remain 
separate inside of the nuclei. The con- 
cluding stage of conjugation is mitapsis 
or fusion of the chromatin material, 
which finally arranges itself in the form 
of two long parallel threads. Conjuga- 
tion is not concluded in the somatic 
cells, but only in the reproductive cells, 
as a preliminary to the formation of the 
next generation of germ-cells.’ 


NAMES OF THE CLASSES. 


The usual object of experiments with 
hybrids is to analyze and recombine the 
characters of the parental types, and 
for this purpose at least two generations 
must be produced. As the so-called 
first generation of a hybrid is developed 
while the conjugation begun by the 
parental germ-cells is still in progress, 
it can be described as the conjugate 
generation. The so-called second or F, 
generation is really the first generation 
that can be considered as a complete 
product of the conjugation that was 
begun by the original germ-cells. The 
name perjugate seems appropriate be- 
cause the nuclear elements represented 
in the second and later generations of a 
hybrid may be said to have passed 
through conjugation. Conjugate means 


S. Department of 
See also, Proc. Washington Academy 


55 


56 The Journal of Heredity 


yoked together, perjugate through the 
yoke. In conjugate hybrids we see the 
results of prolonged partial conjuga- 
tion, in perjugate hybrids the results of 
previously completed conjugation. 


DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CLASSES. 


When the original germ-cells are so 
different that conjugation cannot be 
completed, no normal germ-cells are 
formed by the conjugate generation, 
and no perjugate generation follows. 
The fact that it is often possible to 
secure conjugates from hybrid combina- 
tions that do not produce perjugates is 
itself an evidence that the two genera- 
tions represent different phenomena 
of reproduction. The conjugate gen- 
eration usually shows a general increase 
of vegetative vigor over the parental 
stocks, while perjugates are often weak 
or defective. Another general difference 
is that the individual members of a 
conjugate generation are usually alike, 
while the perjugates of the same stock 
are often very diverse. Thus when two 
distinct types of cotton are crossed the 
conjugate hybrids are as uniform as 
the members of the parent stocks, or 
even more uniform, but in the perjugate 
generations a wide range of characters 
may be shown, extending beyond the 
parental types as well as between them. 
The uniformity of the conjugates may 
be ascribed to the fact that the nuclear 


elements derived from the parent germ- 
cells are not fused or redistributed, but 
are merely associated in the same celis, 
much as different stocks may be united 
by grafting. The diversity of the per- 
jugates indicates that the nuclear ele- 
ments have formed more intimate and 
varied combinations.” 

In view of these essential differences 
it is evident that the two classes of 
hybrids must be formally recognized be- 
fore any useful generalizations can be 
framed. Of hybrids or of hybridization 
as a whole, little or nothing.can be said 
that is not erroneous or misleading. All 
of our general statements regarding the 
nature, behavior or agricultural value 
of hybrids relate to one of the two 
classes, instead of to both. Conjugate 
hybrids are of use chiefly in plants that 
are adapted for vegetative propagation, 
while seed-propagated varieties must be 
secured by selection from perjugate 
generations. Conjugate hybrids are 
useful in some crops, perjugate hybrids 
in others. In each experiment the 
conjugates may be expected to show 
one series of biological phenomena, 
and the perjugates another, contrasting 
series. For all scientific and practical 
purposes it is necessary to keep in 
mind the differences between the two 
classes of hybrids, and this would be 
easier if distinctive names were em- 


ployed. 

2 The nature and extent of the diversity that has been observed in cotton may be judged from 
the photographs accompanying the more detailed paper on Perjugate Cotton Hybrids by Charles 
G. Marshall. 


A Race Betterment Exhibit 


Desiring to render concrete some of the positive suggestions made at Battle 
Creek in January, 1914, the Race Betterment Fund (which has recently received 
a permanent endowment of $300,000) is arranging for a Race Betterment Exhibit 
in the Educational Building of the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco. 
The keystone of the exhibit will embody the constructive and practical methods 
of race betterment, viz.: preventive medicine, social and personal hygiene, child 
and civic welfare agencies, practicable eugenic suggestions, etc., but a certain 
amount of space will be devoted to the causes and evidences of race degeneracy. 
The Eugenics Record Office will not have an exhibit as it had planned. 


SEERIUGATE COTJON EYBRIDS 


Amazing Diversity Characterizes Second Generation After Cross, and Affects 
All Characters of Plants, While First or Conjugate Generation 
Shows Great Uniformity. 


CHARLES G. MARSHALL 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 


IVERSITY in the perjugate 

generations of cotton hybrids 

must be a familiar phenomenon 

to all who have made the 
experiment of crossing two distinct 
types of cotton. It has been shown in 
numerous crosses that have been made 
between the Egyptian cotton and a 
series of Upland varieties. One of the 
most conspicuous examples was _ af- 
forded by a series of hybrids between 
the Egyptian cotton and the so-called 
“Hindi” cotton, an inferior type chiefly 
known as a contamination of the 
Egyptian crop. The experiment of 
making artificial crosses between the 
Egyptian and Hindi cotton was not 
made with any idea of securing superior 
varieties but in order to learn the range 
of diversity in the Egyptian stock that 
might be ascribed reasonably to con- 
tamination with the Hindi cotton. The 
results showed that a very wide range 
of diversity could be induced by hy- 
bridization. With the advice of O. F. 
Cook detailed notes were made on a 
series of plants as a means of recording 
the nature and extent of the diversities 
that appeared among the perjugate 
hybrids.' 

In 1910 self-fertilized bolls of a con- 
jugate hybrid plant of Hindi x Egyptian 
cotton were secured by A. McLachlan, 
and in 1911 the seed was planted at 
Bard, California, in order to observe 
the behavior of the second or perjugate 
generation. Conjugate hybrids be- 
tween the same stocks were raised in 
adjoining rows, and the essential differ- 
ences between the two generations were 
shown in a very conspicuous manner. 

Members of the conjugate generation 


were not only uniformly alike but 
showed characters intermediate be- 
tween the two parent stocks. The 
perjugates, however, were so diverse 
that no two plants could be found with 
even a few of their characters alike. 
Many of the plants would not have 
been associated with either of the parent 
types, if their parentage had not been 
definitely known. Parental characters 
were not only exaggerated but in many 
cases entirely new characters were de- 
veloped. 


EXTENT OF DIVERSITY. 


Even in their general appearance and 
behavior the perjugate plants showed a 
most remarkable range of diversity. 
There were all degrees of size, coloring, 
habit of growth and earliness of matur- 
ity. One plant might be large, light 
in color, strong and upright and late in 
maturing and the next plant in the 
row be small, dark in color, weak and 
drooping and early in maturing. Yet 
such completely contrasted plants might 
be full sisters, grown from seed of the 
same self-fertilized boll. 


DIFFERENCE IN LEAVES AND BRACTS. 


Studies of the different parts of the 
several plants such as the leaves, 
involucral bracts, bolls and seeds, re- 
vealed as great diversity and range of 
differences among these more detailed 
characters as there was in the general 
appearance and habit of growth of the 
plants. Many combinations of these 
characters were to be found in the 
different plants but no two plants were 
found that appeared to have the same 
combination, nor was it possible to 


1 Cook, O. F., Hindi cotton in Egypt, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant In- 
dustry, Bulletin 210, 1911, and Heredity and Cotton Breeding, Bulletin 256, 1913. 


7 


on 


card 


eee 


CONJUGATE HYBRID AND ITS PARENTS 
Two upper left-hand bolls are Egyptian cotton, the two upper right-hand -bolls Hindi cotton. 
A cross between these two types produced cotton which was quite uniform; the bolls of 
this conjugate hybrid generation are shown in the center and lower part of the photograph. 
Their uniformity is to be contrasted with the diversity shown in hybrids of the second or 
Photo natural size. 


perjugate generation, as exhibited in the following illustrations. 


(Fig. 1.) 


BOLLS OF PERJUGATE HYBRIDS 


They represent the second generation from a cross of Egyptian and Hindi cottons. The six 
specimens represent six consecutive sister plants raised from seeds from the same boll 
of the conjugate parent, produced from a self-fertilized flower. Compare the diversity 
of these bolis with the relative uniformity shown by the conjugate generation in the preced- 
ing illustration. Photograph natural size. (Fig. 2.) 


BOLLS OF PERJUGATE HYBRIDS 

Five bolls from each of the first two sister pl 

between Egyptian and Hindi types of cotton. 

plate with the right-hand side, a vivid impr 

of boll characters among perjugate hybri 
(Fig. 3.) 


ants represented in fig. 2, the progeny of a cross 
By comparing the left-hand side of the 
ession of the nature and extent of differences 
Is can be gained. Photograph natural size, 


Marshall: Perjugate Cotton Hybrids 61 


discover any general correlations or 
definite associations between any of 
the more important structural differ- 
ences. 

The leaves of the different plants 
varied in color from a light or yellowish 
green to a very dark green, some of the 
plants showing a bronze or reddish 
tinge. They also varied in shape from 
simple leaves to leaves with deeply 
cut lobes, with margins wavy or crenate 
in many different degrees. There was 
the same variation in the glossy or hairy 
surfaces, as well as in texture and vein- 
ing; in fact the leaves of sister plants 
were often so different that they might 
well have represented as many distinct 
types of cotton. 

Figure 4 gives an idea of some of the 
differences and peculiar characteristics 
of the involucral bracts of five of the 
perjugate hybrid plants. The bracts 
not only differed in size, shape, texture 
and coloring, but many of them revealed 
in their position around the boll new 
traits entirely foreign to either of the 
parent stocks. In one case the bracts 
performed a peculiar twist at the ends, 
leaving the boll exposed and giving the 
appearance of a toy pinwheel, especially 
if viewed from above. The bracts of 
another plant were very large and con- 
cave or inflated, completely enclosing 
the bolls. 


DIFFERENCES IN BOLLS AND SEEDS. 


The extra-floral nectaries, which are 
one of the specialized features of the 
cotton plant, also showed many aber- 
rations, and sometimes marked degen- 
eration. The general tendency seemed 
to be toward a smaller development of 
nectaries than in the parent stocks. 
On the inajority of the plants the nec- 
taries both of the leaves and involucres 
were very small and inactive or alto- 
gether absent. One plant, however, 
had very large and active nectaries, 
larger than is customary with either of 
the parent stocks. Another plant had 
one active nectary on the midrib of the 
leaf and the nectaries inside the in- 
volucral bracts were large and active, 
but those on the outside of the in- 
volucral bracts were inactive, and 
often lacking altogether. 


The bolls of these perjugate hybrids 
were perhaps more striking in their 
diversity and possession of strange 
characters than any other parts of the 
plant. There were many shapes, some 
very unusual and freakish. The bolls 
of one plant were very long and narrow, 
almost cigar-shaped. Another plant 
had bolls almost round but with a beak 
as long as, and in many cases longer 
than, the body of the boll. Still another 
plant had small bolls with blunt ends 
and a constriction at the middle which 
made them look like peanuts. Some 
plants had large bolls and some small, 
some had bolls dotted with numerous 
oil glands and some with few, some 
plants had bolls deeply pitted and some 
had bolls with smooth surfaces, the 
oil glands being more deeply buried in 
the tissues of the wall. 

The seed and lint characters were as 
diverse as the boll characters. The 
seeds from the different plants were of 
many sizes and shapes and no two 
plants showed the same distribution of 
fuzz on the seed. The seed of one 
hybrid plant was entirely naked while 
usually there were tufts of fuzz at either 
the apex or base of the seed or at both 
ends, these tufts varying in size for the 
different plants. Several plants had 
the seeds completely covered with 
thick fuzz, but even these differed from 
each other in that some had green fuzz, 
some brown and some pure white. The 
lint also varied greatly in both quantity 
and quality and ranged in color from 
a pure white to a decided buff. From a 
commercial standpoint the lint would 
have been of little value because of the 
variation in length and quality of the 
lint from the different plants. 

A few descriptions of individual 
Hindi-Egyptian hybrid plants of the 
perjugate generation may help to show 
how diverse they were, and how in 
many cases their characters ranged be- 
yond either of the parent stocks. The 
plants here described were grown from 
self-fertilized seed of one conjugate 
Hindi x Egyptian plant. The first six 
plants were grown from seed of one 
boll, the next three from another boll 
and the last three from a third boll. 
No attempt is made to cover all the 


BRACTS OF PERJUGATE HYBRIDS 


Involucral bracts of the perjugate hybri 


w 
W 


five of the sister plants 
texture of the bracts. 


) 


n 


in 


ny. 


ids between Egyptian and Hindi cottons, representing 
) 


Note the difference in form, size, position and 


Photographs natural size. (Fig. 4. 


— 


oT 


t 


ENR RT 


eS Chea 


SEEDS OF PERJUGATE COTTON HYBRIDS 


The 12 groups represent 12 sister plants of the second generation from the cross of 
Egyptian and Hindi cottons. The first six are the same plants represented by 
the bolls in fig. 2, the next three are from another self-fertilized boll of the sam 
mother-plant, and the last three are from still another boll of the same mot! 
plant, also self-fertilized. In addition to the differences in size and shapx 


+h 


seed and in texture and distribution of fuzz, these seeds differed in the 
the fuzz and the length, color and quality of the lint. Natural size. 


64 The Journal of Heredity 


points of difference, but merely to 
state the features in which the plants 
differed most noticeably from each 
other and from the parental types. 


INDIVIDUAL PLANTS. 


No. 1. Plant large with heavy foliage and 
reddish branches; leaves large, slightly crenate 
with well developed active nectaries. Involu- 
cral bracts with a reddish tinge, medium 
sized, triangular, joined slightly at the base 
and lying close to the boll. Bolls large, ir- 
regular in outline, long and tapering from 
broad base to a tapering beak at the end, 
deeply but not closely pitted with oil glands. 
Seeds nearly naked with small tufts of fuzz at 
both ends. 

No. 2. Plant medium sized, and light 
colored. Leaves glossy, very slightly crenate, 
with nectaries lacking or inactive. Involucral 
bracts very large with long irregular teeth. 
The bracts concave and inflated, completely 
covering the boll. Shape of bolls much the 
same as those of No. 1, but smaller and fuller, 
smoother, and more glossy, with more oil 
glands. Seeds large, round with thick green 
fuzz. 

No. 3. Plant large and light colored, with 
slim weak branches. Leaves large, with slightly 
crenate margins and one active nectary on 
the midrib. Involucral bracts coarse in 
texture, long and triangular, strongly twisted 
to one side, thus leaving the boll exposed. 
Bolls narrow oblong, very long and slim, deeply 
pitted and with no gloss. Seeds long and 
nearly naked, but with small tufts of fuzz at 
both ends. 

No. 4. Plant large and luxuriant, with dark 
foliage. Leaves decidedly crenate, and more 
hirsute than those of preceding plants. In- 
volucral bracts large, with coarse teeth, 
triangular and not cordate at the base but 
joined together for a half inch. Bolls of 
medium size tapering from above the middle, 
to a short point, and intermediate in color with 
numerous oil glands, glossy and smooth. Seed 
small, round, nearly naked, with small tufts 
at both ends. 

No. 5. Plant large, strong and vigorous, but 
very late in maturing. Leaves large, upright, 
crenate, light in color, with dull surfaces and 
small nectaries. Involucral bracts rather 
small, triangular, scarcely cordate at the base, 
and but slightly joined. Bolls conical oval, 
full, very glossy, numerously dotted but not 
deeply pitted with oil glands. Seed rather 
long, nearly naked, with very small tufts at 
both ends. 

No. 6. Plant small, dark in color, very pro- 
ductive and early in maturing, in many re- 
spects exactly the opposite of No. 5. Leaves 
small, glossy with straight, even margins, 
broad and not as deeply lobed as preceding 
plants; but one nectary on leaves, but that 
large and active. Involucral bracts small, 
triangular with even teeth, neither cordate 
nor joined at the base. Bolls small, almost 
round, with a short, rather blunt beak, glossy 


and numerously dotted but not deeply pitted 
with oil glands. Seeds small, nearly naked, 
with no tufts of fuzz. 

No. 7. Plant very large with many vege- 
tative branches and no fruiting branches 
developed for four feet up the main stalk. 
Leaves large, with broad lobes very slightly 
cut and very often simple. Leaves light in 
color, but with a bronze tinge and very glossy. 
Bracts very small, round, evenly toothed and 
lying close to the boll, bronze in color. Boll of 
medium size, round, full, tapering abruptly 


into a thin pointed beak, dark, glossy and: 


abundantly and deeply pitted with oil glands. 
Seed large, round, covered with thick white 
fuzz. 

No. 8. Plant tall and dark in color. Leaves 
small and strongly crenate, dark and glossy, 
showing but one nectary. Bracts small, 
triangular, not cordate at the base but joined, 
with a copper tinge. The ends of the bracts 
twist to the side, thus leaving the boll exposed. 
Bolls like those of plant No. 7. Seeds large, 
round and nearly naked with a large heavy 
tuft at base. 

No. 9. Plant tall and weak with red drooping 
branches, very productive and early in matur- 
ing. Leaves large, with deeply cut lobes, 
light in color, not glossy. Bracts of medium 
size, more round than triangular, with teeth 
curving outward. Their special feature is that 
they are strongly concave or inflated, forming 
a balloon-lke enclosure around the boll. 
Bolls of medium size, long, tapering gradually 
from the middle to a beak, light in color, the 
surface rough and deeply pitted with oil 
glands. Seeds small, covered with thin fuzz 
and a small dense tuft at base. 

Plant 10. Plant medium sized, sturdy and 
early in maturing. Leaves of medium size, 
light in color, not glossy, not crenate and 
almost square in shape with two or three well 
developed nectaries. Bracts medium sized, 
reddish, round, slightly inflated and inclined 
to twist to one side at the ends, very cordate 
at the base, but not joined. Bolls medium 
sized, oval tapering to a blunt beak, light in 
color, glossy with few oil glands. Seeds large, 
angular and covered with greenish fuzz. 

Plant 11. Plant small, dark in color and 
early in maturing. Leaves medium sized, 
broad, with narrow sharp lobes, the margins 
strongly crenate, the leaf nectaries present 
and active. Bracts very small, triangular 
with short teeth, the division of the three 
teeth at the end of the bract showing plainly, 
slightly cordate and joined at the base. Bolls 
small, tapering abruptly from below the 
middle to a blunt point, light in color, not 
glossy, with few oil glands. Seed medium 
sized, angular, nearly naked, with very small 
tuft at base. 

Plant 12. Plant small and weak, light in 
color. Leaves intermediate in size and color, 
but slightly crenate. Bracts small, with a 
reddish tinge, round, with short teeth, slightly 
cordate, but not joined at the base.  Bolls 
large, tapering from the middle into a blunt 
beak, light in color, smooth, glossy, full, oval. 
Seeds large, plump and completely naked. 


VX 


E. S. CARMAN 


One of the Greatest of American Plant Breeders—-His Work Too Little 
Appreciated—Success With Potatoes Most Noteworthy—His 
Activity as a Journalist. 
: E. M. East 
Bussey Institution, Forest Hills, Massachusetts. 


the actual truth that “If a man 

preach a better sermon, write a 

better book, or build a_ better 
mouse-trap than his neighbor, though 
he hide himself in the wilderness, the 
world will make a beaten path to his 
door.’’ The world as a whole is likely 
to give its applause to some very unim- 
portant people. And after all is it not 
probable that too general a commenda- 
tion encourages superficial rather than 
solid work? The anti-socialistic argu- 
ment that a more even distribution of 
earthly comforts would oppose progress 
because it limits ambition is a pure 
sophism. Few things worth doing have 
been done with either money, power or 
fame in view. For this reason there is 
no need to feel sorry that E. S. Carman, 
great alike as agricultural journalist, 
public spirited citizen and creator of 
new varieties of plants, never received 
the panegyrics of which some others 
have been since the recipients. He had 
the happiness described by Marcus 
Aurelius: ““A man’s happiness—to do 
the things proper to man.’ Not that 
Mr. Carman was unknown—perhaps 
the editor of no rural paper was admired 
and trusted more—but, even with the 
temptation of a private medium for 
exploiting his triumphs, he did no more 
than describe carefully and impartially 
success and failures alike with the 
honesty of a true nature-lover and born 
investigator. 

Mr. Carman would probably have 
denied that he was a great plant 
breeder. He originated no new methods 
and made few contributions to the 
study of heredity; but he did discover 
many interesting facts during his hy- 
bridization experiments and he added 


[ IS a delightful epigram but hardly 


hundreds of millions of dollars to the 
wealth of the country, keeping nothing 
for himself. He was a national bene- 
factor, and who will say he was not a 
great man when he placed public 
service before private gain? His atti- 
tude in the matter is summed up in the 
final paragraph of an article on the five 
famous potato varieties placed on the 
market between 1882 and 1896. ‘‘It 
will now appear that for our 16 years of 
potato work, we have sold five kinds for 
precisely $1,000. We dare say that, 
had we used our columns for advertising 
the three kinds now offered for sale, 
retaining the entire control as long as 
possible, The Rural New-Yorker might 
easily have made a snug little fortune. 
But, tell us friends, were we to crack up 
the plants that have originated at the 
“Rural Grounds” while we sold them to 
you either directly or indirectly, do you 
think that you would place as much 
confidence in the thorough impartiality 
of our plant reports, as you do now?” 
Ten years ago the writer made a trip 
through the great potato regions of 
Wisconsin and Minnesota. During it 
one of the most successful and best in- 
formed growers stated that in the 
previous decade 80% of the potatoes of 
the country were either Mr. Carman’s 
productions or seedlings from them. 
How much truth there was in this state- 
ment it is impossible to say, but dis- 
count it as much as one will, can it be 
said that there is no such thing as 
altruism ? 


POTATO CREATIONS. 


The famous potatoes from the Rural 
Grounds were Rural Blush, Rural New- 
Yorker No. 2, Carman No. 1, Carman 
No. 3 and Sir Walter Raleigh. They 

65 


66 The Journal 


were not raised from hand hybridized 
seed, though this had been the original 
intention. Sixty-two varieties were 
grown as prospective parents, but cross- 
ing proved impossible; no functional 
pollen was formed. A few natural seed 
berries were found, however, and from 
them after years of testing these five 
kinds proved to be the fittest. Even 
the records of the maternal parents were 
lost, but the goal set at the beginning 
was reached. . New potatoes better 
than the old Early Rose and Peachblow 
were produced. Considering the amount 
of time and space at command, it was 
probably the most successful practical 
plant breeding experiment ever tried. 

In ail of the other hybridization 
work, Mr. Carman made careful castra- 
tions of the flowers used as female 
parents, protected the blossoms from 
foreign pollen and made the crosses by 
hand. ‘‘Guess work in hybridization 
or crossing,” he says, “is altogether 
abominable, because it is impossible 
to know whether anything has been 
effected or not, while the variations 
sure to appear in the seedling plants, 
it will be assumed, are evidences of 
cross-bred parentage.” 

One of the most interesting pieces of 
work brought to a successful conclusion, 
was a cross between the beardless Arm- 
stron. wheat and rye made in 1882. 
Several varieties from this cross were 
finally introduced, but whether they 
battled successfully with pure wheats 
or ryes, I have never heard.’ The im- 
portant thing was the variation in a 
first hybrid generation which was con- 
clusively demonstrated—work which it 
would be interesting to repeat even now 
as the constancy or comparative homo- 
zygosity of the parents was unknown— 
and the pioneer work of showing the 
possibility of making crosses between 
these two generically different cereals. 
Mr. Carman saw the salient point very 
clearly as the following quotation shows: 
‘‘What do they promise’ If the hybrids 
give us a grain less valuable than rye or 


grain is possible. 


of Heredity 


wheat, nothing will be gained in this 
case, except the curious fact that a 
cross between two different genera of 
This established, 
however, the way is opened for further 
hybridization the pregnant results of 
wh'ch can only be guessed at ”’ 
Another int resting specific cross made 
by Mr. Carman was between the black- 
berry and the raspberry. It gave noth- 


ing of commercial importance, though’ 


by repeating it Luther Burbank is said 
to have produced a valuable berry. 
Neither Mr. Burbank nor Mr. Carman, 
however, was the first to make thts 
cross: Mr. Carman, himself, admits 
obtaining the idea from William Saun- 
ders of London, Ontario, who had pro- 
duced similar hybrids some five years 
before. 


WORK WITH SOLANUMS. 


Mr. Carman’s taste evidently was 
partial to the Solanacezee. He worked 
for many years on tomatoes. and suc- 
ceeded in isolating from his various 
crosses five types that were worthy of 
introduction to the trade. They were 
the Longkeeper, Lemon Blush, Terra 
Cotta, Autocrat and Democrat. Auto- 
crat and Lemon Blush were known for 
years as the finest of their kind. He 
also crossed the common tomato with 
both the Currant Tomato L. pimpzinel- 
lifolium and the nearly related genus 
Physalis. Whether any valuable types 
were produced from the first cross or 
not, I have been unable to find out, 
but it was demonstrated that the first 
hybrid generation was intermediate in 
character and that a few of the indi- 
viduals of the latter generations com- 
bined a fairly large size of fruit with the 
racemic type of inflorescence. The 
generic cross was not sufficiently fertile 
to be propagated, and died out after 
a couple of generations. 

Various other crosses of all kinds 
kept up the interest of Mr. Carman in 
his work, in which he was efficiently and 
enthusiastically aided by Mrs. Carman, 


1W. Van Fleet, who was associated with Mr. Carman in his breeding work, states that none 
of the real hybrid types survived continued propagation. Segregation occurred to such an extent 


that the progeny soon became, to all appearances, either rye or wheat. 
proved of particular value, but several of the wheat types are still in use. 


None of the rye types 
Farmers Bulletin No. 


616 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, ‘‘Winter Wheat Varieties for the Eastern States,” 
recommends the soft ‘‘Rural New Yorker No. 57,’’ one of Carman’s creations.—The Editor. 


Te ee 


Bast: B. 5: Carman 67 


although with one exception the rose 
hybrids were the only ones that were 
extremely valuable. This was the Car- 
man Gooseberry. Here was a goose- 
berry that might have revolutionized 
gooseberry growing since in a limited 
test it was mildew proof, but unfor- 
tunately the seed firm to which it was 
sold was unable to propagate it. 

The roses were perhaps the real 
attraction of the ‘Rural Grounds.” 
The Rosa rugosa of Japan was the 
foundation stock, and upon it were 
crossed first the Austrian hardy yellow 
rose known as Harrison’s Yellow, then 
Hybrid Perpetuals and afterwards Hy- 
brid Teas. From these crosses hundreds 
of plants were raised—most of them, of 
course, worthless, but some of remark- 
able beauty. From the first cross men- 
tioned came the Agnes Emily Carman, a 
fine, hardy, longlived, though thorny 
variety. In color it was like the 
Jacqueminot, but many times as profuse 
in blossoming. From other crosses 
came procumbent roses, hedge roses, tea 
roses, etc., etc. They did not attain 
pre-eminence as did the potato varieties 
but they helped and still help to brighten 
many a flower garden. 


Elbert S. Carman was born on 
November 30, 1836, in Hempstead, 
Long Island. He entered Brown Uni- 
versity in 1854, rooming with John 
Hay. He was obliged to withdraw after 
two years of work, however, on account 
of illness. In 1873, he married Agnes 
E. Brown, by whom he had two chil- 
dren. Immediately after his marriage 
he moved to River Edge, N. J., where 
he began to plant and experiment on 
the place that afterward became so 
well known as the ‘“‘Rural Grounds.”’ 
While here he became so interested in 
Moore’s Rural New-Yorker as a con- 
tributor, that he purchased the paper 
and became its editor in 1876. Through 
an absolutely open and honest policy, 
he made this journal a power in the 
agricultural world. For many years it 
has stood out against all frauds and 
impostures to the farmer, even though 
this went against its monetary interests. 
Mr. Carman died February 28, 1900, 
regretted by the many friends he had 
made in his editorial capacity, who 
wrote of him like the hero of Leigh 
Hunt’s ever popular poem, “‘as one 
who loved his fellow men.”’ 


The Chromosome Hypothesis of Heredity 


A working hypothesis of some sort is an essential too! of an advancing branch of experimental 
science. It behooves us in the study of heredity to use the best hypothesis we have, until it is 


replaced by a better. 


The chief objections to the chromosome hypothesis, so far as I can gather them, are: 


Oe Ge 


ulations 


. The English pioneer, Bateson, used instead the working hypothesis of somatic segregation. 
The chromosome hypothesis does not appeal to physiologists and chemists. 

The affairs of the chromcsomes may be regarded as a consequence instead of as a cause. 
Many of the changes of chromosomes and nucleus are still uncertain. 

The chromosome hypothesis was discredited by Weismann’s extensive and untested spec- 


On the other hand, there are advantages in the use of the chromosome hypothesis. 
1. Bateson’s counter hypothesis of somatic segregation has proved barren, and appears to be 


contradicted by certain facts. 


2. Strasburger’s unrivalled experience found the chromosome hypothesis to fit the facts of 


plant cytology as well as those of inheritance. 


3. The chromosome hypothesis fits the breeding facts of the Cambridge school even better 


than their own hypothesis. 


4. It has been used as a fertile working hypothesis by Morgan and his fellow-workers in their 


unique experiments at Columbia University. 


5. It seems to be coming more and more into use in accounts of research in plant bree ling. 
Whether we like it or not, it appears to be here to stay. 


It has, I think, no serious rival. 


It must be remembered that an experimenter does not usually question whether the hyp: thesis 
he usés is true or false, but whether it is useful or barren in leading to new experiments or con- 
necting up facts. Working with it will soon show whether it is good or bad. 

Joun BELLING, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. 


JERSEY-ANGUS CATTLE 


Cross Produces Diversity of Types and May Lead to Establishment of Valuable 
New Breed Which Will Combine Dairy and Beef Character- 
istics and Be Hardy. 


ARTHUR H. KUHLMAN 
Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Ws. 


N HIS country estate near the 
little village of Thirsk in north- 
ern England, Frances B. Sam- 
uelson is making a_ practical 

application of Mendelian principles in 
producing a herd of cattle adapted to 
the conditions of that locality. Stock- 
men of northern England and southern 
Scotland claim that numerous attempts 
have been made to introduce the Jersey 
breed into those sections but apparently 
the Jersey is not able to adapt itself to 
the climatic conditions of this region 
and has failed to thrive. The strictly 
beef breeds do well, but according to 
Mr. Samuelson’s ideas do not produce 
the desired quantity or quality of milk. 

In trying to produce an animal that 
would fulfill all of these conditions, Mr. 
Samuelson began crossing Shorthorns 
and Jerseys, but as the subsequent off- 
spring showed such a variety of colors, 
resulting in a decided lack of uniformity 
in the color markings of the herd, this 
cross was abandoned. About seven 
years ago the Jersey-Angus cross was 
begun. Five typical pure bred Jersey 
cows were mated with a pure bred 
Aberdeen-Angus bull. Five F, females 
(one of these is shown in Fig. 6) ob- 
tained from this cross were in turn 
mated with an F; bull. The F, heifers 
were then mated with an F, bull. 

The F, generation has many of the 
outward appearances of the Angus, be- 
ing black or dun in color, polled and 
rather beefy in conformation. Milk 
records of all the cows are being kept and 
the F,; cows show a high yield of milk 
and butter fat, ranking almost as high 
as their Jersey dams. These cross-bred 
cows have very uniform and good sized 
udders and seem to be good dairy 
animals. They are also more hardy 

68 


than their dams, requiring less close 
housing during the winter. In fact open 
sheds have been found to furnish suffici- 
ent protection for all the young stock 
and the warm stables needed to house 
the Jersey cows proved too warm for 
the cross-breds. 


HIGH MILK PRODUCTION. 


One of the F, cows (Fig. 7) in milk 
last summer when I saw the herd, was 
giving 30 pounds of milk daily which 
tested over 4% butter fat. During her 
first lactation period she produced 4,110 
pounds of milk. She is a dark or 
brindled fawn having many dairy 
characteristics but is rather more beefy 
than a Jersey. ; 

Sixty animals are numbered and 
entered in the herd records but only 20 
are now in the herd, which at the 
present time consists of the following 

2 Jersey cows. 

6 F, cows. 

2 F, bulls (Figs. 8 and 9). 

8 F, females (see figs. 7, 10 and 11). 

2 F; calves. 

As stated above, all the F; individuals 
are black. Among the F, progeny four 
heifers and a bull are black like the F;, 
individuals, one heifer is black with 
gray hairs on her face, a bull and a 
heifer are brindled fawn, and two 
heifers are very dark fawn with light 
fawn markings around muzzle, ears 
and inner thighs. Six of the F, heifers 
are distinctly polled lke the Angus 
while two have a square poll like a 
heifer that has been dehorned. The F, 
yearling bull that has been selected as 
stock bull (Fig. 8), has many Jersey 
characteristics as regards form of head 
and body. He is perhaps more of the 
dairy than the beef type, is reddish 


mis, 


FIRST GENERATION JERSEY X ANGUS CROSS 
A smooth neat cow with a good udder, who shows the characteristic poll of- the Angus and is 
somewhat beefy. The breeder is attempting to combine the unrivaled milk yield of the 
Jersey with the hardiness and beef quality of the Angus. (Fig. 6.) 


SECOND GENERATION HEIFER 


This cow, orange-fawn in color, shows ‘“‘dairy form’ and is proving a good producer. The 
fawn colors are preferred by the breeder, although many of the progeny of the cross have 
been black or dark. (Fig. 7.) 


THE SIRE OF THE HYBRID HERD 


Second generation bull of the Jersey x Angus cross. He is reddish fawn, slightly brindled, 
with a Jersey muzzle. (Fig. 8.) 


2% 


_ 
ere | 


fa 
: 
, 


ALMOST A TYPICAL ANGUS 


Another second generation bull from the Jersey x Angus cross, who shows very few of the 
Jersey characteristics. Not being of the type desired by the breeder, he has been discarded 


I 


in favor of one who shows fewer of the Angus traits. (Fig. 9. 


AG tae. Poe pe Pili 


SECOND GENERATION HEIFER 


One of the favorites in the herd. She has a light muzzle and inner thighs, while body is dark 
fawn. (Fig. 10.) 


SECOND GENERATION HEIFER 


Rather too smooth and beefy to meet the breeder’s tastes. He is seeking a dairy strain 
of all, and although he wants it to have beef Bites. he does not care to let the 
preponderate. (Fig. 11.) 


(peat The Journal 


fawn and slightly brindled and has a 
typical Jersey muzzle. He seems to be 
more red than any of the cross-breds 
obtained thus far. His poll is slightly 
rounded and while he is not hornless 
the scurs are very short and loose. 
The other F, bull (Fig. 9), is polled, jet 
black and could almost pass as an 
Angus. The owner does not favor this 
type and will hold him in reserve to be 
used in the herd only if it should become 
necessary. 

While the F; generation shows much 
uniformity, the F, individuals show 
marked variations in conformation and 
color indicating a segregation and re- 
combination of the characters of the 
original parents. This fact always 
needs consideration by one who is 
trying to develop a new breed. The 
following are some of the apparent 
types which have appeared in the 
second generation of this Jersey-Angus 
cross: 

Black polled ‘“‘Angus”’ type; 

Black horned; 

Black with indication of fawn, 

Black and white, horned; 

Orange fawn with light muzzle and polled; 

Brindled fawn with dark muzzle; 

Black with grey hairs in face. 

Only those animals that are of the 
type that Mr. Samuelson likes are 
kept for breeding purposes. He prefers 
a dun or red fawn to a black color and 
does not like those that are too “beefy.” 
He is working on this as a commercial 
proposition, but is keeping an accurate 
record of every animal, its performance 
and final disposition. Those cross- 
breds that are not used in the breeding 
herd are sold in the open market as 
Jersey-Angus crosses, and bring prices 
as good as most beef cattle. A pair of 


“Jersey”’ type; 


of Heredity 


yearling heifers brought $62 each, 
while the average price of a dozen or 
more hand-reared, two-year-old fat 
steers is about $92.50. There was little 
or no discrimination against them on 
account of the Jersey blood they car- 
rieds 

The two F; calves were born since I 
saw the herd but according to informa- 
tion received from the estate they are 
very dark; Six more“, calvessare 
expected this winter, and the heifers of 
this cross will be mated with an F; bull. 

It is the owner’s intention to continue 
this work and perhaps establish a new 
breed. Of course this will necessarily 
require a long time and the discarding 
of many animals that do not come up 
to the standard. 

This herd was particularly interesting 
to me for the same cross was begun by 
Leon J. Cole of the Departments 
Experimental Breeding of the University 
of Wisconsin in 1912, but without 
knowledge at the time of this practical 
trial which was started several’ years 
earlier. In the Wisconsin experiment 
Jersey cows are mated with an Angus 
bull and Angus cows with a Jersey bull. 
The object is to study the segregation 
and behavior of the characters of these 
two breeds, which differ so markedly in 
conformation, type and function. Thus 
far only the first cross, consisting of 
seven F, offspring, has been obtained 
and as might be expected they are 
similar to those obtained from the 
same cross in England. By means of 
measurements and analyses it is hoped 
to secure information on the number, 
nature and method of transmission of 
many of the characters of the two 
breeds. 


Genealogy and Eugenics 


An International Congress of Genealogy will assemble at 


the week beginning Monday, 
Genealogical Society. 


San Francisco during 


July 26, under the management of the California 
All genealogical, historical, patriotic and family societies 
and associations throughout the w orld are invited to appoint delegates. 


Among 


the subjects for consideration is the relation between ge nealogical investigation 


and eugenics. 


Miss Carlie Inez Tomlinson, Exposition Building, San Francisco, 


is secretary of the committee on organization. 


tea Mi anti laa ma ial 


TOBACCO MUTATIONS 


Sports of Great Value Apparently Not Due to Hybridization But to Some Change 
in the Reproductive Cells After Fertilization—History of 
the Mutants.’ 


H. K. Haves 
Associate Professor of Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, University of Minne- 
sota, St. Paul, Minn. 


OME one has said that inheritance 
is the ability to produce certain 
characters under certain favor- 
able conditions of environment. 
As some plants have slightly more 
favorable conditions than others, even 
when all are grown under fairly uniform 
environment, we find that there are 
always some plants in which the char- 
acter under observation is more fully 
developed than in others. Permanent 
improvement in plants by the selection 
of these fluctuations has not, however, 
generally been obtained, and when this 
method has given new types the results 
can, as a rule, be more logically ex- 
plained as due to the isolation of the 
better biotypes of the race than by the 
gradual production of a new character 
by continuous selection. The ability of 
a breeder to produce new types is there- 
fore dependent on the possibility of ob- 
taining new inheritable variations. 

We now know that variation can be 
produced by crossing. If we cross two 
biotypes which differ by certain char- 
acters, an increase in variability is ob- 
tained in the second generation after 
the cross. The selection in this genera- 
tion of those plants which most nearly 
approach the desired habit, and further 
pedigreed breeding until the races breed 
true for the desired characters, have 
produced many new plant varieties of 
economic importance. 

New types insupposedly homozygous 
material, which suddenly appear and 
cannot be explained by crossing, are 
known as mutations. -~ It is the purpose 
of this paper to describe a constantly 
recurring mutation in Connecticut Ha- 


vana tobacco and to give further notes 
in regard to the sport which appeared 
in 1912 in a field of Connecticut Cuban 
shade tobacco. 


SHADE TOBACCO IN CONNECTICUT. 


The history of the production of the 
Connecticut Cuban shade type is well 
known. It was first grown in this 
country in 1904 from seed which was 
brought from Cuba the previous year 
by Wilham Hazelwood, of New York 
City. The first few crops were variable 
in habit, but selection soon served to 
isolate numerous biotypes. One line 
known as 13-29 proved its superiority. 
Seed from a number of self-fertilized 
plants of this line was saved in 1908 and 
was used for planting in 1910 at the 
Windsor Tobacco Growers’ Corporation 
in Bloomfield, giving a crop of uniform 
appearance in which no variations of 
importance were noticed. A_ large 
number of seed plants of this crop were 
saved, although the individual seed- 
heads were not separately covered 
with a manila paper bag to prevent 
crossing, as was the plan from 1904 to 
1909. It does not seem very likely, 
however, that much crossing would 
take place under the cheesecloth cover, 
and even if some crossing took place 
it would be between homozygous indi- 
viduals. Thus, prior to 1910 the Cuban 
variety was selfed for six generations and 
gave every evidence that it was of a 
homozygous nature. 

Further evidence that this Cuban 
strain was homozygous for leaf number 
may be given by the following experi- 
ment. In 1910, 150 plants grown from 


1 This Study was made at the Connecticut Experiment Station in New Haven. 


~~] 
w 


THE MUTANT AND ITS PARENT 


ft, a “‘Stewart Cuban”’ plant, at the right a plant of the normal Cuban tobacco from 
which the former originated suddenly in 1909. Photograph taken August 1, 1913: the 
normal type has already produced a blossom, while the mutant flowers very much later. 
The greater leaf yield of the mutant will also be noticed. (Fig. 12.) 


Hayes: Tobacco Mutations 75 


the 1908 Cuban seed were carefully 
counted for leaf number, the method 
being: to count the leaves on the main 
stem beginning at the fourth leaf from 
the base and counting to the leaf below 
the bald sucker at the top, the bald 
sucker being the first sucker which does 
not produce true leaves. This method 
gives approximately the number of 
leaves which are usually harvested. In 
1910 the plant which had the largest 
leaf number was _ self-pollinated by 
covering the seed-head with a manila 
paper bag. This method of selection for 
high leaf number has been continued 
from 1910 to 1914, inclusive, each year 
a plant with high leaf number being 
selected as a parent for the following 
generation. The total variation for 
leaf number was from 14 to 25 leaves 
per plant. The mean for 1910 was 19.9 
leaves per plant, and in 1914 a mean of 
19.9 leaves was also obtained. A total 
of 832 plants was counted, the smallest 
number of plants grown in any genera- 
tion being 124 and the largest number 
210. The experiment has _ therefore 
given negative results and serves to 
illustrate the impossibility in this variety 
of increasing the average leaf number 
by the continuous selection of fluctua- 
tions. 


NEW TYPE INCREASED. 


In 1912 the Windsor Tobacco Grow- 
ers’ Corporation grew about 100 acres 
of shade tobacco from seed saved under 
ihe, eheesecioth~ cover in 1910. The 
general appearance of the crop was 
uniform, and until late in the season no 
variations of importance were noted. 
During the clearing of the field by 
cutting down the stalks, one plant after 
being cut was observed to have a large 
number of unpicked leaves and no 
blossom. This plant was brought to 
the attention of the plantation manager, 
J. B. Stewart, who, after systematic 
search, found two others of similar 
habit. One of these, on being trans- 
planted and taken to the greenhouse 
of the Connecticut Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station in New Haven, survived 
and bore 72 leaves on the main stem, 
blossoming about January first. Con- 
siderable seed was saved from this plant. 


In 1913 about one-third of an acre 
of this new type was grown at the 
Windsor Tobacco Corporation’s plan- 
tation. The plants were of uniform 
appearance and differed from the normal 
Cuban in having leaves of a somewhat 
lighter green shade, in a partial absence 
of basal suckers, and in a practically 
indeterminate growth, whereas the nor- 
mal Cuban variety bears a terminal 
inflorescence after producing from 14 to 
25 leaves on the main stem. Twenty 
plants were taken to the Connecticut 
Experiment Station greenhouse in the 
fall of 1913. These commenced to 
blossom about the first of November, 
the range of leaf counts being from 62 
to 80 leaves per plant. 

About 25 acres of the new type, 
which has been called the ‘Stewart 
Cuban,” have been grown in the valley 
this last season, and all bred true to the 
new habit of growth. 

The third of an acre of Stewart 
Cuban which was grown at the Windsor 
Tobacco Corporation’s plantation in 
1913 was fermented, assorted, and com- 
pared with the Hazelwood Cuban type. 
The quality of leaf seemed as good as 
that of the normal type, and an in- 
creased yield per acre of approximately 
90% was obtained. The value of the 
1914 crop will also be determined. As 
the final determination of the value of a 
new type of tobacco depends on its con- 
formity to the trade ideals, it is tco 
soon to make any definite statements 
about the value of this new type. 

In order to obtain seed of the Stewart 
Cuban it is necessary to transplant a 
few plants to the greenhouse and 
thus prolong their period of growth. 
Plants thus transplanted blossomed 
about November first, producing an 
average of 70 leaves on the main stem. 
As the tobacco seed-beds are generally 
started about the first of April, it was 
thought that sowing seed in the green- 
house the last of December and grow- 
ing the plants in pots until the last of 
May and then transplanting them out 
of doors would give them sufficient 
start so that they would blossom before 
frost in -the Fall. Accordingly, on 
December 28, 1913, some seed of the 
Stewart Cuban was sown in sterilized 


16 Thies jeurnalonwwaereduhy, 


AFTER THE SECOND PICKING 


Stewart Cuban shade grown tobacco at Winds 


ir, Conn., August 


18, 1913. These plants have 


produced more than 30 leaves to the stalk, and two pickings have already been made. 
As the lower leaves ripen sooner than the upper ones do, they are harvested first, and 


five or six pickings 


soil in the greenhouse of the Connecticut 
Agricultural Experiment Station, the 
plants being transplanted when neces- 
sary, 8-inch pots bei g finally used. 
About the last of May, the plants were 
set out in the garden at the Connecticut 
Agricultural Station grounds in New 
Haven. They grew luxuriantly during 


are required to get the entire crop at the right stage. 


(Fig. 13.) 


the and about the middle of 
September they were photographed and 
examined. At this time they were 
from 12 to 14 feet tall, had produced an 
average of 80 leaves to the plant, and 
none showed signs of a blossom. On 
transplanting these to the greenhouse, 
however, only a few more leaves were 


season, 


Hayes: Tobacco Mutations re 


produced and all plants blossomed early 
in October. It seems very likely that a 
change in conditions may cause the 
plants to blossom. 


OTHER MUTANTS FOUND. 


The normal Cuban seed which was 
saved in 1910 was again used for plant- 
ing in 1913 and 1914, and over 350 
acres, or two and a half million plants, 
were grown. Although search was 
made at the Windsor Tobacco Growers’ 
Corporation, which grows over 200 
acres, no mutating plants were found. 
Several plants were, however, reported 
from other plantations where the 1910 
Windsor Tobacco Corporation seed was 
used, which presented the same habit 
of producing a large leaf number. As 
all plants of this new type came from 
the same seed, it can not be stated that 
they did not come from a single normal 
plant. 

Mutations of high leaf number have 
been observed in tobacco previous to 
this time. Several years ago a variant 
with a large leaf number was found in 
the outdoor Havana type at the farm 
of Mr. Alsop in Avon, and in 1912 two 
Havana plants which bore a large 
number of leaves were found at the 
Olds Brothers’ plantation in Bloom- 
field. One other similar plant was 
found by another Bloomfield farmer. 

The Olds Brothers’ Havana _ sport 
found in 1912 has now been tested, 
about five hundred plants of this type 
being grown in 1914. All bred true 
and none showed signs of a blossom 
during the normal growing season. 

It is of interest that these mutations 
have occurred in a variety, the Con- 
necticut Havana, which has been grown 
in Connecticut for a period of over 50 
years and which is of uniform habit. 
That it has been observed in different 
sections and by different growers shows 
that the same mutation must have 
taken place several times. In all of the 


above examples the mutation has only 
appeared for a single generation. : 

Recently, however, we have learned 
of a constantly recurring mutation for 
large leaf number which has been ob- 
served and studied by L. A. Clapp, a 
tobacco farmer of Windsor. Mr. Clapp 
grew 24 acres of Connecticut Havana 
in 1912 from seed which he saved in 
1911 from normal Havana plants. The 
Havana, as is the case with Cuban, 
produces from 14 to 25 leaves on the 
main stem before blossoming. During 
the work of harvesting his crop by the 
priming method,’ Mr. Clapp observed 
six plants which had not produced a 
blossom and which bore a large number 
of unpicked leaves. Thirty-six leaves 
from one of these plants were harvested, 
strung on a single lath and, after being 
cured, were examined by a_ tobacco 
buyer, who was very much pleased 
with their quality. 

This interested Mr. Clapp, who 
examined his 24 acre field in 1913, 
which he grew from seed saved from 
normal plants of his 1912 crop. After 
careful search, a dozen plants of the 
many-leaved type were found. One of 
these was transplanted and taken to a 
greenhouse. It blossomed during the 
winter and some seed was obtained. 
Mr. Clapp grew about 500 plants of this 
type in 1914 and all bred true to the 
new habit. 

24 acres of the normal Havana 
were grown in 1914 from seed saved 
from normal 1913 plants and, while no 
careful counts were made, Mr. Clapp 
observed about 50 plants of the many- 
leaved type. 

These mutations can hardly be ex- 
plained as the result of accidental 
crosses. A large series of crosses have 
been made in Connecticut, and, as a 
rule, there has been some increase of 
variability for leaf number in the second 
hybrid generation. In no case have we 
obtained types which exhibit this pe- 


2 The “priming method” of harvesting a tobacco crop is a recognition of the fact that the 


lower leaves of a plant ripen before the upper leaves. 


In it, four or five pickings are usually 


made: at the first one three or four leaves are taken, at the second five to seven, the same 
number at the third picking, and all remaining leaves at the fourth picking, when only four are 


made. 


The method was introduced into Connecticut with the culture of tobacco under cheese- 


cloth cover, and the entire crop (over 2,000 acres) of tobacco grown under cover in the Con- 


necticut valley is harvested by priming; most of the tobacco grown outdoors is still harvested 


| 


by the old method of cutting the entire plant close to the ground. 


78 The Journal of Heredity 


culiarity of a practically indeterminate 
growth. 

DeVries recognized two types of 
mutation: (1), a germinal change in 
either the male or female reproductive 
cell before fertilization, in which case 
the mutating individual was a first 
generation hybrid and did not breed 
true? ands (2)ha, mutation akver) te 
union of the male and female reproduc- 


tations belonging to this second class as 
they bred true and could therefore be 
distinguished from variations due to 
hybridization. These tobacco muta- 
tions seem to belong to the class in 
which a change has taken place after 
fertilization. DeVries also believed in 
periods of mutation. From this stand- 
point the constantly recurring variation 
in the Connecticut Havana variety is of 


tive cells. He chiefly emphasized mu- some interest. 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


EINFUHRUNG IN DIE EXPERIMENTELLE VEREBUNGSLEHRE, von Prof. Dr. 
phil. et med. Erwin Baur. 2. neubearbeitete Auflage mit 131 Textfiguren und 10 farbigen 
Tafeln. Verlag von Gebrtider Borntraeger, Berlin W. 35, 1914. Pp. 401, 14 mk., 50 pfg. 

Dr. Baur’s Introduction to Genetics, which was published in 1911, has been 
reissued after complete revision which brings it up to date. It covers much the 
same ground as the text-books of Plate and Goldschmidt; one must regret that no 
English genetist has yet produced a text-book on similar lines. Although intended 
primarily for students, Baur’s work will be of interest to every genetist, because 
of the extent to which he has drawn on his own researches for illustrative material. 
The book, as its title promises, confines itself as nearly as possible to experimental 
data, admitting only as much theoretical discussion as seems absolutely necessary; 
the cytological section has also been reduced to a minimum. The illustrations are 
particularly good. A bibliography of 30 pages will be welcomed by many. 


THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PLANT BREEDING, by John M. Coulter. Pp. xiv-+346, 
109 figures, price $1.50. New York and Chicago, D. Appleton and Company, 1914. 

Dr. Coulter, head of the department of botany of the University of Chicago, 
has written this book for “those who wish a simple statement of evolution and 
heredity; who wish information concerning the revolution in plant breeding; or 
who wish a general introduction to the fundamental principles underlying agri- 
culture. This should include citizens interested in the things that make for the 
public welfare, farmers, students of agriculture, teachers in the public schools, 
and botanists.’ People belonging to these classes will find it useful and satis- 
factory; it tells the story of the application of genetics to horticulture and agri- 
culture in a comprehensive, although necessarily general way, and does so under- 
standably. These qualities are certain to secure it a wide welcome. The typography 
and illustrations, however, are not worthy of the book. 


Restrictions of Marriage 


There may be some who think the English would be happier if their marriages 
were arranged at Westminster, instead of, as hitherto, in Heaven. I am not of 
that opinion, nor can I suppose that the constructive proposals even of the less- 
advanced eugenists would be seriously supported by any one who realized how 
slender is our present knowledge of the details of the genetic processes in their 
application to man. Before science can claim to have any positive guidance to 
offer, numbers of untouched problems must be solved. As regards practical 
interference there is nevertheless one perfectly clear line of action which we may 
be agreed to take—the segregation of the hopelessly unfit.—William Bateson. 
Biological Fact and the Structure of Society (1912). 


THE PEOPLING OF AMERICA 


Aborigines Represent the Yellow-brown Race of Asia and Polynesia—Arrived 
on This Continent in Relatively Recent Period—Characteristics 
of the Stock.' 


Dr. ALEs HRDLICKA, 
Curator, Division of Physical Anthropology, National Museum, Washington, D. C. 


OR the American anthropologist 
no subject is of more interest 
than that of the racial affinity 
and the place or places of origin 

of the American aborigines. Ever since 
the discovery of the new continent and 
its peoples these questions have occupied 
many minds, but have not as yet been 
brought to the point of final answer. 
Numerous opinions were advanced, but 
they were almost wholly the results of 
speculation, fettered on one side by lack 
of scientific research and on the other 
by various traditions. 

When Columbus discovered the New 
World he and his companions imagined, 
as is well known, that they had reached 
the Indies, and the people met were 
naturally taken for natives of those 
regions. Later, as the true nature of the 
new land became better known, specula- 
tion concerning the newly discovered 
race took other directions, and some of 
the notions developed proved disastrous 
to the Indians. History tells us that 
many of the early Spaniards, up to Las 
Casas’ time, reached the conclusion 
that, as no mention was made concern- 
ing the American people in Hebrew 
traditions, they could not strictly be 
regarded as men equivalent to those 
named in biblical accounts, and this 


‘fants 


view, before being counteracted, led 
directly or indirectly to much enslave- 
ment and destruction of the native 
Americans. 

Later, the origin of the Indians was 
sought in other parts of the world, and 
the seeming necessity of harmonizing 
this origin with biblical knowledge led 
to many curious opinions.” One of 
these, held by Gomara, Lerius, and 
Lescarbot, was to the effect that the 
American aborigines were the descend- 
of the Canaanites who were 
expelled from their original abode by 
Joshua; another, held especially by 
McIntosh,’ that they were descended 
from Asiatics who themselves originated 
from Magog, the second son of Japhet; 
but the most widespread theory, and 
one, the remnant of which we meet to 
this day, was that the American Indians 
represented the so-called Lost Tribes of 
Israel.* 


MORE RATIONAL IDEAS. 


During the course of the nineteenth 
century, with Levegte, Humboldt, 
McCullogh,’ Morton,’ and especially 
Quatrefages,, we begin to encounter 
more rational hypotheses concerning 
the Indians, although by no means a 
single opinion. Lord Kaimes, Morton, 


1 Extract from the proceedings of the Eighteenth International Congress of Americanists. 
The photographs of Asiatic types were furnished by Dr. Hrdlicka, the photographs of American 
types by the Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology. 

? See Garcia Clavigero and the older American historians. 


8 McIntosh, J., ‘Origin of the North American Indians,’ New York, 1843. 


4 


4 Adair, J., ‘History of the North American Indians,’”’ London, ESE 


® Humboldt, ‘Political Essay,’’ I, p. 115; Humboldt and Bonpland, ‘‘ Voyage, Vues des Cor- 
dilléres,’’ Paris, 1810. : yee. 
6 McCullogh, “Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian, Concerning the Aboriginal History 


of America,’’ Baltimore, 1829. 


7 Morton, S. G., ‘‘ Distinctive Characteristics of the Aboriginal Race of America,” 2nd ed., pp. 


35-36, Philadelphia, 1844. 


(Also his ‘‘Crania Americana” and ‘‘Origin of the Human Species.) 


8 Quatrefages, ‘‘Histoire générale des races humaines,” Paris, 1887. 


79 


MONGOLIAN WOMAN AT URGA 


If dressed in the clothes of the American Indian she could not be distinguished from a native 
of the New World, according to Dr. Hrdlicka. Urga is the capital of Outer Mongolia. 
(Fig. 14.) 


The slight upw 
the inner 


Paw ne 
PAWNEE GIRL FROM ¢ 


ard slant of the eye-slit, and tl 
orner of the eye, both usually 


OT laa A OE TRE 


a 
‘ENTRAL UNITED STATES 


1e characteristic conformation of the 
supposed to be characteristic 0! the 


are in reality equally common among the American Indians. The “white 
is yellowish, again as 1n the Mongolian race. (Fig. 5) 


upper lid 


ot the 


Ve 


al 


Mongolians, 


82 The Journal 


and Nott and Gliddon’ professed the 
belief that the American natives orig- 
inated in the new world and hence were 
truly autochthonous; Grotius believed 
that Yucatan had been peopled by 
early Christian Ethiopians; according 
to Mitchell the ancestors of the Indians 
came to this country partly from the 
Pacific Ocean and partly from north- 
eastern Asia; the erudite Dr. McCullogh 
believed that the Indians originated 
from parts of different peoples who 
reached America over lost land from the 
west ‘‘when the surface of the earth 
allowed a free transit for quadrupeds.”’ 
Quatrefages viewed the Americans as a 
conglomerate people, resulting from the 
fossil race of Lagoa Santa, the race of 
Parana, and probably others. in addition 
to which he believed there had been 

ettlements of Polynesians; and Picker- 
ing thought that the Indians originated 
partly from the Mongolian and partly 
from the Malay. 

The majority of the authors of the last 
century, however, including Humboldt, 
Brerewood, Bell, Sepa Jefferson, 
Latham, Quatrefages,, and Peschel,” 
inclined to the belief that all the Amer- 
ican natives, excepting the Eskimo, were 
of one and the same race and that they 
were the descendants of immigrants 
from North-eastern Asia, particularly 
of the ‘“‘ Tartars’’ or Mongolians. 

The most recent writers, with one 
marked exception, agree entirely that 
this country was peopled through immi- 
gration and local multiplication of 
people; but the locality, nature, and 
time of the immigration are still much 
mooted questions. Some authors in- 
cline to the exclusively north-eastern 
Asiatic origin; others, such as Ten Kate 
and Rivet, show a tendency to follow 
Quatrefages in attributing at least some 


® Nott and Gliddon, ‘‘Tvpes of Mankind, and Indigenous Races.”’ 


ments by Leidy and Morton.) 
10 Peschel, O., ‘‘The Races of Mar,” p 
\t Brinton, D. G., 
2 Kollmann, J., 
18 Ameghino, F., 
also ‘‘Le Diprothomo platensis”’ 
14. In this connection see also Campbell, . 
Inst., N. S., 1, Toronto, 1881; Mason, O. T., 
Peopling of America,’’ Smithsonian Report 
E. S., ‘‘Was Middle America Peopled from 
J. W., “Whence Came the American Indians?” 
“Whence Came the American Indian?’ 


‘““The American Race,” 
“Die Pygmaen”’ (Verh. d. 


(ibid., xix, 


Forum, February, 
An Answer,” b 


of Heredity 


parts of the native American population 
to the Polynesians; Brinton" held that 
they came in ancient times over a land 
connection from Europe; and Koll- 
mann,” basing his belief on some small 
crania, believes that a dwarf race 
preceded the Indian in America. 


AMEGHINO’S HYPOTHESIS. 


A remarkable hypothesis concerning | 
the origin of the American native popula- 
tion, deserving a few words apart, has 
within the last 30 years, and especially 
since the beginning of this century, been 
built up by Ameghino,” the South 
American paleontologist. This  hy- 
pothesis is, in brief, that man—not 
merely the American race, but mankind 
—originated in South America; that 
the early man became differentiated in 
the southern continent into a number of 
species, most of which eventually be- 
came extinct; that from South America 
his ancestors migrated over ancient 
land connections to Africa, and from 
there peopled, in the form of Homo ater, 
the larger parts of the African continent 
and Oceania; that a strain multiplied 
and spread over South America, and 
somewhere in the second half of the 
Pliocene migrated to North America 
and that from North America man went 
to Asia and Europe, where he gave rise 
to the Homo mongolicus and Homo 
caucasicus. 

In addition there have been some 
suggestions that the Americans may 
have arrived from the “lost Atlantis;” 
and the theory has even been expressed 
that man, instead of migrating from 
north-eastern Asia into America, may 
have moved in the opposite direction, 
and especially that, after peopling this 
continent, a part of the Americans 
reached Siberia." 


(The latter includes state- 


. 418, 1876. 

New York, 1891. 
Naturforsch, 
“El Tetraprothomo Argentinus”’ 
1909). 
|., ‘‘ Asiatic Tribes in North America, 


Basel, 1902). 
Buenos Aires, 1907); 


Ges. Basel, xvi, 
(Anal. Mus. Nac. xvi, 


" Proc. Canadian 


‘Migration and the Food Quest; a Study in the 
for 


Asia?”’ 


1894, Washington, 1896, pp. 523-540: Morse, 
Popular Sci. Mo., November, 1898; Powell, 
1898; ‘‘ Major Powell’s Inquiry, 
y J. Wickersham, Tacoma, Washington 


GILIAK WOMAN FROM ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 


Many of the women of this part of Asia, ‘individually less modified by envi 
men, if introduced among the Indians and dressed to correspond, could 
the disposal of the anthropologist be distinguished apart,”’ says Dr. Hrdh 


srAnt 
Oll 


SHAHAPTIAN STOCK 


YAKIMA INDIAN, 


Hrdlicka: The Peopling of America 85 


The Eskimo have been generally 
considered as apart from the Indian, 
some holding that they preceded and 
others that they followed him. They 
have been connected generally with the 
north-eastern Asiatics, but there are 
also those who see a close original rela- 
tion between the Eskimo and the Lapps, 
and even between the Eskimo and the 
Paleolithic Europeans. 

These are, in brief, the various more 
or less speculative opinions that so far 
have been advanced in an effort to 
explain the ethnic identity and the 
place of origin of the American Indian; 
and it is only logical that the next word 
on these problems be given to physical 
anthropology, which deals with what 
are, on the whole, the least mutable 
parts of man, namely, his body and 
skeleton. 

The somatology of the Indians, which 
barely saw its beginnings in the time of 
Humboldt and Morton, has now ad- 
vanced to such a degree that at least 
some important generalizations con- 
cerning the American aborigines are 
possible. We have now at our disposal 
for comparison, in American museums 
alone, upwards of 20,000 Indian crania 
and skeletons from all parts of the 
continent, while several thousand similar 
specimens are contained in European 
collections. A considerable advance, 
particularly in North America, has also 
been made in studying the living 
natives. Unfortunately, we are much 
less advantageously situated in regard 
to comparative skeletal material as well 
as with respect to data on the living 
man from other parts of the world, 
particularly from those regions where 
other indications lead us to look for 
the origin of the Indian. 


THE FACTS IN THE CASE. 


What can be stated in the light of 
present knowledge concerning the Amer- 
ican native with a fair degree of positive- 
ness is that: 


~ 


1. There is no acceptable evidence, nor 
any. probability, that man originated on 
this continent: 

2. Man did not reach America until 
after attaining a development superior 
to that of late Pleistocene man in 
Europe, and after having undergone 
advanced and thorough stem, and even 
racial and- tribal, differentiation: and 

3. While man, since the peopling of 
the American continent was commenced, 
has developed numerous secondary, 
sub-racial, localized structural modifica- 
tions, these modifications cannot yet 
be regarded as fixed, and in no important 
features have they obliterated the old 
type and sub-types of the people. 

We are further in a position to state 
that, notwithstanding the various sec- 
ondary physical modifications referred 
to, the American natives, barring the 
more distantly related Eskimo, present 
throughout the Western Hemisphere 
numerous important features in com- 
mon, which mark them plainly as parts 


of one stem of humanity. These fea- 
tures are:® 
im the colors ot the skin. -. The 


color of the Indian differs, according 
to localities, from dusky yellowish-white 
to that of solid chocolate, but the 
prevailing color is brown. 

2. The hair of the Indian, as a rule, 
is black, medium coarse and straight; 
the beard is scanty, especially on the 
sides of the face, and it is never long. 
There is no hair on the body except in 
the axillae and on the pubis, and even 
there it is usually sparse. 

3. The Indian is generally free from 
characteristic odor. His _heart-beat 
is Slow. His mental characteristics are 
everywhere much alike. The size of 
the head and of the brain cavity is 
comparable throughout, averaging some- 
what less than that of white men and 
women of similar stature. 

4. The eyes, as arule, are dark brown 
in color, with dirty yellowish con- 
junctiva in adults, and the eye-slits 
show a prevailing tendency, more or less 


1899, pp. 1-28; Hallock, Charles, ‘‘The Ancestors of the American Indigenes,”’ Amer. Antiquarian, 
xxiv, No. 1, 1902, and the publications of the Jesup Expedition of the American Museum ot 


Natural History, New York. 


15 The remarks apply to the Indian not affected by sedentary habits and other conditions due 
to changed mode of life attending the process of civilization. 


| 
| 
A YOUNG MANCHU . 


He would pass without the slightest difficulty for an Indian student at Haskell or Carlisle, Dr. | 
Hrdlicka remarks. The nose is characteristic of the stock on both sides of the Pacific, 
being mesorhinic or moderately broad—not flat like that of a negro nor again thin like 
that of a Caucasian. (Fig. 18.) 


ian 


et 


PIMA INDIAN FROM ARIZONA 


With the headdress peculiar to some of his tribe, he would easily pass for an ental. 


Dr. Hrdlicka notes, the American Indian resembles the Polynesian quite as 
often does the ‘‘Tartar’’ or Mongolian. In many of the Mexican tribes th« 


is still more striking. (Fig. 19.) 


88 The Journal 


noticeable in different tribes, to a slight 
upward slant, that is, the external 
canthi are frequently more or less 
higher than the internal. 

5. The nasal bridge is moderately to 
well developed, and the nose in the 
living, as well as the nasal aperture in 
the skull (barring individual and some 
localized exceptions), show medium or 
mesorhinic relative proportions. The 
malar regions are, as a rule, rather large 
or prominent. 


TEETH ARE CHARACTERISTIC. 


6. The mouth is generally fairly 
large, the lips average from medium to 
slightly fuller than in whites, and the 
lower facial region shows throughout a 
medium degree of prognathism, stand- 
ing, like the relative proportions of the 
nose, about midway between those 1n the 
whites and those characteristic of the 
negroes. The chin is well developed, 
not seldom square. The teeth are of 
medium size when compared with those 
of primitive man in general, but per- 
ceptibly larger when contrasted with 
those of the cultured white American 
or European; the upper incisors of the 
Indian present an especially important 


feature; they are  characteristically 
shovel-shaped, that is, deeply and 


peculiarly concave on the buccal side. 
The ears are rather large. 

7. The neck, as a rule, is of only 
moderate length, and in health is never 
thin; the chest 1s somewhat deeper than 
in average whites; the breasts of the 
women are of medium size, and generally 
more or less conical in form. There is 
a complete absence of steatopygy; the 
lower limbs are less shapely and espe- 
cially less full than in whites; the calf 
in the majority is small. 

The hands and feet, as a rule, are 
of relatively moderate or even of small 
dimensions, and what is among the 
most important features distinguishing 
the Indian, the relative proportions of 
his forearms to arms and those of the 
distal eae of the lower limbs to the 
proximal (or, in the skeleton, the radio- 
humeral and tibio-femoral indices) are 
in general, throughout the two parts of 
the continent, of much the same average 
value, which value differs from that of 


of Heredity 


both the whites and the negroes, stand- 
ing again in an intermediary position. 

This list of characteristics, which are, 
broadly speaking, shared by all Amer- 
ican natives, could readily be extended, 
but the common features mentioned 
ought to be sufficient to make clear the 
fundamental unity of the Indians. 

The question that necessarily follows 
s: “Which, among the different peoples 
of the globe, does the Indian as here 
characterized most resemble?’ The 
answer, notwithstanding our imperfect 
knowledge, can be given quite con- 
clusively. There isa great stem on 
humanity which embraces people rang- 
ing from yellowish-white to dark brown 
in color, with. straight black hair, 
scanty beard, hairless body, brown, 
often more or less slanting eye, preva- 
lently mesorhinic nose, medium alveolar 
prognathism, and in many other essen- 
tial features much like the American 
native; and this stem, embracing several 
sub-types and many nationalities and 
tribes, occupies the eastern half of the 
Asiatic continent and a large part of 
Polynesia. 


CLOSE RELATIONSHIP. 


From the physical anthropologist’s 
point of view everything indicates that 
the origin of the American Indian is to 
be sought among the yellowish-brown 
peoples mentioned. There are no two 
large branches of humanity on the globe 
that show closer fundamental physical 
relations. 

But difficulties arise when we endeav- 
or to assign the origin of the Indian to 
some particular branch of the yellowish- 
brown population. We find that he 
stands quite as closely related to some 
of the Malaysian peoples as to a part 
of the Tibetans, or some of the north- 
eastern Asiatics. It is doubtless this 
fact that accounts for the hypotheses 
that attribute the derivation of the 
American Indians partly to the “Tar- 
tars’? and partly to the Polynesians. 

All that may be said on this occasion 
is that the circumstances point strongly 
to a coming, not strictly a migration, 
after the glacial period, and over land, 
ice, water, or by all these media com- 
bined, from north-eastern Asia, of 


PROFILE OF YOUNG MANCHU 


The same individual was shown full face in fig. 18. Compare his alveolar progn 
that of the American Indian in the next cut. The ear, it will be noted, is ra 
a racial characteristic of the Indian, also. The hair, coarse, black, and straig 
like that of the American Indian. (Fig. 20.) 


A PUGET SOUND INDIAN 


wish tribe, Salisham stock. He illustrates the characteristic alveolar prognathism of the 
Indian—the slight projection of the teeth, altering the profile. The white race rarely shows 
l 


this projection in such a degree, while in the negro race it is still mor pronounced. (Fig. 


Hrdlicka: The Peopling of America 91 


relatively small parties, overflows of the 
far eastern populations of that time, 
and to the peopling of America by the 
local multiplication of man thus intro- 
duced, to comings repeated probably 
nearly to the beginning of the historic 
period. 

As to Polynesian migrations within 
the Pacific, such were, so far as can be 
determined, all relatively recent, having 
taken place when America doubtless 
had already a large population and had 
developed several native cultures. It 
is, however, probable that after spread- 
ing over the islands, small parties of 
Polynesians have accidentally reached 
America. If so, they may have modi- 
fied in some respects the native culture; 
but physically, being radically like the 
people who received them (barring their 
probably more recent negro mixture), 
they would readily blend with the 
Indian and their progeny could not be 
distinguished. In a similar way small 
parties of whites may have probably 
reached the continent in the east. 
They, too, may have introduced some 
cultural modifications, but they would 
necessarily consist of men only and of 
parties small in number, which would 
in the course of time blend thoroughly 
with the Indian. 

The conclusions, therefore, are: the 
American natives represent in the main 
a single stem or strain of people, one 
homotype; this stem is identical with 


that of the yellow-brown races of Asia 
and Polynesia; and the main immi- 
gration of the Americans has taken 
place, in the main, at least, gradually 
and by the northwestern route in the 
earlier part of the recent period, after 
man had reached a relatively high stage 
of physical development and multiple 
secondary differentiations. The immi- 
gration, in all probability, was a drib- 
bling and prolonged overflow, likely due 
to pressure from behind, or want, and a 
search for better hunting and fishing 
grounds in the direction where no resist- 
ance of man as yet existed. This was 
followed by multiplication, spread, and 
numerous minor differentiations of the 
people on the new, vast, and environ- 
mentally highly varied continent, by 
rapid differentiation of language due 
to isolation and other natural condi- 
tions, and by the development, on the 
basis of what was transported, of more 
or less localized American cultures. It 
is also probable that the western coast of 
America, within the last 2,000 years, 
was on more than one occasion reached 
by small parties of Polynesians, and 
that the eastern coast was similarly 
reached by small groups of whites, and 
that such parties may have locally 
influenced the culture of the Americans: 
but such accretions have nowhere, as 
far as we know today, modified the 
native population. 


Genetics and Government 


The great danger of democracy is that, more even than other forms of govern- 
ment, it may consider reforms too exclusively from the point of view of the imme- 
diate comfort of the individual, and may ignore the slow but irrevocable effect on 


the inborn character of future generations. 


All the more necessary is it that those 


who venture to assume the heavy responsibility of attempting to legislate for 
democracy should understand the nature of the fundamental problems of race 


on which the future welfare of the nation depends. 


The time may come when a 


genealogical survey of the families of a nation will be recognized to be of greater 
value than a geological survey of the country they occupy.—W. C. D. and C. D. 


Whetham: Heredity and Society. 


Breeding for Energy 


In any scheme of eugenics, energy is the most important quality to favor; it 
1s, as we have seen, the basis of living action, and it is eminently transmissible 
by descent.—Francis Galton: Inquiries into Human Faculty (1907). 


THE EARLY MARRIAGE QUESTION 


‘WT IS important,’’ Galton remarked 
in 1883, ‘‘to obtain a just idea of 
the relative effects of early and 
late marriages.”’ He attempted 

to do this in several ways, one of the 

most striking of which was that pub- 
lished in his “Inquiries into Human 

Faculty,”’ and based on Duncan’s statis- 

tics from a maternity hospital. Divid- 

ing the mothers into five-year groups, 
according to their age, and stating the 
medium age of the group, for the “sake 
of simplicity, instead of giving the 
limits, he arrived at the following table: 


Age of Mother at Her Approximate Average 


Marriage Fertility 
17 9.00—6 x 1.5 
22 7.50—S5 x 1.5 
Bil 6.00—4 x 1.5 
32 4.50—3 x 1.5 


‘“which shows that the relative ey, 
of mothers married at the ages ie iW a dy A 
27 and 32 respectively is as 6, 5, 4 and 
3 approximately. 

“The increase in population by a 
habit of early marriages,’”’ he adds, ‘‘is 


further augmented by the greater 
rapidity with which the generations 


follow each other. By the joint effect 
of these two causes, a large effect 1s in 
time produced.”’ 


R. H. Johrison considered this phase 
of the question graphically in the 


JOURNAL OF Herepiry for March, 1914. 
He said: ‘‘Suppose a generation to be 
25 years or 331% years respectively in 
two different stocks, and that all 
persons marry and each couple have 
four surviving children, or two for each 
parent. The result 1s that the 25-year 
stock constitutes two-thirds of the 
population at the end of a century.’ 

By a combination of these two causes 
(to which might be added the lower 
death-rate claimed among the children 
of young parents), the result is, as 


Galton says, that ‘if the races best 


1 Results of Early Marriage, 
1914. Mr. 
book ‘The 
Evolution” 

92 


Heredity”’ 
and Lond 


Control of 


(New York on; G, P. 


by Casper L. Redfield. 
Redfield’s general position on ‘the question of early marriage is set forth fully in his 
(1903), and summarily 

Putnam's Sons, 


fitted to occupy the land are encouraged 
to marry early, they will breed down 
the others in a very few generations.” 

Something similar has happened in 


New England and many other regions, 


where a fertile foreign stock, marrying 
early, has nearly supplanted the earlier 
stock. The fact has frequently been a 
text for eugenic sermons. 

But other eugenists have flatly denied 
the desirability of this sort of selective 
breeding, as applied to the human race. 
They have alleged that early child- 
bearing had a bad physical effect on the 
mother, and both a bad physical and a 
bad mental effect on the offspring. 
The latter charge was made in an 
emphatic form by Casper L. Redfield 
of Chicago, as an answer’ to Professor 
Johnson’s article above cited. After 
quoting Johnson’s illustration, he wrote: 


ADVANTAGES CHALLENGED. 


“The object of reproducing at the 
rate of four generations to the century 
is, of course, to produce superior 
individuals and increase the relative 
number of them in the entire popula- 
tion. Well, I will donate $100 to the 
treasury of the American Genetic As- 
sociation if it can be shown that any 
superior individual was ever produced 
by breeding human beings as rapidly 
as four generations to the century. It 
is only necessary to find some superior 
individual from the intellectual stand- 
point whose date of birth is not more 
than 100 years after the average date 


of birth of his 16 great-great-grand- 
parents. Any one of the 2000 or 3000 
intellectually eminent men known to 


history, who comes in the four-genera- 
tions-to-a-century class, will draw the 
$100. 

‘To make the matter interesting and 
easy, I will be satisfied to give the $100 
if there can be found more than three 


JOURNAL oF Herepity, V,7, p. 316, July, 


in his more recent work “Dy namic 


1914). 


OY 


The Early Marriage Question 93 


cases in which the intellectually superior 
person has as many as four generations 
in a century in the tail-male line alone.” 

Mr. Redfield then notes that much 
more than one-half of all people come 
within a_ three-generations-to-the-cen- 
tury class, taking the average age of 
male ancestors only, and continues: 

“Now raising the standard of superior 
individuals to the exceptionally great 
men such as Aristotle, Augustus, New- 
ton, Bacon, Faraday, Franklin, Hum- 
boldt, Cuvier, Darwin, etc., of whom 
there are some two or three hundred 
known to history, I will give a second 
$100 to the treasury of the American 
Genetic Association if a single one of 
them can be found in this three-genera- 
tions-to-a-century class.”’ 

The time limit on both these offers 
was set at December 31, 1914. They 
were widely copied by newspapers 
throughout the United States, and a 
number of pedigrees sent in, but none 
of them conformed to the requirements. 
The most interesting letter in connec- 
tion with the offer was sent directly 
to Mr. Redfield by J. B. Nicklin, Jr., of 
516 Poplar street, Chattanooga, Tenn., 
who wrote: 

“In reply to your offer in the Hart- 
ford Times I beg to submit the proven 
instances of five and six generations in 
less than a century: 

. Edward, Duke of Kent, born 1784. 

. Queen Victoria, born 1819. 

. Victoria, Empress of Germany, born 1840. 
: Lee gat II, Emperor of Germany, born 
. Friedrich Wilhelm, Crown Prince, born 


1882, making five generations in 98 
years. 


n He WN 


. Maria Theresa, born 1717. 

. Leopold II, Emperor of Austria, born 
1747. 

. Francis I, Emperor of Austria, born 1768. 

. Marie Louise, Empress of the French, 
born 1791. 

. Napoleon II, born 1811, making five 
generations in 94 years. 


mn PW NHK 


1. Josephine, Empress of the French, born 
1763. 

2. Eugene de Beauharnais, born 1781. 

3. Josephine, Queen of Sweden, born 1807. 

4. Carl XV, King of Sweden, born 1826. 

5. Louise, Queen of Denmark, born 1851, 
making five generations in 88 years. 
Also four in 63 years. 


1. Martha (Dandridge) Custis 
born 1732, 

2. John Parke Custis, born 175 

3. George Washington Parke 
1781. 

4. Mary Anne Randolph (Custis) Lee, born 
1807. 

5. George Washington Custis Lee, born 1832 
(son of Robert E. Lee), making five 
generations in exactly 100 years. 


Washington, 


5. 
Custis, born 


1. John Bailey Nicklin, born 1803. 

2. Elizabeth Catharine (Nicklin) Connoly, 
born 1833. 

3. Laura Nicklin (Connoly) Lee, born 1853. 

4. Laura Florence (Lee) Dennison, born 
1877. 

5. Robert Lee Dennison, born 1901, making 
five generations in 98 years and in my 
own family. 


1. Queen Victoria, born 1819. 

2. Victoria, Empress of Germany, born 1840. 

3. Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany, born 
1859. 

4. Friedrich Wilhelm, Crown Prince of 
Germany, born 1882. 

5. Eitel, his eldest son, born 1906, making 
five generations in 87 years. 


. Mary (Gregory) Taylor, born 1666. 

. Mary Bishop (Taylor) Pendelton, born 
1688 (aunt of the President). 

. Philip Pendelton, born 1704 (her second 
son). 

. Mary (Pendelton) Waller, born 1722. 

. William Edmund Waller, born 1741. 

. Benjamin Waller, born i762, making six 
generations in 96 years and proven by 
the Court Records in Virginia. 


Dun Ww Ne 


“T believe that these records, and I 
can send countless others should you 
desire them, will prove to you the fact 
that a century can and has produced 
four, five and six generations.” 

In reply to this letter Mr. Redfield 
wrote to Mr. Nicklin as follows: 

- lSehavereeciyed: “your: letter “of 
December 10 and have forwarded it to 
the American Genetic Association, 511 
Eleventh St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 
The money of my offer was deposited 
with the association some months since, 
and all decisions in the matter rest with 
them. 

“IT have not seen the notice in the 
Hartford Times and have not before 
heard of it. Consequently I do not 
know what the notice may contain, but 
I enclose a copy of my offer so that you 
may see exactly what it is. 


04 The Journal 


“The persons you mention are 


1. Friedrich Wilhelm, Crown Prince of 
Germany. 

Napoleon IT of France. 

Louise, Queen of Denmark. 

G. W. C. Lee, president of Washington 
and Lee University. 

R. L. Dennison, born 1901. 

Eitel, son of German Crown Prince. 

W. L. E. Waller, born 1741. 

Benjamin Waller, born 1762. 


COMI Qi Rots 


“The objections are: 

“First, the persons named are not 
among ‘the 2000 or 3000 intellectually 
eminent men known to history,’ whose 
names are recorded in ordinary en- 
cylopedias because of intellectual 
achievements. Not all royal personages 
noted in cyclopedias are there because 
of their intellectual superiority. 

“Second, the pedigrees given are 
neither complete pedigrees, nor in the 
tail-male line for partial pedigrees. 

“The generations of the offer are 
periods of time between parent and 
offspring. Except in the last case, you 
give four such periods, and conse- 
quently four generations instead of five 
as you represent It. 

“Examples of breeding much more 
rapid than those you give are quite 
common, as among the ‘Jukes’ and 
other degenerate families of the United 
States; also in Asia, Africa and Polynesia. 
Marriages between boys less than 17 
and girls less than 15 are the ordinary 
thing in many places. But the trouble 
with that kind of breeding is that it 
does not produce superior individuals. 
When we come to the greatest men, 
they are not produced when the breed- 
ing is as rapid as three generations to 
the century. My money offer was for 
the purpose of finding any possible 
exception, if it existed.” 

The only other reply of interest was 
from Mrs. Elizabeth A. Sourdry of 3404 
Morgan street, St. Louis, Mo., who 
submitted the pedigrees of Wilhelm II, 
emperor of Germany, William Henry, 
fourth Duke of Portland, and Charles 
William Henry, fourth Duke of Buc- 
cleuch and sixth Duke of Queensberry. 
In each case three generations of the 
ancestry covered less than a century of 
time. Mrs. Sourdry sent copies of the 
genealogies directly to Mr. Redfield 
who in reply wrote her as follows: 


of Heredity 


‘The first objection is that these men 
are mental mediocrities and not intel- 
lectual giants. William II is prominent 
because he inherited the position of 
emperor, but he has to his credit no 
intellectual achievements. If you are 
going into royalty I think that you 
should take such men as Augustus, 
Peter the Great or Gustavus Adolphus. 


SOME GREAT MINDS. 


‘‘Consider' Moses, who not only 
controlled an unruly mob but who 
formulated moral laws and regulations 
which are good after nearly 3,500 years. 

‘Consider Confucius, whose intellect 
produced the moral precepts which have 
guided hundreds of millions for more 
than 2,500 years. 

‘‘Consider Aristotle, who was the 
main scientific authority for the world 
for more than 1,000 years. 

“Tmagine a sickly little fellow sitting 
in Washington and changing this re- 
public into a monarchy by the sheer 
force of his intellect. Imagine his 
influence with Congress being so great 
that the country would officially confer 
on him a title certifying the profound 
respect all entertained for his surpassing 
wisdom. That would be Augustus of 
Rome. 

‘“A poor boy without the advantages 
of schooling became great as an author, 
great as an editor, great as an inventor, 
great as a diplomat and great as a 
statesman; he drew the lightning from 
the clouds and was honored by all of 
the scientific societies in the world. 
That was Benjamin Franklin. 

‘Humboldt was credited with being 
an authority in all known sciences. 
Darwin revolutionized the ideas of the 
world as to how the different kinds of 
plants and animals (including man) 
came into existence. Sitting in his 
study Leverrier could locate an unknown 
planet and give its size and orbit. 
Mendeleef formulated the periodic table 
and from it predicted the atomic weights 
and chemical properties of substance 
then unknown to science. J. J. Thomson 
has revolutionized our ideas of the 
constitution of matter. 

“My offer related to this kind of 
men—men who were famous for intel- 
lectual power—the greatest intellects 


The Early Marriage Question 95 


in the world’s history. It says intel- 
lectually eminent men. The majority 
of men are produced by breeding faster 
than three generations to the century, 
and it is easy to find mediocrities so 


produced. There are more than 50,000- 


000 of them in the United States. But 
can you find a real intellectual giant so 
produced? Are men like Copernicus, 
Newton, Faraday, Kant, Goethe, Shake- 
speare, Milton, Leibnitz, Lao-Tse, 
Buddha, Mohammed, Loyola, Luther, 
ete., produced by breeding as rapidly 
as three generations to the century’ I 
think not. 

“The offer in the tail-male line 
included three cases of four generations 
within a century. You give that only 
in the case of Buccleuch. The genera- 
tions are 20-+27+ 25+ 26=98 years.”’ 

After considering the two letters, the 
council of the American Genetic Associa- 
tion decided that no one had submitted 
data fulfilling the requirements of the 
offer, and ordered Mr. Redfield’s certi- 
fied check for $200 to be returned to 
him. 


PROF. JOHNSON’S POSITION. 


Professor Johnson, whose advocacy 
of early marriage brought forth Mr. 
Redfield’s challenge, has sent in the 
following note reiterating his position: 

“Mr. Redfield is quite safe in holding 
that in illustrious stocks the generations 
are long. It is just this that I contend 
calls for remedy. To conclude from 
this, however, that late children are 
superior mentally is wholly unwarranted. 
Such lete births will still be found to be 
prevalent with the superior, irrespective 
cf whcther late children shall be shown 
to be cqual or superior to early children 
from the same parents. The reasons 
for these delayed marriages and births 
are now too familiar to call for repeti- 
tion here. 

“May I in turn suggest to Mr. 
Redfield a sound method of testing his 
hypothesis’ Ascertain the number of 
brothers and the ordinal position among 
these of all the men in some standard 


collection of the names of illustrious 
men which will furnish the desired 
information. Sisters, owing to the 


different chance of becoming renowned, 
and half-brothers and stepbrothers are 
to be omitted. Compare the age of the 
parents at the birth of the most illus- 
trious with the average age for his 
brothers in each family. 

“But aside from this, even if Mr. 
Redfield’s hypothesis prove correct, it 
is still true that inferior stocks are 
producing more early children as well 
as children in general than are the 
superior stocks. The mere lengthening 
of the generations of all stocks will not 
change the ill-balanced production of 
the next generation. It is necessary to 
increase the reproduction of the superior 
relative to the inferior, no matter to 
what other device resort may be made. 
Later marriage of the superior as com- 
pared with the inferior is therefore 
necessarily dysgenic.”’ 

Assuming for the sake of argument 
that the children of young parents are 
inferior, are they inferior because their 
parents are young, or are they inferior 
merely because they are _ first-born 
children? Readers will remember that 
the English Biometric school and other 
investigators have reached the latter 
conclusion; others have as_ strongly 
denied it. To settle this point, an in- 
vestigation semewhat similar to the one 
suggested by Professor Johnson has 
been set on foot by the Italian Anthro- 
pological society.” When it is concluded, 
there should be some adequate ground 
for holding an opinion as to the supe- 
riority or inferiority of the first-born. 
In the meantime it should not be 
supposed that the failure of anyone to 
present such cases of genius produced 
by rapid breeding as called for by Mr. 
Redfield, settles the question of the 
influence of age of parent on quality of 


offspring. Though one of the most 
important questions in constructive 


eugenics, it is a question with many 
sides, and its solution has only been 
touched. 


* Preliminary results of this investigation indicate that first-born sons are as good as their 


successors, if not better. 
Herepity, VI, 1, p. 37, January, 1915. 


209, May, 1914. 


See “Superiority of the Eldest,’’ by Corrado Gini, in the JOURNAL OF 
The opposite view, with a brief review of the whole 
controversy, 1s given by John H. Chase, ‘‘Weakness of Eldest Sons,’”’ JouRNAL oF HEREDITY, V, 5 


BREEDING FOR HORNS 


Frank N. MEYER’ 
Agricultural Explorer, Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, ‘Washington, D. C. 


N Birel we stopped with a farmer 
who had become a wealthy man 
through the sale of stag antlers, 
and saw how the women folks were 
boiling several magnificent pairs. They 
were all coated yet with the down, 
which is an absolute necessity to sell 
them, as the Chinese only take those 
which are young. This stagkeeping 
business has its headquarters in and 
around Birel and by pure accident we 
had stumbled upon one of the most in- 
teresting industries in this world. 

It seems that about 40 years ago 
somebody in Birel made an experiment 
of keeping some stags in captivity and 
by sawing the antlers off and bandaging 
the wounds, showed that a stag can be 
de-antlered and survive the process and 
be operated upon every year. Up to 
that time the animals had been hunted 
until they were well-nigh extinct and 
the collecting of antlers was a very 
unsteady sort of a business, one never 
knew whether one would get much or 
not. Well, the animals multiplied and 
high-fenced enclosures were established 
all over the mountains, for these stags 
need much ground to pasture upon, 
otherwise they don’t remain healthy. 
And today there are several thousand 


stags in and around Birel and the income 
derived from the sale of the antlers 
has made some people very wealthy, 


for every male animal produces about’ 


70 Roubles* worth of antlers every 
year and some men have as many as 
400 males. The average price paid for 
the antlers is between eight and 12 
Rbls. per pound, according to the market. 

The antlers are sawn off with a fine 
saw and weigh fresh twice as much as 
later on. They have to be boiled in 
salted water and very great care has to 
be taken that the felt-like covering 
doesn’t come off; therefore they are 
boiled-several times and each time al- 
lowed to dry out again. When suffi- 
ciently cooked, they are hung in the 
wind and allowed to dry thoroughly and 
in that state they are bought up by 
dealers and said to be exported to China 
via Mongolia. The Chinese, as you may 
know, believe thoroughly in the reju- 
venating and stimulative power of young 
deer horns, and the stuff, scraped and 
powdered, forms a valuable ingredient 
in certain of their medicines. I was also 
told that a firm in St. Petersburg has 
taken up this matter and is manufac- 
turing a special medicine from them, 
under the name of ‘‘Spermine.”’ 


1 Extract from a letter to his chief, dated Omsk, Siberia, July 17, 1911. 


2 A rouble is worth about 51 cents, U. S. currency. 


Corriedale Sheep in United States 


F. R. Marshall of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture, has returned from the antipodes with 10 rams and 54 ewes of the Corriedale 
breed, which are now in quarantine at San Francisco, and constitute the first 
importation of live stock ever made by the department of agriculture. With the 
exception of six head brought in last year, they are the first Corriedales to be 
brought to this country. The breed, which originated in the province of Canter- 
bury, New Zealand, in the late seventies, and was long known officially as ‘inbred 
halfbreds,’’ resulted from a Lincoln x Merino cross and in part from an English 
Leicester x Merino cross. It interests the stockman because it offers a combination 
of wool and mutton qualities, and the genetist because it appears to breed fairly 
true, in spite of the short time that has elapsed since its formation. In appearance 
it is very nearly a blend between the two parents, and there seems to be little 
segregation of characters in the breed at present. 

96 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 
y s 


Vol. VI, No. 3 March,- 1915 


CONTENTS 


WDwack MutantindMaize. (Frontispiece). :) os. se a2. 2 ee se 98 
On the Nature of Mutations, by R. Ruggles Gates................. 99 
Avmnusall:VMeetimecof the Association: / 2. 2. 355405 mela eee soc 1. ee en = 102 
Conditions of Mendelian Inheritance. by John Belling............. 108 
German Zoodtechny, Review of a Book by Georg Wilsdorf........... 109 
Date Palm Alliessin America,*by O. F. Cook... 2. ..... 0.2.5.4 55.354. 117 
Wheat Breeding, by A. E. V. Richardson................ oes Sees 123 
Rien Cube iS LaAGlOM.~ ACNe VIEW? ot p ran ce nee oe aos 2 ard Sep le eee 142 
WrGcsES EWwithyZepiUnGalule tig: are pee see ae ee tego cae SBE Moe 144 
RollinationoimGherrya@lceese ttt bie oe ce oe ee ee ne ee ee 144 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter August 27, 1912, at the postoffice at Washington, 
D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, February 25, 1915. 


A DWARF MUTANT IN MAIZE 


The dwarf mutation illustrated above appeared in a plot of ‘‘Stowell’s Evergreen" sweet corn 
grown at the Connecticut experiment station, New Haven, in 1908, and is described in that 
station's bulletin No. 167, p. 130. ‘‘It was very short (18 inches) and had short leaves of the 
normal breadth. The joints were very close together, and the whole appearance of the plant 
suggested a normal plant that had been pushed together like a telescope.”” Its height is shown 
by contrast with a single ordinary ear from a normal strain of this same variety, at the right. 
An attempt to self-fertilize the dwarf failed, so it was cross-pollinated from normal Stowell’s 
Evergreen, and produced one fairly good ear, which was planted. One dwarf like the maternal 
parent appeared out of 37 plants. From a Mendelian viewpoint it might have been expected 
that there would be no dwarfs in this generation, but that the normal condition would be dominant. 
The one dwarf was completely sterile, but a selfed normal plant from the same lot gave two dwarfs 
out of 76 plants in 1910. E. M. East writes, ‘‘I suppose that it is an example of variable dominance 
such as is often found when one crosses an abnormality witha somewhat mixed population. As 
every race of corn is more or less mixed, I think it not unlikely that many of thes abnormalities 
should vary all the way from the dominant to the recessive condition in the first hybrid generation 
of the cross. It is not a peculiar result, but is apt to confuse a person in an open pollinated crop 


like corn.” Frontispiect 


ON THE NATURE OF MUTATIONS 


Their Cause to be Sought in a Chemical Rather Than Morphological Change in 


Some Chromosome—New Material Furnished for 


Evolut_on— 


Data from the Evening Primroses.' 


Dr. R. Ruccies Gates, Universi.y of London. 


VER since the beginning of the 
twentieth century, when the 
principles of Mendel were redis- 
covered and DeVries published 

his mutation theory, the nature of the 
changes which give rise to mutations 
and to Mendelian differences has been 
much discussed. For it is obvious that 
our views on these questions will 
determine our attitude toward evolution 
in so far as it is concerned with discon- 
tinuity in variation. Mendelian in- 
vestigators have for the most part 
assumed that the main point to be 
discovered is the manner of inheritance 
of the Mendelian differences found in 
plants and animals, and have failed to 
observe that the origin of these differ- 
ences is a wholly different question, 
requiring in many cases other methods 
of attack. 

It has also been tacitly or specula- 
tively assumed that mutations were in 
some obscure and hypothetical way 
the expression merely of new combina- 
tions of Mendelian units. This view, 
or rather group of views (for each 
Mendelian writer has attempted a 
different hypothesis, such as reduplica- 
tion of gametes, coupling of characters, 
multiple factors, loss of inhibitors, etc.), 
has only recently been exploded. But 
it is worth while pointing out that even 
if this were not the case it would still 
be necessary to account for the origin 
of the supposed Mendelian differences. 
This Mendelian writers have attempted 
to do by means of the presence-absence 
hypothesis. But it will be shown later 
that the latter hypothesis has had 
placed upon it a far greater weight of 
speculation than it is able to bear. 

The activities of recent years in the 
study of mutations have, on the con- 


trary, accumulated a mass of positive 
observations concerning the real nature 
of mutational changes. These investi- 
gations have combined cell studies with 
observations of the external characters 
of mutants and their hereditary beha- 
vior, both in self-fertilized offspring and 
in crosses with their parent forms. In 
this way much light has been thrown 
upon the nature of mutation as a process 
of variability. It has been definitely 
shown that mutation is a type of varia- 
tion and cannot be explained in terms 
merely of heredity, Mendelian or other- 
wise. The cell studies of mutants in 
particular have been crucial in elimi- 
nating the various Mendelian hypoth- 
eses of mutation, for the latter are found 
to be directly contrary to the cytological 
facts. These facts have also made it 
possible to construct a new theory of 
mutations in general which helps to 
illuminate the whole subject and har- 
monize the Mendelian and mutationist 
views. 

We are thus led to adopt a new 
attitude toward the subject of heredity as 
well as that of variation; the latter being 
concerned with the origin of differences 
between related organisms, while the 
former is concerned with the perpetua- 
tion of those differences after they have 
originated. 


EVIDENCE FROM THE PRIMROSE. 


The critical and decisive experiments 
concerning the nature of mutations have, 
as is well known, been made in the eve- 
ning primrose genus Oenothera. Here 
the numerous attempts to explain the 
origin of the mutants in terms of the 
recombination of Mendelian factors 
have broken down. For a number of 
years it has been assumed in various 


1 Presented before the Botanica! Society of America, Philadelphia, Dec. 30, 1914. 


99 


See 


LAMARCK’S EVENING PRIMROSE 


This common flower is supposed to be a native of the central eastern portion of the United 
States, but was early introduced to Europe and is now found wild there in many locali- 


ties. The Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries found a number of them in a field near Hilver- 
um, Holland, which were undergoing unusual changes in form. He brought them to his 
garden, propagated them, and found that these changes were continually produced, that 
some of them were very great, and that most of them bred true. This was the starting 


point of the Mutation Theory which marks an epoch in the tudy of evolution. (Fig. 1.) 


Gates: On 


the Nature of Mutations 


101 


AN EARLY DISCOVERED MUTANT 


Rosette or young seedling of Oenothera lata, a mutant from Oenothera lamarckiana 


(shown in fig. 1), which was discovered by De Vries as early as 1887. 


Even the 


youngest leaves have broad, rounded tips, in contrast to the more pointed ones of 


the parent form, and the leaves are also more crinkled. 
cells of this plant contain an extra chromosome not present in those of the parent, 
which determines the nature of this mutant. (Fig. 


and it is this, apparently, 


quarters that Oenothera lamarckiana 
was a ‘hybrid,’ although it has usually 
not been stated in just what sense this 
term was used. More recently all 
Oenotheras have been stigmatized as 
hybrids, and the conception has even 
been extended to the whole family of 
Onagraceae. It seems that this is the 
fate of all organisms which come to be 
intensively studied from the genetic 
point of view. 

Having regard to the facts, it is not 


It has been shown that the 


2.) 


necessary to suppose that any recognized 
species of Oenothera is a hybrid in the 
sense of having been synthesized directly 
through crossing between two other 
species. An extraordinary flaw in all 
the reasoning in this subject has been 
the tacit assumption that if any plant 


could be shown to be a “‘hybrid”’ then 
any mutations it might produce must 
be a result of that condition. But it 1s 


necessary to point out that even if the 
assumption that all Oenotheras are 


102 


hybrids were true, it would still be 
necessary to inquire whether the types 
of variation found in Oe. lamarckiana, 
Oe. biennis, Oe. grandiflora, and other 
species are merely the result of hybrid 
processes, or whether mutation and 
hybridization are distinct processes.” 


MISSHAPEN BUDS 


The petals in the bud of 
Oenothera lataarecrumpled, 
causing it to be misshapen; 
the anthers are sterile or 
nearly so, and relatively 
few seeds are produced. 
Che buds are stouter and 
more barrel-shaped in this 
mutant than in any of the 
other forms except gigas. 
These buds are natural 
size. (Fig. 3.) 


The cell studies of the Oenotheras have 
abundantly proven the latter view. 
The nature of the explanation of muta- 
tions 1s also very usefully limited as well 
as illuminated by the cy tological results. 
Mutations of course occur in hybrids as 
well as in pure strains, and it is usually 
possible without much. difficulty to pick 


The Journal of Heredity 


out the mutants in heterogeneous F, 
hybrid families. Confirmation of many 
such cases can afterward be made by 
cytological study, and others can be 
analyzed by breeding from them. 

As illustrations of the new point of 
view with regard to mutations we may 
select three of the mutants of Oenothera. 
A flowering shoot of Oe. lamarckiana is 
shown in fig. 1. The mutants, lata; 
gigas, rubricalyx are all derived from — 
this species, the last, however, being a 
secondary mutation, which originated 
directly from rubrinervis, itself a mutant 
from Oe. lamarckiana. 


OENOTHERA LATA. 


In this mutant and certain others, 
duplication of a chromosome has taken 
place, and the writer showed some years 
ago® that this happens through one 
chromosome of a pair passing into the 
wrong nucleus in the reduction division. 
It is now known‘ that lata has con- 
stantly 15 chromosomes instead of 14 
in the nuclei of all its cells. Fig. 2 
shows a rosette of lata with its deeply 
crinkled and peculiarly obtuse leaves. 
This mutant also has a peculiar habit 
of growth, and its buds are misshapen 
(fig. 3), the anthers being almost com- 
pletely sterile. Various other features 
characterize this very interesting form 
which was first discovered by De Vries 
as early as 1887. 

Not only is the extra chromosome 
constantly associated with these peculi- 
arities of lata, but its presence deter- 
mines the inheritance of lata, for its 
offspring consist chiefly of lata (with 15 
chromosomes) and lamarckiana (with 
14 chromosomes) 1n varying proportions. 
Oe. lata appears in different races and 


species (including Oe. biennis) when 
this irregular meiotic division occurs. 


The peculiarities of /ata thus arise from 
the fact that its nuclei contain 15 in- 
stead of 14 chromosomes. This con- 
dition arises in the fertilized egg and is 
passed on to every cell of the plant by 
the mitotic mechanism. 


* See Gates, Breeding experiments which show that hybridization and mutation are independent 


phenomena. Zeitschr. f. Abst. u. 


4See Gates and Thomas. 


in relation to mutation. Quart. Journ. 


Vererbungslehre 11: 
3 A study of reduction in Oenothera rubrinervis. 
A Cytological study of Oenothera mut. 
Micro. Sci. 59:523-571, pls. 35-37, 


209-279. 
Bot. Gazette, 


Figs. 25. 

46:1-34. Pls. 1-3. 
lata and Oe. mut. 
figs. 4. 


semtlata 


Gates: On the Nature 


of Mutations 103 


THE GIANT PRIMROSE 


Rosette of Oenothera gigas, another mutant from Lamarck’s species. 
The leaves are larger and thicker and with rather blunt tips. 
With the exception of a few features, this sport breeds en- 


tirely true. 


The mutation is therefore a nuclear 
change, which is represented in every 
cell of the organism, and it will be found 
that the same is true of every mutation, 
at least in plants. They are germinal 
changes of such nature as to be repre- 
sented in every cell, having been propa- 
gated by mitosis from the fertilized egg. 


OENOTHERA GIGAS. 


This mutant represents another kind 
of germinal change—tetraploidy. <A 
rosette of gigas is shown in fig. 4 and 
full grown plants in fig. 5. The plant is 
larger and stouter in nearly all its parts, 
except in height. There are various 
other modifications from Oe. lamarck- 
zana, as in the shape of the leaves, and 
a striking feature is the presence of 
four-lobed instead of three-lobed pollen 
grains—a condition not known to occur 


5 Gates, R. R. 
schung 3: 525-552, 1909. 


Reduced in size in reproduction. 


The stature and chromosomes of Oenothera gigas De Vries. 


(Fig. 4.) 


in any other evening primrose. Many 
of these peculiarities, though perhaps 
not all, result from the tetraploid con- 
dition,—the nuclei contain 28 instead of 
14 chromosomes and as a result the 
nuclei and cells in all tissues of the 
plant are conspicuously larger.® 

The doubling in the chromosome 
number, however it has taken place, 
is a distinct process from the irregular 
chromosome-distribution which gives 
rise to the lata type of mutation, for in 
this case the whole chromosome series 
has been doubled. Tetraploidy is now 
known in a long list of plant and animal 
species, which must have originated 
suddenly from a related species, in the 
same manner that Oe. gigas appeared. 
Here again the change is a cell change, 
propagated by mitosis to every part 
of the organism. 
Arch. f. Zellfor- 


ADULT PLANTS OF THE GIANT MUTANT 


Its difference in habit from Oenothera lamarckiana, the parent form, may be seen by c ymparison 
with fig. 1. There are usually few side branches, the internodes are short, and the large, 
deeply crinkled leaves tend to hang downward on the stem. The flowers are larger and 
the buds stouter than in the parent form. It has been found that the cells of this mutant 
contain twice as many chromosomes as those of the parent, a fact which perhaps accounts 
for the increased size and vigor of this sport. From a photograph kindly loaned by 
Dr: B. M. Davis. Fig. 5. 


td ale tao 


Gates: On the Nature of Mutations 


105 


A DIFFERENT TYPE OF MUTANT 


Oenothera rubricalyx originated in the breeding-plot of Dr. Gates in 1907 and is quite unlike 


all the other primrose mutants. 
from a mutant of it, Oe. rubrinervts. 


It did not spring directly from Lamarck’s primrose, but 


In the mutant here shown the under sides of the 
leaves. and the flower stalks, are red, whereas in the parent they are green. 
,’ ’ 2 dD 


Dr. Gates 


assumes that some chromosome in the reproductive cells has undergone a chemical change, 


which leads to an increased production of red pigment, and thus to the mutation. 


Another interesting fact concerning 
gigas is that its inheritance is entirely 
different from that of lata, since gigas 
breeds true except for remarkable varia- 
tion chiefly in foliage. This variabil- 
ity is probably concerned with new 
combinations of the double chromosome 
series. In crosses also gigas behaves 
differently from lata, giving intermediate 


(Fig. 6.) 


hybrids which essentially breed true. 
This difference in behavior of gigas and 
lata is undoubtedly concerned with the 
different chromosome content of the 
two forms, and is explainable in terms 
of those differences. 

If now we consider rubricalyx, we find 
the type of change entirely diverse 
from either of those mentioned above. 


THE RED MUTANT, FULL GROWN 


| Diant ol notnhera ruoricalyx, ae ung eeannyg ¢ \\ 1 Wi OW in the 
‘Wlustration. The number of chromosor in its cells is 14, as in the of its parent; Dr. 


Gates: On the Nature of Mutations 


This mutant originated from rubrinervis 
in my experiments in 1907, as a domi- 
nant heterozygous mutation, its off- 
spring giving rubricalyx and rubrinervtis 
in a 3:1 ratio.6 It is a striking color 
variety of rubrinervis, the two being 
morphologically identical. A rosette of 
rubricalyx is shown in fig. 6 and a full 
grown plant in fig. 7. In Oe. rubri- 
calyx the under side of the leaf petioles 
of the rosette as well as of the flower 
stalks or hypanthia, are red, whereas in 
rubrinervis they are invariably green.’ 

In rubricalyx there is also greater pro- 
duction of red pigment in every part of 
the plant, as may be observed by exam- 
ining sections of the fresh tissues under 
the microscope. The capacity of the 
cells for producing anthocyanin has 
suddenly undergone an enormous in- 
crease. 

Any theory which will explain the 
origin of Oe. rubricalyx will explain also 
the origin of all Mendelian differences, 
for this is inherited in simple Mendelian 
fashion, wholly unlike either lata or 
gigas. 

If we assume that one member of one 
pair of chromosomes has undergone a 
chemical change to lead to the greatly 
increased pigment production, then we 
can explain at the same time the origin 
and inheritance of this mutant. We 
therefore conclude in general that simple 
Mendelian characters arise through an 
alteration on the part of a chromosome, 
analogous to the mutations which are 
known to occur in certain bacteria. 

This type of change is of course 
entirely different from those already 
mentioned, and is sufficient to account 
for the origin of all mutants which are 
inherited in Mendelian fashion. The 
change is fundamentally chemical rather 
than morphological in nature, the 
chromosomes in Oe. rubricalyx number- 
ing 14, as in Oe. lamarckiana and Oe. 
rubrinervis. 


6 Shull (A peculiar negative correlation in Oenothera hybrids. 


107 


From such facts as these the following 
conclusions regarding the nature of 
mutations may be drawn. (1) Muta- 
tions are of many kinds and in many 
directions. (2) Evolution is not due, as 
Bateson® and others have urged, to the 
loss of factors or inhibitors from the 
germ plasm, but mutations furnish 
abundant material for real evolution, in 
which the modification of characters, 
and divergences in many directions, 
have occurred. There is really no more 
reason for supposing evolution to have 
resulted from “‘loss of inhibitors”’ from 
the germ plasm than there is for the 
embryologist to assume that the egg 
develops into a chick by throwing off 
inhibitors during ontogeny. This type 
of embryological speculation was sup- 
planted centuries ago by the observed 
increase in complexity and structure 
during development of the individual. 

The evolutionary conception of loss 
of factors and inhibitors has _ been 
founded upon the Mendelian presence- 
absence hypothesis. The usefulness 
of this symbolism in the study of the 
inheritance of Mendelian characters 
cannot be gainsaid. But as soon as 
it is applied to evolutionary conceptions 
it leads to an erroneous point of view. 
It is safe to conclude that even apparent 
losses, such as the origin of recessive 
white varieties from colored varieties of 
plants and animals, are not really due 
to the loss of any particle from the 
germ plasm, but toa chemical (probably 
in some cases stereochemical) modifica- 
tion in one element of the germ plasm, 
viz: a chromosome or a portion of one. 

(3) Finally, another generalization 
should now be seen to follow clearly 
from such facts as those mentioned in 
this paper, namely, that the inheritance 
of any character depends to some 
extent upon the nature of the character. 
In other words, the manner of inherit- 
ance of any character is determined, or 


Journ. Genetics 4: 83-102, pls. 


5-6, 1914) has erroneously attempted to show that Oe. rubricalyx is not a simple Mendelian 
dominant. The plants in his experiments which he treats as pure rubricalyx are obviously, from his 
own figures, hybrids with a distinct species Oe. grandiflora, and the supposed discrepant results he 
obtains are in fact, as far as they go, a confirmation of the writer’s extensive crosses of these two 


forms. 


7 The history of the origin of this mutant is given in “Studies on the variability and heritability 


of pigmentation in Oenothera.”’ 
colored plate, 1911. 
8 Problems cf Genetics. London, 1913. 


Zeitschr. f. Abst. u. Vererbungslehre 4: 337-372. 


Figs. 5. 1 


108 


at any rate limited, by the manner of 
its origin, 7.e., by the nature of- the 
germinal change by which it appeared. 
Just as there are different types of 
discontinuity in variation, so there are 


The Journal of Heredity 


various methods of inheritance of the 
differences which thus arise. These 
methods of inheritance naturally de- 
pend upon the basic nature of the 
original change. 


ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION 


HE annual business meeting of 
members of the American Genet- 
tic Association was held in the 
Cosmos Club, Washington, 

D. C., at five o’clock on the afternoon of 
Thursday, January 14, 1915, as pro- 
vided by the by-laws. 

The three retiring members of the 
council were re-elected by the following 
motion, carried by a unanimous vote: 
“Resolved, that the secretary be in- 
structed to cast the unanimous ballot 
of this meeting for Alexander Graham 
Bell, W. E. Castle and Bleecker Van 
Wagenen to succeed themselves as 
members of the council of this associa- 
tion; and that this action is not to be 
considered a precedent, but is con- 
sidered fair because the three retiring 


members have served one year only, 
and not the normal term of three years.” 

The meeting approved the plans of 
the council to hold the annual conven- 
tion of the association at Berkeley, 
California, August 2-7, in connection 
with the meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of 
Science. 

At the annual meeting of the council, 
held at the Cosmos Club at 5 o’clock 
on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 
19, in accordance with the by-laws, the 
present officers of the association were 
all re-elected, and Thomas H. Kearney 
was elected a member of the executive 
committee for the ensuing year, the 
other two members being the president 
and secretary, ex officio. 


Conditions of Mendelian Inheritance 


If we take ‘‘Mendelian inheritance”’ to signify the mode of inheritance Mendel found to prevail 
in his researches on seven differentiating characters in peas (except that perfect dominance need 
not be present), the following are some of the complications which must be absent in order that 
simple Mendelian inheritance may appear. 

1. Each single factor must pass indifferently into half of the pollen-grains and half of the 
embryo-sacs. There must be no such multiplication of factors as occurs in the origin of some 
aoe Primulas and Gnotheras. 

There must be no such coupling or repulsion between the factors as has been found in sweet 
peas, primulas, snapdragons, peas, and velvet beans. 

There is usually some elimination of pollen-grains and embryo-sacs; but there must be no 
tee that has any relation to any of the factors in question, such as occurs in certain 
aire ma hybrids, and doubtless in CE notheras. 

There must be no inherited difference in the fertilizing power of different ‘‘good”’ pollen- 
grains from the same anther. If a definite fraction of the pollen-grains fail to fertilize the ovules 
(as Correns found in Mirabilis), then a selective partial self-sterility, or partial incompatibility 
occurs, which may complicate the results. 

The death of certain embryos within the ovules or young seeds (which seems to occur in 
most plants), must not be due to any inherited weakness of these particular embryos. 

6. There must be no such differential viability of the seeds as has been found in double stocks 
by Saunders, and in Ginothera lamarckiana by DeVries. 

7. If a definite fraction of the young seedlings perish unnoted, this will make abnormal ratios, 
as occurred in Baur’s first experiments with the golden-leaved snapdragon. 

8. Plants which die before maturity must not do so from inherited weakness, or the final ratios 
may not be typical. 

Mendel’s law is only the alphabet of the subject of heredity. The simple law of gravitation is 
also easy to grasp, but much work of many astronomers was required to fit this law to the actual 
motions of even one planet. I think that heredity may be found, in the end, to be nearly as 
complicated as astronomy. 

JouNn BELLING, Florida Agricultural Experimental Station, 


GERMAN ZOOTECHNY 


Immense Strides Made by Live-Stock Industry of the Empire are Largely Due 
to Science of Genetics—The Importance of the Pedigree— 
Line-Breeding. 


Review of a book by GEORG WILSDORF 


Tierzuchtdirektor und Hauptgeschaftsfihrer der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Zich- 
tungskunde, Berlin, Germany. 


ERMANY’S large contributions 
to the science of genetics during 
the last half century are well 
known, but the extent to which 

they have been put to practical use by 
the Germans themselves is much less 
familiar to Americans. Some of the 
brilliant work in plant breeding is indeed 
recognized; but it is probable that few 
members of this association have any 
clear idea of the present state of the 
science of animal breeding in the 
German empire. It may be of interest, 
therefore, to review at some length a 
brief but authoritative statement of the 
situation from the pen of Dr. Georg 
Wilsdorf, general director of the in- 
fluential German Genetic Association. 

Dr. Wilsdorf’s little book on Animal 
Breeding’ was first published in 1912 
as one of a series of popular hand-books 
on scientific subjects. In 1914 it was 
reissued as a bulletin of the German 
Genetic Association; it seems reasonable 
to assume, therefore, that its doctrines 
are those accepted by the leading 
zootechnists of Germany. 

The live-stock industry of Germany 
(reaching its highest development in 
the northwest) has increased until it 
now surpasses the agricultural and 
horticultural industries 1n importance, 
according to Dr. Wilsdorf, who estimates 
the yearly production of animal hus- 
bandry at $1,675,000,000 as against 
$1,300,000,000 for the produce of field 
and garden. And while he recognizes 
that this gradual preponderance of live- 
stock over the agricultural industries 
has been largely due to economic con- 


1“ Tierzuchtung”’ 


ditions, he thinks it has only been made 
possible through an intelligent applica- 
tion of the principles of genetics. The 
demands made by the farmers on science 
have, he says, changed the whole 
character of zodlogy in Germany; while 
the zodlogists formerly concerned them- 
selves almost exclusively with wild 
animals, the tendency now is rather to 
concentrate attention on the domes- 
ticated ones. 


A CHANGED VIEWPOINT. 


But the studies of zodlogists and the 
experiments of naturalists on zodtechny 
can easily be credited with more in- 
fluence on the live-stock industry than 
they really have had; for, as the author 
points out, the fundamental fact in the 
successful application of genetics to 
animal breeding is not the discovery of 
any new law, but a change in the view- 
point of breeders. In the past, they 
have looked only at the generation or 
two before their eyes; the acquirement of 
a habit of looking as far back as possible, 
instead of merely at the animals im- 
mediately to be mated, is what has 
revolutionized animal breeding. In 
other words, it is the realization of the 
importance of the pedigree that has 
made animal breeding a science rather 
than an art. Such a statement might 
justly be considered the text of Dr. 
Wilsdorf’s book, for to it he returns 
time after time. 

The importance of pedigree above 
everything else was realized by the 
Arabs centuries ago, but is still ignored 
by many a breeder in Europe and 


von Dr. Georg Wilsdorf, pp. 110, figs. 23, price one mark, bound in linen 
M. 1.25; Bandchen No. 369 ‘‘Aus Natur und Geisteswelt” 


sammlung, B. G. Teubner, Leipzig, 


1942 17th Flugschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Zachtungskunde, Berlin, 1914. 


109 


110 The Journal 


America. It is being emphasized on 
both continents, however, by the de- 
velopment of breeders’ association and 
herd and stud books, with the subse- 
quent premium put on accurate regis- 
tration. In Germany the development 
of these instruments has proceeded on 
much the same lines as in America, but 
there has been more codperation be- 
tween the promoters of different breeds 
—a codperation largely brought about 
by the huge and powerful German 
Agricultural Society, whose 18,000 mem- 
bers represent the advanced element in 
scientific agriculture in the empire; and 
largely directed by the German Genetic 
Association, whose principal function is 
the registration of pedigrees and their 
subsequent study. It is chiefly as a 
result of the work of the latter, Dr. 
Wilsdorf says, that sentiment in Ger- 
many has been changed on the subject 
of line-breeding. The verdict of the 
older school of zodlogists had been 
against it, but impartial examination of 
horse pedigree charts by Lehndorff and 
others convinced them that much of the 
progress made in the live-stock in- 
dustry was due to line-breeding, and 


they began to recommend it. Then the 
value of a ‘‘genetic analysis’’ of each 


animal came to be realized—that is, an 
examination of its ancestry to determine 
how it should be mated. A_ good 
example of the way pedigree study can 
be put to use is his description of the 
work of the famous zodtechnist Dr. de 
Chapeaurouge at the national stud farm 
in Celle. He brought together pedigrees 
of many of the Hanoverian stallions 
there and found that the stallion Nord- 
ing got good colts in some districts, but 
very poor ones in others. This fact had 
been recognized by the Celle breeders, 
but its cause was a complete mystery. 
Testing theory by fact, de Chapeaurouge 
was able to prove that the good colts 
were regularly produced when Nording 
was mated to a mare with which he was 
related. As the mares in his own 
particular district were much more 
likely to be related to him than were 
mares of more remote districts, the 
result was that he had been getting 
valuable colts in that district and com- 
paratively worthless ones whenever he 


of Heredity 


went out of it—a result that would have 
remained a mystery, had it not been 
demonstrated that the principle of 
consanguineous breeding was sufficient 
to explain it. 


CONSANGUINITY WIDESPREAD. 


The amount of consanguinity among 
the domesticated animals of any dis- 
trict is, as Dr. Wilsdorf points out, 
easily under-estimated. ‘“‘Suppose we 
take, as illustration, a valley in which 
there are 50,000 head of stock of any 
given kind. If this number of animals 
had only parents, grandparents and 
great-grandparents which were unre- 
lated to each other, then we would 
have—teckoning 14 ancestors for each 
animal—700,000 unrelated animals as 
ancestors of these 50,000. If one tries 
to find out whether such a condition 
could actually exist in practice, and 
examines the pedigree book of some 
large herd, he finds the actual number 
of ancestors is immensely smaller than 
calculation led him to expect. The same 
animal will appear over and over again 
in the ancestry of a given individual, so 
that most of the animals now living 
trace back to numerous common an- 
cestors. In the herd which we have 
taken as an illustration, we would not 
find 700,000 ancestors, but perhaps half 
that many, or even less. 

“In our studies of the history of 
various breeds, we next made the as- 
tonishing discovery that the best living 
individuals belonged to families which, 
when their pedigrees were traced, were 
found all to come from a single family— 
often from a single individual. By way 
of illustration I might cite the Hanover- 
ian halfbloods, which we know particu- 
larly through the studies of de Chapeau- 
rouge and Grabensee to have come 
almost altogether from three stallions, 
of which Norfolk has hitherto had the 
greatest influence on the breed—an 
influence that is increasing all the time. 
Researches into the swine breeding of 
the Visselhévede district, and into that 
of Hildesheim in Bavaria, have shown 
that in each case a single boar was the 
ancestor of various valuable families, 
today widely scattered. And Hoesch 
of Neukirchen has found that his valu- 


Wilsdorf: German Zootechny 


able strain of swine is principally due to 
the blood of a single early boar Richard.” 

This means that the origin of most of 
the valuable strains of live-stock in 
Germany has been due to line-breeding 
—and the same is true of any other part 
of the world. The value of such breed- 
ing was known to the Greeks and 
Romans, but after their time it fell into 
great disrepute, partly from theological 
reasons, and until recently, the author 
says, it was considered not only a 
questionable, but a distinctly dangerous 
procedure in Germany, while even today 
many a breeder will pay a higher price 
for an animal if he feels sure that it is 
not related to any now in his herd. 
“The modern science of breeding, how- 
ever, stands firm in its belief that for the 
production of definite types for special 
purposes in-breeding is the quickest and 
most certain method of procedure, and 
all great breeders who work toward any 
particular goal depend largely on in- 
breeding, knowingly or unknowingly.” 


REVERSION OR ATAVISM. 


A certain amount of inbreeding 1s 
undoubtedly necessary to preserve the 
type of any purebred strain of stock; 
conversely, the quickest way to break 
up the type is to mate with some widely 
differing animal. Even if the mating be 
between animals which look exactly 
alike in respect to any given character, 
that character will frequently disappear 
altogether in the offspring and be 
replaced by some character presumably 
belonging to the breed or species very 
early in its history: this is the phenome- 
non of atavism, reversion or ‘‘throwing 
back.’’ It is particularly common in our 
domestic animals because, as Dr. Wils- 
dorf points out, most of them seem to be 
the product of the union of several 
different races or even species, at some 
remote time in the past. The result of 
such mixture is seen in an interesting 
case he cites, of the herd of white cattle 
owned by the King of Wurttemberg 
and kept in Rosenstein Park near 
Stuttgart. ‘‘Here a pure white herd 
has been bred for many years, and new 
pure white males of many breeds 
(Schwyzer, Allgauer, Simmentaler, Lim- 
purger, Swabian Haller, Hollander, 


111 


East Friesian, Shorthorn, Alderney and 
Zebu) introduced at intervals. But 
although no animal which was not white 
has been introduced, so far as is known, 
since the herd was established, a number 
of calves are born each year which are 
not white, but some other color.” 

Most existing breeds of live stock 
probably have an origin not very much 
less mixed than that of the King of 
Wurttemberg’s white cattle: the mix- 
ture was made at a more remote period, 
however, and its complexity is there- 
fore not so vividly realized. 

With material of that sort to work 
on, it is evident that the task of the 
modern breeder is one of great delicacy. 
His chief object is to produce animals 
that are all of one type; and yet the 
very make-up of his stock makes it in- 
evitable that nature will constantly 
strive to break away from that artifical 
type and return to the more primitive 
characteristics. How shall the breeder 
thwart this effort of nature? 

As suggested above, he does it by 
line-breeding, that is, by breeding in 
one blood-line as much as_ possible— 
‘pure breeding.’’ The so-called *“ pure- 
bred’’ animal, then, has been produced 
by line-breeding more than by any 
other factor. 

“Strictly speaking, any introduction 
of foreign blood would result in the 
breed no longer being ‘pure.’ But 
frequently it is to the interest of the 
breed to introduce a new blood stream, 
that is, new and valuable characteristics. 
Speaking by and large, one cannot then 
say that the breed is no longer pure; 
the word ‘purebred’ is relative, not 
absolute, in its meaning. Our producers 
of purebred stock frequently speak of 
‘crossing’ when they employ stock for 
breeding which is not quite their ideal 
in type. Here again the idea of ‘pure- 
bred’ is pretty narrowly construed. 
The practical breeder understands it 
more broadly: for him the mating of 
animals of the same type is pure breed- 
ing.” 

To sum up, the triumph of scientific 
animal breeding has consisted in the 
suppression of natural diversity and in 
breeding animals true to a fixed type: 
the study of pedigrees and the utiliza- 


112 The Journal 


tion of the information they gave by 
means of line-breeding have been the 
chief instruments of the scientific 
breeder. 


FIXING THE STANDARDS. 


It will be obvious from this that 
nothing is more important than to have 
a satisfactory fixed type. If our 
standard is wrong, then increase in 
skill in breeding, improvement of the 
technique, is of little value. The 
genetist’s ability to use the laws of 
heredity will be of little avail, unless 
the standard toward which he is breed- 
ing is as good as science can define. 
Dr. Wilsdorf therefore emphasizes the 
great advance that has been made in 
this direction in Germany as in most 
other parts of the world during recent 
decades. It was not long ago, he points 
out, that breeding was merely a matter 
of mating two animals, without much 
regard either to their pedigrees or to 
their performances. Now it is recog- 
nized that these two factors must go 
together, each supplementing and inter- 
preting the other; and the development 
of performance tests has_ therefore 
become a part of the breeder’s work 
not only important but absolutely 
necessary. In horse breeding, the race 
track justifies itself largely on this 
ground; horse shows do, too, when the 
practical element is not wholly sub- 
merged by the sporting element; while 
endurance tests and work tests for the 
heavier horses are now being developed, 
particularly at the national stock farm 
of Warendorf, where the annual ‘“* Waren- 
dorf Week” draws draft animals from 
many regions, to be submitted to tests 
of hauling cars loaded with sand, that 
will give any competent judge a good 
idea of what kind of a constitution they 
have inherited and are likely to pass on 
to their offspring. 

Cattle breeders took up the idea of 
performance tests far later than horse- 
men did, for in earlier times cattle were 
largely valued as draft animals, and 
milk production was an _ insignificant 
side issue. During the last century, 
however, the development of the milk- 
ing function, through conscious or 
unconscious performance tests and se- 


of Heredity 


lection of the best producers for breed- 
ing, gave marvelous results. The 
average yield of German cows at 
different periods is stated .by the 
author in the following table: 


1903 eee 34 quart 
ISOQOR, eee 114% quart 
SO eee 2 quarts 
1890) Ao 3 quarts 
1 SS0 see ae 4 quarts 


This quantity was maintained for - 
three decades. Then, with the collapse 
of sheep breeding in Germany, dairy 
cattle again received an unusual amount 
of attention, with the result that the 
figures were increased to: 


USOOKO Sao 6 quarts 
LS IOEP. Spas ee: 8 quarts 


From this point on, the physiological 
limit began to appear in sight, and the 
increase was necessarily slower. But 
the nearer the physiological limit came, 
the more careful were breeders to test 
and select only the finest milk-yielding 
strains, with the result that at the 
beginning of the twentieth century, 
Dr. Wiisdorf thinks the average daily 
milk production of German cows may 
be placed at 10 quarts. In one century, 
their yield was increased more than 
1000 per cent. by intelligent breeding— 
certainly as good an example as one 
could ask of the practical value of 
genetics. 


FORM VS. REAL VALUE. 


Production tests for beef cattle, on 
the other hand, have helped to make 
clear to breeders the difference between 
bodily and germinal qualities. There 
was a period when the study of type 
was the prevailing fad, and when it was 
believed that if you had animals con- 
forming to a certain ideal beef type, 
you would have ideal animals to breed 
from as well as to butcher. This gave 
rise to a number of herds that were 
very pretty to look at, but caused 
disillusionment later on, for as the 
writer tersely says, Handsome is as 
handsome does:—‘‘The _ level-headed 
farmer properly considers an animal 
beautiful, when its production is beau- 
tiful.”” It was soon found that bad 
form and considerable departures from 
the ideal type might be associated with 


Wilsdorf: German Zootechny 


first-class production-capacity, and this 
brought home a realization of the fact 
that the latter quality was a matter of 
inheritance, and might or might not be 
identified by the “show form’”’ of the 
animal in question. Now the practical 
breeder spends more time studying 
pedigrees and less in measuring the 
relative proportions of the parts of his 
animals; “for if an animal has nothing 
more to show than a beautifully pro- 
portioned body, and is a second-class 
producer, there is no room for it in 
practical animal husbandry.” After 
40 years of careful tests, made possible 
by the invention of suitable apparatus, 
the dairyman knows that the family to 
breed from is the one that yields the 
best quantity and quality of milk, not 
the one that produces calves most like 
the pictures in some “Standard of 
Pertection,”’ 

During all this time an effort was 
being made to find some connection 
between form and capacity—to find 
correlations, as the professional genetist 
would say, between some features of the 
body and the milk yield. One after 
another was advanced; many writers 
established imaginary ‘milk types,” 
some of them on the most unbelievable 
grounds. “It has not yet been proved,” 
in Dr. Wilsdorf’s opinion, ‘‘that any 
certain characters or forms give any 
reliable indication about the milk yield 
of a cow.” He does not hold it im- 
possible that such correlations may 
eventually be found, but points out 
that the careful experiment of Gaude 
with nearly 1,000 cows in East Fries- 
land showed “‘that the influence of such 
factors as feed, work, care, pasturage, 
etc., caused so much change in bodily 
conditions as to make the probability 
of recognizing ‘milk indications’ very 
unlikely.” 

Of all civilized countries, Germany has 
the greatest number of breeds of cattle— 
probably a hundred, many of the 
smaller of which are now dying out. 
But only in two places are the herd 
books sufficiently full and ancient to 
make pedigree breeding satisfactory: 
among the Shorthorn breeders, and in 
East Friesland where the Holstein- 
Friesian cattle are bred. In the latter 


113 


district, the records show that most of 
the good animals trace back to one of a 
very small number of good bulls: 
“Primus,” “Matador,” ‘Bernhard,’ 
anid Wiax."7 


PRACTICAL PEDIGREE STUDY. 


“How important pedigree study is 
may be illustrated by an experience of 
my own. For 12 years I have been a 
member of the live-stock purchasing 
committee of the Brandenburg Board 
of Trade in East Friesland, and at the 
very beginning of my activity learned 
that a promising looking black and 
white bull in one district of the province 
of Brandenburg, although bred to 
excellent cows, got offspring of mediocre 
value, both in form and in color. In- 
vestigation showed that the bull was 
from a herd of black cattle in East 
Friesland, which a few years before had 
been ‘graded up’ from a herd of brown 
cattle. This fact, extraordinarily un- 
fortunate for the breeders of the dis- 
trict in which he was located, gave me 
occasion to begin investigating per- 
sonally the pedigree of every sire which 
was thereafter brought into the region, 
and to require from owners of calves by 
him periodical reports in the future. 
I checked up these reports at every sale 
of East Friesian cattle and in the course 
of a few years had satisfactory evidence 
as to the breeding value of practically 
every important strain of cattle in the 
region, so that little by little we were 
able in our yearly purchase to get cattle 
of greater breeding value into the 
province. What we did must be done 
sooner or later by the breeders of every 
other district: they must find out the 
actual value of all stock offered them, 
from a genetic point of view.” 

While science has been applied to 
horse and cattle breeding with results 
highly gratifying to German pride, the 
sheep breeders seem to have fallen 
behind. Lack of careful selection, and 
inbreeding of bad animals rather than 
good, are blamed in part for the ruin of 
the industry—among other troubles, it 
is stated that a failure to select fecund 
strains led to a decline of fecundity in 
German sheep 


114 The Journal 


In swine breeding, too, science has 
made slow progress; but as successful 
swine breeding is easier than successful 
sheep breeding, Germany still holds an 
important place in this field. Most of 
the swine are in the hands of small 
breeders, among whom there is a wide- 
spread prejudice against line-breeding; 
this leads to the constant introduction 
of foreign blood and the result is a fail- 
ure of the herd to improve, or frequently 
an absolute deterioration of the strain. 

An example of the changes that may 
be made by systematic breeding is 
offered by the widespread goat industry 
of Germany. In the last 20 years the 
goats of the empire have almost wholly 
been changed from horned to hornless, 
by the introduction of hornless Swiss 
breeding stock. The same cause has 
led to the disappearance of the old 
colors and their supplanting by white 
and brown. 

Turning to a consideration of the 
formal laws of heredity, Dr. Wilsdorf 
shows himself to be a conservative. He 
frankly recognizes that most of the 
knowledge now in the possession of 
animal breeders on this subject is the 
result of the research of plant breeders, 
and he sees no objection to this state 
of affairs, since it is now pretty generally 
admitted that, on the whole, the laws of 
heredity that apply to one section of the 
living world apply to others as well. 
He further recognizes that formal laws 
of genetics as yet can give little real 
help to the animal breeder. 


MUCH YET TO BE LEARNED. 


“When the architect builds a house,” 
he writes, ‘‘he can say in advance, ‘The 
house will be like this: it will have such 
and such a height, such and such a 
shape,’ and so on. The gardener who 
has to lay out a garden or park can tell 
in advance just how the result of his 
work will look. He picks out the places 
where the paths will run, where turf 
will be planted, where flowers will 
appear; and he can say to himself, ‘In 
this place such and such a tree will 
grow.’ Architect and gardener alike 
know beforehand how the finished 
product of their work will look; but not 
so the animal breeder. He is dealing 


of Heredity 


with laws of nature which are not yet 
well enough known to enable him to 
predict with absolute certainty how 
they will work. One knows well 
enough that the offspring of two parents 
usually is like them, but whether it will 
more resemble the father or the mother 
can not with certainty be foretold. 
Exactly in this uncertainty lies the 
difficulty of the animal breeder’s work. 
It has therefore long been the aim of 
experimental breeding and particularly 
of experiments in hybridization, to find 
certain rules with which heredity com- 
plies. We are well aware that there are 
animals which transmit their character- 
istics with unusual prepotency, and we 
can say with a good deal of certainty 
that the product of most of these 
animals will have a large proportion of 
those characteristics. But frequently 
enough comes a case where we are 
deceived, and the number of cases in 
which we can speak of a ‘rule’ is pro- 
portionately very small: the part of the 
breeding industry in which we still 
walk in uncertainty is much larger than 
that in which we can advance without 
groping. 

“The search for these rules, how- 
ever, has occupied a great number of 
naturalists during recent years, and 
still occupies them. The work hitherto 
accomplished is a great one and, even 
if the goal is still a long distance ahead, 
we have nevertheless taken a big step 
forward. Plate distinguishes four dif- 
ferent methods of heredity, as follows: 

1. Mosaic heredity. 

2. Blending or intermediate heredity. 

3. Mutational heredity. 

4. Alternative, segregating or Mende- 

lian heredity. 

“In mosaic heredity the characters 
of the parents exist side by side in the 
offspring—as in a mosaic. As example 
I may cite the barred progeny of white 
and black fowls bred by Davenport; or 
the color of the well-known Blue 
Andalusian fowl, where the pigments 
black and white, intimately mixed, 
produce an apparent blue color. Hilz- 
heimer cites the Baldinger Tiger Swine 
as an example of this sort of heredity: it 
was produced by crossing the white 
native race with the black Berkshire. 


Wilsdorf: German Zootechny 


‘The second method of heredity is 
the blending. In it the characters fuse 
together so that the product stands 
half way between the two parents. 
The mulattoes resulting from crosses 
between negroes and whites may be 
cited in this connection: their color is 
constant in succeeding generations.’ 

“In mutational heredity a form 
appears in the first generation which 
was not present in either of the parents. 
As an example genetic literature usually 
cites Bateson’s cross of fowls with rose 
comb and fowls with pea comb; the 
offspring had a walnut comb—that is, 
an entirely new form; which however, 
could not be bred pure in succeeding 
generations, but segregated in the 
second generation, in the following 
proportions: 9 offspring had a walnut 
comb, 3 a rose comb, 3 a pea comb and 
1 a single comb.” 


THE VALUE OF MENDELISM. 


More important than these to the 
breeder of live-stock is the fourth 
method, Mendelism, Dr. Wilsdorf says, 
but after he has explained it at some 
length, he feels obliged to conclude: 

“Now if we ask ourselves what 
importance Mendelism has for prac- 
tical animal breeding, we must admit 
at the very outset that the develop- 
ment of the rule is still too new to 
admit of sure conclusions. In this day 
no one is likely to deny that a thorough 
knowledge of this rule, which solves so 
many problems that before its discovery 
were absolute mysteries, is of the first 
importance. In agricultural animal 
breeding, however, we are confronted 
by one almost insuperable difficulty— 
that our most important domesticated 
animals bring only one offspring into 
the world at a time; whence the con- 
ditions of heredity are naturally not 
easy to observe. It is only with such 
animals as swine, which produce larger 
numbers of young at a time, that one 
can derive much immediate help from 
Mendel’s Rule.” 


ES 


Furthermore, he points out, “it is 
by no means assured that all characters 
Mendelize.’”’ On the whole, he con- 
siders Mendelism an instrument of 
great future promise, but one which is 
hardly likely to be of much value to the 
practical breeder at the present day. 

Telegony and maternal impressions 
are mentioned as supposed factors to 
which many breeders ascribe unexpected 
variation. As Dr. Wilsdorf says, these 
can no longer be considered anything 
but superstitions, yet they are still 
widely held. ‘‘In East Friesland, the 
Eldorado of the German cattle industry, 
many breeders still believe heart and 
soul in the power of maternal impres- 
sions on the cow. If a red or red-and- 
white calf is born in a herd of solid 
black-and-white color, the mother 
must have looked at some red object. 
You can argue as much as you like, 
this explanation can not be shaken in 
East Friesland. And yet the true 
explanation lies right under their noses! 
either the neighbor’s herd is red-and- 
white, and one of his bulls has jumped 
the fence, or else it is a case of atavism 
such as I have already spoken of. A 
belief in maternal impression, like a 
belief in telegony, is a superstition with 
which no serious breeder will waste 
time; but it cannot be easily eradicated 
from the minds of the great mass of 
farmers, because it has sunk in so 
deeply.”’ 

A proposition which extremists some- 
times class with the foregoing, but for 
which Dr. Wilsdorf shows more toler- 
ance, is the belief in the inheritance of 
acquired characters. Stockmen, par- 
ticularly in regions where breeding has 
been the occupation of the same family 
through many generations, have amassed 
rich stores of experience which satisfy 
them that animals under the influence 
of better care, feeding and housing 
change their form and characteristics, 
and that these changes occurring in the 
life of the individual are inherited by 
their progeny. This conclusion, which 


°This is denied by C. B. Davenport, ‘‘Skin Color of Mulattoes,”’ JOURNAL OF HEREDITY, V, 12,555, 


December, 1914. 
inheritance. 


The color seems to be due to numerous separate factors which act as units in 
Dr. Wilsdorf. might better have mentioned height as a character which shows 


blending; although in this case too the blending is very likely due merely to the fact that the unit 
characters involved are too many and too small to permit the observer to see their segregation. 


—The Editor. 


116 


found its first clear expression in the 
teachings of the zodlogist Lamarck 
and was in part at least accepted by 
Darwin, was strongly denied by the 
zoologist Weissmann who is followed in 
this respect by most present day 
naturalists. The strife between ad- 
herents of Lamarckism and adherents 
of Weissmannism is bitter and con- 
tinuous, and Dr. Wilsdorf does not 
think that, on the whole, it is very 
profitable to the science of animal 
breeding. Most of the alleged cases of 
inheritance of acquired characteristics 
he admits may be dismissed without 
much hesitation, but he sees others in 
which the influence of the environment 
seems to him to be transmitted directly 
to succeeding generations. “If we 
observe the well-known Arabian horse 
at home, we recognize in him a definite 
type, which is common to the whole 
breed in Arabia. The Arabs say of him, 
‘The Arab horse remains an Arab horse 
only so long as he breathes the air of 
the desert.’ For centuries Arabian 
horses have been brought to all civilized 
countries and have astonishingly 
changed. The English Arab is dif- 
ferent from the Hungarian, and both 
are different from the Prussian or 
Saxon or French. Whence comes this 
inherited variability in form, size, looks? 


THE SIMMENTALER CATTLE. 


“In the Bernese Oberland are the 
huge and beautifully formed cattle 
called Simmentaler. These, too, have 
been carried to all other countries, and 
at present there exist abroad a multitude 
of Simmentaler herds which in part, 
indeed, are similar, but in part show 
great differences. One more example: 
on the steppes of Hungary is found a 
breed of Steppe Cattle, of little value 
because of its low milk production. The 
increasing demand for milk has led the 
Magyars and the Hungarian govern- 
ment to seek in every possible way to 


The. Journal 


of Heredity 


increase the milk yield of this breed. 
High producing cattle from other dis- 
tricts have been brought in; sometimes 
these have been maintained and further 
bred pure; sometimes they have been 
crossed with the native cattle. At first, 
fine results were secured, but with 
further generations the newcomers be- 
came more and more like the old steppe 
cattle in form, size and milk yield, until 
finally the progeny of the 
German and Swiss bulls and cows came 
to be almost exactly like the steppe 
cattle. Such cases, small or large, can 
be found in almost any cattle country 
in the world today.”’ 

In conclusion, the author warns his 
readers, let there be no misunder- 
standing as to what the science of 
genetics claims to have accomplished 
in Germany. Progress has been great 
—astonishingly great considering the 
short time involved—but the distance 
yet to go is still greater. ‘The question 
of the inheritance or non-inheritance of 
parental qualities, the problem of chang- 
ing the inherited characters of animals 
during their youth, the maintenance of 
high fecundity joined to high produc- 
tion, the finding of tests of the fitness of 
animals for the purposes for which they 
are desired, the tendency to greater 
variability in many breeds, the pre- 
potency of the different sexes, the 
determination of sex of progeny, arti- 
ficial fecundation, the inheritance of 
diseases: all these questions and many 
others have either only been touched, 
or are wholly unexplored. As Dr. 
Miller of Tetschen, the founder of the 
German Genetic Association, aptly said, 
we stand before riddles,—but riddles 
whose solution we can attack with more 
hopeful zeal than ever at the present 
day; their solution will mean an im- 
mense gain to the live-stock breeder, 
the agriculturist, but perhaps no part 
of this gain will be greater than the 
light which will be thrown on the 
nature of Man himself.”’ 


North | 


DATE PALM ALLIES IN AMERICA 


North American Fan Palms Related to the Genus Phoenix—Several Mexican 
Species With Date-Like Fruits—Majority of Palm Families 
Native to New World. 
©? Fa Coo 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 


HE finding of fossil date seeds 
in eastern Texas is an interest- 


ing discovery recently an- 

nounced by Dr. E. W. Berry.’ 
As date palms have been known hitherto 
only in the Old World, it may be worth 
while to call attention to the analogies 
presented by some of the native Ameri- 
can fan-palms. The geographical ob- 
stacles to the recognition of such an 
alliance being removed by the discovery 
of the fossils, two questions naturally 
suggest themselves. Is the finding of 
these fossils to be taken as an indica- 
tion that the date palm, or the genus 
Phoenix, originated in America, and 
which of the existing genera is to be 
looked upon as the nearest surviving 
relative of Phoenix in America? 

It has long been recognized that 
Phoenix is much more closely related to 
the fan-palms than to other pinnate- 
leaved palms. Even the leaf structure 
shows that there is no alliance with the 
other pinnate palms, for in comparison 
with these the pinnae of Phoenix appear 
to be reversed, or up-side-down, being 
V-shaped in cross-section, whereas in 
all other pinnate palms the pinnae are 
A-shaped, as though folded down in- 
stead of up. This difference becomes 
very significant when we recognize the 
probability that the two forms of 
pinnae represent different methods of 
splitting an ancestral undivided, plicate 
or plaited leaf. 

A plicate leaf split along the upper 
folds or ridges gives V-shaped segments. 
Splitting along the grooves between the 
ridges would result in reversed or 
A-shaped segments. These considera- 
tions are not altogether theoretical, in 


view of the fact that the seedlings of 
nearly all palms have undivided leaves. 
The mature, compound form of leaves 
is attained usually by very gradual 
stages of increasing the number of 
segments and splitting them apart. In 
all of the fan-palms that have deeply 
divided leaves the splitting takes place 
along the grooves, resulting in V-shaped 
segments, like those of the date palms. 
Hence we may consider that the 
specialization of the date palm leaf 
consists mostly in the addition of an 
elongated rachis or midrib that allows 
the segments or pinnae to stand well 
apart, instead of being inserted on a 
central base, or ligule, like the radiating 
segments of the fan-palms. The leaves 
of some of the fan-palms show no indica- 
tion of a midrib, as in the genus Thrinax 
and its relatives. But in most of the 
genera the middle segment of the leaf 
has a thickened midvein or rudimentary 
rachis. Some of the American palmetto 
palms present an intermediate type of 
leaf structure, with a more strongly 
developed midrib. The leaves of Inodes 
are of an oval form, and with a part of 
the segments inserted on a _ strong, 
decurved midrib, as shown in fig. 8. 
A further development of the midrib, 
sufficient to separate the segments, 
would afford a transition to a pinnate 
leaf, with a structure parallel to the 
leaves of the date palms. Hence we 
may say that as far as leaf structure is 
concerned the genus Inodes offers an 
analogy with the date palms. 


PHOENIX AND PSEUDOPHOENIX. 


As the name indicates, the genus 
Pseudophoenix also presents certain 


1 Fruits of a Date Palm in the Tertiary Deposits of Eastern Texas, American Journal of Science, 


37: 403, 1914. 


117 


lis The Journal of Heredity 


AN AMERICAN ALLY OF THE DATE PALM 


If the date palm, which is now confined to the old World, really originated in America, as has 
recently been suggested, it ought still to have some relatives on this continent. This 


Mexican palmetto (Inodes) appears to be one of them. 
segments of the leaves are inserted on a strong, decurved midrib. 


It will be noted that many of the 
With a larger midrib 


or if the midrib were, so to speak, drawn out, the leaf would be elongated and would closely 


resemble that of the date palm. 
Mexico. (Fig. 8.) 


analogies with the date palms. It is 
like Phoenix in being more nearly 
related to the fan-palms than to other 
pinnate-leaved palms, and may be 
considered as another independent off- 
shoot from the fan-palms. With respect 
to the fruits there are distinct points of 
agreement with other American families 
of pinnate-leaved palms, more particu- 
larly with the coconut palms, ivory 
palms (Phytelephas), bag palms (Mani- 
cariaceae), and wax palms (Ceroxy- 
laceae), but the leaves, inflorescences 
and flowers of Pseudophoenix are much 
closer to those of the fan-palms. The 
similarity to Phoenix lies in the fact 
that the pinnae are strongly plicate and 
are inserted very together in 
irregular groups or clusters. Neverthe- 
less, the resemblance is only superficial, 
for the folds or channels of the pinnae 
are below, as in the other pinnate- 
palms, instead of above as in Phoenix. 


close 


Photograph by G. N. Collins at San Pablo, Campeche, 


Thus although Pseudophoenix does 
not appear to have any direct alliance 
with Phoenix, it has a somewhat 
analogous relation to the American fan- 
palms, agreeing closely with them in 
some respects and diverging widely in 
others. The structure of the flowers is 
much like that of the fan-palms, each 
flower standing separately, on a distinct 
pedicel. The sexual specialization of 
the flowers is also very slight, scarcely 
more than in the fan-palms. 

To admit the possibility of American 
origin for Phoenix would add one more 
family to the American palm flora, and 
would still further increase the already 
striking preponderance of family types in 
America. Though many botanists have 
classified the palms in a single family, 
the genera are numerous and fall into 
several very distinct groups that should 
be considered as families. Most of 
these groups are confined to America. 


FRUIT AND SEEDS OF A MEXICAN PALMETTO 


The fruit of this species, Inodes exul, probably approaches the date as nearly 
as that of any other palm now found on this continent. Such fruits are 
gathered in quantities by the Mexicans and form a staple article of diet in 
some districts. The seeds are surrounded by a layer of edible flesh about 


one-eighth of an inch thick. Photograph by C. B. Doyle, natural size 
(Fig. 9.) 


120 The Journal 


In presenting a summary of the families 
of palms in 1913, it appeared that 13 
families are found on the American 
Continent and only 5 other families in 
the Eastern Hemisphere.’ 

If now the date palms are to be with- 
drawn from the Old World series and 
added to the New, we shall have the 
more reason to entertain the idea that 
this order of plant life had its origin and 
evolution somewhere on this side of the 
globe. It is also possible to distinguish 
a North American series of families 
from a South American series. To 
judge from the contrasts presented by 
the existing forms, North and South 
America have had separate palm floras 
for periods that must have been very 
long in comparison with the time that 
has elapsed since the continents were 
joined, for most of the palms that 
appear to have traveled along the 
Isthmus have occupied as yet only a 
small part of the regions that are now 
accessible to them. 


FAN-PALMS WITH SEEDS LIKE DATES. 


With these general considerations in 
mind we can better appreciate the 
interest of the fact that some of the 
American fan-palms have seeds rather 
closely similar to those of the date 
palm. This is most notably the case 
with the genus Brahea, where the seed 
is of the same general form and has 
a distinct longitudinal groove. The 
Florida saw-palmetto (Serenoa_ serru- 
lata) also has fleshy date-like fruits, 
with seeds of the same general shape 
and external appearance, but lacking 
the longitudinal groove. 

While the seeds described by Dr. 
Berry could not be referred to the genus 
Brahea on account of the position of the 
embryo and the depth of the longitu- 
dinal groove,* such differences are often 
found in closely related genera. Neither 
should too much weight be placed upon 
the elongate form of the seeds, which 
gives them so much similarity to the 
seeds of the familiar commercial varie- 
ties of dates. Some species of Phoenix 


of Heredity 


have the fruits almost spherical, and 
this is true also of some of the varieties 
of Phoenix dactyltfera. 

The similarity shown by the seeds of 
Brahea is at least sufficient to indicate 
that the form of the seeds is not a unique 
characteristic of the date palms, but a 
feature that may have been shared with 
older relatives now extinct. Unless the 


fossil remains are of a character to ~ 


exclude such a possibility it wiil be 
easier to believe that the seeds found in 
Texas may represent some, collateral 
relative of the date, perhaps even a fan- 
palm, rather than a true member of the 
genus Phoenix. Dr. Berry appears to 
have provided for this contingency by 
naming his fossils as Phoenicites occiden- 
talis, instead of referring them to the 
genus Phoenix. Fossil palm leaves 
have been found in many localities in 
the western States, and even in Alaska. 
The fact that these were fan-palms need 
not be supposed to exclude the possi- 
bility that some of them may have 
borne date-like fruits, or that they may 
have spread as fan-palms to the Old 
World. The Polynesian fan-palms that 
have been described under the name 
Pritchardia and the Asiatic genus Livis- 
tona appear to have rather close relatives 
among the American fan-palms. 


PRIMITIVE AMERICAN PALMS. 


If the date palms originated in 
America or reached this continent at 
some later period it is difficult to under- 
stand why they should have become 
extinct, in view of the fact that some of 
the most primitive types of fan-palms 
have continued to exist in Florida, the 
West Indies and Central America. 
Moreover, a considerable number of the 
related American fan-palms, including 
such genera as Inodes, Brahea, Erythea 
and Washingtonia, live in open, desert 
regions, and have the same habits and 
ecological requirements as the date 
palms. The similarities extend to the 
production of fruits with fleshy, edible 
pericarps, not as thick or as sweet as 
those of the date palms, but neverthe- 


2 Cook, O. F., Relationships of the False Date Palm of the Florida Keys, with a Synoptical 


Key to the Families of American Palms. 


Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., vol. 16, pt. 8, 1913. 


3 Drawings of the seeds found by Berry were published in the JouRNAL oF HeEReEpITy, V, 11, 


499, Nov., 1914. 


Cook: Date 


Palm Allies in America 


F 
5 ae 
s 4 i 
> ihe 
7 q 
2 “as 


fae, 


ay HE 
nud 


%: 


“ 
- 


‘ 


’ 


iNew Sha tla dela i 


eM 


A MEXICAN RELATIVE OF THE DATE PALM 


The belief that the date palm was an American species a million or more years ago is 


based on finding fossil seeds in Texas. 


This photograph of part of the inflore- 


scence of a Mexican palm, Brahea dulcis, shows that some of the present American 
palms have seeds very much like those of a date, including the groove along one 
side, which is clearly shown in the cross sections of three seeds in the upper part 


of this plate. 


It is possible, therefore, that the seeds found in Texas were not 


those of the date palm, but of some ancestor of one of the present American 


genera like Brahea or Inodes. 
10.) 


less used by the native Mexicans, and 
recognized by botanists 1n such names 
as *Brahea dulcis and Erythea edulis. 
The fruits of Inodes texana or a closely 
allied species are eaten like dates and 
are an article of trade in the native 
markets in the Tampico district. The 
Indians of the Colorado desert in 


Photograph by C. B. Doyle, natural size. 


(Fig. 


southern California think of the date 
palms that are now being planted by 
the white settlers as a superior kind of 
Washingtonia. 

In one important respect the fruits of 
Inodes are the most like dates, for they 
have only a thin membranous endocarp 
while the other genera have a hardened 


122 


shell-like endocarp around the kernel, 
as may have been the case with the 
fossil seeds described by Dr. Berry, to 
judge from the following statement in 
the description of the fossil: 


“The surface is longitudinally wrinkled, due 
possibly to desiccation before preservation, 
which may also make the dimensions as given 
probably under what they were in life. The 
flesh was relatively thin compared with that 
of the cultivated date and must have been of 
considerable consistency and fibrous rather 


than of the soft and almost fluid character of - 


some of the modern varieties of the latter.”’ 


The very wide distribution of the 
species of Phoenix in the Eastern 
Hemisphere makes it the more difficult 
to credit a complete extinction of the 
group in the Western Hemisphere. 
Date palms are known from all of the 
tropical and subtropical regions of the 
Old World, from India through Africa 
to the Canary Islands, though they do 
not extend far into the Chinese region, 
to Australia, or to the islands of the 
Pacific. This is in contrast with the 
distribution of the Asiatic fan-palms, 
which are well represented in eastern 
Asia and the Pacific islands. With the 
possible exception of Raphia, no other 
genus of palms is so widely distributed 
as Phoenix, either in the Old World, or 
in the New. The only competitors in 
this respect are the palms that may 
have had human assistance, such as 
Cocos, Acrocomia, Attalea and Inodes. 
The last is the most ubiquitous in the 
wild state in the American tropics, and 
in this respect also may be considered as 
the American analogue of Phoenix. 
These two genera enjoy to a greater 
extent than most of their relatives the 
same adaptive advantage, that the 
seeds retain their vitality for long 
periods in the dry state. With most 
palms drying the seed soon kills the 
enbryo. 

The relations of Phoenix with the 
Old World fan-palms might also have 


The Journal of Heredity 


bearing upon the place of origin. 
Students of palms have generally agreed 
that Phoenix is most closely related 
with Chamaerops, a genus confined to 
the Mediterranean region, the Asiatic 
species formerly included in Chamaerops 
being assigned by recent authors to 
Trachycarpus. Chamaerops has larger 
and more date-like fruits than Trachy- 
carpus, and stronger spines on the 
petioles. The production of hybrids 
between the date palm and Chamaerops 
has been claimed, but is difficult to 
credit in view of the numerous struc- 
tural differences between the two palms. 
The date palm differs from all of the 
related fan-palms in having the sexes 
on separate plants, and in having the 
inflorescence highly specialized. The 
branches are mostly simple, and are 
arranged in clusters or whorls, a con- 
dition that may have been attained by 
uniting the basal joints of the primary 
branches with the main axis. Another 
profound difference is the reduction of 
the spathes to a single one, which en- 
closes the entire inflorescence until the 
time of flowering. 

If the fossil seeds from Texas represent 
a true date palm, it may be expected 
that remains of other Asiatic genera of 
fan-palms will be found in America. 
On the other hand, if the fossils repre- 
sent a collateral relative of the date 
palm the separation between Phoenix 
and the Old World fan-palms may 
have occurred in the Eastern Hemi- 
sphere. In view of the analogy pre- 
sented by Brahea, the former presence 
of Phoenix in America can hardly be 
determined from the seeds alone. Other 
parts of the plant are needed to make 
the identification secure. It is to be 
hoped that nothing 1n the way of palm 
materials will be overlooked by those 
who have the opportunity to collect 
fossil plants in the Southwestern 
States. 


WHEAT BREEDING 


Many Genetists Working With Important Cereal Crop——What They Have 
Accomplished—Hope for Future Improvement—Methods 
of Procedure.’ 


A. E. V. RicHARDSON 


Agricultural Superintendent, Victoria Department of Agriculture, Melbourne, 
Australia. 


YSTEMATIC breeding of wheat 
and other cereals has been prac- 
tised for many years past in the 
United States, Canada, Ger- 

many, France, Sweden, Britain, and 
India. 

A large number of agricultural ex- 
periment stations and colleges in the 
United States are at present engaged in 
breeding new varieties of wheat. The 
Minnesota station has originated numer- 
ous varieties, two of which have “‘yielded 
from 1 to 3 bushels more per acre than 
the varieties formerly grown.’” Other 
stations, particularly Maryland, North 
Dakota, California, and Ohio, have 
done much valuable work in the pro- 
duction of new varieties and the 1m- 
provement of existing types. 

In Canada most of the breeding and 
selecting of wheat has been done in 
connection with the Dominion Experi- 
ment Farm system on the central station 
at Ottawa. The late William Saunders 
began the work of wheat improvement 
in Canada in 1888. Working on the 
Red Fife wheats, he succeeded in pro- 
ducing the cross-bred varieties Stanley, 
Preston, Huron, Marquis, and Bishop, 
which are now widely grown throughout 
Canada. 

In England, Biffen of Cambridge has 
done a large amount of work in wheat 
improvement, paying special attention to 
the production of a variety of wheat com- 
bining the important qualities of (qa) 
high yielding capacity of the English 
varieties; (b) the high strength charac- 


teristic of the Manitoba wheats; and (c) 
immunity from yellow rust (Puccinia 
glumarum). He claims to have achieved 
considerable success in this direction. 

In Sweden, the wheat breeding is 
concentrated at Svalof under the direc- 
tion of the Swedish Grain Society. 
This society has done a vast amount of 
good in introducing superior varieties of 
wheat in Swedish agriculture. No less 
than fifteen trained plant specialists are 
engaged in this work. Details of this 
institution will be discussed later. 

In Germany, a large number of public 
and private institutions are engaged in 
the improvement of cereals and root 
crops. According to Hillman,’ there 
are no less than 84 breeders engaged on 
the improvement of wheat, 46 of rye, 
65 of barley, 53 of oats and 44 of fodder 
and _ sugar-beets. 

A considerable amount of work has 
been done in India towards the improve- 
ment of local wheats by selection and 
crossing. 


WHEAT BREEDING IN AUSTRALIA. 


feature in wheat- 
breeding work in Australia is the 
remarkable success achieved by that 
patient and retiring genius, the late 
William Farrer, of New South Wales, 
in every branch of wheat improvement. 

A man who could set out as clearly 
and comprehensively as Farrer,* both 
the goal toward which he was striving 
in his work of wheat improvement, 
and the methods whereby he hoped to 


The outstanding 


1 Parts of a paper read before the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 


January, 1913; published in altered form in Bul. 


22, n. s., Victoria Department of Agriculture. 


2 Year-book of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 1908, p. 155. 
3 P. Hillman, Arb. Deut. Landw. Gesell. (1910) No. 168. ee 
4 Farrer: The making and improvement of new varieties of wheat for Australian conditions. 


Agricultural Gazette (N.S.W.), February, 1898. 


123 


124 


The Journal of Heredity 


CROSS SECTION OF A WHEAT LEAF 


Above and below, the leaf is bounded by a single layer of epidermal cells (e), between which 


lies the main mass of the leaf cells, the mesophyll. 


“The upper portion of the mesophyll 


is typically closer in structure than the lower portion, which is usually spongy in charac- 


ter and contains a large number of intercellular spaces. 
labyrinthine spaces in which air circulates freely in the interior of the leaf. 


These intercellular chambers form 
Scattered 


through the body of the mesophyll are the vascular bundles (v.b.) which form in wheat 
a set of parallel strands serving not only as skeleton for the support of the remaining leaf 


tissues, but also as media for the conduction of sap to every part cf the leaf.” 


highly enlarged. (Fig. 11.) 

reach that goal, and in less than a 
decade flood the market with varieties 
like Federation—the most prolific and 
popular farmer’s wheat in the Common- 
wealth; Bobs and Comeback—of un- 
surpassed milling excellence; Florence 
and Genoa—bunt-resisting varieties; 
and a host of others enjoying widespread 
popularity, such as Bunyip, Thew, 
Bayah, Warren, Genoa, Firbank, Cleve- 
land, Cedar, Jonathan, etc., must have 
possessed in an unusual degree the 
insight of genius. It is no exaggeration 
to say that Farrer has added millions 
sterling to the national exchequer by 
the creation of Federation wheat. Dr. 
Cherry estimates the cash value of 
?arrer’s work to Victoria alone during 
the 1909 season at £250,000. Since that 
estimate was framed, the area sown 
with this popular variety in Victoria has 
greatly increased, and the benefits have 
become commensurately greater. 

Farrer’s work was continued by 
G. L. Sutton, late Wheat Experimental- 
ist of New South Wales, who did a great 
deal to popularize the Farrer varieties 
amongst farmers. 

In this State, H. Pye, the present 
Principal of Dookie Agricultural College, 
has been the most prominent investiga- 
tor of the problems connected with the 


Photograph 


improvement of wheat varieties. For 
many years he collaborated with Farrer 
in the testing of new varieties, and the 
independent work he has done has 
resulted in the production of a number 
of crosses possessing improved qualities, 
which are now undergoing the process of 
fixing and testing on a commercial scale. 
The work of producing new varieties of 
value is necessarily slow and tedious, 
and the results of Mr. Pye’s long and 
patient work will doubtless be of im- 
mense benefit to wheat-growers. 

In South Australia, the improvement 
of varieties by selection and cross- 
breeding is carried out at the Parafield 
Wheat Research Station and at the 
Roseworthy College. The demand for 
improved and selected cereals from both 
these centers has for many years past 
greatly exceeded the supply. 

Many of the varieties grown in the 
wheat areas of the Commonwealth were 
originated by private farmers. With 
one or two exceptions, these varieties 
were obtained by selection from the 
ordinary crop. Among many of the 
varieties that might be mentioned are 
Dart’s Imperial, Marshall’s No. 3, 
Correll’s No. 7, King’s Early, Yandilla 
King, Steinwedel, Petatz Surprise, Car- 
michael’s Eclipse, and Huguenot. In 


Richardson: Wheat Breeding 


most cases these varieties originated 
from a single plant growing in the ordi- 
nary field crop. The outstanding quali- 
ties of these plants arrested the attention 
of the originator, who harvested them 
separately, and multiplied the seed for 
distribution. 


OBTAINING IMPROVED VARIETIES. 


There are two general methods by 
which improved and new varieties may 
be obtained, namely, by— 

1. Selection. 

2. Cross-breeding. 

We will consider each of these in some 
detail. 

Vilmorin, a renowned authority on 
plant breeding, states that ‘“‘selection is 
the surest and most powerful instrument 
man possesses for the modification of 
living organisms.” Reduced to simplest 
terms, it consists merely in the choice of 
the best individuals for the propagation 
of seed, and it is by means of selection 
exercised through centuries that our 
cultivated plants have reached their 
present standard of excellence. The 
obvious effects of selection may perhaps 
be seen to best advantage in the animal 
world. It was by patient, systematic 
selection, exercised over a long period of 
years, that the famous Booth and Bates 
types of Shorthorn cattle were devel- 
oped. What we term pedigreed stock 
in Merinos, Clydesdales, Jerseys, etc., 
have been produced by a slow, pains- 
taking process of selecting the very best 
animals in the herd, accompanied by a 
vigorous exclusion of the culls. While 
the vast majority of farmers are well 
aware of the beneficent effects of selec- 
tion in the animal world, they appear to 
be totally oblivious of the fact that 
selection can be equally effective when 
applied to the plant world. 

The term ‘‘selection,”’ as commonly 
used, covers a general, as well as a 
specific, idea. In its general sense, 
selection is practiced by every good 
farmer when he chooses varieties of 
wheat that are best suited to his soil and 
climatic conditions, reserves the best 
portion of his crop for seed purposes, and 
takes good care to grade his seed well. 
No well-informed stock breeder would 
think of selecting as his parent stock 


HOW A LEAF BREATHES 


Above, epidermis of Federation wheat 


(under surface of leaf), showing the 
stomata or breathing pores. ‘‘Each 
stoma or pore consists of two sau- 
sage-shaped guard cells joined 
together at the extremities in such 
a mannet as to leave a very narrow 
slit-like pore between them.’’ The 
stomata open and close in accord- 
ance with the respiratory needs of 
the leaf, this movement being 
brought about by changes in the 
curvature of the guard-cells, which 
in turn depend on the turgidity or 
water content of the ells. Below, 
the same further enlarged (to about 
300 diameters). (Fig. 12). 


ZS 


126 


any other than the best animals he can 
secure with the means at his disposal. 
Nor should any wheat farmer be 
satisfied with anything but the best of 
his crop for seed purposes. He should 
take the greatest pains to get, first, the 
right variety of wheat; second, well- 
developed seed; and third, the seed 
should be secured from the most 
vigorous plants. The latter point is 
very important. 


WHAT THEY ARE WORTH. 


With regard to the choice of varieties, 
it may be pointed out that the difference 
in yield between two varieties of wheat 
grown on the same farm, under precisely 
similar soil and climatic conditions, is 
frequently sufficient to pay the rent and 
interest on the land on which the crop 
was grown. This has been demon- 
strated time and again in departmental 
experimental plots and on private farms. 

Carefully-conducted experiments in 

various parts of the world demonstrate 
that it pays a farmer to give careful 
attention to the selection of his seed. 

In Canada, Zavitz states that during 
twelve years’ work at the Ontario Agri- 
cultural College, large, well-developed 
grain of winter varieties of wheat aver- 
aged 46.9 bushels per acre, as against 
39.1 bushels from small shrunken seed, 
and with spring wheat the average 
yield from the well-developed, plump 
seed was 21.7 bushels, as against 16.7 
of the small seed. 

In Britain, the University College of 
Wales’ reports that nearly double the 
yield was obtained from plump grain 
as against small grain. 

Desprez, in France,’ after experi- 
menting with a large number of varieties 
of wheat, draws the conclusion that the 
results are markedly in favor of large 
seed. 

Cobb (N.S. W.),° after an exhaustive 
comparison of seed wheat from 24 
varieties, states that the increased yield 
obtained from well-graded seed is suffi- 
cient to justify the installation of first 
class cleaning machinery. 


5 Zavitz: 
6 Report of University College 
7 Jour. Agri. Prat. (1897). 

8 Cobb: Agricultural Gazette, 


Journal of the Board of Agriculture, 
of Wales, 


June, 
1899, p. 68-70. 


The: Journalbot Heredity 


The results obtained at some of the 
American Experiment Stations are con- 
flicting, but, wherever care was taken 
in the selection of seed, considerable 
increases in yield resulted. This was 
the case at Kansas, Nebraska, North 
Dakota, and Indiana experiment sta- 
tions, whilst at Pennsylvania and Ohio 
no marked increases resulted. 

From these various experiments it 
may be safely concluded that the best 
results will be obtained by the selection 
of well-developed, plump seed, from 
plants of strong vitality. 

The term selection is generally more 
restricted in meaning. It has now 
acquired a technical significance, and 
implies the systematic choosing of 
specific wheat-plants for future repro- 
duction, with the object of bringing 
about an amelioration of type. It 
recognizes that there are endless varia- 
tions of type in an ordinary wheat crop 
—that there are grades of quality in 
wheat just as there are grades of quality 
in fruit and butter. 

Selection seeks to isolate those types 
of plant which approximate most nearly 
to the ideal, and systematically to choose 
from the produce of these types the 
variations which are likely to be of 
material value. 

This is the manner in which most 
of the improvements in our field crops 
have occurred. 


TWO KINDS OF SELECTION. 


Of course, many of the modifications 
effected in plants, through long years of 
cultivation, are the result of uncon- 
scious improvement. This is exem- 
plified by the development of the 
cabbage, cauliflower, and kohl-rabi from 
the woody perennial plant Brassica 
oleracea, which is a native of Southern 
Europe. The cabbage is a modification 
of the leaf, the cauliflower of the 
inflorescence, and kohl-rabi of the stem 
of this plant, and their origin is due to 
long-continued selection of variations 
which were considered desirable, and 
not because the gardener consciously 


1910, p. 35. 


New South Wales, 1903. 


A GRAIN OF “FEDERATION” WHEAT 


Transverse section, enlarged about 400 times. The structures shown are as follows: 

(a) The epidermis, which consists of a layer of longitudinal cells with their long axes in the 
direction of the length of the kernel. 

(b) Second layer, the epicarp, very similar to the former in general appearance resting on an 
irregular layer apparently devoid of cellular structure. 

(c) The endocarp, placed at right angles to the cells above described. In cross section the 
cells of the endocarp appear to be very regular in character, with thick cell walls which 
in longitudinal section display minute pits. 

(d) The testa, consisting in the unripe kernel of two distinct layers of cells closely applied to 
the aleurone layer. The testa is very tough in charater, not readily permeable to water 
and homogeneous in structure. 

(e) The aleurone layer, consisting of large more or less rectangular cells, with thick cell walls 
containing oil and granular nitrogenous matter. It is frequently called the gluten 
layer, though this is a misnomer, as the gluten found in the flour is derived from the 
starch cells of the endosperm and not from the aleurone layer. 

These five layers constitute the bran, and are usually removed when the wheat is milled. Be- 

neath them are (f) the starch granules, which are ground up to make white flour. (Fig. 13.) 


128 


attempted to evolve these specific 
forms. 

On the other hand, many instances 
might be quoted in which improvement 
has been effected by systematic breed- 
ing. 
Perhaps the most striking case is that 
illustrated by the development of the 
sugar content in beets. By a process 
of careful, repreated, and systematic 
selection of individuai plants of high 
sugar content, combined with the re- 
peated testing of the hereditary powers 
of each individual plant, the common 
beet, containing from 6 to 7% of sugar, 
has been developed into the sugar beet, 
containing from 20 to 25% of sugar. 

The value of this improvement must 
be obvious. It has enabled the beet- 
sugar industry in Europe and America 
to more than hold its own against the 
cane sugar produced by black labor 
in the Tropics. 

A remarkable case of selection is 
referred to in De Vries’® work. In 1886, 
De Vries found at Loosdrecht a plant of 
clover bearing a few leaves with four 
and five leaflets. He commenced some 
experiments to fix this type of clover. 
By continuous cultivation and selection, 
he ultimately (1892) secured plants in 
which four and five leaflets on each 
leaf were common, and, strangely 
enough, for the first time several leaves 
appeared with six and seven leaflets. 

It is very probable that no clover 
plant in the world ever possessed six or 
seven leaflets until De Vries commenced 
these experiments. 

HISTORY OF WHEAT SELECTION. 


The idea of improving cereals by 
selection is of comparatively recent 


origin. The most notable of the early 
wheat-breeders were Le Couteur, of 
Jersey; Shireff, of Haddington; and 


Hallet, of Brighton. 

Le Couteur, nearly a century ago, 
observed that an ordinary field of wheat 
appeared to be extremely variable, and 
concluded that some of the various 
types found in the growing crop would 
yield better than others. He isolated 
23 distinct types, and grew them sepa- 
rately, and was successful in introducing 


The Journal of Heredity 


several new varieties into general culti 
vation. One of these is still grown 
under the name of Talavera. 

A Scottish  agriculturist—Patrick 
Shireff—developed the celebrated Hope- 
town oats in 1832, and placed on the 
market four distinct varieties of wheat, 
all of which were extensively grown in 
his time. His method of procedure. 
was to walk through his wheat fields at 
harvest-time, and mark any plants 
which stood out prominently from the 
surrounding plants. He isolated these 
plants, sowed them separately, sub- 
jected them to severe tests, and sold 
the seed of the most promising types. 

It is very interesting to note that 
neither of these breeders adopted the 
principle of repeated selection. They 
simply isolated individual plants of 
promising appearance, and multiplied 
the seed of these types as rapidly as 
possible. There was but one initial 
selection, followed by rapid multiplica- 
tion of the progeny. On this funda- 
mental point they differed widely from 
Major Hallet, who began his work of 
selection in 1857. His method of selec- 
tion was derived from his previous 
experience of breeding Shorthorn cattle. 

He first introduced the principle of 
repeated selection. His method was to 
select each year the best grain from the 
best ear of the best plant he could find 
in his wheat-field, and to repeat this 
process for a number of generations 
On 18th June, 1862, he inserted a full- 
page advertisement in the 7imes, de- 
scribing his methods of breeding wheats. 
In this advertisement he states that his 
“pedigree wheat was bred upon the 
same principle of repeated selection 
which has produced our pure races of 
animals.” 

During his first five years’ work, the 
length of the head was doubled, the 
number of grains in the head trebled, 
and the tillering capacity was increased 
fivefold. 

The improvements effected were, in a 
measure, artificial, inasmuch as he grew 
his selected plants on the very best and 
richest garden soil. Nevertheless, his 
strains were a success, and greatly 
improved the harvests of his generation. 


De Vries: ‘‘'The Mutation Theory,” Vol. II., p. 36 (1910). 


Richardson: Wheat Breeding 


FLOWER OF WHEAT, MUCH ENLARGED 


The ovary (0) contains the minute ovule or egg cell which, when fertilized 


by a pollen grain, will develop into a grain of wheat. From the ovule 
arise the feathery styles (s), whose function is to catch the pollen grain 
and give it access to the ovary. The stamens (st) are three in number, 
each one consisting of a slender stalk—the filament—bearing at its 
summit the anther or pollen sacs, which in this case consist of four 
longitudinal chambers containing large numbers of pollen grains (sperm 
cells). Normally these pollen-grains fall directly on the styles below, 
so the wheat flower is self-fertilized; but to serve his own purpose the 
breeder removes these anthers, and introduces pollen from some foreign 


source, thus ensuring cross fertilization. 


The same principle of repeated selec- 
tion has since been very largely practised 
in Germany, and has been very success- 
ful. Rimpau, in particular, has applied 
this principle of gradual improvement 
by continuous selection to rye, and 
succeeded in developing the famous 
Schlanstedt rye, which is now grown 
throughout France and Germany. 


THE SVALOF METHOD. 


Finally, it is necessary to consider 
briefly the method of selection adopted 
at the famous Swedish Experiment 
Station at Svalof, Sweden. It may be 
explained” that this station owes its 
origin to a small codperative village 
company, formed in 1886 by private 
farmers for the production of improved 


10 For a fuller account see Plant Breeding in Sweden by H. Hjalmar Nilsson. 


HEREDITY, V, 7, 281, July, 1914. 


(Fig. 14.) 


seed wheat, oats, and barley, and the 
testing of new and foreign varieties of 
grain. 

R. B. Greig,’ one of the members of 
the Scotch Commission who visited 
Australia in 1911, gives a most inter- 
esting account of a visit to this remark- 
able institution. He says: “‘The work 
at Svalof is based on two discoveries— 
first that among the farm crops there 
exist an indefinite number of elementary 
species which breed true; and secondly, 
that superior individuals among these 
species can be quickly recognized by 
certain morphological characters. The 
first discovery was almost an accident; 
the second was the result of painstaking 
and minute investigation, assisted by an 
elaborate system of record keeping. 
JOURNAL OF 


1 Vide Journal, Board of Agriculture, London, August, 1910, p. 280. 


130 


‘“By a comprehensive series of trials, 
the principle was firmly established that 
the proper unit of selection is the single 
ear or head. Further investigation 
brought out the fact that in an ordinary 
field of oats, wheat, or barley there were 
dozens of different types, most of which 
bred true. The next step was to 
discover the superior types, or those 
specially adapted for special conditions. 
It has been demonstrated that certain 
characters of apparently negligible im- 
portance are actually trustworthy indi- 
cators of the productive power of an 
individual and of its quality. This 
principle of correlation or association of 
characters has been found applicable 
to all farm crops, and while it sheds a 
brilliant light to guide the improvement 
of crops, and provides a short cut to 
success, it effectively bars any but the 
trained specialist from the speedy 
recognition of new varieties by selec- 
tion.” 


AVERAGE YIELD IN FOUR YEAR PERIODS IN BUSHELS PER ACRE OF OATS, BARLEY, 
EFFECT OF MASS SELECTION ON SELF-FERTILIZED AND ON VEGETATIVELY PRO- 


SHOWING THE 
DUGED CROPS. 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


There are two general methods of 
selection adopted by plant-breeders— 
mass selection and individual selection. 

Mass selection consists of the con- 
tinuous and repeated selection of a 
number of the best grains, ears, or 
plants. It 1s based on Darwin’s con- 
ception of the origin of species, and it is 
supposed that by the repeated selection 
of a number of élite plants each year, 
the race, as a whole, will be gradually 
improved. 

De Vries denies that any permanent 
improvement can result from mass 
selection. 

Fruwirth, on the other hand, affirms 
that mass selection does result in 
permanent improvement. 

The effect of mass selection; as 
applied to oats, barley, and potatoes, 
has been strikingly demonstrated by 
Professor Zavitz at Ontario.” The 
following table summarizes the results 
of sixteen years’ continuous mass selec- 
tion on these crops :— 


AND POTATOES, 


Crops. 1890-93. 1894-97. 1898-1901. 1901-05. 
Bushels Bushels Bushels Bushels 
1. Oats-—Average for 8 varieties........ v/ 79 83 100 
2. Barley age for 8 varieties...... i 54 63 63 
3. Potatoes—Average for 8 varieties.... 120 216 218 249 
Mass selection is most effective when of the drill, or they may have been 


the individual plant is made the unit of 
selection, and not the individual ear or 
the individual grain, for it frequently 
happens that large grains and large 
ears of wheat are found on relatively 
poor plants. 

Mass selection thus practised tends 
towards improvement of the type by 
propagating from the best plants and 
excluding all the rest. It may, of 
course, happen that some of the selec- 
tions thus made are superior because 
they have been grown under favorable 
environment. They may, for example, 
have received an extra amount of super- 
i aoeion through the irregular working 


2 Report, Ontario Agricultural College, 


1905. 


favored with more space to develop 
than the majority of plants in the crop. 
However, the repeated and rigorous 


selection of the best plants would 
gradually confine the choice to what 
might be termed the permanently 


superior plants, and the general char- 
acter of the crop would gradually im- 
prove in the desired direction. 

Mass selection has been practiced 
with great success at the German experi- 
ment stations, and by such breeders as 
Rimpau, Drechsler, and Mokry. There 
are several different ways in which this 
method of selection may be applied. 
Whatever method is adopted must 


Richardson: Wheat Breeding 


obviously involve as little labor as 
possible, and take up a minimum of 
time. To be completely effective, the 
selection must be continuous and unin- 
terrupted, 7. e., the selection must be 
kept up year after year to counteract 
any tendency on the part of the wheat 
to degenerate. 

A method which has the merit of 
being continuous and of requiring a 
small amount of labor is the following :— 

A field of the variety which it is 
desired to improve by mass selection is 
carefully inspected at harvest-time, and 
sufficient of the best-developed heads 
from robust, well-developed, prolific 
plants is selected to yield, on hand- 
threshing, about five pounds of graded 
grain. This seed may be sown at seed- 
time, say in 1915, in one strip of the 
drill, on approximately one-tenth of an 
acre, asa ‘“‘stud”’ plot. At harvest-time 
a similar process of selection of the best 
heads from the strongest plants in the 
estud plot is carried out, and the 
produce of the selection is reserved to 
form the “stud’’ plot of 1916. The 
balance of the “‘stud”’ plot of 1915 is 
harvested and sown as the “‘seed’”’ plot 
of 1916 on an area of approximately two 
acres. In 1916 the process is repeated. 
The best selected heads of the 1916 stud 
plot become the stud plot for 1917, and 
the balance of the stud plot becomes the 
“seed”? plot of 1917. The 1916 seed 
plot of two acres is harvested and sown 
eoecay, 50 to-40 acres asa. “bulk” 
plot for 1917, from which seed for the 
whole farm is obtained. Thus, after 
three years, the selection becomes 
automatic. The small stud plot has 
been selected for three years, and repre- 
sents the “‘élite”’ plants of a race which 
is gradually approaching a pedigreed 
character. 

The full effects of the process would 
not be felt for at least three years—the 
time taken for the “‘stud”’ plot to be- 
come the “bulk’’ plot. 


INDIVIDUAL SELECTION. 


The method could be made more 
systematic by making the unit plot a 
single row of specially-selected plants, 
and rigorously selecting each season the 
very best plants of each row. 


: , £ 
WHEAT ANTHER 


It is made up of four pollen-sacs, which 
are about ready to burst at the 
lower ends, releasing the translucent 
pollen grains that are visible inside, 
and letting them fall on the stigma 
below. (Fig. 15.) 


131 


2 The Journal of Heredity 


When the individual plant or ear is 
made the starting point, we have what 
is known as individual selection. In 
this case the selection commences with 
a number of superior plants of a given 
variety, and the seeds from each plant 
or ear are separately planted, and kept 
under continual observation. This en- 
ables a strict comparison to be made of 
the progeny of each selection, so that in 
a few years the best strain in the original 
selections may be determined and multi- 
plied for future use. 

Nilsson, at Svalof, after subjecting 
the older methods of mass selection to a 
critical examination, decided to adopt 
the method of single-plant selection 
used by Shireff and Le Couteur, and has 
achieved a considerable amount of 
success. The method of procedure has 
already been described. As a principle, 
it is based on De Vries’ conception of 
the origin of species, and it assumes that 
repeated selection is unnecessary. 

Another example of individual selec- 
tion is afforded by the method intro- 
duced by Willet M. Hays, founder of the 
American Genetic Association. His 
method consists in isolating the most 
promising types of plants in a crop, 
and of testing the efficiency of the selec- 
tion by comparing the prolificacy of the 
100 plants derived from each of the 
strains so isolated. 

For this purpose the produce from 
individual plants are sown in “‘cent- 
gener” plots. One hundred and forty- 
four seeds of each selection are sown in 
a square, with 12 seeds along each side. 
At harvest-time the outside border row 
is removed, and the remaining 100 
plants are harvested, and the total 
produce obtained is taken as a measure 
of the prolificacy of a given strain. 

Hays made a close study of variation 
in wheat, and found that those char- 
acters such as yield, which can be 
expressed in numbers, follow what is 
known as Quetelet’s Law of Variability. 

A simple illustration of Quetelet’s 
law may be obtained by comparing the 
measurement of the height of 1,000 men 
of the same nationality. If 1,000 men 
be selected at random and arranged in a 
row in order of height, it will be found— 


(a) the man in the middle of the line 
represents the average height 
of all men; 

(b) a line drawn over their heads will 
diverge only very slightly from 
the horizontal througheut its 
entire length, falling gradually 
towards the end where the 
smaller men are placed; 

(c) the line will rapidly curve up- 
ward near the upper end of 
the line where the tall men are 
placed, and will curve rapidly 
downward at the lower end 
where the shorter men are 
standing. 

Hays® points out that if the individual 
yields of a large number of wheat plants 
of any given variety are arranged in 
order, a precisely similar curve may be 
obtained to that illustrated above. The 
great majority of the plants give only 
an average yield, a few give a very poor 
yield, and a few give an exceedingly 
high yield. 

These latter are the plants which he 
uses for his future selections. 

Hays states that in ‘“‘each 1,000 plants 
of wheat there are a few phenomenal 
yielders, and the method of single seed 
planting makes it practicable to secure 
these exceptional plants, and from these 
new varieties can be made.”’ 


HAYS’ PRODUCTION. 


Working on Fife and Bluestem varie- 
ties of wheat, which were largely grown 
in Minnesota, he succeeded in producing 
improved strains which gave yields of 
15-20% more than the original types, 
and which have largely displaced them 
from general cultivation. Thus Minne- 
sota 169 wheat was bred by a process of 
selection from a Bluestem variety com- 
monly grown in Minnesota. During 
four consecutive years it averaged in 
field trials 4.9 bushels more than the 
parent type. In 1902 it was distributed 
in four-bushel lots to 375 farmers, and 
reports showed that its average yield in 
1903 was 21.5 bushels, as compared 
with 18.2 bushels average for the com- 
mon varieties, 7. €., an increase of 3.3 
bushels, or 18%. Hays judges the 
efficacy of a given selection, not by 


18 Bulletin 62, Minnesota Experiment Station, U.S. A. 


Richardson: Wheat Breeding 


BS. 


STIGMA OF WHEAT FLOWER 


Portion of the style, highly enlarged. Numerous pollen grains have already 
fallen on it and can be seen adhering to it; in several cases they can 


be seen putting forth pollen tubes. 


These penetrate the stigma and 


grow down into the ovary; one of them finally comes in contact with 


the ovule, and fertilization ensues. 


qualitative differences, but by the 
quantitative factor—namely, the aver- 
age yield of the progeny of each indivi- 
dual selection. This principle gives a 
far more satisfactory basis for work 
than the judging of a plant by its mere 
external characteristics, more especially 
when the end sought is an increase in 
prolificacy of a given variety rather than 
an improvement in some specific quality, 
such as milling excellence or rust resist- 
ance. It is therefore of great practical 
importance for those who are desirous 
of effecting improvements in prolificacy 
of our standard varieties of wheat. 

Of course, in attempting an improve- 
ment in a given strain of wheat by any 
of the methods described above, care 
must be taken to avoid choosing those 


(Fig. 16.) 


plants which excel their neighbors 
through merely accidentally favorable 
circumstances. 

Irregular distributions of manure, 
variations in quality of the soil, and 
irregular seeding obviously lead to 
irregularities in the appearance of the 
individual plants, and considerable judg- 
ment is required on the part of the 
operator to decide whether the out- 
standing plants in a given crop really 
excel on account of individual excel- 
lencies or because they have been 
specially and accidentally favored in 
the struggle for existence. 

The second method of effecting spe- 
cific improvements in plants is by means 
of cross-breeding or hybridization. 


134 


The Journal of 


Heredity 


HOW FERTILIZATION IS ACCOMPLISHED 


This pollen grain has fallen on the stigma and put forth a slender tube which 
will grow down one of the branches of the stigma to the style, through 


which it will continue to grow until it reaches the ovule. 


Here, if 


favored by chance, it will come in contact with the minute ovule or 


egg cell. 


The nucleus of the pollen grain (the sperm cell), which has 


been gradually slipping down the tube, will then enter the ovule, 
unite with the nucleus of the ovule, and set in motion the machinery 
of cell division which will finally result in the development of a grain 


of wheat. (Fig. 17). 

In effecting improvements by cross- 
breeding the mode of procedure is to 
cross two varieties of wheat possessing 
divergent and complementary  char- 
acteristics, and selecting from the widely 
varying progeny those particular indi- 
viduals which in the highest 
degree the specific qualities which we 
are seeking. 

In order to apply such a method 
effectually it is necessary to have a clear 
conception of the goal towards which 
improvement is to be wrought, a knowl- 
edge of the unit characters of the differ- 
ent varieties, and of the laws governing 
the inheritance of these unit characters. 


possess 


The act of crossing, and the actual 
production of merely new varieties is 
simplicity itself—the fixing and produc- 
tion of valuable varieties is extremely 
difficult. 

Before discussing the method of cross- 
ing wheats, let us consider briefly the 
structure of a flower of wheat. The 
“head” or “ear’’ of wheat is known in 
botanical language as a spike, and 
consists of a flattened stem or rachis 
bearing alternately a series of structures 
known as “‘spikelets."’ Each “spikelet” 
or ‘‘chest’’ consists of several flowers. 
Usually each spikelet of most varieties 
has three to five flowers, from each of 


Richardson: Wheat Breeding 


which a grain of wheat may develop. 
The flower itself consists of two parts— 

(a) the protective parts, consisting 
of glumes and pales. 

(b) the essential parts—the stamens 
and pistil—7. e., male and female 
organs. (Fig. 1.) 

We are concerned here especially 
with the essential organs. The stamens 
(St.) are three in number, and represent 
the male organs. Each stamen consists 
of a slender stalk—the filament, bearing 
at its summit the anther or pollen sacs, 
which in the case of the wheat plant 
consists of four longitudinal chambers 
containing large numbers of minute 
pollen grains (sperm cells). 

The female portion of the flower—the 
pistil—consists of the ovary with a 
minute ovule (or egg cell). The upper 
part of the ovary bifurcates and forms 
two long, slender, feathery structures— 
the styles. (Fig. 14.) 

The pollen grain falls on the stigma 
of the flower and “‘germinates,’’ sending 
a slender tube through the style until it 
reaches the ovule when the pollen nu- 
cleus slips down the tube to join the 
ovule nucleus, and fusion and fertiliza- 
tion take place. 

How the crossing 1s done.—In the case 
of the wheat plant the flowers are 
normally self-fertilized. Natural cross 
fertilization is very rare. Moreover the 
flowers are hermaphrodite, 7. e., male 
and female elements are borne on the 
same flower. The wheat plant is said 
to be in ‘“‘flower’’ when the anthers 
begin to extrude from the glumes. 
With wheat, however, fertilization takes 
place before “flowering.” In order to 
cross one variety with another it is 
necessary that the pollen of one variety 
should be dusted on the ripe stigma or 
female part of the second variety. The 
plant from which the pollen is taken is 
generally described as the male parent, 
whilst the plant on which the crossing 
is done is referred to as the female par- 
ent. I find the following method gives 
satisfaction. A well developed “ear”’ 
of the ‘‘female parent” is chosen and 
prepared in the following manner :— 


The basal spikelets amounting to approxi- 
mately one-third of the ear are stripped off, 
and the top third of the head removed with a 
pair of scissors. Four or five spikelets are thus 


139 


left on each side of the center of the ear. 
These spikelets invariably contain three to 
five flowers. All flowers save the outside pair 
are removed with a pair of forceps. Thus the 
ear is reduced to 12 to 20 flowers (Fig. 18). It 
is now necessary to ‘‘castrate”’ the flowers by 
removing the three anthers from each. The 
point of the forceps is gently inserted between 
the upper margins of the inner and outer pales, 
and, by releasing the pressure on the forceps the 
flower is gently forced open, exposing the three 
anthers and the feathery stigma. With a 
little practice these anthers may be removed 
unbroken with one stroke of the forceps. It is, 
of course, necessary to prepare the ear in this 
fashion before any of the anthers have shed 
their pollen grains. The best stage at which to 
carry out the operation is when the anthers are 
just approaching maturity and turning yellow 
in color. Having castrated the whole of the 
flowers by the removal of all traces of the 
anthers, the ears may be wrapped in cotton 
wool until the stigmas of the flower become 
“‘receptive’’ or ready to receive the pollen. 
The cotton wool may then be removed, and 
ripe anthers of the particular variety desired 
as the male parent should then be secured. 
The anthers should be quite ‘‘ripe,’’ 7. e., bright 
yellow in color, and just ready to burst. The 
anthers are seized with a fine pair of forceps, 
broken in halves, and the contents gently 
shaken or dusted over the feathery style of the 
female ear. Each flower is treated in succession 
in this way, and frequently, when the pollen is 
not in good condition, some of the anthers may 
be broken and left inside the protective glumes 
of the flower. 

Instead of castrating and pollinating flowers 
on different days it is generally more convenient 
to remove the anthers and cross-pollinate the 
stigmas at the one operation. It is necessary 
in such cases that the stigma and anthers 
should be fairly “‘ripe,’’ and care should be 
taken that self-fertilization does not occur. 
Any flowers in which the anthers have already 
liberated pollen should be suppressed. 

After the crossing is finished the ear is 
wrapped up in cotton wool, or surrounded with 
a light paraffined paper bag to prevent the 
possible entry of foreign pollen. The ear is 
then labelled with the names of the male and 
female parents, date of cross, etc., and sup- 
ported by a stake. A fortnight later the 
protective covering may be removed, and the 
ear allowed to ripen. 


EFFECTS OF CROSSING. 


It is interesting to note, in passing, 
the general effect of crossing two 
different varieties of wheat :— 

(a) Crossing Increases Vigor of Prog- 
eny.—Darwin made an_ exhaustive 
comparative study of the effects of 
self-fertilization and cross-fertilization 
in plants. He has summed. up his 
researches in the generalization thav 
“Nature abhors perpetual self-fertiliza- 


136 The Journal of Heredity 


tion.’’ He showed that crossing within 
the limits of the species resulted in the 
production of a very vigorous offspring, 
while self-fertilization tends to weaken 
the offspring, and that flowers as a 
general rule are constructed in such a 
manner as to favor cross-fertilization. 
In the case of wheat, however, it must 
be remembered that the flowers are 
normally self-fertilized, and that cross- 
fertilization under natural conditions is 
extremely rare. There can be no doubt 
that in the cross-breeding of wheat 
the immediate effect is a general marked 
increase in the vigor of the cross. This 
increased vigor finds its expression 
generally in increased height, increased 
stooling capacity and size of head in the 
cross-bred progeny. Whether this in- 
creased vigor is, however, a permanent 
characteristic or a mere temporary 
improvement has not been definitely 
established in the case of wheat. 

(b) Crossing “breaks the type” and 
induces variation. Cross-breeding is 
one of the most powerful methods of 
inducing variations in a given type. 
There is no variety of wheat grown at 
the present time but what has some 
serious defect. It frequently happens 
that given varieties are specially well 
dowered with certain desirable qualities, 
but are sadly deficient in other necessary 
qualities. It is now possible by sys- 
tematic cross-breeding to combine the 
desirable qualities of two or more 
individual types in one variety, and 
eliminate any undesirable qualities. 
Farrer relied almost entirely on this 
method for the production of his new 
varieties. Federation, the most popular 
and prolific wheat in general cultivation 
in Australia at the present time; Cedar, 
Bobs, and Comeback, wheats of the 
highest milling excellence; Florence and 
Genoa, varieties which are smut resist- 
ant; and Bunyip, Thew, Bayah, Fir- 
bank, Warren, Jonathan, and a host of 
others have been produced by Farrer 
by means of cross-breeding. It is by 
means of the variations induced by 
crossing that improvement on existing 

READY FOR CROSSING types becomes possible. 

. Obviously, the wider the initial differ- 
At left, a head of wheat before treat- : : ; 

ment. At right, same head prepared ences between the two plants the more 

for cross-pollination. (Fig. 18.) widely will the progeny vary. 


Richardson: Wheat Breeding 


Some idea of the difficulties which be- 
set the early workers on this field of 
inquiry may be gathered from the 
history of a typical cross-bred seed. 
Suppose, for example, the variety known 
as Clubhead, which is a stiff-strawed, 
beardless, dark-chaffed variety with a 
dense compact head, be crossed with 
Yandilla King, which has a long, white, 
somewhat open head with firm closing 
glumes. The plants of the first genera- 
tion will invariably be slightly clubby in 
character with reddish-brown chaff. 
Now from this single cross-bred plant a 
thousand seeds might be produced. If 
every one of these seeds be separately 
sown the next season an unending 
variety of plants will arise. 

Every gradation and combination 
between the characteristics of the Club- 
head on the one hand and the Yandilla 
King on the other appear to make 
themselves manifest in this generation. 
Indeed, characters appear in this genera- 
tion which were latent in the originals, 
e. g., many of the progeny will be found 
with beards. Apparently chaos is the 
result of this simple act of crossing. 
Further, if a few grains be selected from 
each of the thousand plants and again 
be sown separately, it will be found that 
in the third generation some of the plants 
breed true to type whilst others give 
still further complex variations. This 
apparently chaotic result arising from 
the growing of a single cross-bred seed 
puzzled and confounded the early 
hybridizers and investigators. If by 
cross-breeding plants possessing specific 
characteristics the progeny were found 
to obey no definite laws it follows that 
the improvement of plants by this 
method would be nothing more than a 
mere gamble. 

Lindley, indeed, some fifty years ago, 
declared that the improvement of plants 
by cross-breeding was a game of chance 
with the odds in favor of the plant. 

If, on the contrary, the laws of in- 
heritance of specific characteristics could 
be formulated and definitely known it 
manifestly follows that the work of 


Lis 


plant improvement would be reduced to 
scientific exactness. 

Gregor Mendel, monk and abbot, of 
Briann, in Austrian Silesia, was the 
first to unravel this tangle, and present 
to the world a clear and lucid exposition 
of the inheritance of specific characters 
in cross-breeding. 

Mendel’s work has been confirmed by 
many workers in widely different fields 
of investigation. Besides Correns, 
Tschermak, and De Vries, who were 
responsible for the rediscovery of Men- 
del’s work, there have been confirma- 
tory contributions by Darbishire on 
Mice, Hurst on Rabbits, Davenport on 
Poultry, Vilmorin, Nilsson-Ehle, Biffen, 
Spillman, and Howard on Wheat, 
Bateson, Saunders, and others on Ly- 
chnis, Atropa and Matthiola, and To- 
yama on Silkmoths, to name only a few. 


MENDELISM IN WHEAT. 


It is of great practical importance to 
know whether the laws of inheritance 
formulated by Mendel and developed 
by his successors may be applied in 
practice to the improvement of wheat. 
A considerable amount of data has 
accumulated during recent years on the 
inheritance of unit characters in wheat, 
and this tends to show that— 

(1) The process of ‘‘fixing’’ new 
crosses, which formerly required 
considerable time and a vast 
amount of labor, may be 
greatly simplified. 

(2) The wheat breeder can predict 
with a tolerable amount of 
certainty what combinations of 
unit characters may be asso- 
ciated and fixed in a new 
variety. 

(3) The breeding of new varieties 
possessing certain specific attri- 
butes and desirable qualities 
may be accomplished with cer- 
tainty. 

The most prominent investigators in 
this field of work are Tschermak,” 
Spillman,” Biffen,’* Nilsson-Ehle,” and 
Howard." The first essential, of course, 


4 Tschermak—Die Zuchtung der landw. Kulturpflanzen Bd. IV., 1907. 


8 Spillman—Science XVI, 1902. 


16 Biffen—Journal of Agri. Science, 1905, 1907, 1908, 1909. 
17 Nilsson-Ehle—Kreuzungsuntersuchungen an Hafer und Weizen Lund, 1909-1911. 
18 Howard—Memoirs of the Imperial Dept. of Agric., India, Vol. IV, No. 8, Vol. V, No. 1. 


138 The Journal 


is to determine what characteristics in 
wheat are dominant and what recessive. 
Tschermak after an exhaustive and 
critical study of the behavior of the 
various contrasted unit characters in 
wheat states that the following attri- 
butes are respectively dominant and 
recessive, in strict accordance with 
Mendel’s law :— 


WHEAT ALLELOMORPHS. 


Dominant. Recessive. 


Hairy leaves. Smooth leaves. 

Solid stem. Hollow stem. 

Firm closing of glumes. Loose closing of glumes. 

Felted glumes. Smooth glumes. 

Black chaff. White chaff. 

Flinty grain. Floury grain. 

Winter form (late Spring form 
shooting). shooting). 

Lax ears. Dense ears. 


(early 


These have been confirmed in general 
by Biffen and Spillman, though in the 
case of bearded and beardless wheats 
the ratios are often very far from fol- 
lowing Mendel’s law, as Saunders,” 
Howard and others have pointed out. 

Biffen has obtained similar results at 
Cambridge. In addition he has shown 
that the following characters behave as 
Mendelian units :— 


Dominant. Recessive. 
Red Grain. White Grain. 
Hard translucent Soft opaque  endo- 
endosperm. sperm. 
Susceptibility to Immunity from yellow 
yellow rust. rust. 


In the following characters there is 
no dominance of either character, and 
the progeny in the first generation are 
intermediate : 


Lax and dense ears. 
Large and small glumes. 
Long and short grains. 
Early and late ripening. 


In the second generation two of the 
intermediates occur to each pure char- 
acter—D:2DR:R. 

The determination of the mode of 
inheritance of these various unit char- 
acters is of the greatest practical 
importance, for it enables the breeder 
to predict with tolerable certainty the 
forms resulting from the mating of two 
plants whose qualities can be expressed 
in terms of one or more unit characters. 


of Heredity 


One of the most interesting of the 
researches carried out in the production 
of new varieties of wheat is that done by 
Biffen in the production of the appar- 
ently impossible combination in the 
one variety of prolificacy, resistance to 
yellow rust, and high strength. 

The wheats grown in England are 
very low in strength, and this defect is 
reflected in the disparity in price at . 
Mark Lane between the Home-grown 
wheat, and the strong foreign wheats 
like Manitoba No. 1. It was formerly 
thought that this low strenyth of the 
wheats grown in England was due to the 
peculiarities of the climate. 

A trial of a large number of foreign 
varieties of high strength under Englsh 
conditions proved that while the greater 
majority deteriorated immediately, there 
were a few varieties which retained their 
strength perfectly under the new cli- 
matic conditions, and gave as good 
results in the bakehouse as when grown 
in their native lands. These varieties, 
however, were of little use to English 
farmers, for they lacked yielding power 
of both grain and straw. Biffen, there- 
fore, crossed these varieties of high 
strength with the prolific English varie- 
ties with the object of obtaining suitable 
varieties of high strength. Strength is 
defined as to the capacity of the flour 
“to yield large well-piled loaves,’’ and 
while it is not an easy matter to give in 
non-technical language the difference 
between strong and weak wheat, it may 
be said that in general strong wheats are 
characterized by hard, more or less 
transparent endosperm, whilst weak 
wheats are usually soft, starchy, and 
opaque. Ina certain cross between Red 
Fife and Rough Chaff a_ statistical 
examination of the progeny revealed the 
fact that in the first generation all the 
plants possessed strong grain, and that 
in the second generation the strength and 
weakness behaved as Mendelian char- 
acters giving the following ratio:—Nine 
strong red, three strong white, three 
weak red, one weak white. Biffen 
showed that these characters of strength 
and weakness in wheats could be handled 
with the same definiteness as other 
Mendelian characters. 


19 Saunders, Inheritance of Awns in Wheat, Conference on Genetics, 1906, p. 370. 


ee EE EE ra , inte 


s} ae ye ote i 
he he 
© , # 


* 
? 


CROSS-POLLINATING WHEAT FLOWERS 


In order to combine the desirable qualities of several strains in one, the breeder resorts to 
cross-pollination. To do this he removes part of the flowers from a head of wheat, as is 
shown in this photograph, and then removes the anthers or pollen sacs from all the remain- 
ing flowers. These, in which only female or pistillate organs remain, are known as the 
seed-bearing parent of the cross. Some other variety is selected as the male or pollen- 
bearing parent, and from flowers of such variety the anthers are cut out and burst over the 
flowers of the seed-bearer, their pollen falling on the stigmas of these flowers and causing 
cross-pollination by the method shown in the preceding photographs. After pollination 
has been made, the flowers are protected by a wrapper of cotton batting, in order to avoid 
the possibility of any subsequent pollination by wind or insects, which might seriously 
interfere with the breeder’s plans by changing the heredity of the resulting seed. (Fig. 19.) 


140 


Similar results were obtained with the 
inheritance of yellow rust (Puccinia 
glumarum) which does great damage in 
England. 

Crosses between varieties which were 
immune from yellow rust and Michigan 
Bronze, a variety inordinately prone to 
rust, gave a first generation crop of 
hybrids which were as badly affected 
with rust as Michigan Bronze itself. 
A statistical examination of the second 
generation plants gave 1,603 diseased 
plants and 523 immune, or a ratio of 
3.07:1. Apparently, therefore, immu- 
nity and susceptibility to yellow rust 
behave like Mendelian characters. 

It is not known to what the resistance 
of the rust is due. Working with 
Professor Biffen, Miss Marryat found 
that the rust hyphee are checked after 
entering the stomata of the resistant 
plants. Bateson points out that if the 
resistance to yellow rust is due to the 
presence of some anti-toxin the domi- 
nance of susceptibility must be taken to 
indicate that the formation of the 
anti-toxin is prevented by the presence 
of a factor in the dominant form, a 
conclusion which may lead to definite 
progress in the physiology of disease 
resistance. This yellow rust (Puccinia 
glumarum) is not the rust so frequently 
found in Australia wheat fields. The 
species of rust which causes so much 
damage here is Puccinia graminis.” 

Many of the unit characters so far 
studied in wheat have been those which 
are of relatively little value to the prac- 
tical agriculturist. The color of the 
chaff, the character of the awns, the 
hairs on the glumes, etc., are of great 
interest from a scientific point of view, 
inasmuch as a systematic study of them 
will serve to throw much light on obscure 
problems of inheritance, but they are of 
infinitely less practical utility than such 
characteristics as prolificacy, drought 
resistance, and early maturity. 

Unfortunately very little work has 
been done in regard to these important 
practical properties, and a systematic 
analysis of the factors on which these 
qualities depend, and of their mode of 
inheritance, is urgently required. We 


20 Puccinia gramints is the late stem-rust of the United States. 


~ 


the U.S. is P. rubigo-vera.—The Editor. 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


do know that the prolificacy of any 
variety of wheat is a complex of many 
factors. The yield depends on the 
climate; the chemical, physical, and 
biological condition of the soil; and on 
the qualities inherent in the variety. | 

Of the qualities inherent in the variety 
the most important are the capacity to 
develop a vigorous root system, and to 
stool thoroughly. Other factors are 
the average length and density of the: 
ears—the number of fertile florets 
carried to each spikelet, and the average 
size of the grain. We do not know, 
however, as yet whether high yielding 
and low yielding capacity behave as 
Mendelian characters and _ segregate 
as such in the second generation. 


CONCLUSION. 


During the past few years efforts have 
been made by ardent enthusiasts to 
extend Mendel’s law to all branches of 
animal breeding, and to make it fit 
in with our present day knowledge. 
Interesting results have certainly been 
obtained in the cross-breeding of poul- 
try, mice, rabbits, and polled cattle, but 
a considerable amount of ingenuity 
will be required to explain many of the 
discrepant and discordant results ob- 
tained with sheep and pigeons, etc. 

Whatever the future may have in 
store in the practical application of 
Mendel’s work to animal breeding, 
there can be no doubt that the present 
day breeder can, with the aid of the key 
given by Mendel, proceed on his work of 
plant improvement without leaving 
much to chance. The best results will 
follow when the individual plant is 
regarded as being built up of a number 
of unit characters, each of which follows 
a definite scheme of inheritance. The 
terms dominance and _ recessiveness 
should be applied, not to individual 
plants, but to each of the unit characters 
which collectively make up the organ- 
ism. The schemes of inheritance of 
many of the unit characters have been 
worked out in .detail, but there are 
qualities of great practical importance 
which require further investigation. 
We require to know exactly what are the 


The early orange leaf-rust of 


Richardson: Wheat Breeding 


various factors on which these important 
qualities depend, whether they conform 
to the Mendelian scheme of inheritance, 
and whether they are transmitted 
independently of other factors, or in 
association, and, if so, how close the 
association is. 

The aim of the wheat-breeder is 
always an improvement in type, the 
production of varieties possessing the 
maximum of desirable qualities, and the 
minimum of undesirable attributes. If 
he knows that the desirable qualities he 
is seeking are in two or more strains it 1s 
his task to unite the desirable qualities 
in the one strain. His most important 
problem is to determine by analysis and 
experiment the factors on which the 
desirable characteristics depend. But 
as soon as these factors have been deter- 
mined, and their mode of inheritance 
investigated, they can be brought under 
control and associated together at the 
breeder’s will. 


SUMMARY. 


1. The enriching and improving of the 
soil has been the dominant note in our 
system of wheat farming during the 
past generation. 

2. There is reason to believe that as 
much attention might profitably be 
given to the improvement of the plant 
as there has hitherto been given to the 
improvement in its environment. 

3. The primary aim of wheat improve- 
ment is the production of prolific varie- 
ties. Other important considerations 
are milling quality of grain, drought 
resistance, and rust resistance. 

4. Extraordinary activity is being 
displayed throughout the world in 
wheat improvement. 

5. Varieties may be improved by 
selection and cross-breeding. 

6. Every care should be taken by 
farmers to get (a) the right variety of 
wheat, (b) well-developed seed, (c) seed 
from the most vigorous plants. 


141 


7. The common beet containing 6 to 
7 per cent. of sugar has been developed 
into the sugar beet containing 20 to 25 
per cent. of sugar by systematic selec- 
tion. 

8. Selection is based on variation. 

9. Most variations are small, and 
diverge only slightly from the mean of 
the species. Others are large, and vary 
widely from the mean (mutations). 

10. There are two general methods of 
selection: (a) mass selection, (b) indi- 
vidual selection. 

11. ‘‘Mass selection” has been effec- 
tively applied by farmers to the improve- 
ment of their crops. It must be con- 
tinuous and uninterrupted. 

12. “Individual selection” is 


more 
complicated, and requires elaborate 
records and trials for its successful 
application. 

13. The introduction and acclima- 


tization of certain foreign varieties is 
likely to lead to valuable direct and 
indirect results. 

14. New varieties may also be ob- 
tained by cross-breeding. 

15. The immediate effects of cross- 
breeding in wheats are (1) increase in 
vigor of progeny, (2) a “breaking of 
type.” 

16. Mendel showed that the varia- 
tions induced by crossing follow definite 
laws. 

17. Mendel’s” results have been 
generally confirmed by workers in 
widely different fields of inquiry. 

18. The mode of inheritance of many 
unit characters in wheat has been worked 
out in detail. 

19. The mode of inheritance of other 
characteristics in wheat of great prac- 
tical importance has not yet been worked 
out. 

20. The well informed wheat im- 
prover may enter on his task of wheat 
improvement without leaving much to 
chance. 


EUGENIC LEGISLATION 


Much of it Worse than Useless Because Based on Lamarckian Theories—Other 
Statutes Sound Biologically but Wrong Sociologically—Need for 
Caution but Possibility of Positive Achievements. 


A Review. 


TUDENTS of human heredity 

will view with satisfaction the 

appearance of bulletin No. 82 of 

the University of Washington,’ 
which gives in 87 pages a summary of 
the laws of the several United States 
governing: I.—Marriage and divorce 
of the feebleminded, the epileptic and 
the insane; II.—Asexualization; III. 
—Institutional commitment and dis- 
charge of the feebleminded and the 
epileptic. After giving summaries of all 
the laws in question, in a clear and 
concise form, the authors terminate 
their work with four pages of temperate 
discussion of the entire subject of legis- 
lation intended to prevent the breeding 
of a degenerate race in the United 
States, pointing out that some of this 
legislation is so out of date, from a 
biological point of view, that it is worse 
than useless. 

“A half century ago,” they remark 
(p. 82), “educators still hoped by in- 
tensive education so to improve the 
mental condition of the feebleminded as 
to make advisable their leaving the 
institution and assuming some, at least, 
of the duties of normal people. If this 
policy of the educators were to benefit 
society, it must have presupposed that 
acquired traits are, in the full meaning of 
the term, inherited. And this no one 
at that time doubted. 

“Today we know that nearly all forms 
of mental deficiency are incurable, and 
most biologists believe that, in the full 
meaning of the term, acquired char- 
acters are not inherited. Legislatures, 
however, have other tasks than the 
study of modern biological theory, so 
that we see the opinions of Lamarck and 


of Seguin almost unchanged in many of 
the state laws. 

“For instance, a number of insti- 
tutions for the feebleminded are in- 
tended only for those who ‘may be 
benefited by the instruction.’ The Ili- 
nois application blank indicates this. 
The governor of New Jersey is em- 
powered to remove any child who is not 
benefiting by the instruction given. 
Delaware, which sends its feebleminded 
to the institutions of other states, orders 
its patients discharged when they may 
no longer receive benefit from training. 
In Kentucky the superintendent of the 
institution is supposed to return to the 
counties all patients, further attempts 
to educate whom will not prove bene- 
ficial to the state. Also, no child may 
be kept in the institution after arriving 
at such age and mental condition that he 
will be able to provide for himself. 


EDUCATION NOT A REMEDY. 


ae 


Regulations such as these are not 
often put to any greater use than neces- 
sary, but they still reflect the opinion of 
a few decades ago, that the superficially 
educated defective makes better material 
for parenthood than the uneducated 
defective. To discharge, unsterilized, 
the defective child, after having taught 
him habits of neatness and a few tricks 
that make his mental deficiency less 
noticeable, is worse than never to have 
put him in an institution. The same 
criticism applies, of course, to the special 
classes in the public schools. 

““Among the marriage and divorce 
laws there is more Lamarckian biology. 
Kansas forbids the marriage (unless the 
wife is over 45 years of age) of children 


1The Bulletin of the Univ. of Washington no. 82 (Seattle, Wash., May, 1914), “‘A Summary of 
the Laws of the Several States, etc.,’” by Stevenson Smith, Madge W. Wilkinson and Lovisa C. 
Wagoner of the Bailey and Babette Gatzert Foundation for Child Welfare. 


142 


Eugenic Legislation 


born after a parent was insane. Michigan 
and New Jersey demand the ‘cure’ of 
defectives before marriage. Divorce is 
granted in Utah on the ground of in- 
sanity only when the condition is 
incurable. 

“The Michigan asexualization law 
provides for sterilization when ‘there is 
no probability that the condition of 
such person so examined will improve 
to such an extent as to render pro- 
creation by such person advisable.’ A 
similar provision is found in the North 
Dakota law.”’ 

The authors go on to point out that 
some sterilization measures which are 
sound biologically may be quite wrong 
from a sociological point of view. In 
such a case, legislation must proceed 
very slowly. Finally they discuss 
briefly the whole question of whether 
laws to prevent bad breeding are 
feasible. 

““A frequent charge made against 
eugenic legislation is that it is unwise, 
that it is conceived in the isolation of 
the schools and will never bear the test 
of common use. Our attention is called 
to the many Utopias which have come 
to pass only in the minds of philosophers, 
and to the failure of most ‘ideal’ com- 
munities due to their disregard of com- 
mon-sense premises. 

“Another objection to such laws is 
raised by the ‘all for love and the world 
well lost’ school. In their opinion, 
even granted that by the exercise of the 
police power it were possible to realize 
this academic dream, the Eugenic State 
must necessarily be a cold blooded 
breeding station where romance is the 
price paid for a better race. 

“Then there are theological objec- 
tions. These apply especially to asex- 
ualization. It is the opinion of some 
people that although to operate on a 
man for his own good is justifiable, to 
operate on him for the good of society 
is to tamper with the plans of Provi- 
dence. One also hears it said by people 
who are not avowedly actuated by 
theological considerations that such 
operations are ‘unnatural.’ 

“Lastly, the position is taken that 
eugenic laws are impracticable, that 
society will not tolerate them. To be 


143 


sure, society has tolerated sex taboos and 
legal penalties much more onerous, but 
long standing has made them seem 
‘natural.’ 


OBJECTIONS EASILY ANSWERED. 


“The objections, then, to the legis- 
lative attempt to apply the known facts 
of biology to the betterment of human 
stock are (1) that the laws themselves 
would not accomplish what their authors 
predict, or (2) that the cost of reform is 
too great, or (3) that the laws are 
impious, or (4) that society is incor- 
rigible and the laws cannot be enforced. 
In addition to these, Mr. G. B. Shaw has 
said that we do not know what type of 
human being we wish to develop, but 
as the opinion of society has in the past 
been a great factor in determining the 
survival of individuals, this objection 
holds only within certain limits. We 
are rather confident that there are 
certain characteristics we might wisely 
eliminate. 

‘To take issue with these antagonistic 
criticisms of eugenic legislation is hardly 
the purpose of this publication, though 
a few of the more obvious rejoinders 
may be noted. The inheritance under 
certain conditions of mental deficiency 
is undisputed. Also the fact that mental 
defectives are undesirable seems evident. 
With such a backing for the project, 
the further social control of the defective 
deserves being tried out. Ultimately 
every social measure must survive or be 
eliminated according to the results of its 
practical application. To call legisla- 
tion experimental is to praise it. If 
less legislation were regarded as final 
and more were measured by its results, 
we might have a better working code. 

‘The second objection is due to ignor- 
ance of the history of sex taboo. When 
it is realized that the present limitation 
of our individual liberty in the matter 
of marriage is tacitly accepted by nearly 
everyone, and that certainly in the past 
much of this limitation was ridiculous, 
the objection to further limitation of a 
desirable sort falls to the ground, espe- 
cially as in the change many of the 
present useless taboos will be eliminated. 
The taboo against incest, that of the 
Jews against all exogamy and our own 


144 The Journal of Heredity 


against mating with certain alien races 
are not irksome to the average man. 
They rather add to the romance of mar- 
riage. An aristocratic pride of race is 
not antagonistic to a man’s choice of a 
mate, but rather determines it and adds 
ultimately to his satisfaction. Certainly 
marriages are happiest when a wise 
taboo is respected. 

“It seems hardly necessary to meet 
the theological objections to progressive 
legislation along biological lines, as some 
theologians are among the ablest sup- 
porters of eugenic laws, and those who 
are not would not agree with the prem- 
ises of eugenics. A bishop, recently 
addressing a university audience, con- 
demned the eugenic movement, saying 
that the selection of the more fit only 
limited the field of religion, as it is the 
unfortunate who need religion most. 
Fortunately this is not a prevalent view 
in any church. 


NEED FOR PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 


“In supposing that eugenic laws 
cannot be enforced, critics doubtless 
have in mind what they regard as 
analogous cases of laws which were 
enacted and became dead letters because 


the public did not feel their importance. 
Anti-tipping laws are examples of this, 
and the public certainly must demand 
such a law in advance of its enactment if 
it is not to die on their hands. Much 
eugenic legislation is, however, not pro- 
hibitory in character, but is permissive 
of certain powers on the part of the 
courts or of commissions appointed for a 
definite purpose. 
lation that must necessarily work best, 
as it is not subject to violation and will 
continue to be used as long as even a few 
people are intelligently interested in it. 

‘“Whatever may be said against such 
laws as are presented in this pamphlet, 
and they are rightly subject to much 
criticism, it 1s evident that something 
must be done to diminish the number of 
mental defectives in our population. 
War among primitive people, poverty, 
disease, and capital punishment did a 
fairly thorough if not a very beautiful 
piece of work before we began to 
civilize them away. Some substitute 
has to be found for natural selection. 
Procreation of the undesirable must be 
prevented by means which are least 
cruel and least wasteful. These laws 
already in force in the several states 
indicate the growth of this opinion.” 


It is this sort of legis-_ 


Crosses With Zebu Cattle 


Crosses between zebu and native Italian cattle, made at the zo6dtechnical in- 
stitute of Perugia, are discussed by Director Carlo Pucci in L’Agricoltura Coloniale, 
No. 10, 1914. The results convince him that (1) in all the first generation progeny 
the zebu skeleton, dewlap, ear and musculature seem to be dominant; (2) the 
skin color and size of horns of the zebu seem to be recessive; (3) in general, all the 
progeny show great activity and endurance; (4) they have a very valuable predis- 
position to lay on weight; (5) they have a very high resistance to the foot and mouth 
disease. 


Pollination of Cherry Trees 


That cherry trees frequently prove shy bearers because of inadequate pollination 
has been demonstrated at the state agricultural experiment station in Oregon. 
It is found that some of the leading commercial varieties are practically self- 
sterile, while others are inter-sterile; that is, some varieties are much better pollen- 
izers than others for orchard planting. Sometimes pollination works well in one 
direction, while the reciprocal cross produces very little fruit. It thus becomes 
necessary for cherry growers, particularly in regions where only a few varieties are 
produced, to study each individual variety and find out its needs in pollination, 
if they would avoid disaster. Inter-sterility among varieties is found not to be 
correlated to closeness of relationship. 


—— 


_ 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


April, 1915 


CONTENTS 


Vol. VI, No. 4 


Phe White[Lechorn, by Philip B.\Hadley.:.........4...27::--%-/+-+0. Ad 
Plint precdine, Correlations... .0G) 0-0 .a.2 ts oa: oh cee te ae 151 
Johannsen TOAVISHE ATION Caps Cae ie ete ot tae ree es Sie ar ate ee oe ts 151 
Influence of Stock on Cion, by B. S. Brown......................... 152 
Redfield! Offer Remains! Opens: 265 262 a ee oe Ae eee 157 
Education and Race Suicide, by Robert J. Sprague.................. 158 
MeCtUTES umn E Te CNNLCS rete s ee ee ee tan eae a soils, age ee 162 
A Dent in the Forehead, by Charles B.{Davenport................... 163 
Heredity of White Fore-lock, by Newton Miller. .................... 165 
Breedineo Hardy: Winter Barle yrs 2.5 See oon or od eae ee Se 168 
Eugenics and Immigration, by Dr. L. E. Cofer...................... 170 
Breedince Sugar Bets 5 eof. ates ie oe tee BG ae eos Nd Mole eet 174 
Haney, Romts vs-.Utility, bysA: EF: Blakeslee™....... 222006 ne es = 175 
New Publications: Plant Breeding, by L. H. Bailey and Arthur W. 
Callbertrerter ee eee ke eee aces SR ATS errs ie Salta nega rhea he 181 
MoiGrowilhedionecdt Seeds ne sv cis oh ee A Oo 181 
Hardier Spineless Cactus, by David Griffiths........................ 182 
Budeselectionpiall street ya Sot WE ee ee oe oe eee see 191 
Ras pPHeErypIsrecadiinee ney yee cee eae ee Ea eas acon One eedicbe 191 
iihe;Pomerange, by Lindsay S. (Perkins: 3... =...922-5.--.- 2655-2" 192 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Subscription price to non-members, $2.00 a year, foreign postage extra; 
price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter February 24, 1915, at the postoffice at Washing- 
ton, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, March 25, 1915. 


\ CONGENITAL BLAZE IN THE HAIR 
white lock of hair here shown j ereditary and has been traced definitely through six 
generations; family tradition tra it on back to a son of Harry ‘Hot-Spur”’ Percy, 
born in 1403, and superstitiou issign origin to “‘pre-natal influence’’ or ‘‘maternal 
Im pre ion,’ This young womat \ designated as V. 13 in the pedigree chart of the 
family (Fig. 10), inherited the blaze f father, who ha om his mother, who 
f her father Dr. Little w emigrated to America fre England nearly a 
centu igo i ip ple minant, I r Mendel Law, in 
d iti i ; ‘ t f the i1 nal person 
lf of ‘ ir “ i Pri ’ 
S, H White For 7 pm. 165 


THE WHITE. LEGHORN 


A Masquerader Who Conceals Many Colors and Patterns Under Her Pure 
White Plumage—Results of Genetic Breeding—Need for New 
‘Standard of Perfection’ Telling Not How Fowls Ought 
to Look, but How They Ought to Breed. 


Puitiep B. HapLEey 


Division of Animal Breeding and Pathology, Agricultural Experiment Station 
of the Rhode Island State College, Kingston, R. I. 


OTWITHSTANDING the many 
N years that several varieties 

of poultry have been bred, the 

fact remains that we are still 
ignorant of the actual constitution of 
practically all of them, so far as the 
character-complex is concerned. A\I- 
though many breeds have been evolved, 
and poultrymen refer to these breeds 
by names which have become stand- 
ardized through many countries, it must 
be granted that these breed-names are 
practically meaningless to the genetist; 
and in so far as they carry any implica- 
tion other than that of the appearance 
of the breed, they are also quite as 
meaningless to the poultryman. An 
example of what is meant 1s to be found 
in the case of that variety of fowl 
ordinarily called the White Leghorn, 
of somewhat uncertain origin. 

The White Leghorn, which at present 
happens to be one of the most popular 
breeds, is ordinarily a pure white bird 
without pattern or markings, the beak 
and shanks being vellow. No other 
pigment is manifested. The eye is 
ordinarily bay. The white plumage 
color, unlike that of most white breeds, 
is a dominant white; that is, in crosses 
with black breeds the black is recessive. 
So long as the White Leghorns are 
bred among themselves, no other charac- 
ters appear. Properly devised cross- 
breeding, however, tells a _ different 
story, and it is the aim of this paper to 
review briefly the results of experi- 
mental studies which demonstrate 
what sort of a bird the White Leghorn 
really is with respect to some of her 
breeding capabilites. 


If a White Leghorn male is mated 
with a self-colored black like the Black 
Hamburg, Black Minorca, Black Span- 
ish, or Black Langshan, the first genera- 
tion progeny are commonly white. 
Close inspection, however, will reveal 
in the feathers of most of the birds 
minute flecks of black. Sometimes 
these are large enough to amount to 
actual splashes and occasionally one 
may find in the wing coverts or tail a 
feather which has several bars near the 


tip. All the birds are, however, mainly 
white. The Leghorn white is dominant 


over black. 


THE SECOND GENERATION. 


If, now, these F, birds are mated 
together, F. gives something of a 
variety of colors and markings. Among 
every sixteen adult birds, twelve are 
white and four are dark colored. The 
dark colored birds are found to include 
three that are barred and one that is 
black. Of the barred birds, two are 
males and: ene is a temales. The one 
black individual in the sixteen is always 
a female. The barred birds are usually 
fully barred, but the character of the 
barring is inferior to that of the standard 
Barred Plymouth Rocks. The bars are 
less regular and the background is likely 
to be gray orsmoky. There is, however, 
no question regarding the fact of the 
barring. One of these barred birds 
together with its parents and grand- 
parents (White Leghorn and Black 
Hamburg) are shown in some of the 
figures accompanying this article. 

The question at once arises—What is 
the origin of this barred pattern which 

147 


FIG. 


Hadley: The White Leghorn 


makes its appearance in F,’ It cannot 
have come from the Black Hamburg 
grandparent since we know that in 
every case where the factor for barring 
is added to black pigmentation, the 
barred pattern is brought out. It 
must therefore have come from the 
White Leghorn. In other words, the 
White Leghorn itself carries factors for 
this barred plumage pattern. 


BREEDING BLACK FROM WHITE. 


But this is not all. If a White Leg- 
horn male be mated with a White 
Plymouth Rock. or a White Silky 
female or with any other bird carrying 
recessive white, the first generation 
progeny are white, sometimes mani- 
festing on close inspection a few black 
flecks in the plumage. No colored 
birds result. Now suppose these F, 
white fowls are mated together. One 
would naturally expect nothing but 
whites to result. But this is not the 
case. Among every sixty-four adult 
individuals, there appear approximately 
twelve birds that are dark colored 
—either barred or black, depending 
upon the cross used. It may now 
be asked whence came the black 
birds in a cross in which the original 
parents were pure white? In the 
case of the White Plymouth Rock 
mating, we know that the White Ply- 
mouth Rock parent could not have 
introduced the black because, whenever 
a black factor is added to a recessive 
white carrying the barring factor, the 
pattern becomes patent and the bird 
becomes a Barred Rock or ‘“‘Cuckoo.”’ 
We are therefore forced to one of two 
conclusions: (1) Either the White Leg- 
horn parent contributed the black pig- 
mentation or (2) the pigmentation was 
produced by the conjunction of two 


149 


factors of which the White Leghorn and 
the White Plymouth Rock each contrib- 
uted one. By Mendelian analysis of 
the experimental results, this question 
can be answered. It results in this: If 
one of these factors for black (X) comes 
from the Leghorn, and the other (Y) 
comes from the White Plymouth Rock, 
then the number of dark colored birds 
in F, is nine in sixty-four. If on the 
other hand, the White Leghorn intro- 
duces all the factors necessary to deter- 
mine black pigmentation in F, progeny, 
the number of dark colored birds would 
be twelve in sixty-four. In the actual 
experiments carried out at the Rhode 
Island Agricultural Experiment Station, 
among 167 F, birds raised from the 
mating in question, thirty-three were 
dark colored and 134 were white. The 
expectation was dark colored, 31.2; 
white 135.8. It can therefore scarcely 
be doubted that the White Leghorn 
male carries in its germ cells all the 
factors necessary for the determination 
of black pigmentation in the F, yenera- 
tion of crosses with non-pigmented 
breeds. 


THE FACTS EXPLAINED. 


Now what is the explanation of these 
phenomena’ It has been stated that 
the White Leghorn possesses a dominant 
white. But white in the plumage of 
poultry is merely the absence of color 
and the absence of color can scarcely 
be dominant over the presence of color. 
It must be assumed therefore that the 
Leghorn white is due to some positive 
inhibiting factor (1) which in some way 
is able to repress or to neutralize the 
black pigment, not only in its own 
somatic cells, which would otherwise 
show black, but also in crosses with 
other black breeds. When I is present 


THE WHITE LEGHORN UNMASKED. 


(See illustrations on opposite page.) 


Although the White Leghorn is considered a “‘ pure breed,”’ it is very far from being a pure breed, 


from a genetic point of view. 


Its germ cells even contain a factor for barring, so that barred fowls 
can be produced from certain matings of pure white fowls. \ 
which was mated with a White Plymouth Rock female such as is shown in the lower left. 


Upper left is a White Leghorn male, 
From 


this cross resulted birds like the one shown in the upper right—nearly solid white, but with occa- 


sional black splashes. 


When these birds are bred together, a definite proportion (12 in 64) of the 
offspring are barred, like the bird shown in the lower right. 


Further analytic breeding proves that 


this barring is carried in the germ-plasm of the White Leghorn, not the White Plymouth Rock. 


(Fig. 1.) 


150 The Journal 


in homozygous condition, black pig- 
mentation 1s held completely in control; 
when | is present in a heterozygous con- 
dition, as in the F, cross-breds, the 
effect 1s diminished, and a little black 
frequently shows as minute flecks in an 
otherwise white plumage. 

This factor for the inhibition of black 
is apparently present normally in both 
male and female White Leghorns in 
homozygous condition, and is not sex- 
limited in its manner oi inheritance. 
For the barring factor, however, the 
White Leghorn male appears to be 
homozygous and the female heterozy- 
gous. The presence of these two factors 
explains many curious results that have 
been obtained by poultrymen when 
they have employed in crosses the 
White Leghorn breed. 

But these are not all the factors of 
interest that the White Leghorn carries 
in the germ cells but does not show 
somatically. 

If a White Leghorn male be crossed 
with a White Silky female, the dark 
mesodermal Silky pigmentation of the 
beak, shanks and face is reduced in the 
F, cross-breds to an intermediate grade. 
The plumage of such birds is white, 
with a few black flecks, and the males 
resemble the females not only in these 
points but also in the color of the irides 
which are lighter than in the Silky 
parent and sometimes almost as much 
of a bay as in the White Leghorn itself. 

If, however, in a cross of this sort, 
the male parent is the Silky and the 
female parent is the Leghorn, the 
results are different. The males will be 
found to show little of the Silky pig- 
mentation in beak, shanks, eyes or face, 
and their plumage is almost a pure 
white. But the females show the deeper 
Siky pigmentation in all these struc- 
tures and the white feathers of the 
wings and back are heavily splashed 
with black. Similar results are obtained 
when the White Leghorn is mated with 
some other heavily pigmented breeds 
like the Black Langshan,! and when the 
Brown Leghorn is with the 
White Silky.” 

Here then we have to do with another 


1 See Lewis, H. F. 
Husbandry, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1915. 


crossed 


of Heredity 


inhibitive factor (I’) which acts (possibly 
in conjunction with the first inhibitor, 
I) not only upon the black plumage 
pigment of ectodermal structure, but 
also on the deeper mesodermal pig- 
mentation. While the first inhibitory 
factor mentioned does not appear to be 
a sex-limited character, this second in- 
hibitor does appear to be correlated 
with sex. It is transmitted from the 
male Leghorn to both male and female 
progeny, but by the female Leghorn 
it is given to the sons only. 


OTHER COLORS HIDDEN. 


In addition to these inhibitors of 
black pigmentation, the White Leg- 
horn also possesses inhibitors for buff 
and red. These colors are, however, 
repressed less perfectly than black; and 
red, as might be expected, less per- 
fectly than buff. Whether the factors 
that inhibit these colors are identical 
with the inhibitor of black cannot now 
be stated. Nor would it be safe to 
affirm that there are not still other 
unrecognized factors modifying pattern 
and plumage color carried by this in- 
teresting breed. In any case the above 
facts are sufficient to show that the 
White Leghorn is something of a mas- 
querader. Her appearance gives us 
little knowledge of what lies beneath her 
cloak of white. And if the White Leg- 
horn, after a little study of her constitu- 
tion, gives us such new conceptions of 
her character complex, what shall we 
expect of some other breeds, of which 
we still know comparatively nothing? 

What the poultry world of today 
needs, in addition to the Standard 
which tells how poultry ought to appear 
is a Standard which will tell how the 
varieties ought to breed. It would be a 
great help to poultry breeders if each 
different breed should have its zygotic 
constitution represented by a formula 
designating, so far as possible, all the 
important characters possessed by that 
breed, thus indicating the breeding 
values. For instance, in the case of 
the White Leghorn the following sym- 
bols might be used to cover the 
characters already mentioned. 


Jour. of the Amer. Assoc. of Instructors and Investigators of Poultry 


2 See Bateson, Wm. and Punnett, R. C., Jour. Genetics, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1911. 


Hadley: The White Leghorn 


F =femaleness 

N =black pigmentation 

B =barring factor 

I =inhibiting factor No. 1 

I’ =inhibiting factor No. 2 
and the constitution of 
written 


the male 


f2NoBolol’s 


while the White Leghorn female being 
heterozygous for three factors would be 


Ff£N,BbIQ11’. 


Using these same symbols, the White 
Dorking, another dominant white breed, 
but lacking both the latent barring and 
black would become, male, 

fongbol oi’s 
and the female essentially the same, 

Ffnobelo1’s 

The White Plymouth Rock, a reces- 

sive white, which differs from the White 
Leghorn only in the lack of the factors 
for black pigmentation and for the 
inhibitors I and I’, would be represented, 
male 

fon sBoisi’s 


and the female 
FfnsBbisi iS 

The White Silky with its black 
mesodermal pigmentation (M) would 
be, male, 

fo>Monebsisi’s 
and the female 
Ff Monobioi’». 

These illustrations are sufficient to 
indicate what is meant by standardizing 
breeds of poultry. Of course the breeds 
alluded to above have many other 
characters that would also be listed 
in the Standard formulae, and other 
breeds would possess their own char- 
acter-complexes, or aggregations of unit 
characters. But the main point is, that 
if breeds were so standardized, and 
listed, a poultryman would know what 
he was purchasing when he acquires a 
certain fowl. He would know not only 
how the bird looked, but how that bird 
will breed; and it seems as if this point 
might be of interest and possibly of 
importance to poultrymen who are 
also poultry breeders. 


Plant Breeding Correlations 


Fundamental principles useful in apple breeding are being studied particularly 
at the Iowa state agricultural experiment station. One object is to determine 
what features are of taxonomic value in distinguishing horticultural varieties with 
certainty; another is to find correlations which may be used in practicing intelligent 
selection with young seedlings without having to grow each plant through to 
maturity in order to determine its characters. A large factor in the success of 
most great plant breeders has been their marvelous ability to judge by looking at 
a small seedling, what it would be likely to produce when it reached maturity. 
This ability has often seemed mysterious, but as a fact it must necessarily depend 
largely on the observation of correlations not appreciated by the ordinary horticul- 
turist, and perhaps not definitely formulated by the talented breeder himself. 
The Iowa station wants to reduce this mystery to mathematical formulae and put 
it in the reach of every one of intelligence; already hardiness has been found to 
be correlated with structure and composition in a definite way. 


Johannsen to Visit America 


Dr. W. Johannsen of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, is expected in 
the United States this summer to join the faculty of the University of California 
Summer Session at Berkeley. He has been invited to attend the meeting of the 
American Genetic Association at Berkeley, August 2-7. Dr. Johannsen is one of 
the pioneers in the application of mathematics to biological problems, and is 
particularly well known in genetics for his enunciation of the theory of “pure 
lines.” 


INFLUENCE” OF STOCK ON GION 


In Grafted Trees, One Parent Usually Modified, Sometimes Both—Explanation 
of the Changes—Remarkable Almond Grafts in California. 


B. 


BROWN 


Professor of Pomology and Plant Breeding, University of Maine, Orono, Me. 


UCH has been said in recent 
years regarding the effects of 
graftage upon the co-joined 
parents. That there is a very 

decided difference in certain fruits 
when grafted upon different stocks no 
one will deny. But to what extent these 
influences represent fixed or dependable 
characters is still an open question. 

The best recognized example of 
reciprocal influence is the dwarfing of 
certain standard fruits when grafted 
upon smaller stature plants. Thus 
pears are put upon quince or apples 
upon doucin or paradise stock! for this 
purpose. While slow-growing stocks 
tend to reduce the stature of plants 
grafted upon them, the converse of this 
is also true, that rapid-growing stock 
will stimulate the growth of naturally 
dwarf plants. While quince stock will 
reduce the size of a pear tree, a pear 
stock will increase the stature of a 
quince that is worked upon it. This is 
not only true in the above relation but 
also where conditions are reversed. 
That is, pears grafted on quince stock 
will stimulate greater root growth to the 
quince. Another oft-cited example of 
this same condition is the influence of 
standard apples when grafted on stock 
of the Siberian Crab. Such a union 
always stimulates the root system of the 
stock to a larger size than it would 
grow naturally. 

Because of the commercial importance 
of the subject, growers of all kinds of 
fruit are now attempting to find out 


!Doucin and Paradise are 


been considered distinct species but 


trees are wanted, while the use of Paradise 

, *See Gardeners’ Chronicle, London, May 16, 
3 This was 

and is true ol! 
152 


types of wild apple, 
widely grown for stock on which to bud cultivated varieties of apple. 
at present 
embracing 10 or a dozen varieties of the ordinary apple. 
stock results in 
1914. 

pointed out 10 years ago by H. H. Hume (Citrus Fruits and their Culture, 
all species and varieties that have be 


definitely the reciprocal influence of 
various kinds on each other. One of 
the interesting experiments is that 


made by grafting tomato on belladonna, 
when analysis showed that the tomatoes 
borne contained an alkaloid  ailied 
chemically and phy siolozically to atro- 
pin, whereas tomatoes do not normally 
contain any such substance.’ 

The California agricultural experi- 
ment station has been conduciing a 
series of «xperiments to determine the 
exact results i1: various grafts on citrous 
fruits. One of the interesting results, 
which may serve as a specimen of 
many, is that when lemons are budded 
on the hardy, savage, Japanese, three- 
leaved species (Citrus trifoliata), they 
are dwarfed, and the diameter of the 
trifoliate stock, below the bud union, 
is nearly always increased.’ 

While investigating the almond in- 
dustry in Central California recently, I 
discovered a peculiar case of reciprocal 
influence of stock and cion, to which it 
may be of interest to call attention. 
An orchard of 10 acres had been set 
to peaches and then a year later top- 
worked to almonds, the union being 


made just above the ground. The 
orchard had been in existence for 42 
years and contained many trees as 


sound as they were at the age of five. 

Many of these trees were 50 feet 
high and ranged from two to three feet 
in diameter. Figures two and three are 
individual trees in this orchard, showing 
the peculiar enlargement at the point 


probably of central Asian origin, which are 
In the past they have 
are held rather to be trade names, each one 
Doucin stock is used when “‘semi-dwarf” 
a still greater reduction of size. 


1904) 
~ tock. 


en tested on trifoliata 


Brown: Influence of Stock on Cion 153 


UNION OF ALMOND AND PEACH 


This graft is 42 years old and seems to have stimulated both of the parents, since each of them 


has attained a size which would hardly be expected if it were growing alone. 
creased vigor is seen not only in the size, but in the great longevity. 


frequently short-lived. (Fig. 2.) 


of union of the peach and almond. 
The larger one (Fig. 2) measures 9’ 1” 
in circumference above the union and 
10’ 4” below. The second one (Fig. 3) 
measured 6’ 6’ above and 9’ 7” below, 
making a difference of 3’ 1” in cir- 
cumference. In peculiar contrast to 
the above the same orchard had four 
rows on the west side grafted on plum 
stock. These were presumably of the 
same age, but were from one-quarter to 
one-half smaller than those on peach 
root. All but ten had died and been 
removed while those still living were 
sickly and contained many dead 
branches. The plum stock was in 
every case smaller than the part above 
the union. Fig. 4 shows one of the 
trees on plum stock, which measured 
four feet in circumference below the 
union and 4’ 10” above, a decided con- 
trast to the peach stock. The same 


The in- 
Grafted trees are 


condition was also observed in other 
old orchards of similar age. 

The union that the peach makes 
with the almond is exceedingly strong, 
and usually the peach remains sound 
longer than the almond. Fig. 5 shows 
a photograph of a vertical section cut 
through the union. The line of growth 
is straight across and very sharply 
defined. 

The section in the center of the 
picture is a cut through the union of an 
English walnut and a black walnut, 
differing from the almond illustration 
in that the union was made by budding 
instead of grafting. 

From these almond grafts, it will be 
evident that grafting may increase the 
size not only of one parent, but of both; 
and in this case, it seems to have 
resulted in increased longevity, as well. 

Another influence of stock over cion 


154 


The Journal of Heredity 


AN UNUSUALLY FAVORABLE GRAFT 


The union of peach with almond is exceedingly strong. 
Both the stock or root parent, and the cion or top parent, 


it is still absolutely sound. 


In the case of this 42-year-old tree, 


seem to have been stimulated to unusual growth, and this evidently caused an increased 


flow of sap, which may be responsible for the splendid condition of the tree. 


is the early bearing tendency of dwarfed 
trees. Orchardists everywhere recog- 
nize this factor and utilize it in a prac- 
tical way. Pears on quince stock fruit 
in three or four years while the standard 
stock requires from five to eight. 
Apples on paradise stock will fruit in 
three years while the same variety on 
French crab will require from five to 
eight years. In almost every case this 
early bearing habit is associated with 
the dwarfing condition and the two 
seem to bear a fairly permanent correla- 
tion. Also in this same connection it 1s 
well to note that dwarfed trees are 
shorter lived than their full statured 
relatives. This is well illustrated in 
Figure 4 where the almond was grafted 
on plum stock. 


(Fig. 3.) 


Various other known conditions are 
attributed to this reciprocal influence of 
grafts, for example, the delay in the 
blooming period of certain fruits when 
united with slow growing stocks. Five 
years ago in one of the sub-stations of 
the University of California was begun 
an experiment with almonds to prove 
this point. It so happens that the al- 
mond is the earliest blooming deciduous 
fruit on the Pacific Coast, blossoms 
appearing from five to eight days 
ahead of the peach and from 10 to 14 
days prior to most plums. Desirable 
types of almonds were grafted on both 
peach and plum stock and their in- 
fluence on the resulting bloom noticed. 
Peaches produced little or no noticeable 
effect while the plum stock retarded the 


THE GRAFT OF ALMOND ON PLUM 


In this 42-year-old tree, the almond cion has grown well but the plum stock has lagged behind. 
It was, therefore, unable to furnish as great a supply of sap as the more vigorous top 
demanded, so most of the trees of this sort, in the orchard seen by Mr. Brown, had died 
or were dying. (Fig. 4.) 


(‘¢ “S1q) = “‘peppnq sem (9) ynuyea ysiysuyq ue 
Yorya Uo (p) ynuyea yovrg wv jo uorun ayy Yysnosy} Ind v st JoyUa. oY} Uy S14e901}0U St UOTUN ay} Jo ssouuIY yeas oy 
yoved ay} (q) pue uor1 puowye ayy suleq (e) ‘yoved uo puowye jo yyeis ayy Yysnos1y4 


9018 


SUOTJOIS [eIyuasURy PUB OSIDASUBI] O1R S9pIs oy} lV 


SNOIND LAVYD AO SNOLLOAS-SSOMD 


¢ ee. id 


a 


Brown: Influence 


bloom from five to seven days or about 
half the original difference between the 
two on their own roots. 

Color and flavor of fruits is also 
influenced more or less by the stock 
used, but the results are not so easily 
measured or as well understood. There 
apparently is no question but that high 
colored fruits can be improved by 
grafting upon seedlings grown from 
high colored fruits. This, however, is 
more or less of an indefinite quantity, 
as the seedlings themselves may vary 
widely in their ability to transmit the 
high color. Results are more noticeable 
when seedlings from Siberian Crabs are 
used, because they are more stable. 

What is true of color is also true of 
the sugar and acid content of the fruit. 

Apples low in sugar when grafted 
upon sweet apple trees will show an 
increase in sugar content. Undoubtedly 
some of the poor quality and lack of 
color in certain regions, attributed to 
local environment, may be due to the 
influence of the stock on which they 
are grafted. 

The cause of these varied influences 
may be attributed to two sources— 
namely, mechanical and physiological 
disturbances. This can be more easily 
understood when we think of the cell as 
being the plant unit. Each cell per- 
forms its own functions. Theoretically 
the cells of the stock perform all those 
functions characteristic of the stock, 
up to the point of the union. Then the 
cells of the other co-parent take up the 
work and modify the nature of this work 
—1. e., the vital processes—in accord- 
ance with their own peculiar character. 
While there is a rather wide division of 


of Stock on Cion 157 


_labor in the functioning powers of the 


cells of the different organs, there is a 
more or less definite protoplasmic 
organization throughout the entire plant 
tissue. Certain cell substances such as 
sugar may be differently affected by the 
cells of each of the co-parents. If the 
cells of the stock are capable of develop- 
ing a higher sugar content than the cion, 
presumably the cells of the latter will 
not reduce it, hence a decrease or in- 
crease in the acid or sugar content is 
influenced by the stock. Of course this 
is relatively a very small amount. 
But if it were not for this, the entire 
purpose of graftage would be lost. 

In the case of dwarfed stock the cause 
is more mechanical. The root system 
of the slow growing plant is incapable 
of supplying sap as fast as the more 
rapidly growing top demands, hence a 
reduction in size. Conversely, the 
demands of the actively-growing top 
stimulate the root system to a greater 
effort, and thus cause an increase in the 
size of the stock, as in the photographs 
here shown. 

The early bearing habit of dwarfed 
trees may be explained on the theory 
that the diminished supply of sap tends 
to weaken the whole tree. Now the 
object of every plant, one may say, is 
to reproduce its kind; and when it finds 
itself weakening, it seems to hasten this 
process of reproduction, in order to 
make sure that it may leave progeny 
before it dies. The dwarfed—and 
weakened—tree thus blossoms and sets 
fruit before its normal mates; and it is 
correspondingly shorter lived, due to 
this weakening, in consequence of the 
mechanical restriction of the food supply. 


Redfield Offer Remains Open 


At the request of the council of this Association, Casper L. Redfield has consented 
to let his offer for data regarding the results of early marriage, stand open for 


another year, or until December 31, 1915. 


It will be recalled that when the 


original offer terminated on December 31, 1914, the council decided that none of 


the evidence submitted met the stipulations. 


As the question of early marriage is 


one of fundamental importance to eugenics, the council felt that a prolongation 
of the offer might stimulate public interest in the subject and lead others seriously 


to study it. 


EDUCATION AND RACE SUICIDE 


Women’s Colleges Have Heavy Responsibility for Disappearance of Old American 
Stock in the United States—Reforms That Are Needed. 


ROBERT J. SPRAGUE 
Professor of Economics and Sociology, Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, 
Mass. 


URING the twenty-five years 
from 1887-1911 the deaths 
among the native born popula- 
tion of Massachusetts exceeded 

the births among the native born 
parents by an aggregate of 269,918.) 
During the same period the total births 
in families having foreign born parents 
exceeded the total of deaths by 526,987. 
The native and foreign birth rates 
within the Commonwealth have been as 

follows :? 
1890 1900 1910 


Native birth rate per 1,000 


native born population.. 12.7 11.7 14.9 
Birth rate among foreign 

born parents per 1,000 of 

foreign born population. 38.6 42.6 49.1 


Native death rate per 1,000 
native born population. . 
Death rate of fereign born 
per 1,000 of foreign born 
POPUlaviOni ces eer Liz, LONG 


LOO} Sf Ors 


15.4 


I have no desire to hold up Massa- 
chusetts as a horrible example of a 
State committing race suicide. Condi- 
tions may be just as bad in other 
industrial and commercial populations, 
but unfortunately other States have not 
been wise enough to collect adequate 
data on these points, whereas the 
Bay State has led off for many years 
with a most efficient and commendable 
system of vital statistics. 

If this apparent deficit of native births 
and the surplus of foreign births are 
true to the facts, and if they should be 
maintained for a number of generations, 
the writing on the wall is clear, and he 
who runs may read the fate of the Anglo- 
Saxon stock in every activity of Massa- 


chusetts life; and if the conditions in 
this Commonwealth are typical of 
American industrial populations gener- 
ally, then it is a National as well as a 
local problem that faces us. 

How many children must each child- 
bearing woman, on the average, bring 
forth in order to sustain the present 
population, not providing for any in- 
crease ? 

Let us start with 200 living babies of 
native stock, of which 103 will on the 
average be boys and ninety-seven girls, 
due to the fact that nearly 6 per cent. 
more boys than girls are born. By the 
time the girls become twenty years of 
age at least nineteen will have died, 
leaving seventy-eight as possible wives. 

It is a little uncertain to say how 
many of this seventy-eight would not 
marry, but I have a few data from which 
to get a general estimate. 

In a selected New England village 
in 1890 there were forty marriageable 
girls between the ages of 20 and 35. 
Today thirty-two of these are married, 
20 per cent. are spinsters. 

An investigation of 260 families of the 
Massachusetts Agricultural College stu- 
dents shows that out of 832 women over 
40 years of age 755 or 91 per cent. 
have married, leaving only 9 per cent. 
of spinsters. This and other observa- 
tions indicate that the daughters of 
farmers marry more generally than those 
of some other classes. 

In sixty-nine (reporting) families 
represented by the freshman class of 
Amherst College (1914) there are 229 
mothers and aunts over 40 years of 


‘ These aggregates are computed from the annual reports of “ Births, Deaths and Marriages” 


issued by the Secretary of State. 
2 These statistics are computed from the U. 


S. Census Reports. 


158 


Sprague: Education and Race Suicide 


age, of whom 186 or 81 per cent. have 
already married. 

It would seem safe to conclude that 
about 15 per cent. of native women in 
our general American society do not 
marry during the child bearing period. 
Deducting 15 per cent. from the 
seventy-eight possible wives leaves sixty- 
six probable wives. Now among the 
native wives of Massachusetts 20 per 
cent. do not produce children, and 
deducting these thirteen childless ones 
from the sixty-six probable wives leaves 
fifty-three probable, married, child- 
bearing women, whose duty it is to 
reproduce the original 200 individuals 
with which we began this study, or an 
average of 3.7 children for every married 
woman who demonstrates any ability 
to bear offspring. 

According to these probabilities, every 
married woman bearing children must 
bring three to maturity, or to a mar- 
riageable age, in order to prevent the 
race from actually declining in numbers. 

Under the present practices this would 
seem to be the minimum, because no ac- 
count has been taken of those who are 
not marriageable on account of insanity 
and other incapacitating troubles. 


THE SCHOOLS AND RACE SUICIDE. 


The causes of race suicide in some 
parts of America are “‘numberless as the 
sands on the seashore,” but I will 
discuss at length only the relation of 
higher education to it. 

Too small a birth rate leads to race 
extinction, and too great a birth rate 
is the next greatest folly, since it may 
precipitate not only a domestic but a 
world problem. The great German 
birth rate is the natural force behind 
the present war. Too large a family 
is liable to cripple and stunt the higher 
life of both parents and children, and 
too small a one leads to lack of virility 
in both individuals and race. 

The attitude of the schools towards 
the interests of the race merely reflects 
the general ideals and feelings of society 
and the immediate managers of these 
institutions should not be held unduly 
responsible for the failure of the schools 
and colleges in the past to prepare the 


159 


new generations for their living needs 
and racial responsibilities. 

Until recently the high schools of 
the whole country turned their backs 
on the family and failed to recognize 
the vital interests of this most funda- 
mental institution; they tried to prepare 
our children for college, for the parlor, 
club and travel, but did not recognize 
the demands of the workshop, kitchen 
and nursery where the greater part of 
the average parent’s time and energy 
must be spent. First in reform came 
the introduction into education of office 
work, and finally will come the prepara- 
tion for the revitalized home life and 
race survival. 

The former old public school ideals 
of the white collar, the white dress and 
helpless hands have sent thousands of 
boys into hopeless bachelor jobs and 
just as many girls into sterile school 
teaching and other nice, clean occupa- 
tions where their blood might dry out 
of the race. 

The former lack of opportunity in 
America for universal, efficient, voca- 
tional education has filled our roads 
with tramps, our prisons with young 
men, our brothels with young women, 
and the poorhouses with the aged of 
both sexes. These things, however, are 
changing in the public schools all over 
the land, and the common cry is to 
bring the school system down to the 
needs of actual life, earning power and 
efficiency in shop and home. 

Home making and child rearing is 
the greatest job of life and calls for 
every resource of brain, hand and heart; 
anything which detracts from their 
normal development is an evil, because 
nothing can substitute for them in 
importance. 


THE WOMEN’S COLLEGES. 


The classical college education for 
women without any doubt develops a 
high type of character and independence 
in the graduates as individuals, and 
such a training might be desirable for 
all girls that can afford it, if certain 
vital interests of the race and its future 
were taken into account. The stand- 
ards of the home, school and office are 
all elevated when college graduates 


160 


enter them, but how about the vital 
future of the race? 

Is the woman’s college as now conducted 
a force which acts for or against the 
survival of the race which patronizes 1t? 
Whatever intellectual and moral supe- 
riority a race may have, it needs also a 
certain amount of reproductive impulse 
in order to remain on the earth. No 
culture, art, science or morality can 
save it unless it produces about three 
matured children per married, child- 
bearing couple, and any race which 
does not do this is doomed to extinction. 
If we have forces which are drawing off 
the best blood of the American stock and 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


in the great coeducational institutions 
with the results tabulated below from 
the exclusive women’s colleges; but no 
data are available for such a comparison. 
Either the coeducational institutions 
have given no attention to the matter, 
or they are too young for their results 
and tendencies to be discernible. 


MT. HOLYOKE COLLEGE. 


Mt. Holyoke College, the oldest 
great college for the higher education 
of women in this country, has collected 
some interesting statistics on the marital 
tendencies of its graduates.* 


Deere Roce Per Cent. St es = ae Children per 
Graduation Single ee eS Graduate Graduate 
1842—1849 14.6 85.4 PAE ETI ISI | 
1850—1859 24.5 (SeS) 3.38 299 
1860—1869 39.1 60.9 2.64 1.60 
1870—1879 40.6 59.4 DRS: 1.63 
1880—1889 42.4 57.6 2.54 1.46 
1890—1892 50.0 50.0 29 0.95 


sinking it in a dry desert of sterile 
intellectuality and paralytic culture, 
let us know the facts, and let these 
magnificent colleges face them and the 
race responsibilities involved, because 
without any doubt, all of our great 


educational institutions can and will 
become powerful agencies for race 


survival rather than race suicide when 
their wealth and influence become ap- 
plied along the right lines. The work 
to be done is not a criticism and reform 
of the colleges alone, but a change in 
the ideals and race feelings of the types 
of people that are represented in these 
institutions. 

Reliable statistics can be obtained 
from only a few of the institutions 
granting college degrees to women. 
Those mentioned below have collected 
data concerning their alumnae and 
have made them accessible for the 
purposes of this paper. 

It would be interesting to compare 
the effects of the education of women 


Professor Hewes estimates from these 
facts that 41.9 per cent. of Mt. Holyoke 
graduates ultimately marry. 


BRYN MAWR COLLEGE. 


From 1888 to 1900 Bryn Mawr 
graduated 376 alumnae and up to 
January 1, 1913,4 165 or 43.9 per cent. 
of these had married. Up to that date 
these alumnae had given birth to 138 
children, or an average of .84 of a 
child per married alumna, or .37 of a 
child per graduate in all classes up to 
1900. Only 32.8 per cent. of all 
graduates up to January 1, 1913, had 
married up to that date. 


VASSAR COLLEGE. 


A compilation of the data given 
in the ‘‘Fourth General Catalogue of 
the Officers and Graduates of Vassar 
College’’ yields the following aggregates 
and percentages. 


3 Published by Prof. Amy Hewes of Mt. Holyoke College in the reports of the American Statis- 


tical Association. 


4 See ‘Statistics of Bachelors of Arts of Bryn Mawr College,” published by the Administration. 


Sprague: Education and Race Suicide 


161 


CLASSES FROM 1867 TO 1892. 


INUAIDCINON STAC MALES Ae nines lec sce We cise o «ticle 
Nitmper that tauolit. aj 3 oc. cis sche. chefs ens 
INimberthatemarried 2-4 sn... 22 6: sched s.an oe 
Mitmbpen thatidid not manny. = «82sec. 


era cree 509 (53 per cent. of all graduates). 


959 
431 (45 per cent). 


450 (47 per cent). 


Number that taught and afterward married................. 166 (39 per cent. of all who 
taught). 
Number that taught, married and had children.............. 112 (67 per cent. of all who 


Number that taught, married and were childless 
Number of children of those who taught and had children’... 
Number of children of those who married but did not teach... 


Total number of children of all graduates....... 
Average number of children per married graduate 
Average number of children per graduate....... 


taught and married). 
54 (33 per cent). 
287 (1.73 children per family). 
686 (2 per married graduate that 
did not teach). 
973 (1 child per graduate). 
Se ec kee 1.91 


Wee egestas ie(0) 


CLASSES FROM 1867 TO 1900. 


NigmbernOmeraduates. + .......2 scene oo. ee ses 
RetimtmecetiacG vaio htt racs.nsra Ov. caer see sted cess eee 
Nitimberiuhatananrried . 20 4-8, 8 haat e se tee ue 
Mumbpertnat did notimarry.-...... 2255 .525-5 
Number that taught and afterward married.... 
Number that taught, married and had children.............. 203 (69 per cent. 


Number that taught, married and were childless............. 
Number of children of those who taught and had children.... 


Mates? se Ly39 


800 (46 per cent). 
854 (49 per cent). 
885 (51 per cent). 


csr aS BE 294 (31 per cent). 


of all who 
taught and married). 
91 (31 per cent). 
463 (1.57 children per family). 


Number of children of those who married but did not teach.. .1025 (2 each). 


Total number of children of all graduates....... 


S05 ae aRee 1488 (.8 child per graduate). 


Average number of children per married graduate........... 1.74 per married graduate. 


Average number of children per graduate....... 


WELLESLEY COLLEGE 


The data concerning Wellesley grad- 
uates are not as complete as might be 
desired, but Miss Caswell, the Secretary 
to the President, reports the following 
statistics. 


causes of and remedies for the situation 
presented by these statistics, and it 
might not be well to enter into that 
anyway; but I will mention a few points 
that seem important. 

1. There is needed throughout the 


Number of 


Glasses pees Number Per Cent. | Number Children per mes ey 
= | Married Married | 5 Married 
| Alumnae Children Geta o| Graduate 
Soil ve. ne A 
1875-1889 | 528 265 | 50% | 438 1.65 .83 
1890-1912 | 3927 AILS 31% | 1287 1.06 a5 
motalvs 2.62: 4455 1725 | ile 7) .39 


1478 33% 


Women are the capital of the race. 
The farmer that uses his land for golf 
links and deer preserves instead of for 
crops has but one agricultural fate; 
so the civilization that uses its women 
for stenographers, clerks and _ school 
teachers, instead of mothers, has but 
one racial fate. 


A FEW PERTINENT FOINTS. 


The space given to this paper is not 
sufficient for much discussion of the 


nation a campaign of public education 
through church, school, and_legisla- 
tion, to strengthen the ideals and 
economic foundations of the family. 
Our education has glorified individ- 
ualism and our tax system has steadily 


penalized the man with a family. 
The opportunities for social legis- 


lation in laying a better foundation 
for the family and ultimately the race 
are unlimited. Such a development 
would be reflected in the new aims 


162 


and methods of schools and colleges. 
Public opinion must be created by our 
leaders of literature and thought both 
without and within the educational 
institutions, and it is high time that 
this line of action is pushed to results, 
before the best blood of the American 
people becomes dried out of the race. 

2. More strong men are needed on 
the staffs of public schools and women’s 
colleges, and in all of these institutions 
more married instructors of both sexes 
are desirable. The catalogue of one 
of the colleges referred to above shows 
114 professors and instructors, of whom 
100 are women, of whom only two have 
ever married. Is it to be expected 
that the curriculum created by such a 
staff would idealize and prepare for 
the family and home life as the greatest 
work of the world and the highest goal 
of woman, and teach race survival as a 
patriotic duty? Or, would it be ex- 
pected that these bachelor staffs would 
glorify the independent vocation and 
life for women and create employment 
bureaus to enable their graduates to get 
into the offices, schools and other 
lucrative jobs? The latter seems to be 
what occurs. 

3. Some people are advocating coed- 
ucation as a solution of these difficulties, 
but we cannot now make assured state- 
ments on that matter, because there 
are not sufficient data available for 
final conclusions, and time only can 


The Journal of Heredity 


show the effects of the coeducational 
institutions of the other parts of the 
country. If by coeducation we merely 
enable the women to get a man’s 
education and prepare for a man’s work, 
then certainly this is not a full solution, 
even though the environment of college 
life would be more normal and lead 
to some marriages. 

4. Women college graduates are not | 
greatly sought after as mates, to share 
in the work of getting a living and 
founding a family, because they are not 
prepared psychologically and technically 
for the jobs of cooking, sanitation, 
nursing and child rearing, and are not 
seeking that mode of life except under 
specially selected conditions. They 
have culture and intelligence and de- 
mand high standards in husbands and 
homes, but they are not prizes in the 
matter of efficiency in domestic life. 
The principles of supply and demand 
are effective in this as in other things. 
If college women could combine their 
culture with domestic ideals and effi- 
ciency there would be a higher demand 
for them as helpmeets and mothers of 
the new generation. The American 
people as a whole have _ idealized 
individual independence in both men 
and women, instead of the family 
which must be the fundamental basis 
of race survival, and as long as we 
maintain that attitude our race suicide 
statistics will be portentous. 


Lectures in Eugenics 


At the request of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Washington, the 
American Genetic Association arranged a course of public lectures on eugenics 
which has been largely attended. The speakers secured were the following: Feb. 
4, Alexander Graham Bell on Heredity and Marriage; Feb. 11, Paul Popenoe on 
the History of the Eugenics Movement; Feb. 18, Dr. L. E. Cofer, assistant surgeon 
general, U. S. Public Health Service, on the Relation of Immigration to Eugenics; 
Feb. 25, G. N. Collins, Bureau of Plant Industry, on How Heredity is Measured; 
March 4, Roswell H. Johnson, University of Pittsburgh, on the Young Man and 
Marriage; March 11, Alexander Johnson, the Training School, Vineland, N. J., on 
Feeblemindedness; March 18, Dr. Elnora Folkmar on Negative Eugenics and 
Racial Poisons; March 25, Paul Popenoe on Heredity vs. Environment; April 1, 
Paul Popenoe on the Birth Rate; April 8, Daniel Folkmar of the Bureau of the 
Census on the Evolution of Man. 


AO DENT IN THE FOREHEAD 


CHARLES B. DAVENPORT 


NE of the most striking phe- 
nomena to a student of heredity 
is the definiteness with which 
certain small, apparently in- 
significant, peculiarities are inherited. 
This is very prettily illustrated again 
by a case which a correspondent has 
sent to me and, although the family 
history is only a fragment, it is so 
instructive as to be worth publishing. 

The trait in question consists of a 
small depression in the sagittal plane 
of the frontal bone, extending two or 
three centimeters above a line joining 
the upper limits of the orbits. The 
depression is a striking one, but the 
morphological changes involved do not 
seem to be great. Nevertheless they 
are very persistent in the family history 
and without doubt indicate a definite 
modification of the germ plasm which 
is, in accordance with the modern 
interpretation, of the positive, dominant 
sort; that is, due to the addition of a 
gene. 

We start with a fraternity of three 
grown children, born between 1885 and 
1890 (III, 20-23). The first, a male, 
has a deep dent in his forehead, as if 
his skull were pushed in. This is the 
young man whose photograph is pre- 
sented herewith (Fig. 6). The second, 
male, has a deep crease or dent in 
forehead and the third, female, has a 
crease in forehead. A fourth member 
of the fraternity was a small boy who 
died at the age of nine months and of 
whom we have no description. The 
father of this fraternity of three (II, 15) 
had a dent in the forehead. The 
mother (II, 14) was unrelated to the 
father and none of her relatives had a 
peculiarity of this sort. By another 
wife the father had one daughter 
(III, 24) who, likewise, had the crease 
in the forehead. As this other wife 
was unrelated and did not show the 
crease in the forehead, this portion of 
the pedigree, alone, is sufficient to 


suggest strongly that the positive trait 
is carried in the germ plasm of the 
father. 

The father was one of a fraternity of 
seven, three males and four females. 
One of his brothers (II, 5) showed the 
same crease in the forehead. The other 
did not. Three of the sisters certainly 
have shown the crease in the forehead. 
One of these is married and had six 
children, one boy and five girls, and of 
these girls three show the crease in the 
forehead (III, 3-8). Of the fourth 
sister of the father, long since dead 
(III, 7), there are no precise data. In 
response to an inquiry my correspondent 
has examined a group photograph in 
which the sister appears and replies: 
“It is impossible to be sure, but I 
think there was a slight trace of it 
from what I could see.”’ This fourth 
sister has had four children (by three 
husbands), and one (a son) shows the 
crease in the forehead. The single 
member of the second generation who 
lacks the family trait has two children, 
neither of whom has the trait; however, 
the same is true of the two children of 
his sister (II, 1) who has the trait. 
Unfortunately definite knowledge is 
extant concerning two generations only. 
The conditions in the grandparents are 
unknown. So far, then, as our informa- 
tion goes it indicates that this slight 
family peculiarity in the form of the 
frontal bone of the skull is inherited 
as a dominant trait. 

In conclusion the writer wishes first 
to thank Miss Rose M. Dawson for her 
coéperation and, second, to request 
those in whose family such (or other 
clearly marked) peculiarity in the form 
of the skull, appears, or who know of 
such a family trait among their ac- 
quaintances, to communicate the fact 
to him. 


Carnegie Institution of Washington, Station 
for Exper:mental Evolution, Cold Spring Har- 
bor, Long Island, N. Y., Jan. 30, 1915. 

163 


A HERITABLE DENT IN THE FOREHEAD 


This young man is shown as III, 20, in the pedigree chart below. The dent in his skull is 
located 1n the median line of the forehead, at the upper end of the frown, and because 


of the illumination is much less conspicuous in the photograph than in real life. From 
a photograph copyrighted by Brown and Dawson. (Fig. 6.) 
—— ; 
‘ 2 
Z Px] CO 
ps2 a 4 te Ri ee | 2 3 1s 6 
4, 
I a a LHe THO a ©) CO 
sort, 


Ree tiga be | GA | eM |g 
m OO) &! OO 
PEDIGREE CHART OF THE X FAMILY 


Distribution of the dent or depression in the forehead is here shown in graphic form. Squares 
represent males and circles females; black symbols designate individuals who show the 
trait in question; x implies unknown; the abbreviation d.inf. means “died in infancy.” 
Some doubt exists as to whether individual No. 7 in generation II showed the trait or 


ner indivi 
not. (Fig. 7.) 


8 ee 12 3 4 66 18 
OV teen. & BS ale ?] 


ine 


19 20 [21 [22 |23 


faeRe OILY OF WHITE FORE-LOCK 


Blaze in the Hair Transmitted Through Many Generations—Appears to Behave 
as Simple Dominant and to Follow Mendelian Proportions— 
History of an American Case. 


NEWTON MILLER 


Professor of Biology, Wheaton College, Norton, Mass. 


LBINISM in man has been fre- 
va quently recorded during the last 
two centuries, but it is only 
comparatively recent that data 
have been collected with the object 
of explaining its behavior in inheritance. 
A glance at the excellent monograph by 
Pearson, Nettleship and Usher shows 
that albinism may appear in almost any 
degree from a mere colorless spot to a 
complete lack of pigment in hair, skin 
and eyes. The former is the condition 
with which we are at present concerned. 
Rizzoli published in 1877 a record 
showing a fore-lock of white hair run- 
ning through six generations of a family 
comprising 49 individuals in the direct 
line of descent. <A similar account by 
Harman appearedin 1909. In Harman’s 
case the ‘‘flare’’ cropped out in six suc- 
cessive generations of a family number- 
ing 138 members in the direct line. 
Other colorless patches are said to be 
found on various parts of the body in this 
family. Three years later Cane referred 
to a family of 42 individuals with a 
white frontal lock appearing in each 
of the four generations mentioned. The 
pedigree which I offer isin many respects 
a duplicate of those cited above. 

I am indebted to Miss Agnes Joynes 
(IV. 38), a member of the family, for 
the active part she has taken in the 
collection of the data for this study and 
to her is due the greater credit for the 
record. 

In the year 1821 a Mr. Little with 
his three daughters immigrated to 
America from Carlisle, England, and 
settled on a branch of the St. John 
river in New Brunswick, Canada. His 
only son, Dr. William Bell Little (II. 
3), followed two or three years later 


and made his home also in New Bruns- 


wick. It is in the descendents of Dr. 
Little that the white lock may be found 
in the American branch. The family 
traces its origin back through the 
Percys, Mortimers, even to Edward ITI. 
We are interested in the family of 
Harry ‘Hot-Spur’’ Percy for here, 
according to a current story, originated 
the white lock. Harry “‘Hot-Spur”’ in 
a rebellion against Henry IV. was 
killed in the battle of Shrewsbury, 1403. 
When the news of his death reached his 
pregnant wife, she swooned, pressing 
her hands to her forehead as she did so. 
The son born a few hours later bore a 
white patch on his forehead correspond- 
ing to the spot touched by Lady Percy 
as she swooned. The mark has since 
appeared in some members of each and 
every generation of this child’s descen- 
dants. Dr. Spurgeon Jenkins (IV. 4) has 
suggested the direction in which explana- 
tion should rather be sought. While in 
England he looked up his antecedents 
and found to his satisfaction that the 
colorless patch goes back to the Percys, 
but he found also that Lady Percy was 
an albino. This of course is no explana- 
tion, since there is no record of an 
albino giving rise to spotted individuals 
or spotted to albinos. 


LOCATION 


The white lock located on a white 
patch of skin on or near the median line 
of the forehead and crown in the 
American family stands out promi- 
nently in contrast to the black or brown 
hair adjoining. In addition, other 
colorless spots are to be found on the 
bodies of some of the individuals 
possessing the ‘‘flare.’’ The mother of 
V. 18 describes her son thus—‘‘a white 
heart-shaped spot on the forehead just 

165 


OF THE LOCK. 


AN EARLY 


1 i¢ edig 
ig I 
1 f all 
sls 
i t 
il 
t ast 
i i } 


POSSESSOR OF THE LOCK 


VeVeE it lefinitel I 

ri Cel tudied where ¢ Tal 

i ir lock ha ween followed 
: ? igator te ibandon aque 


efore a son of the 

on, with whom 
ir six generations, 
ween traced for six 
gn se ral genera- 


ve 
Fig. 8.) 


THE WHITE LOCK, SPREAD OUT 


This girl, V. 14 in the pedigree chart (Fig. 10), is a sister of the girl shown in the frontispiece. 
There were two brothers and two sisters in this family; both sisters and one brother had the 
white lock which, on the average, has characterized half the stock in which it is running. 


(Fig. 9.) 


168 


VI. Or“, ‘Gaal 


below the white lock of hair, a white 
heart-shaped spot on the right knee 
with a ribbon running down the leg and 
encircling the ankle, and a white mark 
on the abdomen.”’ 

Lad (V. 59) now 12 years of age had 
in his early childhood a patch of yel- 
lowish hair on the back part of his head. 
At this time, however, its color has 
changed completely to that of the rest 
of his hair. 

The accompanying chart represents 
203. individuals of whom we _ have 
accurate information. All are blood 
related. Only one consanguineous mar- 
riage has been contracted, that of a son 
of III. 5 and the third daughter of III. 
12. Both families of III. 5 and III. 12 
are free of the mark and the four children 
of the cousin marriage are also. 

An examination of the chart shows 
that the white lock crops out only 
those families one parent of which is 
thus marked. It is further seen that 
the lock behaves as a simple dominant 


with normality as recessive. Conse- 


The Journal of Heredity 


@ 
1 2 
O 
i 2 
ee) Bye) = 
4 5 4 7 3 vo 
3 1 
OO8 ®@OU0 (3) @) 
we o7 U8 1 2 2y 2j2 23 24 25 26 27 39 32 30 gy 


DESCENDANTS OF DR. 


Dr. Little, a resident of Carlisle, England, and a descendant of the famous Percy family, emigrated to Ame 
hair, and has passed this on to a large number of his descendants. 
that the individual was marked by the white lock of hair. 
indicates the number of children in the fraternity, a smaller numeral above showing the number who y 
matings has not been shown, since they were all with unaffected individuals. 
one not possessing it (recessiv e), or in genetic notation a DR mating, while when the symbol is whitd 
between two who did not carry the trait; in such cases, the trait could never reappear in their descenda | 


quently two types of matings are 
represented, 2. e., DR x RR and RR x 
RR, the individuals with the frontal 
patch being hybrids (DR) and the 
others (RR) pure recessives. Theoret- 
ically we should expect to find the 
leucotic spot in one-half of the children 
in families where-one parent is marked, 
and not at all in children of unmarked 
parents. These expectations are fairly 
well borne out by the actual data which 
give for the former 45 with, to 51 with- 
out the ‘‘flare,’’ and for the latter, none. 

The above statements apply equally 
well to the cases of Rizzoli, Harman 
and Cane. These pedigrees give the 
proportions of those with, to those 
without the albinic lock as 17 to 15, 
23 to 15 and 23 to 13, respectively. 
Combining the data at hand we obtain 
the interesting result of 108 with the 
white lock and 94 without. Thus the 
conclusion seems warranted that the 
white lock is asimple dominant and that 
it follows closely the Mendelian law. 


The above pedigree chart shows 
For the sake of conciseness, large symba 


Thus when a parent 


) 


Miller: Heredity of White Fore-lock 169 


©) O) O Ke ALS 
3 4 © é 7 F 7 4 a i> WIS 
4 
ZO O a Ore) Eo oO Oe (4) O-'O OO] 

é ‘7 is ao 2 22 aja tH 5 26 G2) eso) ton Se ee 34 36 37 38 FH Ho 8 Gf, 
2 7 Ae 1 2 5 1 I 
©) © OBDODUBHOOC@@O® © (s) QOOOOUOOKOO WO @ 
3 3% sy 95 39 «0 WFR 43 Men Gy ye 7 8 - Y2 / 10 52 53 Sy SS 56 57 St 59 60 Of 3 43 1 


3s ee 7 4950 5/ s/ 62 by 


16 i 


.M BELL LITTLE (II. 3) 


tbout 1824 and settled in New Brunswick. He had inherited from his mother a congenital white lock of 
1embers of the family, squares representing men and circles women. When the symbol is black, it indicates 
closing a number have been used to designate several fraternities of unaffected individuals; the number 
oys and a similar numeral below those who were girls. Further for the sake of brevity, the exact nature of the 
lack symbol, it is to be understood that the mating was between a person possessing the lock (dominant) and 
ieans that an unaffected, or recessive, person married a similar person, the mating (RR) therefore being 
(Fig. 10.) 


REFERENCES 


Cane, M. H. 1912. Hair and its Heredity.— 
Eugenics Review, Vol. IV. 

HarMAN, N. B. 1909. A Study in Heredity 
—Six Generations of Piebalds. Trans. 
Ophthal. Soc., XXIX. 

PEARSON, NETTLESHIP AND USHER. 1911 and 
1913. A Monograph on Albinism in Man. 


Rizzout. 1877. Title? 


Draper’s Co. Research Memoirs, Biometric 
Series IX. 

Bulletino delle 
Scienzegmediche Bologna. Ser. V., Vol. 
23% 

Rizzoli’s pedigree as taken from a MS. 
copy is published in the above monograph 
by Pearson, Nettleship and Usher. 


Breeding Hardy Winter Barley 


Until now, winter barley has not been a success north of the Ohio river, as all 
previously existing varieties were killed by hard winters. The Michigan Experi- 
ment Station has three winter barleys that successfully passed the severe winter 
of 1911-12 and one of these is being increased at the Upper Peninsula Station at 
Chatham. It has done well there, and this fact seems to indicate that these 
varieties may extend the winter barley belt to Lake Superior. 

The two winter barleys that were increased at East Lansing in 1914 were ripe 
on June 24, or three weeks earlier than the earliest spring barley. During the 
seasons of 1913-14, these two strains have averaged 55.4 bushels. The average 
production of barley in Michigan is set at 25 bushels by the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture. If generally grown, these winter barleys may double the average 
yield of barley in the state. Compared with oats on the basis of pounds of grain 
per acre, 55.4 bushels of barley equals 83.1 bushels of oats. 


EUGENICS AND IMMIGRATION 


Large Amount of Bad Breeding Prevented by Medical Examination of Aliens at 
Ports of Entry—Detection of Defectives More Thorough Now 
Than Ever Before, Because of Decrease in Numbers 
Arriving.! 
Dr. L. E. Corer 
Assistant Surgeon General, U. S. Public Health Service, Washington, D. C. 


HE word “Eugenics” has ap- 

peared in literature only within 

the last ten years. It may be 

defined in a few words as a 
science which attempts to improve 
the physical development and mental 
equipment of the individual in so far 
as this may be possible by heredity. 
The attempt to improve human stocks 
of all kinds during recent years has 
taken form, so far as it relates to immi- 
gration, in preventing unfit persons 
from coming into the country, either by 
being born into it or by being brought 
into it by migration. 

In the same sense the execution, in- 
carceration or asexualization of crim- 
inals, or the segregation of certain other 
classes—paupers, insane persons, idiots, 
lepers and the lhke—tend to raise the 
quality of the human stock. 

Properly speaking, however, eugenics 
does not include so much the prevention 
of the production of unfit, as it does the 
attempt to produce the more fit. On 
stock farms all over our country, in 
private stables and in kennels men are 
spending their lives in the improvement 
of our breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, 
dogs and swine. By selective breeding 
it is quite possible to breed cows which 
will yield about 12 gallons of milk per 
day, which means that a 1400 pound 
cow will yield her own weight every 
two weeks. We exercise similar care and 
thought in the development of our 
grains, vegetables and fruits. Every 
effort is being made to produce and 
perpetuate those forms which come the 
nearest to meeting our ideal. It is 
therefore probably a just charge that 


1 Address delivered before 
February 18, 1915. 
170 


we are more careful of the breed of our 
horses and dogs than of our children. A 
natural question would be, then, why 
is it that with all our efforts to improve 
the breed of domestic animals, we have 
neglected the breed of the most import- 
ant of them all, that is, the human 
animal? Why have we left the breed 
of men altogether to chance? We are 
beginning to ask ourselves these ques- 
tions, and we are beginning slowly to 
realize that if society had done its full 
eugenic duty many a long line of 
defectives and criminal descendants of 
defectives would never have been born. 
It is claimed by many people that we are 
doing everything we can to encourage 
the production of defectives, degenerate 
and delinquent persons by the way in 
which we feed and clothe them, by the 
way in which we increase the annual 
sums for asylums, almshouses, prisons, 
hospitals, etc., in which we can confine 
our insane, paupers, habitual criminals, 
and imbeciles, leaving them free, during 
a part of their lives, in any event, to 
propagate their kind, and it has been 
shown that this class of persons, if 
given opportunity, is relatively more 
prolific than the better and more useful 
class of citizens. 

EUGENICS. 


THE IDEAL OF 


And thus we come to ask why we can 
not breed the superman, or in other 
words we are discussing the artificial 
breeding of mankind itself. Unfor- 
tunately the average advocate of eugenics 
as applied to man is apt to consider the 
production of superman bodies para- 
mount to the production of superman 


the Young Men's Christian Association of Washington, D. C., 


Cofer: Eugenics and Immigration 


minds, superman character, or persons 
with superman souls. That is to say, 
the superman who will be assembled for 
the purpose of leading a strenuous life 
to improve the world is the one whom 
many of us have in mind especially if we 
read Bernard Shaw. 

Really the production of an evenly 
balanced, conservative, intelligent and 
healthy individual should be the aim of 
eugenics, and not the raising up of a 
monstrosity or curiosity in human life. 

In the eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries, Europe attempted to improve 
its race stocks by the deportation of the 
less desirable individuals. Each country 
had its penal colonies, and in addition 
used the United States as a dumping 
ground for its convicts, paupers and 
insane. The immigration laws of the 
United States, which purport to exclude 
some twenty-one classes of mentally, 
physically, morally and economically 
undesirable persons, were originally 
intended to protect the country from 
the dumping process above described. 
But, inasmuch as they operate equally 
in the cases of assisted and of normal 
immigration, they really go further 
than this; and, so far as they are en- 
forced, tend to eugenic results by select- 
ing the better classes of aliens for the 
fathers and mothers of future citizens. 

This brings us to the consideration of 
immigration in its general sense. The 
migration of men or other animals is 
caused almost entirely by the universal 
search for food. Man, like every other 
organism, spreads all over the earth in 
search of a living, and when he finds 
himself in a locality able to support 
him, he is usually willing to remain there. 
It will usually be found, therefore, that 
the average immigrant’s reason for 
shifting his residence from some other 
country to this country is the relative 
over-population of his native country. 
The term ‘“‘over-population”’ is given 
to a place which contains more people 
than can be fed with food raised in that 
ecuntry. The word “over-population,”’ 
however, has been discarded and the 
word ‘“‘saturation’’ has replaced it, 
for the reason that it is easier to 
think of the migrations of the peoples 
of the world as fluid-like migrations, 


171 


on the general principle that water 
always seeks its level, and that a 
sponge more than saturated will begin 
to drip. Therefore, a locality over- 
crowded with inhabitants is not unlike 
a soil which cannot possibly hold all the 
rain which is poured on to it. Some 
must run off or be evaporated after 
collecting in pools. The overpopulated 
or saturated place is one which cannot 
hold the rain of babies poured upon it. 
They too collect in pools of humanity 
to be evaporated in pools of death, or 
they must flow off in streams in one 
direction or another, and these streams 
are the streams of migration, which 
when they converge at the shores of our 
country are termed by us our streams 
of immigration. 


THE STREAM OF IMMIGRANTS. 


Now let us see what these streams of 
immigration mean to the United States. 
During the fiscal year ended June 30, 
1914, 1,485,957 immigrants landed on 
our shores; the year before that 1,574,- 
371 landed; the year before that 1,143,- 
234. landed; the total for the last six 
years being 7,544,452. In other words, 
considerably more than 1,000,000 per- 
sons a year from other countries have 
migrated to our shores during the last 
six years. These immigrants comprised 
Africans, Armenians, Bohemians, Mora- 
vians, Bulgarians, Servians, Montene- 
grins, Chinese, Croatians, Slavonians, 
Cubans, Dalmatians, Bosnians, Dutch, 
Flemish, East Indians, English, Finnish, 
French, Germans, Greeks, Hebrews, 
Northern and Southern Italians, Japa- 
nese, Lithuanians, Magyars, Mexicans, 
Poles, Portugese, Roumanians, Rus- 
sians, Ruthenians, Scandinavians (who 
comprise Norwegians, Danes and 
Swedes), Scotch, Slovaks, Spanish, 
Spanish Americans, Syrians, Turks, and 
West Indians. 

These immigrants enter the United 
States through 8&8 different places, 
which places include 25 different ports, 
and they embark for the United States 
from 25 different foreign ports. Exclu- 
sive of the number of railway lines 
continuously bringing immigrants over 
our borders, over 100 steamship com- 
panies were occupied, prior to the 


Wie 


beginning of the European war, in the 
immigrant-carrying trade, and on ac- 
count of the fact that certain steamship 
lines had vessels arriving at from two 
to five different ports, it was found that 
there were about 173 lines of immigrant 
travel into this country. 

It must not be supposed that these 
million or more immigrants are allowed 
to enter the country just as any of us 
might go from here to New York. On 
the contrary they are subjected to a 
series of examinations tending to the 
elimination, in the first place, of paupers 
and criminals, and secondly, to the 
elimination of persons with physical 
and mental defects. At every port or 
place in the United States where 1m- 
migrants arrive, the United States 
Immigration Service, under the Depart- 
ment of Labor, has officers stationed for 
the examination of immigrants, to 
insure compliance with the immigration 
law, exclusive of matters relating to the 
physical and mental condition of aliens, 
which is in charge of the U. S. Public 
Health Service, under the Treasury 
Department. This latter Service has 
medical officers at all the ports of entry, 
who subject the immigrants to a careful 
medical examination. 


DEFECTS EXCLUDED. 


The number of immigrants examined 
by these medical officers varies from one 
a year at the port of Aguadilla, P. R., to 
1,009,000 at the port of New York. The 
following classes of aliens are excluded 
from admission into the United States: 
Idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, 
epileptics, insane persons, persons who 
have been insane within five years 
previous; persons who have had two 
or more attacks of insanity at any time 
previously; paupers, persons likely to 
become a public charge; professional 
beggars, persons afflicted with tuber- 
culosis or with a loathsome or dangerous 
contagious disease; persons not com- 
prehended within any of the foregoing 
excluded classes who are found to be 
and are certified by the examining 
surgeon as being mentally or physically 
defective, such mental or _ physical 
defect being of a nature which may 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


affect the ability of such alien to earn a 
living. 

In order that the provisions of this 
law may be put into convenient form 
for the use and guidance of the medical 
examiners of aliens, the Public Health 
Service has issued a book entitled 
‘“Book of Instructions for the Medical 
Inspection of Aliens.’’ In this book the 
diseases are placed under four headings 
as follows: Class A-1, Class A-2, Class 
B and Class C. Under Class A-1 are 


included idiocy, imbecility, feeble- 
mindedness, epilepsy, insanity and 
tuberculosis. Under Class A-2, which 


is devoted to loathsome, contagious or 
dangerously contagious diseases, are 
included favus, ringworm of scalp, 
sycosis barbae, actinomycosis, blastomy- 
cosis, frambesia, mycetoma, leprosy and 
venereal diseases, such as demonstrable 
syphilis in an active, communicable 
stage, gonorrhea and soft chancre. 
Dangerous contagious diseases include 
trachoma, filariasis, uncinariasis (hook- 
worm), amebic infection and endemic 
hematuria. Under class B are included 
those defects or diseases which affect 
the ability on the part of the immigrant 
to earn a living. From the very nature 
of the diseases included under this 
subdivision it is apparent that it is 
impossible to name all of them, but a 
few are as follows: hernia, the various 
varieties of heart disease, states of 
permanently defective nutrition and of 
marked defective skeletal and muscular 
development, cases of chronic arthritis 
and myositis, the various nervous affec- 
tions, malignant new growths, deformi- 
ties, varicose veins, senility, defective 
eyesight, various cutaneous affections, 
anemia, eruptive fevers, and such tuber- 
culous affections as lupus, Potts disease, 
hipjoint disease, chronic inflammation 
of the lymph glands, chronic arthritis of 
knee joint; in fact, all those diseases of a 
more or less permanent character which 
call for institutional care and treatment 
are included under Class B. Under this 
heading are given cases of diseased, 
deformed or crippled children who will 
require unusual care during childhood, 
and who are likely to be physically 
defective if they live to reach maturity. 
Under Class C come defective or 


Cofer: Eugenics and Immigration iW: 


diseased conditions which do not pre- 
sent in the opinion of the medical 
examiner requirements for certification 
under Classes A and B. In other words, 
Class C is intended to make a complete 
check as to the physical status of an 
immigrant. For instance, if an immi- 
grant is found to be perfectly sound 
with the exception of the absence of 
two fingers on his left hand, the condi- 
tion would be considered a reportable 
one, but not a deportable one. 


WORK IS ONEROUS. 


Now a word as to what it means to 
examine physically the aliens entering 
the United States from foreign coun- 
tries: During the fiscal year just 
passed 94 officers of the Public Health 
Service have been assigned exclusively 
to the work of examining arriving aliens, 
and in addition to this a number of 
officers, although detailed to other duty, 
have given more or less of their time to 
the work under consideration. 

The results of this examination, which 
constitutes the practice of eugenics in 
connection with immigration, are as 
follows: In the fiscal year just passed, 
of the 1,485,957 aliens arriving, a total 
of 41,250 were certified for all causes, 
of which 3,051 were for trachoma alone; 
184 for tuberculosis; 1,040 for syphilis; 
157 for gonorrhea and 1,360 for mental 
deficiency of various kinds. During the 
last six years, of the 7,544,452 immi- 
grants arriving, a total of 179,557 have 
been certified, of which 15,971 were 
certified for trachoma (a dangerous, 
contagious eye disease) ; 1,408 for tuber- 
culosis; 1,537 for syphilis; 924 for 
gonorrhea, and 3,788 for mental de- 
ficiency of various kinds. 

It is evident that eugenics along the 
lines above mentioned does not attempt 
directly to produce the more fit, but it 
does actually prevent the entry of 
an enormous percentage of the unfit, 
as will be seen by the following statis- 
tics. The reports of immigrants arriving 
during the fiscal year ending June 30, 
1914, show that of the total number, 
1,485,957, there were 313,475 women 
between the ages of 14 and 44, and that 
there were 668,217 males between these 
ages. Statistics also show that the 


percentage of childless women among 
immigrants is never higher than 20% 
in some nationalities, and is as low as 
2.5% in other nationalities; also that 


the child-bearing immigrant women 
bear from 2.4 to 5.5 children, the 


average being about 4 children for each 
child-bearing woman. It is furthermore 
a general rule that women in the rural 
communities bear more children than 
the women in the cities. If from the 
total number of women arriving 1n the 
last fiscal year 20% is deducted as non- 
child-bearing (which, while by no means 
fair and accurate for the purpose under 
consideration, will all the more show 
the value of our eugenic work) 250,780 
women will be left who, according to 
statistics, will bear an average of four 
children each, making a total of about 
1,000,000 children destined to be born 
from the immigrant women arriving 
last year. 

It will be seen that by the rejection 
alone of the 1,360 mental defectives last 
year an enormous amount of good has 
been done in preventing births amongst 
this class of persons. The same may 
be said in regard to the prevention of 
propagation amongst the immigrants 
rejected for the other diseases men- 
tioned, most of which have a distinct 
tendency towards producing inferiority 
in offspring. It is manifestly impossible 
to determine the good results of this 
examination, and therefore its eugenic 
value to the country, but there are 
some facts which will show that the 
medical examination of immigrants and 
the rejection of the physical and mental 
defectives is producing invaluable re- 
sults. For example, no satisfactory 
evidence has yet been produced to 
show that immigration has resulted in 
an increase in crime disproportionate 
to the increase in adult population. 
Such comparable statistics of crime and 
population as it has been possible to 
obtain indicate that immigrants are 
less prone to commit crime than are 
native Americans, a fact which is a 
distinct tribute to the good work being 
done by the immigration officers along 
the line of preventing to a great extent 
the landing of immigrants from the 
criminal classes. 


174 


In this connection, however, it is 
interesting to note that statistics in- 
dicate that the American born children 
of immigrants exceed the children of 
natives in relative amount of crime. 
It also appears from data bearing on 
the volume of crime that juvenile 
delinquency is more common among 
immigrants than it is among Americans. 
There are, however, two factors affect- 
ing these conclusions. First, immi- 
grants are found in greater proportion 
in cities than in rural communities, and 
the criminality of the children of 
immigrants is largely a product of the 
city. Second, the majority of the 
juvenile delinquents are found in the 
North Atlantic states, where immigrants 
form a larger proportion of the popula- 
tion than in any other section of the 
country. 


EFFECTS OF THE WAR. 


Just what the eugenic result of the 
medical examination of aliens has been 
during the last five years is not known 
for the reason that census statistics 
along these lines are lacking. The 
European war, however, has divided 
the observation periods, so far as the 
results of the medical examination of 
aliens is concerned, into three parts, 
the first part ending with the commence- 
ment of the European war, and with the 
almost shutting down of immigration 
from Europe. The second period we 
are passing through at the present 
time; that is, the period of duration of 
the war. The third period will begin 
with the ending of the war and the 
resumption of immigration, which it is 
predicted will be greater than we have 
ever before experienced. 

As a consequence of the war many 
undesirable persons are not being ad- 
mitted to our country. If the war con- 


The Journal of Heredity 


tinues for a long time we may expect a 
gradual decrease in our institutional 
mental and physical defectives, now 
being cared for at the expense of states 
and municipalities, but what will be 
the result when the war ends’ Shall we 
have an influx of physically and men- 
tally deteriorated men, drawn from 
among the survivors of the great con- 
flict, and from the non-combatants who 
are suffering as much from privation as 
the soldiers are from shot, shell and 
disease; and what will be the permanent 
character of the defects which these 
immigrants will present? Will there be 
more insanity amongst them, or will 
they present a larger proportion of 
syphilitic infection, or both? During the 
second period, or war period, that is to 
say, the period through which we are 
now passing, almost the same number 
of medical officers of the Public Health 
Service are engaged in examining aliens 
as were engaged prior to the commence- 
ment of the war, although the number 
of immigrants arriving is very much di- 
minished at all stations, and in certain 
places, for example, New York and the 
large ports generally, the volume of im- 
migration has diminished to one-fourth 
or one-fifth, so that the quality of the 
medical examination being given at the 
present time is much ahead of what it 
has ever been before. Asa consequence 
statistics at the end of this fiscal year will 
show a large increase in the percentage of 
rejections from all causes. If the war 
lasts a considerable length of time, it 
will be possible to obtain sufficient data 
as to the results of the preventive 
eugenic work which has been accom- 
plished to enable us to make intelligent 
preparations for meeting the increased 
demands to be made upon the country 
when immigration from Europe is again 
resumed. 


Breeding Sugar Beets 


The Utah state agricultural experiment station has been breeding sugar beets 


for increased sugar content for many years. 


After the first seven years of the 


experiment, all of the large number of strains tried were discarded except one, the 


progeny of which is now widely grown. 


“The manager of our local company,” 


Director E. D. Ball writes, ‘‘has just recently made the statement that he could 
tell to the row in the field where our local seed was used, by the uniform character 
of the beets, and that the average sugar content was from one to two per cent. 
higher than that of the best European seed obtainable.”’ 


PANGY FOINTS+vs UTILITY 


Many Animals and Plants Scored for Characters That Are Useless or Even 
Detrimental to Production—Egg Yield of Fowls Neg- 
lected—Need For Revision of Standards. 


A. F. BLAKESLEE 
Professor of Genetics, Connecticut Agricultural College, Storrs, Conn. 


zine devoted to breeding and to the 

development of characters which 

are judged in the show room, to say 
a few words in regard to the points and 
the standards recognized by the show 
room judge. 

Plants and animals have been do- 
mesticated and cultivated for one or 
both of two main reasons—for the 
pleasure which their presence gives us 
or for some useful product which they 
yield in the form chiefly of food, cloth- 
ing or labor. The distinction is not 
absolute, even as the distinction be- 
tween beauty and utility cannot be 
absolute, but in general we may dis- 
tinguish the forms primarily orna- 
mental from those primarily useful. 
The first are grown as pets, the second 
for utility. The geranium, the cat, the 
canary bird and the bantam fowl are 
pets; the cow, the horse, the laying hen 
and corn are cultivated for utility. 
The tomato in our grandmother’s gar- 
den was cultivated for its ornamental 
fruit and was a pet. Now it has been 
moved to the vegetable garden and is 
grown for utility. Ornamental things 
may be useful, and the market value of 
a product is not diminished by the 
inherent beauty of the producer. As 
the lowing herd winds slowly o’er the 
lea, it offers no less interesting a sight 
to the poet and to the artist if the 
animals are high milk producers. That 
they are the best of their kind should 
in fact heighten his admiration. On 
the other hand, the perfection of form 
and color that appeals to the eye may 
indirectly affect the yield. The pride 
of the flock or of the field will be most 
tenderly cared for. . 

A visible character that has a direct 


lg seems not out of place in a maga- 


connection with yield may be called a 
utility point while one that has no 
such direct connection is called a fancy 
point. Each may be developed without 
injury to the other, but the man who 
aims at but a single target 1s most 
likely to reach his mark. Seek ye first 
the most valuable thing and let other 
good things be as additions unto you, 
is good advice for all manner of men. 
To the practical breeder the most 
valuable thing is yield. This the show 
room almost entirely leaves out of 
consideration either directly or by 
scoring on a multitude of fancy points 
that often have at best only a fancied 
connection with the object for which 
the breed is supposed to be cultivated. 
In the score card for dairy cattle no 
place is left for the quantity or quality 
of milk which the animal is capable of 
giving. In the ear of corn attention 
may be given to the straightness of the 
rows and the completeness with which 
the tip of the ear is filled out, but the 
yield per acre is not recorded. The 
score card for poultry, of which two are 
shown in Figure 13, gives ten points each 
for comb, wings and tail, but no credit 
is given for the number of eggs a bird 
has laid. Men have paid high prices 
for prize-winning hens that have failed 
to produce eggs after they were taken 
from the show room. 

Attempts in many cases have been 
made to use characters in the score 
card that may be indicative of yield. 
In corn, the filling out of the tip, the 
size of the ear, the size and compactness 
of the kernels, are all characters that 
influence the amount of food substance 
carried by any individual ear but are not 
of necessity correlated with the yield 
per acre. In the experience of the 


1S 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


GOOD AND BAD EGG-PRODUCERS 


A pair of White Leghorns in the egg-laying competition at Storrs, Conn. 

left (No. 722) is the best layer among the 400 White Leghorns competing. 
The hen at the right (No. 723) is from the same pen, but laid 
The good layer has pale beak, pale legs and white 


23, she had laid 70 eggs. 
only nine eggs during the same period. 


ear-lobes, while the poor layer shows yellow in these parts. 


The hen at the 
Up to February 


The Standard of Perfec- 


tion demands yellow in beak and legs, and the poor layer was scored the higher by the pro- 


fessional poultry judge. 


But there is reason to believe that an absence of yellow in these 


parts denotes high egg-capacity and its presence low fecundity; if this is the case, then 
the Standard and the judges are working directly against high production which, after 


all, is the purpose of a fowl. 


Connecticut Experiment Station, poor 
scoring strains of corn have been found 
to out-yield better scoring strains in 
comparative test cultures. 

In dairy cattle, the size and character 
of the milk veins are apparently con- 
sidered strongly indicative of the quan- 
tity of milk an individual cow can 
produce. In Jerseys, four points are 
allowed for milk veins in the score 
card; in Ayrshires, five; in Guernseys, 
eight; andin Holsteins, ten. There is no 
evidence that the value of the milk 
veins as an index of the flow of milk 
differs in the breeds mentioned in any 
direct relation to the actual number of 
points allowed in the various score 
cards. 


POULTRY STANDARDS. 


In poultry probably less attempt is 
made to use characters in the score card 
indicative of yield than in most other 
economic breeds of animals or of plants, 
and the standards may be so fictitious 
that they are even directly opposed to 
the natural development of the animal. 
As an instance of the latter condition 
may be mentioned the barring in 


Photograph made February 22, 1915. 


(Fig. 11.) 


Plymouth Rocks. Dark and _ light 
strains exist in this breed, but in a 
given strain the males are naturally 
lighter than the females. Barring is a 
sex-linked character, and this lighter 
color of the male is probably due to his 
having the factors that lighten up the 
plumage present in a duplex condition. 
At any rate, the lighter color of the 
barred male is as natural a condition 
in the breed mentioned as is the presence 
of a beard in the male of the human 
species. In order to win prizes for 
exhibition pens, however, poultrymen 
have resorted to so-called double-mat- 
ing, breeding males from dark strains 
and females from light strains, since 
judges give preference to pens in which 
the males and females are matched in 
shading. The practice is as logical as 
to require a man and his wife to match 
in the amount of hair on the face. In 
the human species, however, we are 
assured that we shall be judged for our 
good deeds and need stand in no fear 
of fancy points in the score card at the 
last day of judgment. 

Most fancy points probably are in- 
different so far as they directly in- 


Blakeslee: Fancy Points vs. Utility 


iWiy) 


SHOW POINTS OPPOSE PRODUCTION 


A pair of White Wyandottes in the Storrs contest. 


At date of photographing (Dec. 23), the 


hen at the left (No. 137) had laid no eggs, while the one at the right (No. 132) had laid 


34 and was the best layer in the pen. 


duce egg-layers should be the object of the breeder. 


The function of a hen is to lay eggs, and to pro- 


The standards should, therefore, 


be set up with this object in mind. Yet the poor layer here shown was scored higher 
than the good layer, 9214 points as compared with 8944, the good layer being cut, among 
other reasons, because her beak was faded. The score cards are shown in the following 


figure. 


The left-hand bird, which when photographed had yellow beak and yellow legs, 


had produced only 13 eggs up to February 23, while the bird that shows pale beak and 


legs had a record of 81 during the same period. 


fluence the practice of breeding plants 
and animals for utility. The danger is 
that they tend to substitute a fictitious 
standard for real value and thereby 
distract the aim of the breeder. In 
some cases, however, the standards may 
be in direct opposition to utility. It 
seems not inappropriate to discuss as 
an example, a fancy point directly 
opposed to utility that has come to the 
writer’s attention in connection with 
an investigation undertaken with D. E. 
Warner. A preliminary report on the 
work is presented in Science, Mar. 
19. It has been found that the yellow 
pigment in the ear-lobes, the beak and 
the legs of Leghorn pullets disappears 
when they begin to lay and returns 
again when they cease laying. The 
ear-lobe is apparently most quickly 
responsive, the beak next and the legs 
are the last to be affected by a change 
in the laying activity. Figure 11 is a 
photograph of two Leghorns which 
showed a difference in color in the parts 


(Fig. 12.) 


mentioned. The good layer had 15 per 
cent. yellow in her ear-lobes while the 
poor layer showed 35 per cent. yellow 
in the same parts. The color of the 
ear-lobes has been measured by means 
of a color top, and a high negative 
correlation established between laying 
activity and the amount of yellow 
pigment present. The tables for this 
are published elsewhere. 

The beaks and legs have been roughly 
graded as pale, medium and yellow. 
In Table I is shown the percentage of 
the birds in the different color groups 
actually found laying on the last of 
October. If a bird was laying on the 
day of record she is credited with a zero, 
if on the day before the record was taken, 
she is credited with one ‘‘day since 
laying.’ The yellower the ear-lobes, 
the beak and the legs, the longer on the 
average since the last egg was laid. 
The Wyandottes are a type of fowl that 
do not show color changes in their ear- 
lobes, which remain permanently red. 


178 


The beak and legs alone in such breeds, 
however, form a ready means of select- 
ing the laying hen. 


PRODUCTION PENALIZED. 


The “Standard of Perfection’’ which 
controls the judges in the show room 
demands yellow in the beak and legs of 
the two types of breeds recorded in Table 
I. Other things being equal therefore, in 
preferring the bird with yellow beak and 
yellow legs, the poultry judge is pre- 
ferring the poorer layers. That this is 
not a mere theoretical conclusion is 
illustrated by Figure 12. The best layer 
in the pen was scored down because her 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


beak appeared faded. In other fancy 
points also she was a poor scorer—in 
fact had the lowest score in her pen. 
Her score card is shown in Figure 13 
alongside that of the highest scoring 
bird from the same pen. The highest 
scorer, however, turned out to be the 
poorest layer in the pen. Their egg 
records up to Feburary 23rd are shown 
in Figure 14. 

The blanks in Figure 14 show a type of 
score card that is well nigh ideal. 
Perfection is judged by production. A 
bird, or a pen, that wins in such an egg 
laying contest as the one conducted at 
Storrs, Conn., is obliged to lay eggs. 


TABLE I. 


Percentage of Birds Laying, Average Number of Days since Laying and Yearly Totals for 


Different Color Grades of Beaks and Legs. 


(P, Mand Y are abbreviations for Pale, Medium and Yellow; the color of beak is written first 


followed by color of legs.) 


WHITE LEGHORNS (256 Birds with yearly average of 150.4 eggs). 


P.P. | M.M.| Y-Y. | 
Gi, Rea: 
Number of Birds. ..... 1 ay 97 
Average days since lay- 

AEC SS ME eas eee O26) 3024s" S78 
Number Birds laying. .| 32 2 1 
Percentage Birds laying) 62.8 11.8 1.0 
Yearly averages.......| 186.4 | 146.4 | 129.3 


WyYANDOTTES (79 Birds with yearly average of 144.8 eggs). 


ee ree Wallen | a eg 
Number of Birds...... 28 13 24 
Average days since lay- 
oye se ee eh 6.5 Vico 48 9 
Number Birds laying... 16 5 0 
Percentage Birds laying 57.2 38.5 0.0 
Yearly averages....... L78;0)| LS0s7: (21084 


PM. | (POY. | MSPS) MN) eee 
| | 

2 0 25 1 14 49 
SOLOM | perce ee 20.8 | 64.0] 28.6] 45.9 

Ose |S Se ne 3 0 1 1 

OF Uae eeistone 12.0 0.0 (ee 2.0 
ESO SOP ee era 178.7 | 122.0 | 158.4 |-t3ee9 
PeM.. |< P.Y. || MP, | M.Y.. 1 Yo 

1 0 4 0 0 9 

10 | ry 7 28.7 

1 oes heet YEE ORT ke es 1 
TOO JOSE vads ce] SSO) 152o2 eee i Ge | 
BERS OM oe oe Woy Peis Barges (oe Sy ee 145.6 


TABLE II. 


Yearly Egg Records for Hens Pale 
average of 150.4 eggs.) 


Number of Birds Ear-lobes 


31 10-20% yellow 


P) in Different Parts. 


(256 White Leghorns with yearly 


Beak Legs Yearly Average 
Pale 179.9 
Pale* 2) ge .3 5 ae 185.3 
Pee aa 189.4 
Pale Pale 186.4 
Pale Pale 191.9 


Blakesle 


CONDITION 
WEIGHT OR SIZE 
COMB OR 

CREST AND COMB 


y; |/HEAD AND ee re £4 
E |IADJUNCTS (e2ge |” 
- Shape / 
© |INECK ope 
ry Color ns ee 
z Shape / ft 
an BACK via 
= Color hegre 
a Shape / 
2 |BREAST see 
© Color 2 
BODY AND Shape Wa 
Z ney pone 
© |\FLUFF orcs Sis 
z Shape wa 
my WINGS Jones? Be 
n Color a 
i Shape / 
= |TAIL ee 
< Color >a 
= pa meeieee 
LEGS AND . Shape 
umage 
TOES Color 


S 
TOTAL DEFECTS Us 


ORDINARY TYPE OF POULTRY 


e; Dancy 


Points vs. Utility 179 


CONDITION : 
WEIGHT OR SIZE : 


COMB OR 
CREST AND COMB 


HEAD AND (Be 


op) 
 |/ADJUNCTS UWarties® v 
5 Shape & 
© ||NECK cS 
° Color | 2Z_ 
ee Shape = 
Pe |BRCKCeee sce |= a 
Es Color PIED a1 
Z Shape “se 
> ||BREAST ce 
S Color 2 
7, ||BODY AND ESS a 
© FLUFF Color a 
e Shape x 
SIWINGS oo 
| eee iat mam 2 
Shape fin 

5 |\TAIL eS 
| See ed ae 2 

LEGS AND x Shape 

umage 
TOES Color 


TOTAL DEFECTS 13 


SCORE CARDS 


Essential parts of the score cards of the two White Wyandotte hens shown in Fig. 12. At 
the left is the list of ‘“‘cuts’’ made by the professional judge against No. 132, the good layer, 


while the cuts made against No. 137, the poor layer, are shown on the right. 


The fact that 


the poor layer was scored highest, ‘taken in conjunction with similar cases reported all 
over the country, indicates that breeders of fancy poultry are inclined to lose sight of the 
real purpose of breeding fowls, and to fix their attention on merely fancy points instead 


of on the egg-laying function. (Fig. 13.) 
By their fruits are they judged; and 
although a misplaced feather on a hen’s 
leg may disqualify her from the show 
room, it does not disqualify her from 
showing her ability to lay. For this 
purpose was she brought into the world, 
and for a well spent life only should she 
receive a crown of reward. Milk test- 
ing associations are rendering to the 
practical breeder a similar service to 
that afforded by egg-laying contests, 
although the length of the tests does 
not give the best opportunities to judge 


the real merits of an animal. Such 
contests, based on production, are 
obviously more difficult to conduct than 
those based on mere inspection but are 
commensurately more valuable. 

From what has been said, it is not 
intended to imply that show room con- 
tests should be done away with. They 
have elements of too great value even 
to agriculturists for such drastic treat- 
ment. It is suggested, however, that 
the standards be changed and account 


be taken of yield wherever possible. It 


180 The Journal of Heredity 
FOURTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL EGG LAYING CONTEST 
STORRS AGR. EXP. STATION---CONN. AGR. COLLEGE, STORRS, CONN. 
NOVEMBER 1, 1914 — OCTOBER 31, 1915 es 
VARIETY "White Wyandottes | Recorp Ist Year Pen No. 14 
OWNER Tom Barron, Bano No. 137 ~ 


Owner's ADDRESS 


Catforth near Preston, 


on _ England Owner's No. 


NOV. Co se 


DEC. Doeeseoae 
(Te Ere ee ne 


FEB. Sa ae elena = | 


FOURTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL EGG LAYING CONTEST 
STORRS AGR. EXP. STATION---CONN. AGR. COLLEGE, STORRS, CONN. 
NOVEMBER 1, 1914 — OCTOBER 31, 1915 


VARIETY White .Wyandottes | REcorD IsT YEAR 


OWNER Tom Barron 


Owner's ADDRESS 


poSnion near Preston, Eng. 


PEN No. 14 


BAND No. 32 


Owner’ s No. No. 


Mo. To Dare 


NOV. Pea eer 


as -- 
DEC. | I x{x! Sah Eee BERHEE 
van. [x1 x ea ene | tx} x] xi x[x[x]_[x}x 


Ix |x] x[x]x x|% 


MESES 


FEB. |x x4 x 


X|x 
_|xix : 
|x 


SERBR SEE 


SCORE CARDS THAT TELL THE REAL STORY 


Incompleted egg-laying records (up to February 23) of the two White Wyandotte hens shown 


in Fig. 12. 


The one which scored higher by ordinary standards has laid very few eggs, 


while the one which scored lower by ordinary standards has proved to be an excellent layer. 
In the light of such records as these, breeders are beginning to ask themselves whether 


the present poultry standards encourage breeding merely 


usefulness. (Fig. 14.) 


is for the genetist, largely by biomet- 
rical methods, to test out the utility 
points and for the standards to recog- 
nize these at their actual value when 
discovered. Efforts have already been 
directed to this end by investigators. 
If the protein content in the corn 
kernel is roughly proportioned to the 
amount of horny endosperm, as seems 
to be the case, this character can be 
added to the score card for judging high 
protein ears, to adduce a single example 
from plants. 


HENS SHOULD LAY EGGS. 
An example from poultry may be 
taken from Table II. This table 


ear-lol eS, 
parts com- 


value of 
and of these 


shows the relative 
beak and legs, 


bined, in selecting Leghorns with high 
egg records. If these same relations 


are found to hold for other times of the 
year than October, when the color 


for fancy points or for real 


records were taken, and are found to 
be equally significant under other en- 
vironmental conditions, it would not 
be difficult to assign to color in different 
parts of a bird in this breed the proper 
number of points on the score card. It 
does not seem unreasonable to dis- 
qualify from the show room any hen 
or pullet that does not show evidence 
of being in a laying condition, and to 
refuse to admit to registry in the “ Stand- 
ard of Perfection’? any new breed that 
has not made a reasonable record in an 
egg-laying contest. Such a procedure 
would do much to improve the laying 
qualities of the different breeds. 

With the pure fancier this paper has 
no complaint. He is to the agricultural 
breeder what the amateur photographer 
is to the professional. He has done 
much for genetics, but he breeds pri- 
marily as a pastime, not for profit. The 
sale of pets is of course a profitable 


Blakeslee: Fancy 


industry, and even the agriculturist 
must often cater to the demand for 
fancy points in his market. The public 
prefers a red-skinned apple to a yellow 
one. In some markets, asparagus must 
be bleached, in others green to obtain 
a ready sale. In New York City on the 
first of last February the market 
quotations listed white shelled eggs at 
37 cents a dozen and brown eggs at two 
cents cheaper, while in Boston, brown 
eggs are preferred. Other instances 
could be given to show that the public 
needs educating to the real value of 
products as well as the showman to the 
real value of his producers. 

An attempt has been made to show 
that fancy points have an undue 


Points vs. Utility 181 
prominence over utility points in the 
show room and thereby tend to pervert 
the aim of the breeder. An example is 
given from poultry of the demand for 
yellow beaks and legs in show birds of 
certain breeds, despite the fact that the 
presence of this yellow is indicative 
of poor laying ability. It is suggested 
that the show room standards be 
changed and greater account be taken 
of yield; that judges disqualify for 
characters indicating low yield; that 
efforts be made to discover to what 
extent visible characters are correlated 
with high production and that points 
be allowed commensurate with the 
degree of this correlation. 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


PLANT BREEDING, by 
professor of plant—breeding in the New York 
Pp. xviii+474; 113 illus. 
Company, New York, 1915. 


ROFESSOR Bailey’s pioneer text 
Pp book on plant breeding, issued 

20 years ago, has gone through 

numerous editions, and has now 
appeared as an almost entirely new 
book, summing up the present state 
of knowledge on the subject and 
becoming what is probably the best 
and most complete practical handbook 
of plant breeding in the English lan- 
guage. Intended for college students, 
the book deals with the statistical side 
of heredity more than the average 


Price $2.00 net. 


L. H. Bailey. New edition revised by Arthur W. Gilbert, Ph. D., 
State College of Agriculture at Cornell University. 
The Rural Science Series (edited by L. H. Bailey); The Macmillan 


horticulturist will enjoy; but in this 
feature will perhaps lie its greatest 
value to the man or woman who intends 
to make plant breeding a profession. 
An interesting chapter is given to the 
origin of well-known varieties of culti- 
vated plants, and another to a survey 
of organized work in plant genetics— 
“The Forward Movement in Plant 
Breeding.” A compact glossary and 
extended bibliography are added, to- 
gether with an appendix outlining 
laboratory exercises for students. 


To Grow Pedigreed Seeds 


Beliving 


that the present war furnishes an excellent opportunity for America 


to capture some of the seed-producing business hitherto held by Europe, farmers 
of Northern Idaho have formed the Kootenai Valley Seed Growers Association, 


of which C. W. H. Heideman, Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho, is secretary. 


The organiza- 


tion is coéperative in nature and advertises that its seeds ‘“‘were grown by scientific 
methods of selection and are as near pedigree seeds as it is possible for human to 


grow them.” 


As a guide to scientific procedure, the secretary has been commis- 


sioned to compile a popular handbook on the application of modern plant-breeding 


methods to commercial seed growing. 


HARDIER -SPINBERSS*eA 20: 


Present Commercial Varieties of Prickly Pear Suited to Very Limited Range— 
Selection of Favorable Variations in Native Species Gives Promise of 
Providing Forms That Will Stand Zero Temperature. 


Davip GRIFFITHS 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 


N aconsideration of spineless prickly 
pear culture on anything like a 
comprehensive scale, the first and 
most important necessity consists 1n 

making it applicable to a _ greater 
territory. At present, the crop is not 
to be considered in our southwest, 
except in California and the least frosty 
portions of Arizona. It is not to be 
thought of in New Mexico, nor Texas, 
except in the southernmost extremity; 
and the indications are that it can be 
only imperfectly grown on our gulf 
coast, and is adapted to only a portion 
of the coastal region of Florida. So far 
as the mainland of the United States 
is concerned, then, there is only a com- 
paratively small territory to which the 
present spineless varieties are applicable. 

The limiting factor is one of tempera- 
ture, the plants not being able to endure 
temperatures any lower than the orange. 
Just where the danger point lies is as 
difficult to state as it is with any other 
crop; because contributing factors are 
numerous, poorly understood, and ex- 
ceedingly influential in varying the 
effect of given temperatures. 

During the January freeze of 1913, 
in California, the Department’s col- 
lection was subjected to a temperature 
of 13° F. for at most but a few hours; 
only two or three spineless species 
escaped injury, the majority being 
very severely hurt and all young plants 
as arule killed. In previous years, the 
same collection has been severely injured 
by temperatures of 20° of longer dura- 
tion. During the freeze of 1913, on 
the other hand, one of the Department’s 
coéperators at Lakeside, California, 
had an actual record of 8° F. in one of 
his cactus plantings, and the injury 
done was negligible. In one of the 

182 


Department’s plantings at San An- 
tonio, Texas, a temperature af 20° F. 
with sub-freezing weather for 24 hours 
has always proved fatal to all of the 
conventional spineless species now so 
abundant in California, and so widely 
advertised in the South and Southwest 
generally. 

From this brief survey, it will be 
readily seen that exact temperatures 
give us no more information with this 
crop than with any other. The data 
of value here as with other crops is 
gained from actual growing records. 
The region-in which the plants succeed 
is the one to which the crop 1s adapted. 
The various varieties have now been 
tested over a wide enough territory 
so that we are able with certainty to 
limit the crop as at present constituted 
to the region suggested above. 


BASIS FOR IMPROVEMENT. 


At the present time, there is in this 
country a considerable wealth of ma- 
terial to work with. There are four 
or five good botanical species of rapid- 
growing spineless prickly pears. These 
in turn can be divided still further into 
what would in other groups be recog- 
nized as at least twice that number of 
horticultural varieties. Besides these 
10 or more forms already spineless, 
there are not far from 100 species of all 
grades of spininess having qualities 
which place them in the economic class 
and make them of economic possibility. 
But since we have in mind mainly the 
production of spineless forms suitable 
for colder territory, species applicable 
to our use become very much restricted 
in numbers. For reasons which will 
become apparent later, our hopes center 


Griffiths: Hardier Spineless Cactus 


in a few species outside of the known 
spineless forms. 

Since all of the conventional spineless 
prickly pears are tender to frost condi- 
tions in this country, there is no hope 
of making decided improvement in 
this group of plants within itself. 
Dependence must necessarily be placed 
in the native species of the United 
States, which are best adapted for this 
purpose. In the selection of our plants, 
we must keep constantly in mind three 
requisites; the first and foremost being 
tonnage of production; second, resist- 
ance to cold; and third, spinelessness. 
Since the crop is of low nutritive value, 
comparing with sorghum hay at a ratio 
of 10 to 1 (2. e., 10 pounds of green 
succulent pear equal in feeding value 
1 pound of good sorghum hay), it is 
absolutely essential that a comparatively 
large tonnage be secured in order to 
make it worth while to grew the crop. 
Our task is so to increase resistance to 
cold that the crop may become appli- 
cable to a greater territory. But while 
doing these two things, it is imperative 
that we maintain the spineless char- 
acter. However, we may allow our 
notions of spinelessness to become rather 
lax, for cattle are able to thrive on quite 
rough feed; and absolute spinelessness 
has never been attained in any of the 
species thus far. All of the so-called 
spineless species bear a few of the 
annoying spicules; and the majority 
of them, some spines as well. Never- 
theless, the so-called spineless species 
of today are sufficiently smooth for 
cattle to eat with impunity; and we 
can, therefore, adopt the average of 
them as our standard of spinelessness 
very safely. 

The conventional spineless forms meet 
the requirements not only of spineless- 
ness, but a number of them are suffi- 
ciently productive as well. Our prob- 
lem, therefore, is very much simplified 
in that we need to increase hardiness 
only, while maintaining, of course, the 
other two characteristics. As stated 
above, there is practically no hope of 
being able to increase the hardiness 
of these forms within themselves; for 
they are all tender. It is, therefore, 
necessary to look for characters outside 


183 


of the present spineless species which 
can be bred into them. The native 
hardy species of this country—and for 
obvious reasons it is to the species of 
this country that we are obliged to turn 
for hardy characteristics—are for the 
most part spiny, and on the whole 
unpromising. They furnish stock food 
after being singed, but that does not 
concern us in this study. Many of the 
species, however, are very variable in 
spination; and some spiny hardy natives 
of Texas have individuals almost if not 
quite destitute of spines; although 
they all have plenty of the spicules. 
The latter, however, are also variable; 
and individual plants may be found 
with comparatively few of them present. 
These are the main characteristics 
which appear to bear upon our problem 
of increasing the hardiness of these 
plants; and it has been with such ideas 
in mind that the work along this line 
has been conducted. 


NATIVE SPECIES EXAMINED. 


For the past seven years, a constant 
watchfulness has been exercised to 
discover the least spiny of the hardy 
native species; and the attempt has 
been not to go too far north for these, 
but to work with the expectation of 
pushing the crop, say 200 miles farther 
north, or in other words, to increase 
hardiness so that the species will stand, 
we will say, temperatures of 0° F., or 
possibly a little lower. It has been 
considered that an attempt to make too 
great leaps will inevitably lead to dis- 
aster, for the species which are hardy to 
temperatures of 20° below zero are very 
unpromising both from the nature of 
their spines, and from their small 
stature and slow growth. Our ambition 
has been rather to produce economic 
spineless species which will thrive in the 
present pear region of Texas, say as 
far north as Austin. 

Thus far, expectations have in a 
measure been fulfilled; and three, pos- 
sibly four or five, species have been 
selected which are very promising for 
further breeding purposes. It is rather 
remarkable that in these selections, 
field judgment has not always proven 
reliable; for plants have not always 


184 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


L.c.c. KRIEGER Det. 


A WIDE RANGE OF VARIATION 


A single pulvinus or cushion of spines from each of five varieties of the prickly pear known 


to botanists as Opuntia cacanapa. 


The long stiff spines vary in number from 0 to 9. It 


is not difficult to breed most of the spines out of a variety of prickly pear, but it is much more 
difficult to eliminate the short, tender spicules which cluster around the base of the spine. 
Most varieties of ‘‘spineless cactus’’ lack spines but still possess a certain number of 
spicules; this makes them unpleasant to handle but does not absolutely prevent their use 


as stock feed, since cattle can handle quite rough feed. 


natural size. (Fig. 15.) 

turned out as well as was expected when 
they were found. Forms of Opuntia 
dillet were once looked upon as promis- 
ing; but these have long since been 
proved of no value—at least so far as 
three or four forms which we have 
carefully studied are concerned. In 


Illustrations about one-half 


all of these investigations, the desire 
has been to secure as a starting point 
for hybridizations the least spiny plants 
possible consistent with a reasonable 
expectation of rapid growth. Out of 
3000 forms collected only three, with a 
possible additional two more, are now 


6 OUT JO UOTIU}}B OY JOZ o[qeyIns 4 
LIVA JO « BI ]eo1s 94 “joey UI—T 
i Id 8 puve sexoy UIOYINOG JO dAtj}vu v st UMOYS aloy satoods o 
JUSSGB ol So[NoIds Jey} UO JOU Soop sIyUT, “queR|d ejT}US oY} UO Puno}; aq [IM so 


‘sf ‘SUXOT “OlUOJUY URS 72 UOLVATI[TNO Jopun vdpupnans pyundy) yo UOTJOITAS $ 


SSUI}JNO WOOL] PTO srvoA In J St queyd OULD, 
INIGHHHWE WO Ty IHALVIA ONISTINONd 


Pally 


SOUL YI Soayeu YOM SOT]S 


The Journal of Heredity 


A COMPLETELY SPINELESS CULTIVATION 


Two-year-old plant of Opuntia subarmata, a native of Southern Texas and a result of selection 
in the work of the U. S. Department of Agriculture to produce hardier varieties of spine- 


less cactus for the Southwest. 
is not large. 


This plant is perfectly spineless, and the number of spicules 
This species will stand from 12° to 20° more cold than the commercial vari- 


eties of spineless cactus at present known, which are too tender to be grown except under 


most favorable conditions. (Fig. 17.) 
considered at all promising for this 
purpose. These, we think, belong to 
as many botanical species.! 

As stated in a previous publication, 
some of the species which are fed very 
successfully in southern Texas are not 
adapted at all for our purpose because 
of being persistently spiny. However, 
in one general region of Texas the native 
species normally are very variable in 
spination; and occasionally plants are 
met with which are very nearly or 
even quite destitute of spines. The 
greatest variation the writer has ever 
known in a single species of prickly 
pear 1s exhibited in Opuntia cacanapa. 
This species as conceived when it was 
first described has one erect white or 
bone-like spine to each areole or 
cushion of spines. Further study has 
proven that its spines may be three or 
even six in number; and one plant of 
‘“cacanapa’’ has been found, which is 
nearly destitute of spines, and has even 
the number of spicules somewhat re- 
duced. Vegetative ly pro] aagated selec- 

1 


plants but upon the 


individual 
influences 


between the 
selective 


A peculiar condition 1s found in one California species wherein thi 
joints of 


tions from this are now entirely destitute 
of spines. The latter form is described 
beyond; but it will be instructive at 
this point to glance briefly at some of 
the diversities which are encountered 
in this species—or no doubt some one 
will say ‘“‘group of species;’’ for we 
have here either one species, or we have 
more than one. The important fact, 
though, from our standpoint, is that 
one form is nearly or quite spineless, 
and remains so when propagated vege- 
tatively. 


MUCH VARIATION FOUND. 


When this species or this group of 
species is studied broadly, one finds 
greater differences than constitute good 
species elsewhere in the genus. There 
is, however, a scarcely definable some- 
thing that links the different forms 
together unmistakably. And this some- 
thing is a quality that does not require 
a trained botanist to recognize. Indeed, 
the Mexican peon will point to all these 
forms with unerring certainty as “caca- 
Variation occurs, not 


of a plant. This has not yet yielded to 


Griffiths: Hardier Spineless Cactus 


napa.” It makes no difference whether 
it is the form with the single erect spine, 
the smooth, or the exceedingly spiny 
one that he is dealing with. Sometimes 
he will apply a qualifying adjective to 
designate the different forms. But 
they are all “‘cacanapa”’ to him. 

The artist has brought out the differ- 
ence in fig. 15, so that little further 
need be said. It may be added, how- 
ever, that the differences in what we 
consider varieties in this species are 
greater than those used to distinguish 
species in other groups. The differences 
are not confined to spines alone; in 
varying degrees, they are those of the 
entire range of characters used for 
taxonomic purposes. The species 1s 
typically glaucous; but many individuals 
are yellowish-green, and it is in the 
yellowish-green varieties that the great- 
est spination occurs. Typically, the 
joints are subcircular; but there is 
little regularity in shape, except in so 
far as the individual or groups of 
individual plants are concerned. There 
is, however, a striking similarity in the 
fruit of the entire group of varieties, 
a similarity possessed by this and one 
or two other species. 

In the illustrations are shown differ- 
ences in spination mainly, that being 
the most striking variation. With these 
spiny forms is to be compared the 
spineless, but not spiculeless, variety 
shown in fig. 15. There are but few 
species in southern Texas more spiny 
than Op. cacanapa; and likewise, no 
native species with fewer spines. There 
are other species which from some stand- 
points are more promising for breeding 
purposes in this pear region; but their 
constant spininess renders them unfit. 
This is simply another instance of the 
oft-repeated principle that those plants 
and those only are favorable objects 
for selection which have great range of 
variation. 

Our experience with these plants 
leads us to think that there are no 
species more promising for increasing 
the hardiness of the spineless prickly 
pears than Opuntia cacanapa, Op. ellis- 
iana, and Op. subarmata. To these may 
be added Opuntia bentonti; two or three 
other varieties rather closely related to 


187 
Op. subarmata; and one apparently 
entirely without spines, but having 


spicules in about the same proportion as 
typical Op. bentoniz. At present this is 
thought to be a variant of Op. bentonz1. 
Since breeding work with these species 
is already well under way, it is desirable 
to have the forms we are using charac- 
terized and fixed in type as accurately 
as may be for purposes of later com- 
parison as well as to record the facts 
of the selection of such rare plants 
among an abundance of very spiny 
species on the one hand, and on the 
other, very spiny individuals of the 
same species. It is very probable 
that the conventional tender spineless 
forms owe their origin to much the 
same process of selection as here 
employed; but it has continued through 
many gencrations of time. Some of 
it has been conscious and some uncon- 
scious; some of it American and some 
European. 


OPUNTIA CACANAPA Griffiths. 


An erect or ascending, spreading, open- 
branched species, reaching a height of 119- 
2 m., anda spread of branch of 149-24 m.; 
joints subcircular, about 16 x 18 cm., glaucous, 
gray-green, when mature, but turning more 
yellowish by loss of bloom in age; areoles 
white when young, turning tawny at maturity, 
and dirty gray in age, subcircular to broadly 
obovate, 3 mm. long on edge, smaller on sides 
of joints, becoming subcircular and somewhat 
larger when old; leaves long, prominent, oval 
in section, arising from an abrupt small 
tubercle, 1 mm. high, 16-17 mm. long, subulate, 
cuspidate, broadly arched backwards; spicules 
light yellow, unequal, scattered through entire 
edge of areole, but more prominent above, 
with the wool in the center and 1 or 2 mm. 
high on edges of joints, 3-5 mm. long, but 
much shorter on sides; spines almost absent; 
only an occasional one in a rare areole 1 or 2 
cm. long, seldom seen; flowers deep yellow, 
about 7 cm. in diameter when open, and petals 
5 cm. long, filaments yellow above, greenish 
tinged at base, style white, stigma white, 
8-parted with long linear divisions; fruit red 
throughout, small, obovate to subglobose, 
3-414 cm. in diameter with comparatively 
thick rind. 


This variety of Opuntia cacanapa is of 
medium rapid growth, somewhat slower 
than Opuntia lindheimert of the San 
Antonic region. In structure it is 
somewhat more fibrous, and the joints 
are not so thick. This is characteristic 
of all of the varieties of this species. 


DETAILS OF A VALUABLE PRICKLY PEAR 


Old and young joints, flowers and bud of Opuntia subarmata, an entire plant of which was 
shown in Fig. 17. This plant is a perfectly spineless one, with few spicules, and was 
selected from a mass of spiny plants of the same kind in the Devil’s River region of Texas. 
It is now being propagated by cuttings, so that it is not likely to revert to the ancestral, 
spiny condition of the species. The old joint, at the bottom, shows the spineless condi- 
tion; the young joint, above, shows the rudimentary leaves, which drop off in a few weeks. 
It will be remembered that the prickly pear plant consists merely of stems, which are 
flattened out; the leaves were long ago reduced, in the process of evolution, to slight 
fleshy protuberances such as here shown, which are soon lost. (Fig. 18.) 


A DESIRABLE FORM, READY TO HAND 


The Mexican population of Southern Texas is believed to have produced this admirable spine- 
less prickly pear, Opuntia ellisiana, by conscious or unconscious selection of the hardy 
but usually spiny native species. Here the spines have not only been abolished, but 
the spicules have been almost wholly eliminated, as well. In nearly all other spineless 
forms, the spicules are more numerous. The fleshy hooks on the young joints at the 
top are rudimentary leaves, which will soon drop off. Professor J. C. Ellis of the Univer- 
sity of Texas first discovered this form among the Mexicans in the outskirts of Corpus 
Christi, Texas. It is hoped that the hardiness of the form here shown, which will endure 
a temperature of close to zero, Fahrenheit, can be combined with the valuable commercial 
qualities of other parents, and an ideal spineless cactus produced for the Southwestern 
States. (Fig. 19.) 


190 


The plants are upright in habit, and 
while not compact in growth, they are 
stout and firm and never lax, sprangly 
or ungainly in habit. Its slightly 
fibrous condition is the main dis- 
advantage for breeding purposes. How- 
ever, this may be mitigated if characters 
happen to be properly combined, in 
that it is desirable to add strength to 
some of our present spineless forms of 
the Indian fig group. Being free from 
spines, not especially infested with 
spicules, and able to withstand tem- 
peratures of the San Antonio to Austin, 
Texas, regions without any injury, it is 
one of the promising forms for increasing 
hardiness of the more tender spineless 
stocks. Figure 15 accompanying the 
text well illustrates the great range of 
variation in spination of this species. 


OPUNTIA SUBARMATA Griffiths. 


Plant upright to ascending, rather compactly 
branched, making a shrub 1144-114 m. high, 
and nearly 2 m. in diameter; joints oval, 
obovate to subcircular, commonly 17-25 cm. 
in diameter, broadly to narrowly rounded 
above, glaucous, bluish-green, changing through 
yellowish to brownish, and finally to gray, 
scaly; areoles elliptical to ovate or subcircular, 
3-6 mm. in longest diameter, 34%-44% cm. 
apart, tawny, changing to dirty gray or black, 
enlarging but slightly with age; spicules 
yellow, about 2 mm. in length, never formid- 
able, numerous, nor increasing in length with 
age; spines none; flowers yellow, developing a 
faint tinge of red along midribs of petals as 
day advances, opening at 8:00 a. m., and fully 
open by 9 00, 7-8 cm. in diameter when fully 
opened, petals 4 cm. long, filaments white 
above, greenish below, style white below, very 
slightly greenish tinged above, stigma large, 
deep, dark green, 11-parted; fruit purple 
throughout, bearing light tawny subcircular 
areoles 1-2 mm. in diameter, having a small 
central tuft of yellow spicules: seeds flattened, 
regular, about 4 mm. in diameter, prominently 
notched at hilum, with marginal callus about 
34 mm. wide. 


This species is based upon this spine- 
less form, two collections of which have 
been made in the type locality, neither 
one of which has developed any spines 
under cultivation. Other closely related 
forms, considered to be of the same 
species, have been secured in the same 
locality. They have yellowish bone- 
like spines an inch or more long, in 
very varying numbers. The cold re- 
sistance of the species is probably 
somewhat greater than that of cacanapa; 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


and on the whole, it is a more promising 
species for breeding purposes, for it 
more closely resembles the best native 
economic species of Texas in both fiber 
content and succulence. It was selected 
some years ago in the region of Devil’s 
River, Texas, where the spiny forms 
are common enough; but this spineless 
one is rare. It is found at the base of 
the limestone cliffs, so abundant in this 
region. Although rare, I have seen 
three or four plants which were perfect'y 
spineless. It -has been vegetatively 
propagated at San Antonio and Browns- 
ville, Texas, and Chico, California. 
At none of these places have any species 
been developed. 


OPUNTIA ELLISIANA Griffiths. 


Plant spreading, ascending, laxly to com- 
pactly branched, 1-114 m. high, and 1144-2 m. 
in spread of branch, depending upon moisture 
and _ fertility conditions; joints light, pale, 
glaucous, green, when young, but yellowish 
shortly after maturity, broadly obovate, about 
20 x 24 cm., slightly elevated at areoles when 
young; areoles at first almost cottony white, 
turning gray, and finally black, small, 2-3 mm. 
in diameter, after leaves have fallen and 
maturity has approached, made up of a central 
papillum in which the spicules are produced 
surrounded by a depressed groove separating 
it from the outer zone of gray or white wool; 
leaves long, prominent, circular in sections or 
slightly flattened, subulate, cuspidate, broadly 
arched backward, 12-15 mm. in _ length; 
spicules light yellow, never prominent, scarcely 
visible, few and only 1 mm. or less in length, 
scarcely distinguishable except by feeling from 
the central papillum of wool in which they are 
situated; spines entirely absent; flowers deep 
yellow, changing to orange, reddish when 
closed, some of the outer perianth segments 
dull, greenish red in bud, about 6 cm. in 
diameter when open, filaments and_ style 
white, stigma very light greenish yellow, 
7-parted; fruit pyriform to hemispherical, 
deep reddish purple throughout, young ovary 
thickly beset above with small white sub- 
circular areoles 3 mm. apart, and 114 mm. in 
diameter, the wool being prominently raised 
to 1 mm. or more in a compact columnar tuft, 
from center of which are produced 1-2 delicate 
yellowish fugaceous spines, 2-3 mm. long and 
1-3 or 4 minute spicules 1 mm. long or less, 
the lower part of ovary having only 1- 3 
spicules, and the areoles being much farther 
apart. 


It is thought that all of the material 
of this species in cultivation today has 
been grown from stocks secured at 
Corpus Christi, Texas. The origin is 
not known, but it has evidently been 
in cultivation a long time. It is now 


Griffiths: Hardier Spineless Cactus 


quite widely distributed in collections 
due to the efforts of the Department and 
Professor J. C. Ellis, who first found it 
cultivated by Mexicans in the outskirts 
of Corpus Christi. There are indica- 
tions that it has been derived by 
selection from native forms of southern 
Texas; but the evidence is not conclu- 
sive. It is perfectly hardy at Austin, 
and doubtless is fully as hardy as 
Op. cacanapa, and possibly as hardy as 
Op. subarmata. In growth it is not as 
good as the other two; but it is much 
more smooth, approaching if not quite 
equaling in this respect the smoother 
forms of the Indian-fig group. Another 
feature is the few spicules on the fruits. 
On these accounts, the species is quite 
promising for breeding purposes. 

While thcse three forms appear to be 
the most promising, and are the ones 
upon which the greetest effort is being 
expended at present, it is not at all 
impossible that other selections may be 
made of as great, if not even greater 
merit. One nearly spineless form re- 
corded under my collection No. 9087, 
from Webb County, Texas, is a rapid, 
very succulent, wavy jointed, compact 
form, as good as any of the above, were 
it not for its few spines. It 1s probably 
very close to, if not the same as, forms of 
Opuntia subarmata, mentioned on an- 
other page. Another selection made 
last year is a remarkably smooth form 


191 


of Op. bentoni. It is thus far devoid 
of spines, but has quite prominent 
spicules. This grows rapidly, but its 
joints are as thin as those of Op. 
cacanapa. 

The difference in cold resistance of 
these forms is not great. They will 
withstand from 12 to 20° lower tem- 
peratures than the conventional spine- 
less ones of today; and will probably all 
be hardy throughout the entire pear 
region of Texas. 


SUMMARY. 


The main problem associated with 
spineless prickly pear culture today is to 
increase the resistance of these plants 
to low temperatures. 

Hardy native species of the United 
States, more particularly of central 
Texas, are thought to be the most 
promising source of hardiness. 

Three, with a possible additional two, 
selections have been made from the 
Texas region which are considered very 
promising, and which have been success- 
fully crossed with the tender spineless 
species. 

The selections already made have 
resulted in the production of forms of 
native hardy species which are entirely 
devoid of spines, and which remain 
spineless under cultivation. These 
forms are also as rapid of growth as the 
spiny natives of the Texas region. 


Bud Selection Fails 


Bud selection from high producing and low producing strawberries carried on 
through twelve years showed absolutely no gain in productiveness by selecting 
runners from high producing parents, at the Missouri agricultural experiment 
station. 


Raspberry Breeding 


In the work of raspberry breeding at the New York State agricultural experi- 
ment station (Geneva), it is reported that “‘two series of crosses involving over 
700 seedlings have proved ‘Rubus neglectus’ to be a hybrid between R. strigosus 
and R. occidentalis. At the same time some very interesting white fruited seedlings 
have appeared and also a seeming mutation, a dwarf, which appears to indicate 
from its numbers that certain of our raspberries carry dwarfness as a recessive 
character. Although the crossing of the named varieties has proved unusually 
successful, much of the future work with both Rubus and Ribes will be in hybridiz- 
ing species. Already some interesting hybrids have been secured between Kubes 
nigrum and Ribes oxyacanthoides. To further this hybridization work the station 
is making a collection of species of these two genera.”’ 


THE POMERANGE 


A Natural Hybrid Between the Orange and Pomelo 


HE readiness with which mem- 
bers of the Citrus family yield 
results to artificial cross-pollina- 
tion, as witness the citrange and 

tangelo, gives rise to some wonder as to 
why there are so few natural hybrids in 
the family. The bees and other insects, 
whose constant visitation of the flowers 
must cause, in the course of time, a 
frequent interchange of pollen between 
the orange, lemon, pomelo, lime and 
citron, seldom make their influence 
felt in the production of new fruits. 
The most probable solution of the 
matter, it seems to me, is that the fruit 
is nearly all sent to market, and the 
seed that might bring forth the hybrids 
is thus lost to cultivation. 

Two well-marked hybrids of the 
pomelo have appeared in the seedling 
orange grove of the late E. D. M. 
Perkins, at Winter Garden, Orange 
County, Florida, and both were pro- 
duced without the intervention of 
artificial means. 

Soon after the disastrous freeze of 
February, 1895, Mr. Perkins left his 
grove and removed to the National 
capital. For fifteen years the place 
was practically neglected. Groups of 
sprouts growing around the stumps of 
the frozen trunks became large bearing 
DLCes 

During a sojourn on his place in the 
winter of 1910, Mr. Perkins noticed a 
tall tree having the general appearance 
of the pomelo, but which bore fruits of 
a deep golden color, egg-shaped and of 
large size, some of them weighing as 
much as two pounds each. They were 
found to be quite tart, with a thick, 
white inner rind having the character- 
istic bitterness of the pomelo, and with 
abundant seeds. The flavor was quite 
like that of the pomelo, but with more 
acid than the better sorts, although the 
fruit was found to improve in sweetness 
as it hung longer on the tree. The 
fruits were found growing in large 
clusters like the pomelo, but the color 

192 


was like that of a superior orange. 
There was no russeting of the coat, 
and the surface was smooth and glossy. 

One peculiarity of the Kegler orange, 
with which Mr. Perkins stocked his 
grove, was a plainly marked ring or 
nimbus, from one to one and cne-half 
inches in diameter, at the blossom end 
of the fruit, indicating some admixture 
of navel strains, and this sort of a 
circle was found on the same place on 
the new fruit. 

Specimens of the new hybrid were 
sent to the writer by his father, on 
whose place it was found, with the 
statement that it was undoubtedly a 
natural cross between the pomelo and 
orange. The name of “pomerange”’ 
was suggested for the fruit by the 
writer when he forwarded the specimens 
to the pomologist of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry in January, 1911, and 
it was described and entered under that 
name at the time, in the Bureau. So 
far as known, the tree has_ borne 
regular crops since, maintaining in every 
particular the size, color and quality 
of the fruits first noticed. 

The flavor of the pomerange is rather 
too tart, when it first ripens, but later 
a more distinct orange taste develops. 
The fruit is a real pachyderm, as the 
skin is in some places, notably at the 
stem end, nearly an inch thick, but this 
feature adds much to its good shipping 
qualities. The tree is now owned by 
Adam C. Perkins, of the Post-Office 
Department in Washington, a son of 
the original owner and discoverer of 
the fruit. 

The other hybrid, probably a cross 
between the pomelo and the lemon, is 
of a very tart and somewhat bitter taste. 
and perhaps worthy of only a passing 
notice. In shape it is like the ordi- 
nary pomelo, but of a deeper color, 
and the oil cells are very large and 
abundant. 

LinDsAY S. PERKINS. 
Washington, D. C. 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


Vol. VE-No.-5 May, 1915 


CONTENTS 


Fehu Cattle ut Brazil, by B. H: Hannieutt. 22.222... 22-2 i622 195 
Febua Crosses in lumisias by Vib Rocderer 3244-6 2 =e 2 201 
The Cattle of Brazil, by José Maria dos Reis.................... 203 
Xenia in Fowls. a Review of some recent German Work. ........ 212 
Barred Patternrins WhiteyBowlse 2-9-5520 5 se ase nae ee oe ee 218 
More “Pugenic Laws,” by Dr. W. €. Rucker... 22 .5.%2 2.22552 o>. 219 
beredditysin Apples: 2. 8.F one ee Ayo ia 2 rae er eae a see eke a 226 
Naturesor Nurture ?, by Phe Nditor 245). fais tos 55 522s ee oe ee ee 227 
NEW PUBLICATIONS: Heredity and Environment in the Develop- 
ment of Men, by Edwin Grant Conklin ....................-. 240 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Subscription price to non-members, $2.00 a year, foreign postage extra; 
price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter February 24, 1915, at the postoffice at Washing- 
ton, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, April 26, 1915. 


(‘aoaidstyuo1g) “"eprueyy ‘aimypnousy jo nvaing ay} wor ydeizojoyg = ‘opeynq-19}yvM 10 OVqvIvS JYy JO WY} OF JP[IUIIs yeyMoutos dummy pue 
‘TaAeu ayy 0} Yorq Zutuuns depmop ‘yoou sJerpnoed oy ere [[Nq sty Jo soinyeay AYZIOMI}ION “dn-syeul Nqaz ay} OFU! s}USUWe]a JoY}O paonposjur sey uory 
-PZIpLiqAY Jey} YUIY} sjUepNys ysoul YSsnoyy[e ‘o[}7wo Nqaz uUJopow ay} Jo dA} [v1jSeoUR 9} SI ‘ILT[AY *D OF SUIpslOOoR ‘YI Sarpuy seg oY} JO eULAOG 
p[IM & SI (snowpuns sog) Buyueg sy, “surjueg poojq-[[ny AjIwou Ayqeqoid st off ‘spuvjsy ourddyiyq ‘uoNe{g ourUBiend) URoBpUL Ye [[Nq JOU, 


WILLY) 847% AO Ad AL TVUYLSHONY WTdVadOud 


ZEBU CATILE IN BRAZII 


Imported Stock Crossed on Native—Hybrids are Popular with Ranchers—Hardy, 


Disease-Resistant 


and Fairly good 


NAS 


Milkers—High Prices 


Paid—Possibilities of Interest to United States. 


B. H. HuNNICUTT 


Director, Escola Agricola, Lavras, Minas Geraes, Brazil 


EBU cattle are attracting atten- 
tion from animal breeders in all 
the warmer parts of the world 
at the present time, and are 

assuming particular importance among 
ranchers in the southern United States, 
because of their relative immunity to 
the disastrous Texas fever.! Many 
genetists believe that by crossing the 
zebu on native stock, a new breed can 
be produced that will be of great value; 
and as Brazil has been making such an 
experiment on a very large scale for 
many years, I think it will be of interest 
to breeders to know what the results 
have been as they appear to me and 
to other students. 

The zebu (Bos indicus), as is well 
known, is a native of the Indo-Malayan 
region, and was certainly domesticated 
several thousand years before the begin- 
ning of the Christian era. According 
to C. Kellar, it represents nothing more 
than a domesticated Banting (Bos 
sundaicus), although most students look 
on it as the result of hybridization. The 
name ‘‘zebu’’ is said to have been given 
it by the French naturalist Buffon, 
who described it in his Histoire Naturelle 
(published from 1749 to 1767) from 


specimens which he had seen in a 
menagerie, and which had been given 
by the showman the apparently fic- 
titious name of zebu, a name not known 
in India. 

As far as I have been able to learn, 
the first importations of zebus to Brazil 
were made about forty years ago”, one 
of the earliest being by Sr. Acacio 
Americo Corréa de Azevedo, who se- 
cured a bull and cow from London 
Zoological Gardens. It is probable 
that all the early importations* were 
made from London by the English 
firm, Crashley & Co.; only in later years 
have the importations on a large scale 
been made direct from India. 


CATTLE BRING HIGH PRICES 


The breed gained rapidly in popular- 
ity. Some twenty years ago an offer 
was made! in Uberaba, Minas, of 
A? contos de reis for a zebu bull. This is 
about $14,000 in American gold; and, 
by the way, the offer was refused. The 
owner of this bull amassed quite a 
fortune and the herd is still considered 
the best in Brazil. It is now in the 
hands of the son who has become a 
millionaire as a result of his reputation 


1 For an account of what has been done in this direction, see Borden, A. P., ‘Indian Cattle in 
the United States,’ American Breeders’ Magazine, I, 91, Washington, 1910 (also in annl. report 
A.B. A., VI, 1910); “Zebu Cattle Resistant to Texas Fever,” ibid. III, 233, 1912 (see also twenty- 
sixth annl. report of the Bureau of Animal Industry, Washington) ; Nabours, Robert K., “ Poss!- 


bilities for a New Breed of Cattle in the South,” zbid., IV, 38, LOS" 


For a discussion of the 


genetic problems involved in zebu crosses see Nabours, R. K., ‘‘ Evidence of Alternative Inherit- 


ance, etc.,” in Amer. Naturalist, July, 1912, and Cook, OE; 


Hybrids,” zbid., April, 1913. 


‘“‘Mendelism and Interspecific 


* Inquerito sobre o Zebti, Sociedade Nacional de Agricultura, Rio de Janiero, 1907. 

3 It is probable that, as Nabours refers in his article on Zebu cattle (Possibilities of a New Breed 
of Cattle, R. K. Nabours, American Breeder's Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 1) to the introduction into 
the United States of Indian cattle characteristics, especially in the Southwest, through Mexico 
from Spain, the influence of the breed was introduced into Brazil soon after the discovery. Or 
as Anderson says (‘‘A Fazenda” Anno 111, N. 29, Out. de 1912) in his letter to Dr. Travassos, 
there may have been importations into northern Brazil several centuries ago. 

4‘*A Criacaio do Gado no Brazil,’ M. Bernardez, Imprensa Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, 1909. 


195 


196 The Journal of Heredity 


SUPERB TYPE OF THE GUJARAT BREED 


‘“‘Ceylao,”’ herd bull on the estate of Sr. José Caetano Borges at Uberaba, Minas Geraes, 
3razil, was import ed from India, and is considered to be almost a perfect specimen of this 
variety, while the herd which he heads is reputedly the finest in Brazil, where zebu cattle 
have become immensely popular in some districts during the last generation. (Fig. 1.) 


for these cattle. Most of the photo- western part of the State, extending 
graphs for this paper are from the herd from the city of Uberaba to Araxa, is 
of this breeder. the stronghold of the zebu in Brazil,® 

It has not been possible for me to the place where the greatest number of 
determine exactly the number of Indian pure bred zebus are to be found, and 
cattle that have been imported into where stockmen are enthusiasts for the 
Brazil. The greatest activity in im- breed and long prices are paid for 
portations direct from India seems to exceptional animals. 


have been during the period Sage It is probable that throughout the 
when one firm alone in Rio de Janeiro whole of the vast state of Minas Geraes 
imported over 1,200 head. In 1910 the hybrids of the zebu will be found, so 


number imported’ was 620, in 111 largely have they been scattered during 
only ninety-three, and since then even the last few years. No doubt Minas is 
less. the State where they are most bred, 

What is known as the “Triangula but they are also raised in the adjoining 
Mineira,”’ a triangular section of the States, Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo, 
tate of Minas Geraes to the extreme Goyaz, Bahia and to some extent in the 


5 Foreign Commerce of Brazil, Ministro da Fazenda, Rio de Janeiro, 1912. 
6 For a gor id de cription of this region see Industria Pe uaria, page 39-59. In prensa Official, 


Hunnicutt: Zebu Cattle in Brazil 


“THE BEST ZEBU COW IN BRAZIL” 


“Polonha,” a pure-blood Gujarat, is the property of Sr. José Caetano Borges of Uberaba, 


Minas, and is considered by him to be the 


Her owner has become a millionaire, as a result of the reputation of his herd. 


states of the northern part of Brazil. 
Up until 1907 they were unknown in 
some of the northern States but it 1s 
probable that they have spread since 
then to all the northern States. They 
have never been in much favor in Sao 
Paulo or in any of the southern States, 
so far as I have been able to learn. The 
bovine population of Brazil is given at 
30,000,000 and a large percentage now 
has at least a trace of zebu blood. 
Many breeds or varieties of zebu are 
distinguished, both here and in India, 
but it will not be necessary to discuss 
them for the purpose of this article. 
The only ones of great commercial 
importance in Minas are the Gujarat 
and Nellore, although the Gir and Hissar 
are fairly common. The Gir is con- 


best cow of this breed yet imported from India. 


(igs 23) 


sidered the best for milking purposes, 
but milk is not a primary consideration 
in the Brazilian cattle industry. No 
particular care seems to be taken to 
keep the various breeds separate, on 
Brazilian ranches, and they are freely 
interbred. 

In January, 1914, I made a short trip 
with Messrs. P. H. Dorsett and Wilson 
Popenoe, agricultural explorers of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, to 
study the cattle industry of this part 
of Brazil on the farms of two important 


breeders, Snrs. Pedro and Cassiano 
Lemos of Pratinha, State of Minas 
Geraes. Their ranch, in an open, 


rolling, well watered and well grassed 
country, originally contained more than 
160,000 acres of land, and most of it 


198 The Journal of Heredity 


A NELLORE-GUJARAT CROSS 


The two ee breeds of zebu cattle in Brazil are the large, long-eared, long-horned Gujarat, 
and the smaller, more gr aceful, shorter-horned Nellore. This two- year-old bull, ‘“* Mar- 
more,’ bred by Sr. José ¢ ‘aetano Borges of Uberaba, Minas, Brazil is a cross between the 
two breeds mentioned. Brazilian breeders on the whole do not tz ike any particular care 
to keep the various breeds of zebu separate, but mix them and cross them indiscriminately. 
(Fig. 3.) 


is still in the hands of the family. boy sent out to bring in a large herd 
Sr. Cassiano Lemos has about 900 head — single handed. 

of purebreds and crosses, the latter The cows are milked only once a day— 
being mostly half or seven-eights zebu, early in the morning. A good milker 
on the native or ‘‘crioulo’”’ stock. yields from 1 to 3 gallons: we saw a 


These crosses in most case have all the herd of 200 COWS, pasture-fed only, 
colors and characteristics of the Indian which yielded 600 litres (634 quarts). 


cattle. After milking, the cows are turned out 
JEHOS ARG OERCUND and their calve allowed to run with 

them io no until about 2 o'clock in 

The Lemos brothers speak highly — the afternoon, when they are separated 
the zebu as a general purpose hese until next morning; the calf 1s weaned 
The bull are very fecund, and the cows, at the age of 6 athe Mr. Lemos 
hybrid or purebred, are much more told us that they lose about 10% 
prolific than the native Brazilian cattl of their young calves from various 
The animals remain nearer together in caust diarrhea or lack of care. The 
the herd than do most cattle an calf is a valuable assistant to the rancher 


advantage when it is desired to corral at milking time, being turned into the 
them from the rangt I saw one little corral with his mother and allowed to 


Hunnicutt: Zebu Cattle 


in Brazil 199 


MILKING IN BRAZIL 


On the big ranches of Brazil the cows are only milked once daily—in the morning. 
yield milk in most cases only while they have a calf at their sides. 


They 
At milking time the 


calf is first turned into the corral with its mother and allowed to nurse; after it has suffi- 
cient nourishment, it is tied to the cow’s right foreleg, the cow’s hind legs are tied together, 


and the milker then “‘pails’’ her. 


In the photograph the calf is seen tied to his mother, 


with his head hidden by her dewlap. The milking qualities of zebus are somewhat dis- 
puted, but under favorable conditions it appears that they yield one or two gallons a 
day, and that the milk is of excellent quality. (Fig. 4.) 


nurse. When the milker thinks it is 
time to check activities in that connec- 
tion he ties the calf to the right foreleg 
of his mother, puts a rope around each 
of the hind legs of the cow, just above 
the hock, and ties them lightly together; 
then places the bucket between his 
knees and finishes the milk flow which 
the calf started. 

We found that ticks will catch to 
some extent on a zebu, but do not seem 
to bother them at all. I have never 
known of a case where a native-born or 
imported zebu had tick fever. They 
are troubled to some extent with black- 
leg, against which vaccination is prac- 
ticed; and also by the ox warble 
(Hypoderma lineata?) 

It has been alleged that the zebu 
hybrids are very wild, even savage, as 
far as the third or fourth generation, 
no matter how docile the stock on which 
they are crossed. There is some truth 
in this, at least. They cannot be called 


7 Minas Geraes, July 15, 1914, p. 2. 


tame cattle; but on the farms of the two 
gentlemen mentioned above I had 
occasion to note that where these 
cattle are carefully treated they give 
little or no trouble. I saw no cows 
milked that it was necessary to tie up 
in a trunk, as is claimed by some to be 
necessary. The purebred calves are 
caught every day and brushed so as to 
accustom them to handling. 

Let me now give some opinions pro 
and con about the zebu from men who 
know him. 


PRAISE OF THE ZEBU 


Sr. Theopompo de Almeida’ says, oe | 
have imported breeding stock of various 
European breeds, among them Durham, 
Simmenthal, Brown Swiss, Polled Angus 
and Hereford; and in spite of the greatest 
efforts in well-cared-for artificial pas- 
tures to give the merited attention, 
the result has always been negative; 
however the zebu progresses admirably, 


200 The Journal 


fullfilling all my necessities. I have 
cows as good milkers as “ Turinas”’ and 
Holsteins, with the advantage that their 
milk is of a much better taste. As to 
the meat, it is the best possible.’ He 
speaks of how well the cattle stand 
being driven long distances to market,— 
he even uses them as pack animals. 

Dr. Carlos Prates says,® ‘‘The zebu 
is, aS proved, a breed resistant, easily 
acclimatized, and one that lives per- 
fectly on our prairies, suffering little 
from the tick or other parasites. Fur- 
ther, it is proved that the first cross 
of the zebu bull with native cows give 
better products as to size, resistance and 
beauty; from this principally comes the 
preference of the zebu.”’ 

Dr. Alvaro da Silveira!® remarks, 
“ “The zebu should be exterminated for 
the good of the nation’s livestock 
industry’ affirm those who say they are 
sustained by the solid basis of science. 
‘We shall continue to make use of the 
zebu because he makes us rich’ say the 
breeders, sustained by the de facto 
profits that they receive from the 
undesired breed. 

“It seems that, however patriotic the 
scientist may be, his love for the fortune 
of the zebu breeder is, in any case, less 
intense than that of the breeder himself 
for his property. And since the farmer 
is satisfied with this process of breeding, 
I am inclined to think it is sctence that 
is in error, because no one will believe 
that hundreds of Minas breeders will 
breed the zebu just to defend a bad 
breed, contrary to their actual interests.” 

Dr. N. S. Mayo as above cited says, 
“Among the good qualities of the 
Indian cattle are their hardiness, exemp- 
tion from parasites, such as flies and ticks. 
Because of their size, strength and 
activity, Indian cattle are the best for 
the tropics.” 

Dr. L. P. Barreto! writes, ‘On all 
sides (in the state of SAo Paulo) the 
zebu is repelled with indignation. And 
this repulsion, happily, is the official 


of Heredity 


doctrine; in our cattle shows (state of 
Sao Paulo) the zebu is excluded.”’ 

Sr. Manoel Bernardez compares the 
meat to that of the rhinoceros and says 
that to replace the native Brazilian 
cattle with the zebu would be to return 
to the stone age. 

Dr. Eduardo Cotrim!™ goes into 
detail to prove that the zebu is unde- 
sirable from all standpoints, as a work 
animal (most traction work in the tropics 
is done with oxen) as a milk animal and 
as a beef animal. He even quotes the 
opinion of another, to which he evidently 
acquiesces, that it will some day be 
necessary to exclude the Indian cattle 
from Brazil by legislation. 

These opinions have been given 
because there are two schools as it were, 
or rather two factions among the 
breeders in Brazil, one fanatically for 
the zebu, which is made up of the 
practical breeders who profit hand- 
somely by breeding them, and those 
who go just as far to the other extreme, 
composed mostly of theorists and par- 
tisans of the European cattle (without 
much knowledge of the conditions under 
which the zebu cattle are proving so 
profitable). 

The ideas thus suggested may have 
some weight with those interested in the 
United States or who intend crossing 
the Brahmin or zebu cattle for range 
purposes. 


THE AUTHOR’S OPINION 


To close I shall give two interesting 
opinions with which I agree. 

Dr. Elias Antonio de Moraes! re- 
minds us that ‘‘ Indian cattle are to the 
bovines of other species what the mule 
is to the horse and the goat to the sheep,”’ 
as to both vigor and health. He is 
also of the opinion that Brazil should be 
divided into three zones—the first near 
the large centers of consumption, for 
such breeds as Holsteins, Brown Swiss, 
etc. In the second zone cattle espe- 
cially apt for the production of butter 


* The author's observation is that zebu milk has a very rich and superior flavor. 


® Industria Pecuaria, /oc. cit., p. 18. 

10 Industria Pecuaria, loc, cit., p. 55. 

1 Industria Pecuaria, loc. cit., p. 6. 

12 Inquerito Sobre o Zebu, loc. cit., pp. 71-92. 
'3 Inquerito Sobre o Zebu, Joc. cit., pp. 95-97. 


Roederer: Zebu Crosses in Tunisia 


and cheese, easily transported to market, 
should be bred. In the third zone in the 
interior the zebu would be the proper 
breéd. This third zone corresponds 
to the ranges of the western United 
States; there and there only would I 
expect to see the zebu profitable. 

There is this to be said, however, 
when the above evidence is_ being 
weighed, that hybridization with the 
zebu has hitherto been carried on in a 
wholly hit-or-miss manner, in most 
cases. Certainly this is the case in 
Brazil, and I understand that the 
breeding in Texas has not been accom- 
panied by careful records. If the 
resources of the modern science of 
genetics were applied to the problem, 


201 


it is possible that much better results 
would be secured. The importance of 
the problem for the tick-infested area 
of the southern United States, and for 
all warm parts of the world, is such that 
I strongly urge the United States 
Department of Agriculture to send 
competent zootechnists to Brazil to 
investigate the matter thoroughly. 
Brazilian breeders declare that the zebu 
is improving under the better care and 
feeding it gets in Brazil. Science 
ought to know exactly what has been 
accomplished here, and I am sure that 
the Brazilian government would be 
glad to cooperate with that of the 
United States, in an endeavor to place 
the facts on record. 


ZEBU CROSSES IN TUNISIA’ 


M. RoEDERER, Mateur, Tunisia 


TTEMPTS to use zebu blood in 
improving tropical races of cat- 
tle are not novelties. The zebus 
and their crosses are, it is 

abundantly proved, resistant to the 
Texas fever and to anthrax; further- 
more, they are very little disturbed by 
foot and mouth disease. This does not 
mean that the blood of these animals is 
exempt from the protozoa of Texas 
fever. Recent experiences have shown 
the contrary; but they are in smaller 
number and do not seem to act injuri- 
ously on the organism. Was it not a 
temptation, then, for us Tunisians, to 
try to cross our native cattle with 
stock from warmer and less favorable 
climates than the one under which we 
live? 

One might say of the zebu that it is 
the ‘American stock’” of cattle breed- 
ing. Aside from the great advantages 
which it presents in resisting disease, 
the use of the zebu in crosses gives other 
precious results. The hybrids resist 


the heat perfectly—in fact, they thrive 
best in summer. After the hottest 
days, they return from the severe labor 
of plowing, with the eye fresh and the 
flank scarcely heaving. They fear cold 
weather more than anything else. Their 
great facility for assimilating dry fodder 
is an immense advantage in this 
country; they are less particular about 
the ‘quality of their food than even the 
Arab cattle. Zebu breeding is, then, 
easy and presents few problems. 

Now let us see what their crosses are 
like, as regards structure, weight, meat- 
production, milk-yield, fecundity and 
working qualities. 


CROSSES OF GOOD SIZE 


Cattle produced by breeding native 
cows to zebu bulls are much larger than 
the local Arab cattle. The head is 
delicate and expressive, the eye prom- 
inent, but the general appearance is 
spoiled by the large and ungraceful 
horns. The neck is short; the zebu 


1 Translated from the Journal d’A griculture Pratique, Paris. 
2 An allusion to American grape vines, by the use of which as grafting stocks, French growers 
were able to recreate their vineyards after they had been nearly wiped out by phylloxera.—The 


Editor. 


202 The Journal 


hump has disappeared. The fore-quar- 
ters are powerful, the chest deep, the 
shoulder very oblique, the legs delicate 
and nervous, the posture good. The 
line of the back is pretty, the short 
flank is vaulted, but the rump is sunken. 
The tail is very fine, long and well 
attached, the switch is voluminous. 
All the tissues and bones are fine, the 
muscles well developed, the belly as 
small as it could well be. The color is 
generally light and nearly always 
uniform. 

The half-bloods (zebu x Arab) are 
much heavier than their brothers of 
pure Arab blood, sometimes reaching a 
weight, on the hoof, of 1,250 pounds. 
With a little addition of European blood 
through the mother, they can add an- 
other hundredweight to this. Butchers 
are eager for them, the meat being of 
excellent quality—no matter what has 
been said to the contrary—and the cut, 
much greater than that of most breeds, 
may exceed 60% of the live weight. 
They usually command a premium at 
the stock yards. 

As work oxen, they are faster, 
stronger, more enduring than our native 
stock, but also less docile. A horseman 
would say that they show more blood. 
Nevertheless, they do not display a 
vicious temper to men who handle 
them.’ One can break them to perfec- 
tion by taking a little pains, by castrat- 
ing them young, by always keeping 
them up in a stable and yoking them at 
the age of 2 or 24% years. They then 
become first-class draft animals which, 
at the age of retirement from labor, 
become excellent beef animals. 

They are easily kept in good condition 
and are always in shape to sell, in spite 
ef inferior nourishment. 

The cow has little milk, but no less, 
I should say, than most of our Arab 
cows. On the other hand, her milk 
seems to be very much more nutritious. 


of Heredity 


ASIATIC RACES BEST 


The races of zebu are very numerous, 
and may be divided into African and 
Asiatic. Among the African races which 
have been tested in Algeria and Tunisia 
are those of Sudan and Madagascar. 
They yielded much poorer results than 
the Asiatic breeds. Among the latter, 
the little Brahmins of Ceylon are the 
most noteworthy; after them, the Nel- . 
lores and the Malaysians are the most 
highly valued. 

Zebu crosses, rather recent in Tunisia, 
have been made in Algeria for many 
years. In 1865, zebus from the Sudan 
were sent to the Jardin d’Essai (experi- 
ment station) of Algiers, and gave rise 
to hybrids of remarkable hardiness, 
which created much satisfaction among 
breeders. Traces of them can still be 
found in the coastal plain. Much later 
—some twenty years ago—M. Rabou 
of Béne introduced by accident, it is 
said, little Brahmins which gave even 
better results. This breed still exists 
and has furnished Tunisia with the 
best breeding-stock it possesses. Un- 
fortunately, it is hard to obtain purebred 
bulls or cows, since they are more 
difficult to raise than are the grades. 

The principal objection which can be 
made to the use of the zebu in our 
animal industry is that it is only a 
temporary expedient, and is not leading 
to the creation of a new breed. Never- 
theless, it must be admitted that it is 
improving our cattle because an infu- 
sion of zebu blood considerably increases 
their hardiness. At present we see the 
most enthusiastic admirers of the Swiss 
and Tarentaise cattle seeking an alli- 
ance with the zebu, to give their breeds 
the quality of endurance which they 
now lack. The improvement of our 
cattle by zebus seems to me more 
practicable than the acclimation of 
pure breeds from Europe. 


3C. L. Willoughby of the University of Florida College of Agriculture (Gainesville), who was 
formerly in charge of zebu breeding in Georgia, writes: ““My understanding and my own opinion 
of the Georgia work was that it was rather clear that it would pay the Georgia people better to 


stick to other breeds, rather than waste their time and money on these Indian cattle. 


We found 


them bad-tempered and hard to handle, comparatively slow in growing, and poor beef animals 


and still poorer as milk animals.’’—The Editor. 


THE CATTLE OF BRAZIL 


Native Stocks Among the Finest in the World, but Ruined by Indiscriminate 
Cross-breeding—Introduction of the Zebu and Its Gradual Pre- 
ponderance—Future of Live-stock Industry Jeopardized 

by Its Spread.! 


José Maria Dos REIs 
Director of the Model Cattle-breeding Farm of Uberaba, Minas Geraes, Brazil 


EFORE the introduction of the 
BKB zebu, the bovine population of 

that rich portion of southern 

Brazil known as the Triangle of 
Minas Geraes was made up of diverse 
races which indiscriminate cross-breed- 
ing had brought to a degenerate condi- 
tion. In spite, however, of this mixture 
of blood, under the breeding methods of 
the plains of Minas, Goyaz and Matto 
Grosso, there were formed, it may be 
said as a result of natural selection, 
races of cattle well suited for use in 
improving the country’s live stock 
industry. 

In the Triangle one particular race 
of local origin attracted the admiration 
of the whole world in the middle of the 
last century. 

This breed, the ancestors of which are 
to be sought in old Portugal, is connected 
with the great Alemtejan race. Crossed 
with cows of the same race, already 
modified by Brazilian conditions, there 
was produced the bull known as the 
bruxo or junquetro or pedreiro, or most 
commonly franqueiro. 

Produced perhaps in the first place 
in the Triangle, the junqueiro cattle 
soon become better known as Franca 
cattle, largely through the influence 
of European zootechnists who took an 
interest in our stock-breeding. 

In those days this favored zone of the 
Triangle of Minas, farther towards the 
interior of central Brazil, did not 
maintain, like Franca during the time 
of the emperors, commercial relations 
with the littoral, which the fame of 
this ancient city of Sao Paulo won for it. 
The Triangle was, then, in that epoch, 


a zone all but unknown, and when its 
breeders shipped out their cattle along 
with the Franca cattle, the junqueiro 
bulls lost this name in Sao Paulo, 
becoming known simply as franqueiro 
cattle, a name which passed into 
scientific literature. 


CORNEVIN’S DESCRIPTION 


It was, then, in Franca that Cornevin 
found the excellent breed which orig- 
inated in Brazil and has maintained its 
specific characters down to the present 
time. He described it as ‘‘a type of 
great weight, heavy skeleton, long legs, 
long, coarse, red hair, with more or less 
pronounced tendencies to orange and 
canary-yellow; tail short and_ thick, 
with a well-developed, close switch, 
head large and flat, horns formidable.” 

According to this writer the franqueiro 
is related to Bos primigenius, which 
became extinct in Germany in the 
middle ages, while Nehring places it 
with the later B. frontosus, of the 
commencement of the present geological 
era. 

For the rest, whether or not we admit 
the relations traced by these dis- 
tinguished zootechnists, the franqueiro 
bull of the Triangle has its origin in the 
brachycephalous breed of the Iberian 
peninsula, originating in Portugal and 
introduced to this part of Minas in the 
last century by Col. Joao Francisco 
Diniz Junqueira. 

But it is by no means the type which 
can be considered ideal for Brazilian 
purposes. There is yet much room for 
improvement. 


1 Translated from Chacaras e Quintaes, VIII, 1, 44, Rio de Janeiro, July, 1913. 


203 


204 The Journal 

It was necessary that man, keeping 
his own purposes in mind, should add 
certain characters to the genotypic 
composition of the breed, and modify 
others which were prejudicial to his 
purposes. 


DEFECTS OF NATIVE CATTLE 


The skeletal structure was too highly 
developed, at the expense of the muscu- 
lar system, and the exaggerated horns 
prevented it from grazing on low herbs 
and in hilly country. When it was 
brought from the interior to the com- 
mercial districts nearer the coast, the 
breeders there immediately demanded 
that these prejudicial characters be 
done away with. 

The goal, then, was to improve the 
breed from this point of view, and yet 
to conserve the high yield of milk for 
which it was noted. It was recollected, 
in a moment of inspiration, that the 
Amaro Leite breed of the Goyaz plains 
presented striking contrast to the 
franqueiro race, and it was believed 
that a cross might introduce a hetero- 
zygous equilibrium of characters, pro- 
ducing a race of grades which would be 
well worth breeding. The attempt was 
highly successful. 

From this cross resulted the Caract. 

Such is the origin of this famous 
Brazilian breed, as understood by us 
here in the Triangle. 

No other origin is possible. But we 
know very well that among those who 
have studied the Brazilian races of 
cattle, there is nevertheless a _ con- 
troversy over the origin of this breed. 
Some hold that it comes from the 
province of Ceara, having as its home 
the village of Acaract, whose name in a 
corrupted form now designates the 
breed in question; others reasoning 
from similar premises, declare that 
it comes from the remote and ancient 
city of Kara-Kul in Central Asia, and 
that the progenitors of the Brazilian 
breed were brought from there in our 
colonial period. 


THE CARACU A HYBRID 


The positive fact, however, about the 
origin of this breed in our Brazilian 
ranges is that it resulted from a cross 


2 i. e., by inbreeding.—The Editor. 


of Heredity 


between the Junqueira and the Amaro 
Leite breed, which latter we call 
curraletras and which, like most zoo- 
technists in Brazil, we believe to be 
derived from the old dolichocephalous 
animals of Aquitania. 

Thus it is that we possess in the 
Triangle these two .types of cattle; 
which we believe to be the best in the 
world for the particular requirements 
of our native live-stock men. Never-_ 
theless, this breed which our ranchers 
already possess, endowed with such 
excellent economic qualities, is yet 
susceptible of great improvement in 
the manner demonstrated by Bakewell 
and Colling,? since it cannot maintain 
itself and preserve its primitive char- 
acteristics without variation. 

In our imprudent haste to improve it, 
we have allowed it to degenerate 
through cross-breeding with the Nile 
cattle brought to Rio Janeiro for the 
first time in 1826 and later spread 
through the fazenda of Sr. Azarias de 
Souza Dias at S. Antonio do Machado, 
Minas, and afterwards to Lavras do 
Funil and eventually to our own zone. 
Carried away by enthusiasm for the 
first generation of this cross, which 
showed the vigor common to all F, 
hybrids, our breeders thought the 
problem was permanently solved, ceased 
their efforts and went to sleep happy 
over the success of their undertaking. 

In this foolish. over-confidence, in 
their house on foundations of sand, 
whose impending fall they never fore- 
saw, the fact that they were crossed 
with a heterozygous breed of doubtful 
origin never troubled them. 


THE CHINA CATTLE 


After the Nile, the China came to 
pour its blood into the mongrels already 
in existence. The arrival of this breed 
dates from 1855. Its Brazilian origin 
was a bull imported in that year by the 
Baron of Bom Retiro. According to a 
tradition reported by some, who believe 


this breed is really the zebu, it took its 
name from the fact that it arrived 


synchronously with a shipment of 
Chinese coolies whom the same baron 
had imported for work. on his planta- 
tion. It is thus, then, with the crossing 


Reis: The Cattle of Brazil 


THE CARACU, FAMOUS NATIVE BREED OF BRAZIL 


Its origin is said to have been in a cross between two earlier native breeds, and it is here repre- 


sented by a yearling bull. 


The caracu breed, although still capable of improvement, 1s 


considered by experts to be admirably adapted to its environment; it also lends itself well 


to crosses with improved beef breeds such as the Shorthorn and Hereford. 


In some parts 


of Brazil, however, it is being displaced altogether by zebu hybrids, which are preferred 
because of their vigor and hardiness, and'ability to travel on foot long distances to market. 
Photograph from Murdo Mackenzie, Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Fig. 5.) 


and recrossing of types heterozygous 
from their origin, and the*mixture of 
mongrels of all sorts, that the patient 
and hard-working breeder on our ranges 
brought together the product of all this 
aimless hybridization and saw with 
extraordinary surprise that the beautiful 
F, type which once graced his ranges 
now played a very small part in the 
mixed cattle of the country. 

The Brazilian cattle then entered on 
a period of free and rapid degeneracy. 

Breeders began to take alarm, and 
tried to remedy the difficulty, which 
constantly increased. 

‘In this period of anxiety, brought 
about by the existence of such serious 
evils, they again began, as at first, 
without aim, without definite plan or 
theoretical guidance, to attempt new 


experiments, certain that they would at 
once find a remedy for the trouble. 

They took the route that seemed the 
easiest—that of introducing ameliora- 
tive factors. They forgot, in their 
stupor, the evil occasioned by past 
hybridization, and ran after Shorthorns, 
Devons and other fine types repre- 
sentative of the best European breeds. 

The failure was enough to take the 
heart out of anyone. 

Poorly equipped, by lack of knowledge 
of the genetic constituents of the breeds 
they were introducing; not having 
proper foods, not counting on the influ- 
ence of environment, accustomed to 
the easy and economical conditions of 
breeding which existed in the huge 
herds of the interior, they assisted, 
disheartened, the gradual extinction 


(‘9 ‘31yy)  ‘pajyonpuoo AT]BoyTQUaIOS UVEq SPY 4 YIA\ aUOp OFOYINY Surpee1q 
ayy JO 99914] esNedaq ‘oq pynoys Ady} SB UMOUY [JAM SB JA JOU IP SOT{TTICIS sod q[NJ st yNq !Burpsos1q SYIWUSTIOS IJOJ [eLIoyeUL a[qenyRA 
SIOYO IIOJoIOY} J “[[PAA SB ASVOSTP YJNOUI-PpUR-jOO} OF JULYSISO Ajysry oq 03 srvodde 41 ynq ‘uUMOUX st se Jey seB ‘styy OF OUNUUIUT Nqa7 
ay} St AJUO JON ‘“AOAO} SeXO, popvelp oy} Wy Ayunuiut s,nqoz ay} Jo adeyueApe oY} 913789 asuel dA13 0} JOpso ut ‘sezeIS poyUuy 
U1oy NOS oY} Ul opeUl suTeq SI qdwioyie owes OY, «‘sapess sonpoid 0} 9]}}7e9 DATZBU UO passoto o1B yNq ‘and paiq Ajaiei ore Adyy 
‘Tizeig 07 peyodunt useq savy e]}7e9 Nqoez Jo spuesnoyy ysnoyyy “poolq uvijizerg sarjeu pur nqoz Jo oinyxXtw ayy sjuasaidal pisy sty], 


; SHOUT ANY 


MOD OHAZ GAH Ty tt 


Reis: The Cattle of Brazil 


of these new arrivals, supposed to 
regenerate the herds depreciated by 
centuries of lack of attention and care- 
less intercrossing. 


NATIVE STOCK RUINED 


The finest junqueiras, the excellent 
caracus that were able and are still 
able to regenerate the cattle industry 
of the Triangle, were dragged deeper 
and deeper into ruin by hybridization 
with half-bloods, with Niles and with 
Chinas. The latter breed according 
to some genetists is derived from the 
Albion; by others its name is derived 
simply from the old castilian word 
Chino or China, which means mongrel; 
by still others, its domain is said to be 
ancient Asia. 

What, then, was the value of the 
appearance in this mare magnum of 
misfortune, of admirable individual 
types of these beautiful and useful 
national breeds, if stockmen did not 
know enough to utilize them by selec- 
tion and line-breeding? In the greed 
with which they sought salvation, they 
looked only for a remedy with immediate 
effects. Selection was slow, and perhaps 
they did not wholly believe in the extra- 
ordinary results accredited to it. 

The day of native cattle was about 
over. Those fine representatives, jun- 
queiras, caracts, curraleiros, etc., inured 
to the environment, with good and fixed 
qualities which could be transmitted 
through successive generations, were 
relegated to the background and gave 
place to the zebu, which, like the Nile 
and the China, reigned in majesty in 
the vast and lush pastures of the 
territories of Minas. 

Without the beautiful and useful 
qualities which ornamented our national 
breeds, the zebu conquered them, for a 
time, principally by its wonderful hardi- 
ness and its aptitude in acclimating 
itself to our native ranges—as if 400 
years of abandon were not enough to 
prove that our native stock had such a 
hardiness, too! 

All native stock in the Triangle, 
which has not yet been mixed with 
Indian blood, is heavy, healthy, strong 
in the yoke and resistant to diseases, 
gentle and rich in milk. In spite of 


207 


the neglect to which they have been 
subjected, it is not rare to find specimens 
of our native breed—that breed which 
R. Endlich has called the finest cattle 
in the world—with a weight of 100 arro- 
bas (2. e., 3200 pounds), and magnificent 
caracts, such as beat the record at the 
exposition held in Uberaba, where 
hardly fifteen specimens of this breed, 
raised locally, were shown, as against 
400 Indian cattle, coddled in succulent 
pastures under the vigilant eyes of 
their owners. 


INTRODUCTION OF THE ZEBU 


Aside from weight, the caracti is 
reputed an excellent worker, and is 
considered to be the best bull for work— 
superior to the zebu. However, the 
breeder of the Triangle, in spite of the 
unhappy experiments made with the 
best European races and the evils 
occasioned by crossing with Niles and 
Chinas, as we have already seen, dis- 
regarding his own home breed, intro- 
duced for the first time in 1889 repre- 
sentatives of Bos indicus, the idol of the 
banks of the Ganges, to the pastures 
of the future stock breeding zone of 
Minas Geraes. 

It must be admitted that the crossing 
of this race has brought a certain pros- 
perity to the breeding industry in the 
Triangle of Minas, since the grades 
have been sold for good prices. For- 
getting, perhaps, the results obtained 
with crossing other breeds in the past, 
the breeders, encouraged by the good 
returns of this new venture, think that 
they have attained the desired end in 
regard to the perfecting of a breed for 
local use, and are now gathering the 
first fruits of the harvest like the 
victors of a crusade. 

It is yet too early for this. 

Questioning one of the largest breeders 
of this region as to the reason for himself 
and other breeders preferring the zebu 
to any other race, he replied as follows: 
“This region being essentially one 
for stock raising, and our ranges being 
occupied by various breeds of milch 
cattle in a state of degeneracy, we hope 
to improve the present state of affairs 
through crossing. We prefer to attempt 
this by means of the zebu, because we 


The Journal of Heredity 


ZEBU-HEREFORD CROSS IN TEXAS 


This half-breed heifer, weighing 1000 pounds at 12 months, was bred on the ranch of A. P. 
Borden, Pierce, Texas, and allowed to graze all summer on a range infested by the ticks 


which carry 
at the 


Texas fever. 


} 


She was never dipped or protected against ticks in any way, 
end of the summer showed no trace of infestation. 


It is such cases as this 


have led genetists to foresee in the zebu the foundation of a new breed of cattle for 


the southern United States. 

ent of Agriculture, 
have proved that the grades produced 
the following 
weight, facility of acclima- 
ion, hardiness and fecundity. 


DV tnis cCTOSS possess 


FECUNDITY OF THE ZEBU 

a\ observed that the 

cendants of the pure blooded zel 
t in 1889 breed with facili 


i 
in our ranges, even in seasons of drought, 


resi ll sorts of weather 

lr] ebu bull allowed to run loose 
on the range will produce from sixty to 
seventy calves, in a period of four to 
five onth The heifers rarel ul to 
roduce their first calves at three years 
ol ore We have had a grade cow give 
bir o two calves inside of ten montl 
ind six da The calves ar rong 
ike ( ossbred La le ind the Tal 


November 18, 1911. 


Photograph by the Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S. De- 
(Pig. 7.) 
of mortality, compared to that of the 


breeds formerly raised here, is extremely 
low. 

‘The development of the grade and 
its facility for fattening are such that 
steers 3 years old are ready for butcher- 
ing and are preferred to any other race 
by everyone who handles them, from 
the buyer on the ranch to the butcher 
who offers for them the highest market 
price. At 5 years the hybrids average 
from 650 to 700 pounds in net weight.” 

Two particular races of the zebu are 
preferred; the Nellore and the Gujarat; 
the former with small ears and the 
latter with ears well developed. 

In this latter, the preference 1s 
interesting 

For all the grace, beauty and weight 
of the Nellore race, it is always worth 


Reis: The Cattle of Brazil 


209 


A STRANGE ZEBU HYBRID 


Mestizo bull in the Phillipines; a cross between zebu bu!l and Batanese (native) cow. 


The 


front half of the animal is wholly zebu in character, the dewlap and hump, which are the 


particular property of the Indian breeds, being represented in perfection. 


The hinder 


half of the animal is wholly characteristic of the native stock of its mother (note sheath 


and rump). 


less money than the angular progeny 
of the large-eared Gujarat. 

Zootechnists, who have transformed 
the internal machinery of cattle in order 
to make them yield more profit to their 
owners, have entirely ignored that 
common appendix, the ear: yet it is 
the criterion by which admirers of the 
zebu rate the value of the animal—its 
length or shortness determines the high 
or low amount of the price. 

The breeders of this race of cattle 
value an ear more highly than the juicy 
steak of a short-eared caract. 

They say that the zebu without large 
ears is not a zebu, and the native of the 
interior advances that reason, as he 
refuses to buy it. 


MENDELIAN SEGREGATION 


Among the breeders of this munici- 
pality, it is a matter of common observa- 


Photograph from the Bureau of Agriculture, Manila, P. I. 


-yet -established. 


(Fig. 8.) 


tion that native characteristics are 
wholly bred out and zebu characters 
entirely dominant in hybrids after the 
fifth generation. In the fourth genera- 
tion they get a type which they call 
purified, resulting from a cross of a 
pure type with a seven-eights cow. 
The crossing of a purified with a pure 
blood is that which they accept as a 
pure national type, the ‘Zebu of Minas.”’ 

However, at present this race is not 
Whether the breeder 
breaks it up in the sixth generation by 
crossing back to pure zebu, not realizing 
that the introduction of this pure-blood 
anew is equivalent to another hybridiza- 
tion; or whether the Bos indicus under- 
goes actual degeneration; the fact 
remains that the pure Minas race of 
zebu has never yet been fixed. 

The latter explanation seems more 
acceptable, because the renovation of 


210 The Journal 


blood in this breed is frequent. Perhaps 
the breeder does not succeed in fixing a 
race of definite type such as we have 
just described, because he is obliged 
constantly to breed a certain saleable 
type of cattle, and therefore resorts 
to constant out-crossing to get it, 
bringing in new Indian blood in every 
generation. The result is that a dis- 
tinctly local type of zebu is never fixed, 
because it is always upset by a cross 
back to the imported stock. 

The herds and herds of breeding 
stock coming steadily from India to 
the ranges of Minas prove this assertion. 

The advantageous cross is the com- 
mercial cross: that is, to sell and resell 
the hybrids for slaughtering. Cross- 
breds of this type range from one-half 
to three-fourths blood; they are the 
heaviest hybrids. Beyond this cross, 
the Indian rapidly loses his weight. 

The contrast here between Bos indicus 
and B. taurus is striking. While in the 
latter, greater weight, precocity, etc. 
are gained by selection, in the former a 
steady loss of weight takes place, 
together with an extraordinary reduc- 
tion in height. 


THE ZEBU PREPOTENT 


The zebu originates in an ancient, 
thoroughly fixed race. Due to the 
hereditary potency of the ancient Indian 
race, the types produced by its cross 
on the native cow faithfully reproduce 
all the characteristics of the foreign 
race. 

The zebu is an absorbing race, and 
by this property has caused the com- 
plete disappearance of the Brazilian 
race in the fifth generation. 

Under these conditions, scattered here 
and there, as we find them, throughout 
Brazil, by the commerce in halfbloods, 
for butchering and breeding, and with 
herd after herd coming from India—it is 
certainly desirable that the government 
should give serious attention to the 
study of this type of cattle so that in the 
future we may not find our hands full 
of difficulties, even greater than those 
offered by our old race of mongrels. 

In the municipality of Uberaba, 
which comprises barely 9,314 square 
kilometers of the vast zone of the 


of Heredity 


Triangle, and 7,451 square kilometers 
of this under cultivation to the native 
grasses jaragua and gordura, the number 
of cattle was in the years 1908-9, 
according to Dr. H. de Araujo Pontes, 
83,043 head, of which 1,012 were pure 
zebus, 37,174 zebu hybrids, 12,477 
caracts, 30,913 Chinas, 1,378 curraleiros 
and 186 Turinos. 

In twenty-four years—the time that 
has elapsed since the introduction of 
the zebu—one can easily see that in a 
small and insignificant part of the 
interior region, this breed has greatly 
increased in number and the native 
breeds have lost ground. From this 
one can easily understand the absorbent 
power of this breed, which if it continues 
as it is now going, in a short time will 
give us not a better race, but a new race, 
to replace the old one. We will have 
changed the race, perhaps, for the worse. 
There are no scruples about this breed- 
ing experiment. 

The zebu has been crossed with every 
one of the hybrid races of our cattle 
which I have referred to. 

In this indiscriminate hybridization, 
to right and to left, bulls constantly 
arriving from the orient ostensibly as 
purebloods, but without bringing any 
certificate of registry, are being bred to 
every grade of our own hybrids. 


DANGER TO THE INDUSTRY 


It can be verified from this that, in 
spite of the relatively short time since 
it was introduced, this breed will lead 
more quickly than any other to the 
complete ruin of our native stocks, 
through degeneracy, if energetic pre- 
cautions are not taken to forbid breeders 
to make such crosses. 

It is a great evil which we must 
avoid, and one which, unhappily, is 
increasing, speading to the far-away 
prairies of Goyaz and Matto Grosso and 
even to Rio Grande do Sul, where only 
a year ago 1,500 breeding animals of 
all grades of blood were exported from 
one municipality. 

Even with pure-blood bulls brought 
directly from the province of Gujarat 
in India, degeneration is manifest in 
the third generation, to such an extent 
that breeders are constantly obliged 


Reis: The Cattle of Brazil 


to change the leadership of their herds. 

Imagine the results of crosses between 
the hybrids! 

The products of the first cross between 
zebus and junqueiras or caracts are the 
best types. They are strong, heavy 
animals with great hardiness under all 
conditions, thrive on any kind of pasture 
and are excellent under yoke. 

As to the quality of the beef, current 
opinion is that it does not lend itself 
well to the dried-beef industry, because 
its tissues do not contain as much fat 
as do those of the caract’ and other 
good races. 

The flesh of the zebu is fibrous, 
particularly when there is only a small 
amount of native Brazilian blood in 
the crosses.’ 

For this reason, and also because of 
what has previously been said, the 
flesh of the Indian cattle is of poorer 
flavor than that of our breeds—espe- 
cially that of the franqueiro race, which 
R. Endlich claims is the best producer 
of high grade beef. The zebu has not 
a large skeleton—particularly hybrids 
with Nellore blood. Steers from the 
crossing of this race with the two 
superior native races at four years 
attain an average weight of 700 pounds. 
The hybrids of greater proportion of 
zebu blood are much lighter—an indis- 
putable proof of the speedy degeneracy 
of Bos indicus. 


LOSS OF MILK YIELD 


In general the crossing of the zebu 
with our cattle makes the latter lose a 
large part of its milk producing qualities. 
The first period of lactation of the hybrid 
zebus is at the most ninety days after 
the birth of the calf; from then on, due 
to the new gestation, the cow commences 
to diminish in milk considerably, having 
weaned her calf at six months. As for 
the annual production of milk, it is 
difficult to determine it in these grade 


Z1t 


cattle, because of the reasons already 
set forth and because zebu breeders in 
the Triangle pay little attention to 
matters connected with dairying. 

The hybrid zebus in general are bad 
milkers, and rarely allow themselves to 
be milked. They are wild, and if 
tamed at their first calving, soon lose 
this domesticity and have to be tamed 
again at each calving. 

This is a laborious proceeding which 
completely prevents dairying if the 
cattle are of Indian blood. 

Many hybrid zebus have the yield of 
milk so little developed that they are 
unable to raise their own offspring. 
This is, then, outside of the defects such 
as wildness, rapid degeneration and 
lack of milk, a serious defect that this 
race is instilling in our native cattle. 

We must take strong measures to 
oppose this steady ruin of our native 
cattle, which is fast becoming a race of 
scrubs through indiscriminate cross- 
breeding without scientific guidance. 

It is an interesting phenomenon. 

Withal, if the crosses between grades 
should result in a fixed race, without the 
inconveniences of frequent reversions 
and without having to commence breed- 
ing operations from the beginning, all 
over again, every few generations, the 
Indian cattle would be good types both 
for commerce and for beefing, par- 
ticularly having in view the great 
distances that separate the pastoral 
zones of Goyaz and Matto Grosso from 
the littoral, where the cattle are 
slaughtered. 

But the solution of this problem 
seems to us very difficult in such a 
manner—particularly with this stock. 

The reasonable, certain, and economic 
solution is that which our government 
is trying to give to the case—founding 
establishments to carry on systematic 
selection with our marvelous native 
races of cattle. 


3 Murdo Mackenzie of the Brazil Land, Cattle and Packing Co., Sao Paulo, writes me: “A 
characteristic of the zebu is that it produces almost entirely dark meat with little or no fat mixed 
with it, and this is the kind of beef the natives prefer, but it is not suitable for exporting to Europe 


or America. 
development. 


You will notice from the conformation of the zebu’s head that it is lacking in brain 
It is narrow between the eyes and has a long, narrow, keen head and face, which 


shows that it has not the brain development of either the Shorthorn, Hereford or the other beef 
breeds. The natives of this country are fond of the zebu hybrids because they are good travelers, 
and as nearly all of the cattle are transported on foot, this seems to be quite a factor to their minds. 
When the cattlemen of this country commence transporting their cattle by rail rather than by 
foot they will see the necessity of breeding cattle for better beef.’-—The Editor. 


XENIA IN FOWLS 


Experiments to Determine Whether Cock Has Influence on Color and Form of 
Eggs Laid by Hens to Which He Is Mated—Belief 
Seems to be Without Solid Foundation. 


A REVIEW OF SOME RECENT GERMAN WORK 


ENIA is the name given by 
Focke in 1881 to designate 
a curious feature of hybridiza- 
tion in plants: the direct 
influence of foreign pollen on the seed 
produced. Popularly, its meaning has 
been extended to describe any direct 
influence on the fruit as well as the 
seed. Such influence has been a 
part of farm lore for centuries. The 
farmer has attributed the bad quality 
of his watermelons, for example, to the 
fact that they were pollinated by 
pumpkins grown in an adjoining field. 
With the increase of knowledge of what 
was actually accomplished by pollina- 
tion, and what the actual process of 
reproduction was, it became clear that 
most of these beliefs were little better 
than superstitions. Genetists decided 
that the watermelon could not be 
deteriorated by pumpkin pollen, because 
that pollen could have no effect on the 
fruit resulting from the flowers it 
pollinated. What actually happens is 
that the germ-cell of the pollen grain 
unites with the egg cell of the other 
parent, and the essential parts of the two 
lie side by side in the resulting seed, not 
even fusing. It is not until this seed 
is planted, grows and matures its own 
seed, that the original heredity-stuff of 
the parents is shuffled, recombined, and 
given a chance to express new characters 
or make combinations of old ones. 
Pollen, therefore, in the nature of 
things, cannot ordinarily have any 
immediate influence on the fruit 
produced. But certain exceptions— 
reported for two centuries by farmers 
and breeders, first examined by Focke, 
and later well attested by many obser- 
vers—have been found, the best example 
being in maize. When a race of white 
maize is crossed with a variety bearing 
black ears, the seeds produced should 
212 


all be white. The black father would 
not show its influence until these seeds 
were planted and produced ears in 
turn. But xenia interferes, so that the 
seeds of our original pollination, in- 
stead of being white, actually show the 
effect of the black parent—they will be 
splotched or, in many cases, wholly 
black. Speaking figuratively, xenia 
seems to leave the pollen parent always 
one lap ahead in the race. The parental 
generation shows characters that would 
not ordinarily be expected until the 
F, generation; the F; generation shows 
characters that would not ordinarily 
be expected until the Fy. generation; 
and so on. 


XENIA IN PLANTS 


Here was a mystery that puzzled 
plant-breeders for some years. Similar 
phenomena were found in rye, buck- 
wheat, and other plants. The mystery 
was finally cleared up by Nawaschin and 
Guignard (1899) and Webber, De Vries 
and Correns (1900), who found that it 
could be explained very simply from a 
knowledge of the cell mechanism. 
There are two nuclei in the pollen cell 
and two in the egg cell. The principal 
nucleus of the one unites with the prin- 
cipal nucleus of the other to produce the 
embryo; the secondary pollen nucleus 
unites with the secondary egg nucleus 
and produces the endosperm or starchy 
part of the seed. The immediate in- 
fluence of the pollen parent is therefore 
naturally to be expected in the endo- 
sperm, and will be visible, in general, 
whenever the differences between the 
two parents are of a striking nature— 
blackand white, in this case. In ordinary 
pollination between plants of like char- 
acters, an influence is produced by the 
pollen parent on the endosperm, but is 


Review: Xenia in Fowls 


not of a nature to show itself. The 
phenomenon of xenia in the plant world, 
then, is a perfectly simple and natural 
one, is dependent on the double fertiliza- 
tion described above, which occurs in 
all flowering plants, and may be ex- 
pected to be visable whenever the differ- 
ences between the two parents are of a 
nature favorable to its observation. 

There is always the hope in genetics 
that what is found to be true of one 
section of the organic world will be found 
to hold good in all. If xenia occurred 
in plants, it or something like it might 
be expected in animals. Accordingly, 
phenomena of similar nature in the 
animal kingdom were sought. 

An attempt was made to connect 
xenia with telegony,! but the analogy 
does not seem to be very close. There 
is, in fact, a fundamental difference, 
for in xenia we have an actual union 
of two cell-nuclei, while the supposed 
effects of telegony have been accredited 
to an interchange of blood, or some 
more mystical and less definable cause. 
Telegony is now dead, in scientific 
circles, while plant xenia is more alive 
than ever. 

If it could not be traced in mammals, 
it might be traced in fowls. It has 
long been believed by some people, 
though not by most naturalists, that 
the eggs laid by a hen are influenced, 
as to size, shape, color, by the cock 
with which she is mated. An attempt 
was made on numerous occasions to 
show telegony in this connection, but 
the case was very weak. Then it 
was decided, by a certain set of investi- 
gators, that here was the long-sought 
case of xenia in the animal kingdom. 

From this standpoint the question 
has been debated with considerable 
warmth during recent years, princi- 
pally among German biologists. Obvi- 
ously, there are two parts to the dis- 
cussion. First, does the alleged influ- 
ence of the cock on the appearance of 
the hen’s eggs really exist? If it does 


OA 


not, there is an end of the dispute; 
but if it does, we can go one step farther, 
and try to explain it. If it exists, is it 
a phenomenon similar to xenia in plants, 
or must it be explained in some other 
way’ The latter question may be 
set aside until we have considered 
whether there is any evidence of this 
paternal influence on hens’ eggs. 


XENIA IN POULTRY 


The first observation on record by a 
man of science seems to go back to 
W. von Nathusius (1867) who reported 
the case of a supposedly pure bred hen, 
of a breed that always produced white 
eggs. She was mated to a cock of the 
old Cochin China breed, which pro- 
duces brown-shelled eggs, and some 
days later she began to lay eggs with 
yellowish shells. This influence dis- 
appeared very gradually; even after 
months an occasional dark egg appeared. 

Such evidence, of course, counts for 
little with the modern biologist, who 
has become more critical than a jury 
lawyer as to what he accepts. There 
were a dozen ways in which the facts, 
if such they were, might be explained, 
and as there had been no “control” 
of any kind, there was no means of 
knowing that the yellowish color of 
the eggs was not due to something in the 
hen’s food, or to any one of numerous 
other exterior or interior causes, quite 
independently of the Cochin China 
cock. So an attempt was made to 
gather evidence of greater “evidential 
value”? by carefully planned experi- 
ments. 

Plymouth Rocks, a breed well known 
to lay brown-shelled eggs, were chosen 
by Professor P. Holdefleiss? of the 
University of Halle for this purpose, 
and mated with a Leghorn cock, whose 
breed produces eggs of a pure white. 
“The eggs showed a series of colors 
from dark brown to white. Some of 
the medium brown eggs showed white 
flecks. Some of the dark brown were 


1 The principle of telegony ‘is that females are impregnated by the first males to which they are 
bred, so that all their subsequent offspring, regardless of their actual father, will show influence 


of the first male.”’ 
Washington, D. C., September, 1914. 
® Holdefleiss, P., in Ber. aus dem physiol. 


See ‘“ Telegony,”’ by Dr. Etienne Rabaud, Journal of Heredity, V, 9, 389-399, 


Lab. u. der Versuchsanstalt d. landw. Inst. d. 


Univ. Halle, 20 Heft, 1911, S. 93-111; also in 25 Flugschrift d. D. Ges. f. Zichtungskunde, Berlin, 


1913. 


EFFECT OF XENIA IN GRAIN OF CORN 


This grain of maize was produced by a pure white strain, which had been 


pollinated from a red variety. 


In general pollen has no immediate 


visible effect on the characters of the resulting fruit, but it is now known 
that it does produce an effect on the endosperm, or starchy part of 


the seed. 


This effect, which is known as xenia, can be easily seen in the 


dark-colored blotches and splashes sprinkled over the seed, just under 


the translucent, seed-coat. 


perhaps unfertilized.’’ Holdefleiss had 
the courage to enunciate the following 
conclusions: 

“1. The color of egg shells shows, 
after fecundation of the hen by a cock 
of some breed other than her own, the 
influence of the paternal strain; there 
is, therefore, evidence of xenia. 


(Fig. 10.) 


‘2. The shell of a bird’s egg is not 
exclusively a product of the maternal 
parent, but is also acted on by the cells 
formed after fertilization. The material 
which goes into it, however, is furnished 
by the mother’s body. 

‘“*3. The color characters of the egg 
shell segregrate in the following genera- 


Review: Xenia in Fowls 


tion (F.) according to the ‘pea type’ 
of Mendel’s law, in the proportion 3:1.”’ 


EVIDENCE IS EQUIVOCAL 


As Walther, who critically reviews 
the evidence, says, ‘‘The conclusion in 
this last case does not fit the facts 
very closely. What, in the first place, 
is the ‘pea type’ of heredity? Itis that 
method in which, at the crossing of 
organisms differing in one pair of non- 
blending characters, the first hybrid 
generation shows a complete conceal- 
ment of one (the recessive) character 
by the other (the dominant one), while 
the second generation shows the pro- 
portion of three dominants to one reces- 
sive. And just what results did Holde- 
fleiss actually secure? In the first gen- 
eration (to which he considers the shells 
of the eggs belong, from which the hy- 
brid birds of the first generation will be 
produced) both characters of the parents 
(1. e., brown and white) appeared, 
together with an intermediate form 
which had not previously existed. For 
the purpose of demonstrating his xenia 
he picks out these intermediate eggs, 
which are impossible in the ‘pea type’ 
of heredity; for the purpose of demon- 
strating the pea type of heredity, he 
depends on the brown eggs, which he 
himself admits are of no significance 
for xenia, because likely not to have 
been fertilized. In the second genera- 
tion (by which he designates the eggs 
laid by this first generation), instead 
of the brown and white eggs in the 
proportion of 3:1, which calculation 
on the basis of Mendel’s ‘pea type’ of 
inheritance required, he got two brown, 
119 brownish or intermediate, and forty 
white; whence he concludes that ‘brown 
showed itself. to be the dominant 
eharacter,: 

If this is the fate of Holdefleiss’ third 
proposition, it is evident that his second 
one is on soft ground; and the first one, 
that xenia actually did exist, is far from 
proved, considering the number of 
possible explanations that might be 
made. 


24D 


Domestic fowls are not an _ ideal 
material for genetic experiments, be- 
cause of the fact that they are all more 
or less hybrid in origin, and their 
appearance gives little idea of what 
their germ-cells actually contain. Ar- 
min von ‘Tschermak,’? professor of 
physiology in the Veterinary High 
School of Vienna, attempted to throw 
light on the question by breeding 
canaries and finches, closely related 
species of wild birds which might be 
expected to be purer in genealogy. 
English or Harz canaries were mated 
partly with males of their own kind, 
and partly with males of five different 
wild species. As a control, unmated 
canaries were allowed to lay eggs that 
had not been fertilized at all. The 
results of the experiment, as described by 
its author, may be summed up as follows: 

Changes in the form of the eggs, as a 
result of paternal influence, could be 
seen in only two cases, and viese are 
questionable; ther -.e weight is 
attached to them. 


CHANGES IN PATTERN 


There was no change in the ground 
color of the egg shells. The pattern is 
made up by two pigments; light brown 
and dark brown. Alterations of the 
light brown pigment were slight, but in 
the direction of paternal influence. The 
dark brown pigment, on the other hand, 
showed modifications that cannot be 
questioned. ‘They are so clear, that 
an experienced eye can tell at a glance 
what the paternal species is, in each 
case. As to the occurrence of 
xenia in the coloring of bird’s egg shells, 
there is no longer room for any doubt. 

The hybridization, in the cases 
here analyzed, has exerted a specific 
influence on pigment formation in the 
egg shell.” 

The unfertilized eggs of unmated 
female canaries were then compared 
with the fertilized eggs of female 
canaries mated with males of the same 
species. The former were found to be 
slightly smaller, and almost lacking in 


3 See Biol. Centralblatt, 30 Band, 1910, S. 641-646 and Arch. f. die gesamte Physiologie, 148 


Band, 1912, S. 367-395. 


The author is a brother of E. von Tschermak, the distinguished Austrian 


plant-breeder who with Correns and De Vries was one of the rediscoverers of Mendel’s work, 


in 1900. 


216 The Journal of Heredity 


pigmentation. This gives the experi- 
menter further ground for the belief 
that the formation of pattern on the 
shell is connected with and influenced 
by fertilization. 

Assuming for the moment that this 
conclusion is well founded, that we 
actually have xenia or something like 
it in birds, how 
could it be ex- 
plained? Which- 
ever way we 
[Etnls@ sal, yieey Geqb ine 
against generally 
accepted princi- 
ples of biology 
that we can not 
avoid: it is this 
fact as much as 
the lack of ade- 
quate experi- 
mental evidence, 
no doubt, that 
makes the aver- 
age biologist in- 
credulous about 
the whole idea. 
Ah WoO possible 
means of explain- 
ing an influence 
of the male in 
this connection 
are suggested by 
von Tschermak. 
The first he calls 
an “ intra-oval 
xenia - reaction,” 


effect of hybrid- 
ization on the 
egg shell is an 
effect produced 
by the embryo 

that is, in the last analysis, an 
effect of a single sperm. The second 
method is ‘‘extra-oval xenia-reaction,”’ 
which supposes that the effect is pro- 
duced by the influence of the whole 
quantity of sperms on the maternal 
uterus. 

The first hypothesis seems to von 
Tschermak to be simple and acceptable, 
but most readers will probably share 
the feelings of Walther, who remarks; 


QC 


matter determined by heredity. 


“An influence that goes in a very short 
time, partly through the yolk and always 
through a surrounding body of un- 
organized albumen, through the entire 
shell, and demonstrates its presence on 
the very outside layer of this shell of 
lime and—this is a point that I think 
has not been sufficiently emphasized— 


ONE SOURCE OF ERROR IN 


meaning that the Photograph by the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, shd 
during recent years show that the eggs of any individual hen tend to become a 
believed, is likely to be a dwarf, such as is shown at the right in the above photogr 
however, the eggs of any individual fowl usually vary only slightly from a certain a 
But the wide range of variation in weight of eg 
one who is conducting experiments on the subject make constant use of trap-nests 


only on this outside layer of shell: 
certainly no one can form even the 
slightest conception of how such an 
influence could originate or exert itself.” 

To most biologists, the second hypo- 
thesis will seem little better. There is, 
however, a small amount of evidence 
now accumulating, which indicates 
that the sperms which do not play any 
direct part in reproduction may survive 
for a time and possibly exert some 


‘See Kohlbrugge, J. H. F., in Ztschft. f. Morphologie u. Anthropologie, 12 Band, 1910, S. 


359-368, and in Arch. f. Entwicklungsmechanik, 35 Band, 1912, S. 165-188. 


Review: Xenia in Fowls 217 


influence of some kind on the maternal 
organism; and Walther expresses him- 
self as willing to entertain such an idea 


~ as a working hypothesis, at least. 


CONTRADICTCRY EVIDENCE 


But perhaps this discussion of how 
xenia takes place in fowls is really 


See oes = —— aos S “ ee Se SS 


ERIMENTS WITH HENS’ EGGS 


in part contradicted, and directly con- 
tradicted, by experiments of Professor 
A. R. Walther of Giessen,® which appear 
to have been made with a great deal of 
care, and to have been analyzed by 
sound mathematical methods. 
Walther’s conclusions are based on 
examination of 630 eggs laid by thirteen 
hens. His meth- 
od of operation 
| was tocrossraces 
differing not only 
in egg-shell col- 
or, but in size 
that is, bantams 
and ordinary 
fowls. Every egg 
laid was incu- 
bated, and if it 
was found to be 
infertile, it was 
thrown out, a 
__ possible source of 
| error thus being 
avoided. As was 
pointed out 
above, Holde- 
fleiss’ results are 
of little conse- 
quence asa proof 
of xenia, partly 
because there is 
reason to believe 
that many of the 
| eggs he examined 
had not been fer- 
ilized at all, and 


g range in size of eggs from a single flock of hens, all of the same breed. Experiments 
Smaller, as she approaches the end of her laying period; and the last one, it is generally 
the small size of ‘‘pullets’ eggs” is also a matter of common knowledge. On the whole, 
ge weight, and the experiments of the Rhode Island Station indicate that this weight is a 
a flock of one breed, graphically shown in the photograph, renders it necessary that any 


from such eggs it 
itis obvious that 
no evidence 
about xenia—the 


records—otherwise he is likely to draw some wholly erroneous conclusions. (Fig. 11.) 


beside the mark—because it may not 
really take place at all! Until von 
Tschermak’s experiments with canaries 
have been substantially repeated by 
other investigators, and have with- 
stood a critical examination by some 
one able to speak with authority, this 
small amount of evidence can not be 
given great weight. It would not be 
entitled to very much consideration 
even if it were uncontradicted; but it is 


influence of fer- 
tilization—could 
be expected. They might, however, be 
covered by von Tschermak’s second 
hypothesis’s described above. 

The points taken into consideration 
by Walther were (1) the weight, (2) the 
shape, (3) the glossiness, and (4) the 
color of the eggs. It will not be worth 
while to quote Walther’s statistics, but 
his own conclusions may be indicated. 

1. It could not be found that the 
cock produced any effect whatever on 


’ Walther, Adolph R. Ueber den Einfluss der Rassenkreuzung auf Gewicht, Form, Glanz und 
Farbe der Hithnereier. Landwirthschaftliche Jahrbticher, XLVI, Heft 1, S. 89-104, Berlin, 1914. 


218 The Journal 
the weight of the individual eggs laid 
by the hen. Such slight changes as 
were noticed can be explained by the 
fact that the weight of a hen’s eggs 
tends to diminish toward the end of her 
laying season. 

2. It could not be found that the 
cock produced any effect whatever on 
the form (proportion of length to 
breadth) of the eggs. Walther says 
that the weight and length of an egg 
are very closely correlated, so this result 
is only what would be expected from 
result No. 1. 

3. The glossiness of surface of the 
eggs did not seem to be at all affected 
by the cock. This is not such a critical 
case as some of the others, because the 
differences in glossiness of the eggs of 
the pure races used in the experiment 
are not so great and sharply distin- 
guished. As far as it goes, however, the 
examination of this point utterly fails 
to show any trace of xenia. 

4. As to the influence of the cock 
on the color of egg shells, the experiment 
was not entirely conclusive. It was 
started with another purpose in mind, 
and sufficient care was not taken to 
choose breeds of fowl that were sharply 
distinguished in the color of their eggs. 
The results, such as they are, tell 
against rather than for an influence of 
the cock on the color of the egg shell, 
but Walther does not claim that they 
are final. 

THE CONCLUSIONS 

In conclusion, Walther says: ‘The 
study of the question whether the male 
bird is in a position to influence the egg 


of Heredity 


shell characteristics in the direction of 
those that mark his own breed or species, 
was taken up to determine the accuracy 
of the investigations previously men- 
tioned, purporting to show that xenia 
occurred in the animal kingdom.” As 
far as Holdefleiss’ results are concerned, 
Walther thinks they are hardly worth 
considering. As for the results from von 
Tschermak’s crosses of canary species, 
Walther says, ‘““My own results have 
contradicted them, as far as size, shape 
and glossiness of the eggs is concerned, 
showing not the slightest trace of in- 
fluence on the part of the cock. For 
the question of influence on the color 
of the egg shell, my researches unfor- 
tunately are not in a position to throw 
much light. I think that both these 
alleged cases of xenia in birds’ eggs are 
from every point of view ‘utterly 
unsafe grounds for drawing any sweep- 
ing conclusion.” 

Few biologists would be likely to 
dissent from Walther on this point, 
that no sweeping conclusions should be 
drawn from this evidence; and Walther’s 
own results must share the same fate. 
Von Tschermak’s experiments with ca- 
naries must be regarded with respect 
until they are contradicted or explained 
away, but the evidence of xenia in 
poultry is certainly not adequate. 
American poultry breeders do not, on 
the whole, entertain a belief in xenia in 
their flocks, and as far as the present 
evidence is concerned, their skepticism 
seems to be justified. The question is 
a recent one, and much work may yet 
be done on it, but until such work is 
done, xenia in fowls must be considered 
an open question, at most. 


Barred Pattern in White Fowls 


In the note at the bottom of page 149, Journal of Heredity, April, 1915 (Vol. 
VI, No. 4), it is stated that ‘Further analytic breeding proves that this barring 
is.carried in the germ-plasm ofthe White Leghorn, not the White Plymouth Rock.” 
The last line should have read, ‘‘of the White Leghorn as well as the White Plymouth 


Rock.”’ 


MORE “EUGENIC LAWS” 


Four States Consider Sterilization Legislation and Nine Contemplate Restrictions 
on Marriage—None of Proposed Laws Satisfactory from Eugenic Viewpoint 
Dr. W. C. RUCKER 


Assistant Surgeon General, U.S. Public Health Service, Washington, D. C.; Secretary, 
Committee on Education and Extension, American Genetic Association 


BelSLATION is still-in the 
minds of many people, a panacea 
| J for all the biological ills of the 
nation, and the past winter has 
seen another crop of proposed “‘eugenic 
laws,” of a character which the experi- 
ences of recent years would lead us to 
expect. Most of the measures which 
the public hails as eugenic have nothing 
to do with eugenics, and some of the 
measures that bear on eugenics bear in 
the wrong direction. The populariza- 
tion cf the science of eugenics has 
suffered in the past in two ways which 
are direct antitheses. On the one hand 
it has been declared a fad, the dream of 
the idealist, the impractical propaganda 
of the mentally unemployed, while on 
the other hand it has been made the 
refuge of that species of crank who 
always welcomes the new and unusual, 
and a cloak to be thrown about weak 
legislative measures requiring the suste- 
nance of popularity. Eugenics is a 
science. It is a fact, not a fad. It 
is a means for the continued better- 
ment of the race stock and the physical 
and mental uplift of mankind in 
general. In order to achieve success, 
a knowledge of its principles must 
be disseminated and it is important 
that those interested in the furtherance 
of eugenics should understand the exact 
nature of these measures in order that, 
if they see fit to favor them, they may 
not do so under the impression that 
they are furthering the cause of eugenics. 
With the assistance of the editor of the 
Journal of Heredity, there has therefore 
been prepared the following digest of 
bills advertised as eugenic, which, as 
far as we know, are now pending in the 
several States of the Union. 


Bills for the sterilization of certain 
supposedly undesirable classes of citizens 
have been introduced in the legislatures 
of four states. These, if rightly framed 
and properly administered, would have 
a eugenic value in cutting off defective 
streams of germ-plasm. They will be 
considered first. 

The Nebraska bill (House No. 15) 
provides that the Board of Commis- 
sioners of State Institutions shall ap- 
point two physicians to be known as the 
board of examiners of epileptics, feeble- 
minded and other defectives. Their 
compensation shall be $10 a day while 
they are actually engaged in this work, 
and their duty shall be to examine into 
the physical and mental condition and 
record and family history of the feeble- 
minded, epileptic and other defective 
inmates of the several State hospitals 
for the insane, State prisons, reforma- 
tories and charitable and penal institu- 
tions. If it shall be the judgment of 
this board that procreation by any such 
inmate “would produce children with 
an inherited tendency to crime, insanity, 
feeblemindedness, idiocy or imbecility 
and there is no probability that the 
condition of any such person so exam- 
ined will improve to such an extent as 
to render procreation by any such 
person advisable, or if the physical or 
mental condition of any such person 
will be substantially improved thereby, 
then said board shall appoint one of its 
members to perform such operation 
for the prevention of procreation as 
shall be decided by said board to be 
most effective.’”’ Court procedure is 
made necessary, however, before the 
operation is actually carried out. 

219 


220 


Section 4 of the bill provides that, 
“Except as authorized by this act, 
every person who shall perform, en- 
courage, assist in or otherwise permit 
the performance of the operation for 
the purpose of destroying the power to 
procreate the human species or any 
person who shall knowingly permit 
such operation to be performed upon 
such person unless the same shall be a 
medical necessity, shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor.” 


BILL ONCE VETOED 


Those familiar with the recent history 
of restrictive eugenics will observe that 
this is almost identical with the bill 
which passed the Nebraska legislature 
two years ago. The only changes are 
that the former bill included criminals 
among the classes which might be 
sterilized, and: made the offense in 
section 4 a felony instead of a mis- 
demeanor, a penitentiary instead of a 
jail offense, so to speak. Governor 
John H. Morehead in vetoing the 
former bill on April 14, 1914, said: 
“This act is so far-reaching in its 
consequences and so intimately related 
to the social life of mankind, that legisla- 
tive action should not be taken thought- 
lessly or hurriedly. This proposed legis- 
lation is new and practically untried; 
at best it is only an experiment and it 
seems more in keeping with the pagan 
age than with the teachings of Chris- 
tianity. Man is more than an animal.” 
The governor further remarked that he 
thought the act might be unconstitu- 
tional, and pointed out, “There is no 
valid reason why this should be made to 
apply to wards of the State. These 
wards are under the care and control of 
superintendents appointed by the State, 
the different sexes are segregated and the 
danger sought to be obviated by this 
act is already well guarded against.” 

If the sexes are properly segregated in 
Nebraska institutions, and detained 
until they have passed the reproductive 
period, if not for life, then the writers 
agree with Governor Morehead’s action 
in vetoing the bill, although they do 
not agree entirely with his reasons for 
doing so. The newly introduced meas- 
ure applies only to the feebleminded, 


The Journal of Heredity 


epileptic and defective wards of the 
State, omitting criminals as such. But 
Governor Morehead says these wards 
are already effectively segregated. The 
proposed sterilization measure therefore 
seems unnecessary, and should not be 
passed. 

Several weaknesses in the measure 
might be pointed out; the writers will 
refer only to section 4, which would 
make it a misdemeanor for anyone to 
perform a sterilization operation, except 
on a ward of the State. In his veto 
message, the governor said, “I am 
heartily in favor of the provisions of 
section 4 of this act and would be 
pleased to sign a law making it a felony 
for any person to perform any operation 
for the purpose of destroying the power 
to procreate the human species and 
making it a felony for any person to 
permit such an operation to be per- 
formed.” In the judgment of the 
writers, this attitude, which is unfor- 
tunately widespread, is a menace to 
eugenics. If the interests of society 
are best served when a man with given 
characteristics, in a state institution, is 
sterilized, then the interests of society 
will be served equally well when a man 
with the same characteristics, outside a 
State institution, is sterilized; and 
certainly no one will contend that all 
the cacogenic stock in the state of 
Nebraska, or any other State, is within 
the walls of the State institutions. It 
should be possible for any adult person 
in possession of his faculties to submit 
to the operation of sterilization if, in 
his judgment, it is to the interests of the 
race that he should not  procreate. 
The Nebraska bill would legalize steril- 
ization when it is for the physical well- 
being of the individual: is the physical 
well-being of the race less important 
than that of the individual? Cases 
constantly occur where high-minded 
persons seek sterilization in the interests 
of the race, knowing themselves to be 
carriers of defects or anti-social traits; 
it is to the interest of eugenics that 
such cases continue to occur. As for 
the low-minded persons who may seek 
sterilization to avoid the economic or 
social consequences of parenthood, it is 
certainly not to the interests of eugenics 


Rucker: More “‘Eugenic Laws” 


that people of that character should 
leave offspring who are likely to resemble 
them. 

‘From’ the standpoint of eugenics, 
therefore, we think it would be a mis- 
take to pass a law which would make 
sterilization outside of State institutions 
absolutely impossible. No doubt the 
practice of it should be properly safe- 
guarded, but that is a very different 
thing from branding it as a felony. It 
might be possible to have cases proposed 
for sterilization reviewed by a State 
board of experts, in order that quacks 
should not take advantage of freedom 
from restriction to work irreparable 
harm to credulous or cowardly young 
persons. Eugenists can be counted on, 
we believe to support any honest 
attempt of a State to find a means 
whereby sterilization can be properly 
controlled and directed, but we cannot 
countenance measures which will stig- 
matize eugenic asexualization as a 
crime. 


WASHINGTON LEGISLATION 


The State of Washington has had, 
since 1909, a law providing that courts 
may order the sterilization of habitual 
criminals and extreme sex-offenders. 
It is, as H. H. Laughlin, Superintendent 
of the Eugenics Record Office, says, 
“A purely optional and punitive statute 
that should be recast into an operable 
eugenical measure.” An attempt was 
made to do this in 1913, but failed. 
Another bill was introduced in January 
of this year (House No. 24) providing 
that no person in any of the several 
Washington hospitals for the insane, or 
the State institution for the feeble- 


minded, shall be discharged unsterilized — 


if, in the judgment of the superintend- 
ent, procreation by such person ‘‘would 
produce children with an inherited 
tendency to crime, insanity, feeble- 
mindedness, idiocy or imbecility, and 
there is no probability that the condi- 
tion of such person will improve to 
such an extent as to render procreation 
by such person advisable.’’ Friends or 
relatives of the patient may appeal from 
the decision of the superintendent to 
the Superior Court, who shall appoint 
three physicians to investigate. If a 


224 


majority of this investigating committee 
overrules the superintendent’s decision, 
the person shall be discharged from the 
institution. If they uphold the super- 
intendent, ‘“‘the court shall enter an 
order directing that such person shall 
not be discharged from such institution 
until such operation is performed.’ 
If the friends or relatives then consent 
to the operation, the patient shall be 
sterilized and discharged. 

It is a temptation to State authorities, 
of course, to release as many of the 
State’s wards as possible, in order to 
transfer the expense of their care from 
the State to private individuals. This 
is entirely proper if careful safeguards 
are established; but the present bill 
does not appear to us to provide any 
such safeguards. From a eugenic point 
of view, we think State segregation 
may give place to family segregation, 
where the relatives of an insane or 
feebleminded person are able to become 
responsible for him or her; but State 
segregation should not be replaced by 
sterilization and the reckless release of 
defective persons. The bulk of the 
persons affected will probably be the 
higher grades of feebleminded; these 
have the sexual impulses strongly devel- 
oped, but their sexual inhibitions are 
weak or lacking: their freedom, sterilized, 
in the community; appears to us almost 
certain in a great many cases to make 
them foci for the dissemination of 
immorality and venereal diseases. That 
is a hygienic rather than a eugenic 
consideration, but it seems to us the 
most serious aspect of the sterilization 
idea. From the eugenic point of view, 
sterilization of the defective females 


would be -most important, and it must 


not be forgotten that sterilization of 
females is a serious matter, leading to 
expense, illness, and frequently danger. 
It is not to be undertaken on a wholesale 
scale without careful consideration. 


OBJECTION TO THE BILL 


Our objection, then, to this bill is 
that it is not adequate to serve the 
purpose for which it is intended. It 
makes no provision for the proper 
segregation of defectives after they 
have been released from a State institu- 


222 


tion, apparently assuming that if they 
are sterilized the State has done its 
full duty. We consider this idea to be 
entirely erroneous. Defectives should 
not be released from State custody 
unless their relatives and friends are 
certain to care for them properly; and 
in such cases, sterilization will fre- 
quently—although doubtless not always 
—be unnecessary. We think this bill 
should be defeated. Washington’s ex- 
isting sterilization law is practically not 
in effect,! and if its legislators cannot 
improve on this attempt at amendment, 
the State had better get along without 
a sterilization law and keep its defec- 
tive wards properly and permanently 
isolated. 


MISSOURI LEGISLATION 


Missouri makes its first attempt to 
enter the ranks of legislative eugenists, 
in House Bill No. 385, now pending, 
which, after declaring that “habitual 
criminals, moral degenerates and sexual 
perverts are menaces to public health, 
peace and safety,’’ and defining those 
classes, requires all superintendents of 
State hospitals for insane and feeble- 
minded and the superintendent of the 
State penitentiary to report quarterly 
to the State Board of Health the names, 
record, character and condition of any 
such persons in their care. The board 
of health shall investigate each case, 
and if the subject is found to be as 
described, he shall be sterilized. He or 
his friends or relatives may appeal to a 
circuit court; if the finding of the board 
of health is sustained, sterilization shall 
proceed. 

This measure declares itself to be a 
police regulation rather than an attempt 
to improve the average value of heredity 
in the State. From a eugenic stand- 
point, it appears to the writers to be of 
little value, and its defeat is desirable. 
Eugenic and police or punitive measures 
should not be confused—if they are 
linked together the public will get an 
inaccurate idea of what eugenics means; 
nor is it desirable that eugenic steriliza- 
tion be considered a form of punishment. 
Furthermore, the bill takes no account 


1 Eugenics Record Office Bulletin 10B, p. 80. 


2 Ibid., p. 87. 


The Journal of Heredity 


of whether the inmate of a hospital 
for the insane or feebleminded, or the 
State penitentiary, is going to remain 
there for life. If he is, sterilization is 
foolish—the sexes should be segregated. 
If he is not, more care should be made 
necessary in arranging for his future; 
he should not be dismissed in this 
offhand manner as a person of no further 
concern to the State. The framers of 
this measure give no evidence of under- 
standing the purpose of sterilization 
from a eugenic point of view: they 
appear to look on it as a sort of patent 
medicine, a bottle of which will wholly 
cure one of these degenerates whom 
they have described as menaces to 
public health, peace and safety. The 
eugenist cannot share that view. 


IOWA’S ‘“‘EUGENIC LAW” 


Iowa has taken the subject of “‘eugenic 
laws”’ very seriously, but without prac- 
tical results to date. In 1911 it adopted 
a sweeping statute for sterilization, 
which was never actually put in effect,? 
in 1913 it repealed this and adopted a 
substitute law which is still theoretically 
in force but under which, so far as is 
known to us, no operation has ever 
been performed. It is optional as 
regards most classes of degenerates, 
compulsory in case of persons twice 
convicted of an ordinary felony or 
sexual offense, and compulsory after 
one conviction for ‘“‘white slavery.” 
The latter provision obviously lends 
itself well to the purposes of black- 
mailers who are already making such 
profitable use of the Mann White Slave 
Act. The lowa statute has never com- 
mended itself to many people, and House 
Bill No. 365, now pending, proposes to 
repeal it, and substitute a new law 
omitting criminals as such from the 
act and making it apply only to insane, 
idiots, imbeciles and feebleminded, and 
the svphilitic, who are confined in 
State institutions. Sterilization is to be 
performed whenever the superintendent 
and a majority of his medical staff 
agree that it is for the best interests 
of any patient and society; vasectomy 
for men and salpingectomy for women 


Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., February, 1914. 


Rucker: More ‘‘Eugenic Laws’’ 


are stipulated, a majority of the board 
of control must approve, and relatives 
or. guardian of the patient must give 
their written consent. Obviously, this 
is a tremendous modification of the 
present law, and one in the right direc- 
tion, although the inclusion of syphilitics 
in the classes which may be sterilized 
seems to the writers absolutely inde- 
fensible. Syphilis being a _ curable 
disease, there is no more reason for 
sterilizing a person with syphilis than a 
person with typhoid fever. The new 
bill also contains a provision that any 
person performing a sterilization opera- 
tion except as provided for in this law 
shall be fined not more than $1,000 or 
imprisoned not more than one year in 
the penitentiary, or both. Were it not 
for this clause and the inclusion of 
syphilitics, the writers would favor the 
repeal of Iowa’s present law and the 
adoption of this proposed measure; 
under the circumstances, it is hoped 
that this new proposal, unless amended 
will be defeated, and the old one repealed 
or allowed to rest in abeyance until a 
measure framed on more sensible lines 
can be introduced. 

All things considered, the measures 
now pending in these four States do not 
indicate that the general public has 
been very well educated as to the 
possibilities and requirements of legisla- 
tion to promote eugenics. A careful 
reading of the report of the Committee’ 
which has been at work on the subject 
since 1911, under the chairmanship of 
Bleecker Van Wagenen, would show 
the proponents of these measures that 
they are in many cases far from the 
track marked out by genetics. And 
genetists are very strongly of the 
opinion that this is a subject on which 
they have the right to be heard. 


““EUGENIC MARRIAGE LAWS” 


But if legislative tendencies toward 
sterilization at the present time are of 
little value to the science of eugenics, 
certainly still less can be said for the 
widespread attempt to control marriage 


223 


by various legislative devices. Bills 
which are hailed by the press and public 
as being “‘eugenic marriage laws’’ are 
now pending in the legislatures of nine 
States. In nearly every case these are 
wholly measures of social hygiene rather 
than eugenics; they are usually intended 
to aid in the campaign against venereal 
disease. The writers are in complete 
sympathy with this campaign, but not 
with its masquerade as a eugenic affair. 
The prevention of venereal disease is a 
matter of hygiene which lies in the 
field of public health; it has nothing 
whatever to do with eugenics, as 
venereal diseases are not hereditary and 
eugenics is concerned with heredity, not 
personal hygiene. The science of eugen- 
ics has plenty of work on its hands, 
without invading the field of preventive 
medicine, and it has already suffered 
enough in popular estimation through 
its undesired connection with sex hy- 
giene. It is the duty of every eugenist 
vigorously to repudiate such bills as 
those which follow, in so far as they are 
represented to be eugenic laws; no 
matter how heartily he may indorse 
some or all of them as hygienic laws. 
How far removed they are from the 
legitimate field of eugenics will best be 
seen by a review of them. Vermont 
has led the way with a bill passed by 
both houses of the legislature and ap- 
proved by the governor on March 22, 
1915, which provides a heavy fine or jail 
sentence for any person who, knowing 
himself to be infected with gonorrhea or 
syphilis, either marries or has sexual 
intercourse. Any physician treating a 
patient infected with a venereal disease 
must report the name, address, age and 
sex of such patient to the State Board of 
Health; he is paid $0.25 if he does and 
is fined $200 if he does not. The State 
Board of Health is empowered to make 
and enforce such rules and regulations for 
quarantining and treatment of venereal 
diseases as are deemed necessary. With 
the merits of this new law, the writers 
are not here concerned; they wish 


§ Report of the Committee to Study and to Report on the Best Practical Means of Cutting Off 


the Defective Germ-Plasm in the American Population. ( 
Bulletin 10A, The Scope of the Committee’s Work; Bulletin 


Harbor, New York, February, 1914. 


Eugenics Record Office, Cold Spring 


10B, The Legal, Legislative and Administrative Aspects of Sterilization; both by Harry H. 


Laughlin, secretary of the committee. 


224 


merely to point out that i is not a 
eugenic law. 

House Bill No. 259, now pending 
before the Vermont legislature, has more 
claim to the attention of eugenists, as 
it is intended to bar marriage to the 
imbecile, insane and epileptic, as well as 
to any person who is or has been within 
five years an inmate of asylum or poor- 
house, unless it is shown that the cause 
of such condition has been removed and 
that the prospective groom is able to 
support a family. License is also to be 
refused if either applicant is afflicted 
with a transmissible disease; freedom 
from such disease to be certified by a 
practicing physician. In view of the 
adoption of the law mentioned in the 
previous paragraph,it is not likely that 
this one will get on the statute books. 


SOUTH DAKOTA’S BILL 


At the request of the Social Science 
Club of Aberdeen, S. D., the Legislature 
of South Dakota is now considering a 
bill (House No. 131) which would 
require every applicant for a marriage 
license to present a certificate of fitness 
signed by the superintendent of the 
County Board of Health, showing that 
no communicable disease or mental or 
physical defect exists against contracting 
the marriage relation. In order that 
he may certify to this fitness, the 
superintendent of the County Board of 
Health shall make a personal examina- 
tion of each applicant, at a cost of $5 
to the applicant; if he decides that a 
laboratory test is necessary, he shall 
so order and $10 more shall be collected 
from the applicant. No certificate of 
fitness to marry shall be issued to an 
insane, feebleminded, epileptic or syphil- 
itic person unless he or she has pre- 
viously been sterilized. Transmissible 
contagious disease is an absolute bar to 
marriage. 

In regard to this and other bills of 
the same type, little comment need 
here be made. They are badly designed 
and should not be passed, as eugenic 
measures. 

The legislature of the state of New 
York is now considering a bill (House 
No. 513) amending the present law 
regarding marriages in such a way as to 


The Journal of Heredity 


prohibit the issuance of a marriage 
license unless the applicant presents a 
certificate from a physician “‘that such 
applicant is free from any physical or 
mental infirmity or disease which is 
likely to be contagious, communicable 
or hereditary.’ A consideration of the 
experience of Wisconsin and its notor- 
ious “‘eugenic law’’ ought to cool the 
ardor of the backers of this measure. 

Indiana is similarly considering a 
measure (Senate Bill No. 16) requiring 
applicants for a marriage license to 
present a certificate from a reputable 
physician showing that they: are not 
feebleminded, insane, or afflicted with 
an open case of tuberculosis or any 
transmissible disease. The introduction 
of this bill may at least have some educa- 
tive value on public opinion, by calling 
attention to the fact that tuberculosis is 
an extremely undesirable thing in a 
prospective life partner. 

A so-called Eugenics bill has also been 
introduced into the Senate of Illinois. 
It requires that health certificates, signed 
by physicians, shall be presented by the 
prospective bride and groom prior to the 
issuance of a marriage license, and that 
no county clerk shall issue a marriage 
license to any person suffering from a 
communicable disease. This is a public 
health law, not a eugenics law. 

Missouri proposes to go back to the 
old system of banns, in House Bill No. 
17, which requires each applicant for a 
marriage license to present a certificate 
from a reputable physician which shall 
state in concise terms the applicant’s 
health and his fitness to marry. Notice 
of application for marriage license shall 
be published in a daily paper three 
consecutive times, at the expense of the 
county. If at the expiration of one 
day from the publication of the last 
notice, no charges have been filed with 
the recorder alleging applicant’s unfit- 
ness to marry, license shall be granted. 
If objection be made by three persons 
not related in blood to each other, on 
the ground of any item mentioned in the 
physician’s certificate, the case shall 
be taken before the circuit court; if the 
court sustains the objection of these 
three unrelated persons, a license to wed 
shall be denied; if the court overrules 


Rucker: More “Eugenic Laws”’ 


the objection the license shall be 
granted and the objectors will have for 
their pains the feeling that they tried 
to do their duty—and also a bill for the 
court costs. 


PUBLICATION OF BANNS 


In so far as this measure has ahy 
bearing on eugenics it is, in the present 
state of public opinion, premature. 
The idea of publishing the banns has 
appealed to many eugenists as desirable 
in preventing hasty and ill-considered 
marriages. There is much to be said 
for it, but such a bill as this is not likely 
to commend itself to any genetist, as 
the proper method of procedure, because 
three unrelated laymen and the judge 
of a circuit court are not the proper 
persons to decide on the _ biological 
fitness of a proposed marriage. It 
should and probably will be defeated. 

Oregon already has a law requiring 
the male applicant for a marriage license 
to present a health certificate. Two 
bills on this subject are now before the 
House; No. 273 would amend the law 
to make the woman present a similar 
certificate, while No. 161 would repeal 
the existing law altogether. The law 
has probably already done what little 
service to eugenics it can render, by 
calling public attention to the desir- 
ability of health in a marriage mate. 
At present, public opinion is the only 
thing that can operate effectively, and 
it will be no loss to eugenics if the 
existing Oregon law, which is not a 
eugenic law, is repealed. 

Nebraska is considering the addition 
of medical duties to the other functions 
of the judiciary. House Bill No. 571, 
now pending, provides that no marriage 
license may be issued to a_ person 
infected with a venereal disease. To 
enable the county judge to decide this 
point, he may require both applicants 
to come before him so that he may 
question them, either under oath or 
not; he may also require them to give 
affidavits. He shall also require the 
male applicant to present the affidavit 
of a physician of good standing to the 
effect that said physician has made a 
careful and thorough examination of 
said male applicant and finds him free 


229 


from all symptoms of infectious venereal 
disease. The physician shall be paid a 
fee of $5 by the applicant unless he 
thinks a laboratory test needed, when 
he shall insist on such a test being made 
and shall be entitled to a fee of $25 
from the applicant. 

Although often hailed as a ‘‘eugenic 
marriage law,” this bill of course has 
nothing to do with eugenics. Since the 
point is frequently raised, however, it 
may be worth while to suggest that no 
test except a laboratory test is of any 
real value in determining whether or 
not a man or woman is infected with a 
venereal disease; and that $25 is a 
rather high fee for the Wasserman test 
with Noguchi control, or any other test 
which is to be a legal prerequisite to 
marriage and which is to have such a 
widespread application. The Nebraska 
bill is not well drawn and should die. 


WISCONSIN'S EXPERIENCE 


Wisconsin, which stepped to the 
front of the procession in 1913 by 
adopting a law, miscalled eugenic, 
requiring every applicant for a marriage 
license to present a health certificate, 
has been having trouble with the 
enforcement of that law ever since, and 
House Bill No. 197, introduced at the 
present session of the legislature, would 
repeal it. House Bill No. 100, also 
pending, would abolish the physician’s 
certificate and merely require each 
applicant to state on honor that he or 
she is free from “‘any acquired venereal 
disease.”’ The framer of this measure 
will immortalize himself among students 
of heredity if he can show us any 
venereal disease that is not acquired. 

Such, in outline, are the so-called 
“eugenic laws’’ of the present season, 
known to us, that are being considered 
or have been considered by State 
Legislatures. Not one of them com- 
mends itself to us. Most of them have 
nothing to do with eugenics; those that 
have some connection with eugenics 
are so inadequate or so carelessly drawn 
that their passage is undesirable. Their 
presentation has a certain value, in 
arousing public sentiment to the need 
of restricting the production of defec- 
tives in this country; but their appear- 


226 The Journal 
ance in the present form indicates that 
public sentiment still has a wrong idea 
of the proper and profitable relation 
that can and should exist between 
legislation and eugenics. In general 
the writers believe, and most genetists 
have come to the same view, that steri- 
lization by law is not in many cases a 
desirable procedure for eugenists to 
advocate; that permanent isolation of 
the defective classes is a _ preferable 
means of dealing with them; and that 
neither the science of eugenics nor 
public sentiment is ready for legislation 
putting restrictions on marriage, so far 
as those restrictions are strictly eugenic 
rather than hygienic in intent. 

The kind of legislation that will 
really advance the science of eugenics 
at the present time is legislation that 
provides for research. The public seems 
to have an idea that the study of 
heredity is being profoundly cultivated 
by many well-equipped institutions 
and a large body of workers. As a 
fact, the active workers in this field are, 
and always have been, merely a cor- 
poral’s guard. Their achievement is far 
out of proportion to their fewness; yet 
they have done little more than scratch 


of Heredity 


the surface of the field. We have 
learned much; we have enough knowl- 
edge to make definite action profitable 
in many lines; but the distance we have 
yet to go is far greater than that we have 
already traversed. Immediate action 
in negative eugenics is in many quarters 
desirable, but the great need of eugenics, 
and one that is not being adequately 
met, is the need for more facts. 

It is time for the friends of eugenics 
to stop promoting such legislation as 
that herein outlined, and to divert more 
of their energy to a broad, constructive 
policy for the furtherance of eugenics. 
They may, for example, very profitably 
help to: 

Promote research in heredity; 

Disseminate a knowledge of the laws 
of heredity; 

Create a ‘‘eugenic conscience”’ in the 
public; 

Give the young people of their 
acquaintance a chance to meet and fall 
in love with suitable life-partners; 

Further every means that will remove 
some of the social and economic bars 
to marriage and parenthood, that now 
tell so heavily on our eugenically superior 
classes. 


Heredity In Apples 


Apple breeding was begun at the New York state experiment station (Geneva, 
N. Y.) in 1898, and 148 seedlings of crosses then made have fruited. The results 
of these crosses have satisfied the experimenters: (i) that seedling apples have very 
little tendency to revert to the wild prototype, despite the popular belief to the 
contrary; (ii) that some of the characters of apples seem to be prepotent in trans- 
mission. The vigor expected of a first hybrid generation is found to a marked 
degree. 

Interesting facts regarding the inheritance of separate traits have been worked 
out. In color of skin, the fruits in which yellow predominates over red seem to be 
heterozygous; the fruits in which red predominates seem to be either homozygous 
or heterozygous, while those of pure yellow color are apparently homozygous. As 
to color of flesh in Ben Davis and McIntosh, whose crosses were most carefully 
studied, there is reason to believe that they carry both yellow and white, the latter 
being recessive. Sourness and sweetness may be allelomorphs, the former a 
dominant and the latter a recessive, since in many crosses there were three sour 
apples for every sweet one. In general, the experimenters do not think Mendelism 
offers much practical promise in improving varieties of apples. They further 
think that size and shape are inherited in an intermediate or blended condition: 
which is perhaps the same as saying that they are caused by so many separate 
characters, inherited independently, that the crosses produce almost every possible 
result. 


NATURE OR NURTURE? 


Actual Improvement 


of the Race Impossible Except through Heredity—Facts 


on Which the Eugenist Bases His Faith—The Attitude of Eugenics 
Toward Social Problems’ 


THe EpDITOR 


ITTLE more than a year ago I 

| cat on the same platform with 

the late Jacob Riis, at a confer- 

ence on race betterment. A 

number of members of our association 

spoke of the need for improving the 

heredity of the children of the slums. 
Finally Jacob Riis took the floor. 

“We have heard friends here talk 
about heredity,” he exclaimed. Saline 
word has rung in my ears until I am 
sick of it. Heredity, heredity! hivere 
is just one heredity in all the world that 
is ours—we are children of God, and 
there is nothing in the whole big world 
that we cannot do in his service with it.”’ 

That, I regret to say, is the attitude 
still held by a great many social workers 
—the people who would see the power 
of heredity demonstrated before their 
own eyes every day, if their eyes were 
not closed by preconceived ideas. I 
am not going to waste any time demon- 
strating to you that there is such a 
thing as heredity, because I believe you 
would all be willing to admit it—as an 
academic question, as a theory. But 
I dare say that when it comes to prac- 
tice, a great many of you tacitly proceed 
on the assumption that Jacob Ruis 
stated so explicitly and vigorously. 
You want to see the world made better, 
and you therefore support charities, 
legislation, uplift movements, philan- 
thropic attempts at social betterment, 
all of which have as their object the 
improvement of the environment of 
persons who are living in a bad environ- 
ment. You believe that by so doing 
you ensure the improvement of the race. 

Now if you are right in acting on 
this principle, then we eugenists are 
largely wrong. If you can better the 
race by improving its environment, 


1A lecture to the Young Men’s Christian Association, Washington, D. C., March 18, 191 


then you have found a short cut in 
social progress, which we are too blind 
or stupid to follow. If all that every 
man needs is a chance, then we are 
hunting on the wrong scent. 

The faith of the social worker, the 
legislator, the physician, the sanitarian, 
in his method of improving the race is 
very literally the kind of faith that 
St. Paul described as the substance of 
things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen. We eugenists have a stronger 
faith, because it is based on things that 
are seen, and that can even be measured. 
We think we can prove that it is, on the 
whole, man who makes the environ- 
ment, not the environment which makes 
man. We are far from denying that 
nurture has an influence on nature, to 
use Galton’s antithesis, but we beheve 
that the influence of nurture, the 
environment, is only a fifth or perhaps 
a tenth that of nature—heredity. 

If we can prove this to you, I think 
eugenics will have justified its claim to 
consideration. If we cannot you may 
properly scorn us for wasting your 
time and ours. I shall therefore give 
up this evening to an endeavor to prove 
to you that man is largely the product 
of his heredity, and that environment 
has no power to improve this heredity 
and not much, within ordinary limits, 
to deteriorate it. If I succeed in 
convincing you, I shall expect you to 
join us in believing that the way to 
improve the race is not to work on a lot 
of bad heredity, but to see that a larger 
supply of good heredity is made avail- 
able. 


WHAT BIOLOGY TEACHES 


The problem, like many others in 
eugenics, might be attacked from two 


De 
227 


228 


sides—the biological and the statistical. 
An understanding of the facts of biology 
leads us to expect that heredity should 
be nearly all-powerful and the force of 
environment slight. Experiments con- 
firm this expectation. The University 
of Missouri, for example, is now carrying 
on a long breeding experiment to deter- 
mine whether the milking capacity of 
cows 1s due to heredity, or whether it 
is largely dependent on the good care 
and feed they receive. Cows are being 
subjected to all sorts of treatment at 
all ages, and the experiment has shown 
beyond question that the milk-yield is 
a matter of heredity, and is very little 
influenced by differences in the treat- 
ment of cows at any age. In plants and 
low animal organisms the influence of 
the environment is considerable, but 
it diminishes as we rise higher in the 
evolutionary scale. The student of 
modern biology can hardly conceive 
of the possibility that heredity in man 
should not be more important than 
environment. 

But that would not be a convincing 
way of presenting the problem to this 
audience, and I shall therefore present 
it largely from the statistical side. 
When we deal with things that we can 
measure and express in numbers, we 
have facts whose value you can decide 
for yourselves. I shall not try to pre- 
sent a solution of the problem.in general 
terms, for I do not think it can be done, 
but I shall pick out a number of definite 
examples and try to show you the 
relative weight of heredity and environ- 
ment in them. 

At the Race Betterment Conference, 
of which I spoke at the beginning of 
this paper, Byron W. Holt, a prominent 
New York social worker, declared, ‘It 
will hardly be denied that the two most 
important and fundamental causes of 
preventable disease, as well as of crime 
and race deterioration, are (1) ignorance 
and (2) poverty.’’ It certainly will 
be denied; I venture to say that it will 
be denied, and vehemently denied, by 
anyone who knows anything about the 


facts. Such a confusion of cause end 
effect is the most widespread and 
serious hindrance to the spread of 


eugenic ideas. Because a good environ- 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


ment makes it possible for hereditary 
traits to get expression, people jump 
to the conclusion that the environment 
created these traits. The improvement 
of the environment, absolutely essential 
as it is, must never be neglected for a 
minute; but our mistake has been in 
looking on it as an end rather than as 
ameans. Itisnot anend;it is merely a 
means of giving good heredity a chance 
for expression. If the good heredity 
is not there, it is hardly worth while to 
improve the environment: certainly it 
is a waste of time if it is done with the 
idea of thereby improving a stream of 
bad heredity in it. 


SOME FAMILIAR EXAMPLES 


The limited effect of nurture in chang- 
ing nature is in some fields a matter of 
common observation, if you only stop 
to think of it in that light. You men 
who work in the gymnasium know that 
exercise increases the strength of a given 
group of muscles, but that this does not 
go on increasing indefinitely. There 
comes a time when the limit of your 
hereditary potentiality 1s reached, and 
no amount of exercise will gain another 
millimeter in the circumference of your 
arm. Similarly the handball or tennis 
player some day reaches his highest 
point, and even if he redoubles his 
amount of practice and study of the 
game after that, he is unable to increase 
the precision of his shots or the speed 
of his play. The same thing applies to 
runners or race horses—one can do no 
more than give their inborn ability a 
chance to express itself. A trainer 
could bring Arthur Duffy in a few years 
to the point of running a hundred yards 
in 9%/; seconds, but no amount of 
training after that could clip off another 
fifth of a second; while if the same 
trainer had had me, even from child- 
hood, it is doubtful whether he would 
ever have gotten me to run it in 10 
seconds. A_ parallel case is found 
in the students who take a college 
examination. Half a dozen of them 
may have devoted the same amount of 
time to it—may have crammed to the 
limit—but they will still receive widely 
different marks. These commonplace 
cases show that nurture has seemingly 


The Editor: Nature or Nurture? 


some power to mould the individual, 
by giving his inborn possibilities a 
chance to express themselves, but that 
nature says the first and last word. 
Francis Galton, the father of eugenics, 
hit on an ingenious and more convincing 
illustration, by studying the history of 
twins. 

There are, as you know, two kinds of 
twins—ordinary twins and the so-called 
identical twins. Ordinary twins are 
merely brothers, or sisters, or brother 
and sister, who happen to be born 
two at a time, because two ova have 
developed simultaneously. The fact 
that they were born at the same time 
does not make them alike—they differ 
quite as widely from each other as 
ordinary brothers and sisters do. Iden- 
tical twins have their origin in a different 
phenomenon—they are halves of the 
same egg, which split in two at a very 
early stage of its development, each of 
the halves then developing into a 
separate individual. As would be ex- 
pected, these identical twins are always 
of the same sex, and extremely like 
each other, so that sometimes their own 
mother can not tell them apart. This 
likeness extends to all sorts of traits— 
they may lose their milk teeth on the 
same day, they may become sick on the 
same day with the same disease, even 
though they be in different cities, and 
so on. 

Now Galton reasoned that 1f environ- 
ment really changes the inborn char- 
acter, then these identical twins, who 
start life as halves of the same whole, 
ought to become more unlike if they 
were brought up apart; and as they grew 
older and moved into different spheres 
of activity, they ought to become 
measurably dissimilar. In the case of 
ordinary twins, who start dissimilar, 
they ought to become more alike when 
brought up in the same family, on the 
same diet, among the same friends, 
with the same education. If the course 
of years shows that identical twins 
remain as like as ever and ordinary 
twins as unlike as ever, regardless of 
changes in conditions, then environ- 
ment will have failed to demonstrate 
that it has any great power to modify 
one’s inborn nature. 


229 


With this view, Galton collected the 
history of eighty pairs of identical twins, 
thirty-five of which cases were accom- 
panied by very full details, which showed 
satisfactorily that the twins were really 
as nearly identical, in childhood, as one 
could expect to find. I can not quote 
his long and interesting descriptions of 
them; I can only state the conclusion. 
In the case of these thirty-five pairs 
who were ‘‘closely alike’’ in both body 
and mind, during childhood and youth, 
when they were brought up in the same 
environment, what changes did their 
separation into different environments, 
different walks of life, when they grew 
up, produce? In many cases the re- 
semblance of body and mind continued 
unaltered up to old age, notwithstanding 
very different conditions of life; in others 
a severe disease was sufficient to account 
for some change noticed. Other dis- 
similarity that developed, Galton had 
reason to believe, was due to the develop-- 
ment of inborn characters that appeared 
late in life. He therefore felt justified 
in broadly concluding “that the only 
circumstance, within the range of those 
by which persons of similar conditions 
of life are affected, that: is capable of 
producing a- marked efiect om the 
character of adults, is illness or some 
accident which causes physical infirmity. 
The twins who closely resembled each 
other in childhood and early youth, 
and were reared under not very dis- 
similar conditions, either grow unlike 
through the development of natural 
(that is, inherited) characteristics which 
had lain dormant at first, or else they 
continue their lives, keeping time like 
two watches, hardly to be thrown out 
of accord except by some physical jar.” 

Now let us consider the ordinary 
twins, who were unlike from the start, 
and. see how far nurture: has made 
them resemble each other. I cannot 
take time to cite Galton’s evidence, 
which was presented in his. usual 
cautious way. It, led him to write: 
“The impression that all this evidence 
makes on the mind is one of some wonder 
whether nurture can do anything at all, 
beyond giving instruction and _ profes- 
tional training.” The unlike twins 
never became any more like, no matter 


230 


under how similar conditions they 
existed; so that to Galton there seemed 
“no escape from the conclusion that 
nature prevails enormously over nur- 
ture, when the differences of nurture 
do not exceed what is commonly to be 
found among persons of the same rank 
in society and in the same country.” 
This kind of evidence was a good 
start for eugenics, but as the science 
grew, we outgrew such evidence. We 
no longer wanted to be told, no matter 
how minute the details, that ‘nature 
prevails enormously over nurture.”” We 
wanted to know exactly how much. We 
refused to be satisfied with the state- 
ment that a certain quantity was large; 
we demanded that it be measured or 
weighed. So Galton, Karl Pearson and 
other mathematicians devised means of 
doing this, and then Professor Edward 
L. Thorndike of Columbia University 
took up Galton’s problem again, with 
the new methods, from whose conclu- 
sions we think there can be no appeal. 


THE COEFFICIENT OF CORRELATION 


The tool used by Professor Thorndike 
was the coefficient of correlation, which 
shows the amount of resemblance or 
association between any two things 
that are capable of measurement, and 
is expressed in the form of a decimal 
fraction somewhere between 0 and the 
unit 1. Zero shows that there is no 
constant resemblance at all between the 
two things concerned, that they are 
wholly independent of each other, 
while 1 shows that they are completely 
dependent on each other—a condition 
that rarely exists, of course.? For 
instance, the correlation between the 
right and left femur in man’s legs is .98. 
The nearer our fraction approaches 
unity, the greater is the resemblance 
and the smaller it is, the less is the 
resemblance; while a coefficient of .9 is, 
of course, three times as great as a 
coefficient of .3; and so on. 

Thorndike picked out in the New 
York schools fifty pairs of twins about 
the same age and measured the closeness 


The Journal of Heredity 


of their resemblance in eight physical 
characters, and also in six mental 
characters, the latter being measured 
by the proficiency with which the sub- 
jects performed various tests. Then 
children of the same age and sex, picked 
at random from the same schools, were 
measured in the same way. It was 
thus possible to tell how much more alike 
twins were than ordinary children in 
the same environment. 

“Tf now these resemblances are due 
to the fact that the two members of any 
twin pair are treated alike at home, 
have the same parental models, attend 
the same school and are subject in 
general to closely similar environmental 
conditions, then (1) twins should, up 
to the age of leaving home, grow more 
and more alike, and in our measure- 
ments the twins 13 and 14 years old 
should be much more alike than those 
9 and 10 years old. Again (2) if 
similarity in training is the cause of 
similarity in mental traits, ordinary 
fraternal pairs not over four or five 
years apart in age should show a resem- 
blance somewhat nearly as great as 
twin pairs, for the home and school 
condition of a pair of the former will 
not be much less similar than those of a 
pair of the latter. Again, (3) if training 
is the cause, twins should show greater 
resemblance in the case of traits much 
subject to training, such as ability in 
addition or in multiplication, than in 
traits less subject to training, such as 
quickness in marking off the A’s on a 
sheet of printed capitals, or in writing 
the opposites of words.” 


THORNDIKE’S CONCLUSIONS 


The data were elaborately analyzed 
from many points of view. They 
showed (1) that the twins 12-14 years 
old were not any more alike than the 
twins 9-11 years old, although they 
ought to have been, if environment had 
any power to mould the character during 
these so-called ‘plastic years of child- 
hood.”” They showed (2) that the 
resemblance between twins was two or 


? What I say here refers to positive correlations, which are the only kind I cite in this paper. 
Correlations may also be negative, lying between 0 and —1: for instance, if we measured the 
correlation between a man’s lack of appetite and the time that had elapsed since his last meal, 
we should have to express it by a negative fraction, the minus sign showing that the greater his 
satiety, the less would be the time since his repast. 


The Editor: Nature or Nurture? 


three times as great as between ordinary 
children of the same age and sex, 
brought up under similar environment. 
There seems to be no reason why twins 
should be more alike, unless it is due 
to the power of heredity. The data 
showed (3) that the twins were no more 
alike in traits subject to much training 
than in traits subject to little or no 
training. Their achievement in these 
traits was determined by their heredity; 
no amount of training could alter these 
hereditary potentialities. 

“The facts,’’ Thorndike wrote, ‘‘are 
easily, simply and completely explained 
by one simple hypothesis: namely, that 
the natures of the germ-cells—the condi- 
tions of conception—cause whatever 
similarities and differences exist in the 
original natures of men, that these 
conditions influence mind and body 
equally, and that in life the differences 
in modification of mind and _ body 
produced by such differences as obtain 
between the environments of present- 
day New York City public school 
children are slight.’’ He reached the 
same conclusion that other studies of 
this sort have shown, that in the make- 
up of the individual there are probably 
nine parts of heredity for every one of 
nurture or training. 

“The inferences,” he says, ‘with 
respect to the enormous importance of 
original nature in determining the 
behavior and achievments of any man 
in comparison with his fellows of the 
same period of civilization and condi- 
tions of life are obvious. All theories 
of human life must accept as a first 
principle the fact that human beings at 
birth differ enormously in mental capac- 
ities and that these differences are 
largely due to similar differences in 
their ancestry. All attempts to change 
human nature must accept as their most 
important condition the limits set by 
original nature to each individual.’ 

Meantime other investigators, prin- 
cipally followers of Karl Pearson in 
England, were working out correlation 
coefficients in other lines of research 
for hundreds of different traits. It was 
found, no matter what physical or 
mental trait was measured, that the 
coefficient of correlation between parent 


Zod 


and child was a little less than .5 and 
that the coefficient between brother 
and brother, or sister and sister, or 
brother and sister, was little more than 
.5. On the average of many cases, the 
mean “‘nature”’ value, the coefficient of 
direct heredity, was placed at .51. 
This gave another means of measuring 
the relative importance of nature and 
nurture, for it was also possible to 
measure the relation between any trait 
in the child and some factor in the 
environment. A specific instance will 
make this clearer. 


MYOPIA 


We know that school children show 
an appalling amount of eye trouble, 
particularly short-sightedness. Now 
suppose it is suggested that this is 
because they are allowed to learn to 
read at too early an age. We can find 
out the age at which any given child 
did learn to read, and work out the 
coefficient of correlation between this 
age and the child’s amount of myopia. 
If we find the relation is very close 
between them—say .7 or .8—we will 
know that the earlier a child learns to 
read, the more short-sighted he is as he 
grows older. This will not prove a 
relation of cause and effect, but it will 
at least give us great suspicion. If on 
the contrary we find the correlation 
very slight, we are forced to admit 
that early reading has nothing to do 
with the prevalence of defective vision 
among school children. If we similarly 
work out all the other correlations that 
can be suggested, finding whether there 
is any regular relation between myopia 
and overcrowding, long hours of study, 
general economic conditions at home, 
general physical or moral conditions of 
parents, the time the child spends out 
of doors, etc., and if we find there is no 
relation of any moment between these 
various factors and myopia, we are 
driven to admit that no factor of the 
environment which we can think of as 
likely to cause the trouble really has 
anything to do with the poor eyesight 
of our school children. This has ac- 
tually been done, and none of the 
conditions I have enumerated has been 
found to be closely related to myopia 


OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 


Vey) The Journal 


in school children. Correlations be- 
tween fifteen environmental conditions 
and the goodness of children’s eyesight 
were measured, and only in one case 
was the correlation as high as .1. The 
mean of these correlations was about 
.04—an absolutely negligible quantity 
when compared with the heredity 
coefficient of .51. Does this prove 
that the myopia is rather due to hered- 
ity? It would, by a process of exclusion, 
if we could be sure that we had measured 
every conceivable environmental factor 
and found it wanting. We can never 
reach that point in the investigation, 
but we have at least reached, it seems 
to me, a tremendously strong suspicion. 
Now if we go on and measure the degree 
of resemblance between the prevalence 
of myopia in parents and that in chil- 
dren, and if we find that when the 
parent has eye trouble, the child also 
has it, then it seems to me that our 
general knowledge of heredity should 
lead us to believe that we have put our 
finger on the difficulty, and that we 
were seeking an environmental cause 
for the poor vision of the school child, 
when it was all the time due almost 
entirely to heredity. This final step 
has not yet been completed in an 
adequate way,’ but the evidence we 
have, partly analogical, gives every 
reason to believe in the soundness of the 
conclusion I stated, that in most cases 
the school-boy must wear glasses because 
of his heredity, not because of over- 
study or any neglect on the part of his 
parents to care for his eyes properly 
during his childhood. 

I have explained this case at some 
length, so you might understand clearly 
the way in which we have proceeded 
to pile up mathematical proof of the 
preponderating importance of heredity 
as compared with environment. I shall 


of Heredity 


now run over several similar cases more 
hastily. 


INTELLIGENCE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 


The extent to which the intelligence 
of school children is dependent on 
defective physique and unfavorable 
home environment is an important 
practical question, which David Heron 
of London attacked by the methods I 
have outlined. He wanted to find out 
whether the healthy children were the 
most intelligent. We are constantly 
hearing stories of how the intelligence 
of school children has been improved 
by some treatment which improved 
their general health, but these stories 
are rarely presented in such a way as to 
constitute evidence of scientific value. 
We wanted to know what exact measure- 
ment would show: whether it was really 
possible that the dullards became prodi- 
gies as soon as their adenoids were 
removed, whether hot lunches really 
increased the brain power, and so on. 
The intelligence of all the children in 
fourteen schools was measured in its 
correlation with weight and _ height, 
condition of clothing and teeth, state 
of nutrition, cleanliness, good hearing, 
and the condition of the cervical glands, 
tonsils and adenoids. It could not be 
found that mental capacity was closely 
related to any of the characters dealt 
with. The rather curious set of char- 
acters measured was taken because it 
happened to be furnished by data 
collected for another purpose; the vari- 
ous items are suggestive rather than 
directly conclusive. Here again, the 
correlation in most cases was less than 
1, as compared with the heredity 
correlation of .5. 

Next, take the very complex subject 
of tuberculosis. Certainly we would not 
say that it is inherited, but there is 


’ Dr. James Alexander Wilson, assistant surgeon of the Opthalmic Institute, Glasgow, pub- 
lished an analysis of 1,500 cases of myopia in the British Medical Journal, p. 395, August 29, 


1914. 


His methods are not above criticism, and too much importance should not be attached 


to his results, which show that in 58% of the cases heredity can be credited with the myopia of 


the patient. 


In 12% of the cases it was due to inflammation of the cornea (keratitis) while in 


the remaining 30% no hereditary influence could be proved, but various reasons made him feel 


certain that in many cases it existed. 


The distribution of myopia by trades and professions 


among his patients is suggestive: 65% of the cases among school children showed myopic 
heredity, 63% among housewives and domestic servants, 68% among shop and factory workers, 


60% among clerks and typists, 60% among laborers and miners. 


If environment really played 


an active part, one would not expect to find this similarity in percentages between laborers and 
clerks, between housewives and school children, etc. 


The Editor: Nature or Nurture? 


good reason to believe that its appear- 
ance in any individual is largely due to 
his inheritance of what physicians call 
the tubercular diathesis—that is, a 
weakness of the constitution predis- 
posing to tuberculosis. As compared 
with this factor, all factors of infection 
are of relatively small importance. 
Under modern city conditions, it is 
almost certain that one who leads a 
moderately active life will be exposed to 
infection from tuberculosis every day. 
Whether he succumbs or resists will 
depend on his heredity. 

But, it is argued, at any rate bad 
housing and unsanitary conditions of 
life will make infection more easy and 
lower the resistance of the individual. 
Perhaps such conditions may make 
imfection more easy, but that is of 
little importance considering how easy 
they are for each of us—for the popula- 
tion asa whole. The question remains, 
will not bad housing cause a greater 
liability to fatal phthisis? Will not 
destitution and its attendant conditions 
increase the probability that a given 
individual will succumb to the white 


plague? 
CAUSES OF DEATH FROM PHTHISIS 


Most physicians think this to be the 
case, but they have not taken the pains 
to find out, by the exact methods of 
modern science. We are accustomed 
to take their word on the subject, 
because we think they ought to know. 
Dr. Knopf of New York, one of the 
country’s authorities on tuberculosis, 
recognizes the importance of the hered- 
ity factor, but says that after this, the 
most important predisposing conditions 
are of the nature of unsanitary schools, 
unsanitary tenements, unsanitary fac- 
tories and workshops. This may be 
very true; these conditions may follow 
after heredity in importance—but how 
near do they follow? That is a matter 
that is capable of fairly accurate 
measurement, and we ought to have 
figures, not generalities. 

Taking the case of destitution, which 
includes, necessarily, most of the other 
evils specified, Pearson measured the 
correlation with liability to phthisis and 
found it to be .02. The correlation for 


Ji 


tuberculosis between parent and child, 
on the other hand, was found from 
several investigations to be about .50— 
just what we should expect, for that is 
the correlation in general for physical 
and mental characters in heredity. It 
is also the correlation for the inheritance 
of such pathological characters as insan- 
ity and congenital deafness, where 
certainly infection of child by parent 
could not be suspected. 

Nevertheless, many thought that the 
high correlation between parent and 
child, in the case of tuberculosis, must 
be due to infection. The family rela- 
tions are so intimate, they said, that it 
is folly to overlook this factor in the 
spread of the disease. 

Very well, Pearson replied, if the 
relations between parent and child are 
so intimate that they lead to infection, 
they are certainly not less intimate 
between husband and wife, and there 
ought to be just as much infection in this 
relationship as in the former. The 
correlation was measured in thousands 
of cases and was found to lie around .25, 
being lowest in the poorer classes and 
highest in the well-to-do classes. 

At first glance this looks like a damag- 
ing correlation—it looks as if there must 
be a considerable amount of tubercular 
infection between husband and wife. 
But when we find that the resemblance 
between husband and wife in the 
matter of insanity is also .25, we must 
pause. Certainly it will hardly be 
argued that one of the partners infects 
the other with this disability! 


ASSORTATIVE MATING 


As a fact, this correlation of say .25 
between husband and wife, for tuber- 
culosis, probably means very little for 
infection. What it does mean is that 
like tends to mate with like—in the 
more prosperous classes, at least, where 
there is a considerable range of choice. 
It means assortative marriage, sexual 
selection. This coefficient of resem- 
blance between husband and wife in 
regard to phthisis is about the same as 
the correlation of resemblance between 
husband and wife for eye color, stature, 
longevity, general health, truthfulness, 
tone of voice, and many other charac- 


234 The Journal 


ters. No one will suppose that life 
partners “‘infect’’ each other in these 
respects. Certainly no one will claim 
that a man deliberately selects a wife 
on the basis of a resemblance to himself 
in these points; but he most certainly 
does so unconsciously—a fact not dis- 
covered until the application of exact 
methods to the study of heredity 
revealed it and destroyed the old popular 
belief that unlike persons tend to marry 
each other. Assortative mating is now 
a well-established fact, and there is 
reason to believe that much, if not 
most, of the resemblance between hus- 
band and wife as regards tuberculosis 
is due to this fact, and not to infection. 
The comparison between heredity and 
environment which I made above is, 
therefore, a perfectly legitimate one— 
that is, .02 between environment and 
phthisis in the child, .50 between a 
tuberculous parent and the same disease 
in the child. 

We would not dogmatically assert 
that right environment is of no im- 
portance in the case of tuberculosis; 
but our knowledge justifies us in assert- 
ing that no feature of the environment 
is as important as the heredity; and 
that the effective way to stamp out the 
White Plague is not to be found in the 
multiplication of sanatoria and restric- 
tive regulations, or even in the better 
sanitation of our slums, desirable as 
these things may be in themselves; but 
that tuberculosis will be most surely 
and quickly eradicated when marriages 
between persons who come from tuber- 
culous stocks are prevented. 


EMPLOYMENT OF MOTHERS 


Now take the question of employment 
for mothers. There has been a deal of 
agitation on the subject in recent years, 
and a certain amount of legislation has 
been passed, particularly in France, to 
relieve mothers of work outside their 
own homes. This is a desirable object 
in many ways, but if it is claimed, as it 
usually is claimed, that employment of 
mothers is detrimental to their children, 
and that mothers who stay at home 
and give all their time to their children 
will bring up healthier and more 
intelligent children, the assumption is 


of Heredity 


involved that the character of the child 
is due to his environment as well as to 
his heredity; and the eugenist properly 
may detnand the right to be heard. 
It is possible to measure with fair 
accuracy the correlation between em- 
ployment of mother and various char- 
acters such as weight, height, health and 
intelligence of her children. This has 
been done with some carefully compiled 
Scotch statistics, and it has been found 
that the correlations are almost insig- 
nificant, averaging .11. To put the 
conclusion in less mathematical langu- 
age, the fact that a mother may be 
employed outside her own home is 
found not to have any noteworthy 
unfavorable result on such characters 
of the children as were measured— 
namely, height, weight, general health 
and general intelligence. On the basis 
of these figures, the eugenist demands 
that the movement for changes in our 
present social arrangements, such as 
will permit mothers to stay at home and 
give all their time to their children, 
appear in the proper light, and that it 
do not claim to be able to improve the 
character of the children, when that 
character is really determined at birth 
and can be little influenced afterward 
by any except extraordinary environ- 
mental conditions. 

These problems of bad breeding are 
pressing problems, but I have discussed 
them long enough. After all, eugenics, 
as its name indicates, is more interested 
in good breeding than in bad breeding. 
Let us see how heredity and environ- 
ment are related in the production of 
great mental and moral superiority. 
If we can learn that, we ought to be in 
the way of producing more such super- 
iority in the world—a thing as to the 
desirability of which there need be no 
argument. 

If success in life—the kind of success 
that is due to great mental and moral 
superiority—is due to the opportunities 
a man has, then it ought to be pretty 
evenly distributed among all the persons 
who have had favorable opportunities, 
provided we take a big enough number of 
persons to allow the laws of probability 
full play. England offers a good field 
to investigate this point, because Oxford 


The Editor: Nature or Nurture ? 


and Cambridge, her two great uni- 
versities, turn out practically all the 
eminent men of the country, or at least 
have done so until recently. If nothing 
more is necessary to ensure a youth’s 
success than to give him a first-class 
education and the chance to associate 
with superior people, then the prizes 
of life ought to be pretty evenly dis- 
tributed among the graduates of the 
two universities, during a period of a 
century or two. 


SUCCESS A FAMILY AFFAIR 


This is not the case. When we look 
at the history of England, as Galton did 
nearly half a century ago, We find 
success in life is pretty strictly a family 
affair. ‘The distinguished father is likely 
to have a distinguished son, while the 
son of a nobody has a very small chance 
of becoming distinguished. To cite one 
concrete case, Galton found that the 
son of a distinguished judge had about 
one chance in four of becoming himself 
distinguished, while the son of a man 
picked out at random from the popula- 
tion had about one chance in 4,000. of 
becoming similarly distinguished. 

The objection at once occurs that 
perhaps social opportunities yet play 
the predominant part, that the son of 
an obscure man never gets a chance, 
while the son of the prominent man is 
pushed forward regardless of his inher- 
ent abilities. This, as Galton showed at 
length, can not be held to be true of 
men of really eminent attainments. 
The true genius rises despite all ob- 
stacles, while no amount of family pull 
will succeed in making a mediocrity 
into a genius, although it may land him 
in some high and very comfortable 
official position. Galton found a good 
illustration in the papacy, where during 
many centuries it was the custom for a 
pope to adopt one of his nephews as a 
son, and push him forward in every 
way. If opportunity were all that is 
required, these adopted sons ought to 
have reached eminence as often as a 
real son would have done; but statistics 
show that they reached eminence only 
as often as would be expected for 
nephews of great men, whose chance is 
notably less, of course, than that of 


“heredity which 


2359 


sons of great men, in whom the force 
of heredity is much stronger. 

But we can come closer home and 
present a telling argument, I believe, 
from this, our own land of equal 
opportunities, where it is a popular 
superstition that every boy has a 
chance to be president, and where the 
youth reared in_ the log cabin and 
educated in the little red school-house 
is the dark horse we usually pick as a 
winner. The picturesque environment 
of some of our great men has so inter- 
ested us that we have almost come to 
believe it is this environment—the 
log cabin and country school-house, 
for example—that have made these 
men great. A more careful scrutiny 
of the facts may convince us that such 
environment was nothing more than an 
incident, sometimes beneficial, some- 
times prejudicial. It was their sterling 
carried these boys to 
the top. Let us look at the records of 
the eminent men this country has 
produced, in order to see whether in 
free America the prizes of life are in the 
grasp of all. Success may be a family 
affair in caste-ridden England; is sat 
possible that such could be the case in 
our own continent of boundless oppor- 
tunities? 

Galton found that about half of the 
great men of England had distinguished 
close relatives. Now if our great men 
of America have fewer distinguished 
close relatives, environment will be 
able to make out a plausible case, and 
we will have to accredit some of the 
success of England’s great men to 
family pull, rather than family heredity. 


AMERICA’S GREAT MEN 


Dr. F. A. Woods, chairman of the 
eugenics research committee of the 
American Genetic Association, has 
worked out this problem, and his results 
are a very satisfactory vindication of 
our claims. 

First, let us find how many eminent 
men there are in our history. Bio- 
graphical dictionaries list about 3,500 
and it will be convenient to take this 
number, since it provides an unbiased 
standard from which to work. Now, © 
Woods says, if we suppose the average 


236 The” Journal 


person to have as many as twenty close 
relatives—as near aS an uncle or a 
grandson—then computation shows that 
only one person in 500 in the United 
States has a chance to be a near relative 
of one of our 3,500 eminent men— 
provided it is purely a matter of chance. 
As a fact, the 3,500 eminent men listed 
by the biographical dictionaries are 
related to each other not as one in 
500, but as one in five. If the more 
celebrated men alone be considered, 
it is found that the percentage increases 
so that about one in three of them has 
a close relative who is also distinguished. 
“This ratio increases to more than one 
in two when the families of the forty-six 
Americans in the Hall of Fame are 
made the basis of study. If all the 
eminent relations of those in the Hall of 
Fame are counted, they average more 
than one apiece. Therefore, they are 
from five hundred to a thousand times 
as much related to distinguished people 
as the ordinary mortal is.”’ 

To look at it from another viewpoint, 
something like 1% of the popula- 
tion of the country is as likely to produce 
a man of genius as is all the rest of the 
population put together—the other 
99%. And this is due not to en- 
vironment, but to biological heredity. 
Let me prove this to you by running 
rapidly over Dr. Woods’ careful studies 
of the royal families of Europe. Here 
certainly we may say that—on the 
whole, at least—environment has always 
been favorable. It has varied, natur- 
ally, in each case, but speaking broadly 
it is certain that all the members of 
this group have had the advantage of a 
good education, of all the care and at- 
tention that could possibly be given. 
If environment affects achievement, 
then we ought to expect the achieve- 
ments of this class to be pretty generally 
distributed among the whole class. 
If opportunity is the cause of a man’s 
success, then we ought to expect most 
of the members of this class to have 
succeeded, because to every one of the 
royal blood the door of opportunity 
usually stands open. We would expect 
the heir to the throne to show a better 
record than his younger brothers, how- 
ever, because his opportunity to dis- 


of Heredity 


tinguish himself is naturally greater. 
I shall discuss this last point first. 


EMINENCE IN ROYALTY 


Dr. Woods divided all the individuals 
in his study into ten classes for intellec- 
tuality and ten for morality, those most 
deficient in these qualities being put in 
class 1, while the men and women of 
preeminent intellectual and moral worth 
were putinclass10. Now1f preeminent 
intellect and morality were at all linked 
with the better chances that an inheritor 
of succession has, then we*ought to 
find heirs to the throne more plentiful 
in the higher grades than in the lower. 
Actual count shows this not to be the 
case. A slightly larger percentage of 
inheritors is rather to be found in the 
lower grades. The younger sons have 
made just as good a showing as the ones 
who succeeded to power: as we should 
expect if intellect and morality are due 
largely to heredity, but as we should 
not expect if intellect and morality are 
due largely to outward circumstances. 

Are “conditions of turmoil, stress and 
adversity’ strong forces in the produc- 
tion of great men, as has often been 
claimed? There is no evidence from 
facts to support that view. In the 
case of a few great commanders, the 
times have seemed particularly favor- 
able. Napoleon, for example, could 
hardly have been Napoleon had it not 
been for the French revolution. But in 
general there have been wars going on 
during the whole period of modern 
European history; there have always 
been opportunities for a royal hero to 
make his appearance; but often the 
country has called for many years in 
vain. Circumstances were powerless 
to produce a great man and the nation 
had to wait until heredity produced 
him. Spain has for several centuries 
been calling for genius in leadership; 
but in vain. England could not get an 
able man from the Stuart line, despite 
her need, and had to wait for William 
of Orange, who was a descendant of a 
man of genius, William the Silent. 
“Italy had to wait fifty years in bondage 
for her deliverers, Cavour, Garibaldi 
and Victor Emmanuel.’ 


—— 


The Editor: Nature or Nurture? Day 


“The upshot of it all,” Woods 
decides, ‘‘is that, as regards intellectual 
life, environment is a totally inadequate 
explanation. If it explains certain char- 
acters in certain instances, it always fails 
to explain many more; while heredity 
not only explains all (or at least 90 
% of the intellectual side of character 
in practically every instance, but does 
so best when questions of environment 
are left out of discussion.”’ 


GENIUSES CLOSELY RELATED 


Despite the good environment almost 
uniformly present, the geniuses in 
royalty are not scattered over the sur- 
face of the pedigree chart, but form 
isolated little groups of closely related 
individuals. One centers in Frederick 
the Great, another in Queen Isabella of 
Spain, a third in William the Silent, 
and a fourth in Gustavus Adolphus. 
Furthermore, the royal personages who 
are conspicuously low in intellect and 
morality are similarly grouped. Careful 
study of the circumstances shows noth- 
ing in the environment that would 
produce this grouping of genius, while 
it is exactly what our knowledge of 
heredity leads us to expect. 

In the next place, do the superior 
members of royalty have proportion- 
ately more superior individuals among 
their close relatives, as we found to be 
the case among the Americans in the 
Hall of Fame’ A count shows at once 
that they do. The first six grades all 
have about an equal number of eminent 
relatives, but grade 7 has more, while 
grade 8 has more than grade 7, grade 
9 has more than grade 8, and the 
geniuses of grade 10 have the highest 
proportion of near relatives of their own 
character. Surely it cannot be sup- 
posed that a relative of a king in grade 
8 has on the average a much less favor- 
able environment than a relative of a 
king in grade 10. Is it not fair, then, 
to assume that this relative’s greater 
endowment in the latter case is due to 
heredity ? 

Conditions are the same, whether 
males or females be considered. 

Woods next strengthens his case by 
mathematics, working out coefficients 
of correlation for the characters of his 


subjects. I shall not trouble you with 
these, but shall merely tell you that on 
the whole they correspond with sur- 
prising closeness to the figures which 
theory would lead us to expect. 

Thus, the reasons for the belief that 
heredity is almost the entire cause for 
the mental differences of these men 
and women, and that environment or 
free-will must consequently play very 
minor roles, are that the measurements 
we make of actual cases coincide almost 
exactly with what the laws of heredity 
lead us to expect; and secondly, the 
fact that environment or opportunity 
can hardly be expected to cause, in 
royalty at least, the great names to 
occur in close blood connection with 
others of the same stamp, as we find 
that they do occur. 

It will be interesting to see just what 
Woods thinks the proportion of real 
genius in royalty is. His study includes 
823 individuals about whom he was 
able to get sufficiently detailed data to 
work on, and in this number about 
twenty are to be classed as geniuses— 
men who would have made their mark 
as geniuses by their worth alone, starting 
from any walk of life, and quite apart 
from the favorable opportunities which 
their royal blood furnished them. This 
score of geniuses includes Louis II of 
Bourbon, ‘‘ The Great Condé;” William 
the Silent, of Orange; John the Great of 
Portugal; Frederick William, the Great 
Elector of Prussia; Frederick the Great; 
Gustavus Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus 
of Sweden; and in the grade below this, 
such men as Admiral Coligny, William 
III of England, Peter the Great, Prince 
Eugene of Savoy; Maurice, the Elector 
of Saxony; Charles XII of Sweden; the 
Great Turenne, and so on. Now if we 
accept the count of twenty real geniuses 
in this group of 823 members of royalty, 
we have one genius in forty appearing 
in this stock. How does this compare 
with the rest of the population? 


A SELECTED BREED 


In the whole period in question, cover- 
ing a number of centuries, Woods thinks 
there have certainly not been more than 
200 men of equal eminence produced 
by the entire population of the countries 


238 The Journal 


concerned. Yet this population in- 
cluded some hundreds of millions of 
persons. Royalty, then, has several 
hundred thousand times as many 
chances of producing a genius, as has a 
family picked at random from the 
population at large. And this over- 
whelming chance is due, as I have 
attempted to show, not to the fact that 
royalty has an unusually good environ- 
ment or more opportunities, but to the 
fact that the royal families are a selected 
breed, who owe their origin to some one’s 
preeminence in statecraft, war and 
leadership, and who have been more or 
less consciously bred for these qualities 
ever since. It is a gigantic, if incom- 
plete, experiment in eugenics. Of course, 
we might have preferred to see other 
qualities picked out as the basis for 
such an experiment; but whatever 
qualities we selected, whether in the 
scientific, artistic, or practical sphere, 
we have every reason to believe that 
we could have produced a breed of men 
where genius would be relatively as 
abundant as it is 1n this stock. 

I have now shown you specimens of 
many kinds of the evidence on which we 
rely to prove our contention that man’s 
qualities, physical, mental or moral, 
are far more due to heredity than to his 
environment. I will not multiply sta- 
tistics: what I have set before you is a 
fair example of our ammunition. The 
conclusions to which this kind of inquiry 
leads are startling to most people, and 
we wish to use all due caution in stating 
them. 

Let it be understood, then, that the 
problem of heredity vs. environment 
is an extremely complex one and cannot 
be solved in general terms. We can 
only attack each phase of it separately, 
disentangle factors that can be meas- 
ured, and compare them with each other. 
I believe no one has ever questioned the 
propriety of this method of attack. In 
every case that has ever been tried, so 
far as I know, the influence of heredity 
has been shown to be overwhelmingly 
predominant, and the power of any 
ordinary change in environment to 
modify heredity has been shown to be in- 
significant. We therefore feel ourselves 
in a position safely to generalize to the 


of Heredity 


extent of saying that the importance 
of nature is five or ten times greater than 
that of nurture in the making of a man. 

Probably the objection will at once 
occur to some of you, that my entire 
line of reasoning is unfair, because I 
have been measuring the total force of 
heredity against some single factor of 
environment in each case. You may 
be willing to grant that the power of 
heredity is greater than that of any 
single factor of environment, but you 
may think that if I took all the factors 
of environment put together—provided 
such a thing were possible—and meas- 
ured them against heredity, the sum of 
them would vastly outweigh heredity. 


SUPERIORITY OF HEREDITY 


This is not the case, but the proof 
demands too much mathematics to be 
given. I will do no more than tell you 
that it involves a principle known as 
multiple correlation, and the fact that 
the various factors of the environment 
are rather closely correlated to each 
other. The result of this is that even if 
we had an infinity of environmental 
factors, each separate one correlated to 
the individual to an equal degree with 
that individual’s parents or grand- 
parents, yet the effect of these parents 
and grandparents alone would be greater 
than that of this infinity of environ- 
mental factors of the same grade of 
correlation; to say nothing of the influ- 
ence of more remote ancestors, who are 
by no means to be neglected. Such a 
statement may seem incredible to you; 
but if you are not mathematically 
inclined enough to investigate the sub- 
ject for yourself, I will have to ask you 
to take the word of mathematicians for 
it, that such is incontrovertibly the fact. 
No one can successfully dispute, I think, 
that heredity 1s not only much stronger 
that any single factor of the environment, in 
producing important human differences, 
but ts stronger than any possible number 
of them put together. It is on this fact 
that we base our claim for a considera- 
tion of heredity in the solution of social 
problems, which are now attacked 
mainly through the environment alone. 

A rapidly growing and _ influential 
school of sociologists has already grasped 


The Editor: Nature or Nurture? 


the situation, and is basing itself solidly 
on biology, on the facts that I have set 
before you this evening. But there are 
yet a’ great many social workers, par- 
ticularly those who have been trained 
largely along psychological lines, who 
still show an extraordinary inability to 
reason accurately. An example of this 
school’s attitude may be found in a 
recent article on ‘“The Boy Who Goes 
Wrong”’ which H. Addington Bruce, a 
well-known writer on psychological top- 
ics, published not long ago in the 
Century Magazine. After alleging that 
the boy who goes wrong does so because 
he is not properly brought up, Mr. 
Bruce quotes with approval the follow- 
ing passage from “Dr. Paul Dubois, 
the eminent Swiss physician and 
philosopher: 

“If you have the happiness to be a 
well-living man, take care not to 
attribute the credit of it to yourself. 
Remember the favorable conditions in 
which you have lived, surrounded by 
relatives who loved you and set you a 
good example; do not forget the close 
friends who have taken you by the hand 
and led you away from the quagmires 
of evil; keep a grateful remembrance 
for all the teachers who have influenced 
you, the kind and intelligent school- 
master, the devoted pastor; realize all 
these multiple influences which have 
made of you what you are. Then you 
will remember that such and such a 
culprit has not in his sad life met with 
these favorable conditions; that he had 
a drunken father or a foolish mother, 
and that he has lived without affection 
exposed to all kinds of temptation. 
You will then take pity upon this dis- 
inherited man, whose mind has been 
nourished upon malformed mental im- 
ages, begetting evil sentiments such as 
immoderate desire or social hatred.” 


ENVIRONMENT MISUNDERSTOOD 


It is a thankless task to have to 
destroy such pretty sentimentality, but 
its prevalence is doing far more harm 
in the world, I dare say, than all the 
forces of charity and philanthropy can 
correct. Mr. Bruce indorses this kind 
of talk when he concludes, ‘‘ The blame 
for the boy who goes wrong does not 


Dep) 


rest with the boy himself, or yet with 
his remote ancestors. It rests squarely 
with the parents who, through ignorance 
or neglect, have failed to mold him 
aright in the plastic days of childhood.”’ 

Where is the evidence of the existence 
of these plastic days of childhood? 
If they exist, why do not ordinary 
brothers become as much alike as twins, 
during them? How long are we to be 
asked to believe, on blind faith, that 
the child is putty, of which the educator 
can make either mediocrity or genius, 
depending on his skill? What does the 


environmentalist know about these 
“plastic days?” We long ago gave up 
expecting that Mr. Bruce and his 


friends would bring forward any proof 
that there was such a thing, but we still 
hope that they may learn to interpret 
their own facts in the light of knowledge, 
not dogma. If a boy has a drunken 
father or foolish mother, does it not 
occur to them that there is something 
wrong with his pedigree? If much of 
it is like that sample, we do not expect 
him to turn out well, no matter in what 
home he is brought up. If a boy has 
the kind of parents who bring him up 
well; if he is, as Dubois says, surrounded 
by relatives who love him and set him 
a good example, we at once have data 
for a suspicion that he comes of a 
pretty good family, a stock character- 
ized by a high standard of intellectuality 
and morality, and it would surprise 
us if such a boy did not turn out well. 
But he turns out well because what’s 
bred in the bone will show in him, if it 
gets any kind of a chance. It is his 
nature, not his nurture, that is mainly 
responsible for his character. 

Such is our conclusion, based on a 
great many facts of the kind I have 
presented to you here this evening. We 
have never found a fact that has 
contradicted this conclusion. If anyone 
has ever found such a fact, I do not 
know of it. He will make himself 
famous if he will give it publicity. 

We do not for a minute desire to 
depreciate the importance, the necessity 
of a good environment. If it is not 
good, and equally good for every man, 
then some men’s good hereditary traits 
will fail to get expression, we will not 


240 


know what they are really worth, and 
eugenics will lose valuable material 
that it needs. We want the best 
environment that science can create, 
but we shall not ask it to make good 
heredity out of bad, because it can not 
do so. Our desire is rather to give it 
as large a supply as possible of good 
heredity with which to work. Karl 
Pearson has effectively stated the eugen- 
ist’s attitude in his allegory of a certain 
workman who found his chisel ineffec- 
tual. ‘‘He hardened it and he tempered 
it, and he gave it a cutting edge on the 
grindstone, and he finished up on the 
oilstone. Then he tried his chisel again 
and in ten minutes it was as ineffectual 
as before. Then he repeated the whole 
process and again the chisel failed him. 
Then he proceeded: to “turn wp’ his 
grindstone and replaced his oilstone by 
an American product, but all in vain; 
the chisel still refused to do efficient 
work. Just as he was proceeding to 
the process of ‘hacking’ his grindstone 
and to trying a brand-new German 
hone, a fellow workman suggested that 
the steel of his chisel might possibly be at 
fault. Instead, however, of proceeding 
to test the amount of carbon in his 
steel, or to try his workshop appliances 
on another chisel, our first workman grew 
angry and asserted that his colleague 
was neglecting all the resources of 
modern technology, all the advances of 


The: journaler Heredity 


applied science. If hardening and tem- 
pering, if grindstone and oilstone were 
idle, we might as well throw aside all 
mechanical progress and again make our 
tools by chipping flints.”’ 

What, after all, should be our policy 
of social improvement? Is _ heredity 
everything and environment a super- 
fluity? Is improvement of social condi- 
tions a waste of time’ ‘Are we then 
to discard the methods of civilization, 
to describe as worthless the whole field 
of liberal and social reform,’ because 
we find that the force of heredity is so 
much greater than the force of environ- 
ment? ‘Are we to throw aside the 
oilstone and break up the grindstone 
because they cannot make bad steel 
into an effective tool? Surely they are 
necessities for the proper working of a 
good tool. The mistake in our social 
policy has been that we supposed them 
primary and not secondary, that we 
thought to advance the nation by 
legislation which has hampered nature, 
to provide nurture for the feeble, for 
the inherently weak stock, the steel of 
which grindstone and oilstone will and 
can make nothing.” 

We will not sacrifice any of the good 
parts of our present social fabric; but 
we must have a nation with a’ higher 
level of heredity, to make the best 
possible use of this social fabric. 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEN, by Edwin 
Grant Conklin, Professor of Biology in Princeton University. Pp. xiv+533, price $2 net. Prince- 
ton, New Jersey, The Princeton University Press, 1915. 

Chosen to deliver the N. W. Harris lectures at Northwestern University last 
year, Professor Conklin discussed at length the subject of human genetics, from 
the standpoint of a cytologist, and has now published these lectures in the form 
of a book, which discusses the practical application of a knowledge of development 
to the human race. The first 187 pages explain the biological foundation of 
eugenics, in the cell and its development; the next 206 pages review our present 
knowledge of the phenomena of inheritance; the influence of the environment is 
then discussed and its great importance emphasized by an appeal to the facts of 
development, which many genetists are prone to overlook; the eugenics movement 
and its ethical basis occupy the remainder of the book, save for a useful bibli- 
ography and glossary. It can be recommended without qualification to anyone 
who wishes to gain a sound knowledge of the biological basis of eugenics—and 
that ought to include every one seriously interested in the subject. 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


Vol. VI, No. 6 June, 1915 


CONTENTS 


The Wild Tomato, by Charles H. Gable @rontispirece)-.. 2) eee 242 
Pollen Sterility in Grapes, by M. J. Dorsey........-----------2+++-: 243 
Great Men and How They Are Produced, by Casper L. Redfield... .. 249 
Wellesley’s Birth Rate, by Roswell H. Johnson and Bertha J. 


SOA eT TGR ene Man Cre irate ne on) cto chon aa Pi eR Me ca 250 
Conformation of Cows and Milk Yield..............----+++-+-+-+- 253 
Dynamic Evolution, by C. L. Redfield, Reviewed by Raymond Pearl 254 
Amal Vicetuncvot Ae Ge. AG ose 2 age ee ee Ee ee 256 
Eugenics Research Association........---.--- +--+ +s e etc tr rrr 256 
The Marriage of Kin by Edward INettleshipeer cre eer oe ec 257 
Pan-American Scientific Congress..........--- +--+ ste ce ere etee 261 
Green Leaf in Cherry Blossom, by David BPairchilaet 52s seas 262 
Practical Dog Breeding, by Williams Haynes (A Review).......-..- 264 
Fruit Breeding in Alaska, by C. C. Georgeson..........------------ 268 
Determination of Sex, by Leonard Doncaster (A Review)........--- 269 
Bud Selection in Apples, by C. J. Crandall...........-.-------++--; 277 
Hardy Peaches for Missouri.........-.------- +++ esse strstr 277 
Nevelapment of a Gherry 2. < 2-25 3. 59 Se ae 278 
Mica delisnicinNlelons 294. aco ee tl oe te ot nen Rs 2 279 
Putting Over Eugenics, by A. eel annmnlto ne ene oe 281 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Subscription price to non-members, $2.00 a year, foreign postage extra; 
price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter February 24, 1915, at the postoffice at Washing- 
ton, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, May 25, 1915. 


THE WILD TOMATO 


little wild tomato (Lycopersicum vulgare cerasiformz) which is found in Madeira is gener- 
lly considered by botanists to belong to the original stock, native in South America, from 
hich our cultivated varieties have been derived. It grows wild in many parts of the 

i is, often under desert mditions, and in appearance the plant is quite similar to 
the garden varieti One plant was found where it could not have had a drop of water for 
it least three months. It probably had started to grow during the last few rains of spring, 
it had completed its growth during the heat and drought of summer. When it was 
le vine was appart lead and lyi on the ground; the leaves had dried up 

lropped off; but more t 300 fruit , all plump and firm, were clinging to the vine. 

he fruits are so vet id the used little else beside ups, and the 
natives do not use the L gre en that Their ke juality, however, might 
a desirabl aracteri gs wit me of t y developed varieties 

Wi e obj f ob gag t to of ple Photograph, actual 


CHARLES H. GasBLe, Funchal, Madeira. 


POLLEN STERILITY IN GRAPES 


Some Varieties Self-sterile—Study of Pollen Shows That It Becomes Worthless 
through Degeneration of Cell-nucleus—Remedy in the Planting 
of a Mixture of Varieties in the Vineyard. 
M. J. DorsEy 
University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, Unwwersity Farm, 
St. Paul, Minn. 


NUMBER of varieties of grapes 
fail to set fruit when pollinated 
with their own pollen. This 
fact has been observed by 

grape growers for some time, especially 
when large blocks of certain varieties 
have been grown in more or less isolated 
positions. The reason for this has been 
given careful study by Beach (’98 
and 99) and Booth (’02) working at 
the New York State Experiment Sta- 
tion. Munson (09) in Texas and 
Whitten (99) in Missouri have also 
contributed much in this work. Later, 
working in North Carolina with some 
of the southern grapes, Reimer and 
Detjen (’10) showed that a similar 
condition with respect to sterility existed 
in a number of these varieties. These 
have been the important attempts to 
determine which varieties will fruit when 
standing alone. 

Testing Sterile Varieties: A brief state- 
ment, setting forth the main facts 
developed in their work will be inter- 
esting in this connection. Tests were 
made of the ability of a large number of 
varieties to set fruit when pollinated 
with their own pollen, by enclosing 
clusters in paper bags before the 
blossoms opened. In those varieties 
which are self sterile, pollen is produced 
in the usual quantities so that the 
failure to produce pollen is eliminated 
as a reason for sterility. An interesting 
fact developed in this bagging work was 
that pollen from those varieties which 
failed to set fruit when self pollinated 
also failed as an effective pollenizer 
when used on other varieties. These 
facts show that sterility in the grape 
is due to a lack of functioning in the 
pollen rather than in the pistil. 


To illustrate from the work of Beach, 
when 143 clusters of Brighton were 
covered with bags and self pollinated, 


the average rating of the clusters 
formed, counting 100 as a_ perfect 


cluster, was approximately one, and, 
when thirty-two clusters distributed 
among 8 other varieties were pollinated 
with Brighton pollen, the average rating 
was three, showing Brighton, for those 
varieties used, as well as for itself, to 
be a poor pollenizer. On the other 
hand, when 116 clusters of Catawba 
were selfed, the average rating on the 
same basis as above was eighty-six, 
as compared with one in Brighton. 
When thirty-three clusters of eight 
other varieties were pollinated with 
pollen from Catawba, the average 
rating was sixty-seven, showing a 
marked difference between the Brighton 
pollen and the Catawba pollen when 
used either in selfing or crossing. 


EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE 


Beach worked with a large number of 
varieties and by means of the bagging 
method classified them with respect 
to their ability to fertilize themselves 
and also as cross pollenizers. Figs. 
1 and 2 show two mature clusters of 
Brighton, illustrating the result when 
this variety is self-pollinated and when 
it is fecundated with the pollen of 
some other variety. 

Reimer and Detien (’10) extended this 
information and showed a similar con- 
dition to exist in a number of varieties 
of Vitis rotundifolia grown in the South. 

Booth (’02) showed that the pollen 
from self sterile varieties was markedly 
different, when dusted upon a slide and 
examined with a microscope, frcm the 

243 


THE PROBLEM OF GRAPE POLLINATION 


In many vineyards a poor crop of grapes is obtained, because the flowers 
are not properly pollinated. Many varieties are self-sterile, and 
must be pollinated with pollen from the flowers of some other 
variety; if there is no other variety bearing potent pollen near at 
hand, this does not take place, and the crop is a failure, as graph- 
ically shown in these two photographs. The one above shows a 
bunch of Brighton, a self-sterile variety, which has been pollinated 
only from its own pollen; on the opposite page is a bunch of Brighton 
cross-pollinated from another variety. Photographs from U. P. 
Hedrick, Geneva, N. Y. (Figs. 1, 2.) 


The Journal of Heredity 


NORMAL GRAINS OF GRAPE POLLEN 


At the left, photomicrograph of a quantity 
of potent pollen grains from the vari- 
ety Clinton, mounted in lactic acid; 
at the right, external view of the 
suture and germ-pore of fertile pollen 
from a staminate vine grape of the 
wild-river bank (Vitis vulpina). Each 
pollen grain, when dry has three longi- 
tudinal folds or sutures in the thick 
outer covering and when it is put in 
water these unfold and the grains 
often become twice as large as when 


Ghayae (eaters &)))s 


normal fertile pollen. The normal pol- 
len is oblong in outline with slightly 
flattened ends when dry, while the 
sterile is quite irregular and folded. 
By careful experiments he showed that 
the irregular grains, whether occurring 
mixed with the normal grains or not, 
failed to germinate when placed in a 
nutrient sugar solution. As a result of 
this work it 1s possible to tell whether a 
new variety is self sterile by means of a 
microscopic examination of its pollen. 
Flower Types: As is well known, 
there occur in the grape three types of 
flowers, (1) those with stamens upright 
and pistils abortive (this type of flower 
is functionally staminate), (2) those 


having upright stamens and _pistils 
fully developed and functional (the 
perfect flowers), and (3) those with 


reflexed stamens containing sterile pollen 
and fully developed pistils (functionally 
the pistillate flowers). While the culti- 
vated varieties quite generally produce 
functional pistils, there are, however, 
occasional vines found which have only 
a partial development of the pistil. 
The writer (12) showed that, with 
respect to pistil development, prac- 
tically a complete series of intermediates 
occur between those forms which are 


classified as staminate and those classi- 
fied as pistillate. 

A classification based upon stamen 
type, of 132 important commercial 
varieties, shows that there are ninety- 
five varietics with upright and thirty- 
seven with reflexed stamens. Of the 
ninety-five only eleven are classed as 
self sterile or partly so, while only 
two of the thirty-seven having reflexed 
stamens were partly fertile, the re- 
mainder being sterile. 


SUMMARY OF RESULTS 


These results may be briefly sum- 
marized as follows: (1) Self sterility in 
the grape is due to the pollen. (2) All 
varieties tested set fruit when potent 
pollen was used, which shows that the 
pistils are normal. (3) Certain varie- 
ties are more effective as pollenizers 
than others. (4) When dry, potent 
pollen can be distinguished from im- 
potent by its shape. (5) Impotent 
pollen is correlated with the reflexed 
type of stamen. 


The Nature of Sterile Pollen in the 
Grape: It will be interesting, now, 


since it has been shown that the pollen 
borne by a number of American varieties 
of grapes is more or less impotent, to 


Dorsey: Pollen 


Sterility in Grapes 


WHY SOME POLLEN IS WORTHLESS 


Careful study has shown that in most instances the inefficacy of pollen 
fact that the generative nucleus in each cell has degenerated. 


is a camera lucida drawing of part 
showing both nuclei normal. 
part in producing the pollen tube, 
and starts to germinate. Down 
of the generative nucleus, in t 
which will unite with t 


determine the nature of this impotency. 
This has been the subject of some 
investigations by the writer in the past 
few years and by careful examination 
of pollen development in both sterile 
and fertile forms some interesting facts 
have been developed. (Dorsey ’14.) 

These studies have been carried 
forward by means of the usual cyto- 
logical technique and have involved a 
careful study of pollen development in 
both the sterile and fertile forms. 
Particular attention has been given to a 
study of (1) aborted pollen and (2) 
the degeneration of the nuclei in the 
mature pollen. 

It might be well before taking up a 
consideration of these two topics to 
state briefly the stages in pollen develop- 
ment which take place normally. Early 
in the spring the tissues of the anther 
differentiate and produce pollen mother 
cells. These undergo further growth 
and differentiation, passing through 
stages well known in the higher plants. 
The pollen mother cell divides and then 
divides again, so that we have produced 
from each pollen mother cell four 


nuclei. From these, the so-called micro- 
spores are formed. These young micro- 
spores, or one-celled pollen grains, 


is due to the 
r At the right 
of a pollen grain of the variety Concord, 


The vegetative nucleus, at the top, plays its 


after the pollen grain falls on the stigma 
this tube the nuclei formed by a division 


he lower part of the figure, will pass, one of 
he egg-cell nucleus to begin t 
At the left is shown part of a Brighton pollen grain, in which the 
nucleus is normal but the generative nucleus has degenerated. 


he formation of the seed. 
vegetative 

(Fig. 4.) 

undergo a period of growth and en- 
largement and are finally separated; 
the nuclei of these pollen grains again 
divide, forming the mature pollen grain 
with two nuclei, the smaller one of 
which is the generative nucleus, which 
by another division forms the gametes. 


POLLEN DEGENERATION 


Up to the formation of the micro- 
spores, development apparently takes 
place normally in the self sterile 
varieties. We shall consider the 
aborted pollen and degeneration of 
the nuclei in the mature pollen. 

The Aborted Pollen: An examination 
of the pollen in the mature anthers of a 
number of varieties, both cultivated 
and wild, showed that aborted pollen 
is produced in varying quantities. In 
some varieties, this amounted to as 
much as 69% of the pollen produced, 
while in others there were practically 
no aborted grains. The aborted pollen 
was found in both self sterile and self 
fertile varieties and was produced in 
practically equal quantities in the wild 
staminate and pistillate vines of Vitis 
vulpina. 

No abortion of pollen grains has been 
noticed in the grape previous to the 


248 


The Journal of Heredity 


DEGENERATION OF GENERATIVE NUCLEUS 


(a) Pollen grain of Brighton, in cross-section, showing 
commencement of degeneration in the generative 


nucleus (at the left). 


(b) Grain of same variety, 


in which the generative nucleus has wholly degen- 
erated, and the vegetative nucleus is still functional. 
(c) Normal pollen grain of the wild grape, Vitis 


Vulpina, shown for contrast. 


are still functional. 


liberation of the microspores from the 
common mother cell. It is first notice- 
able during the early growth period 
of the free microspore and shows various 
degrees of arrested growth combined 
with loss of cytoplasm. 

This aborted pollen, however, does 
not seem to be important from the 
standpoint of the setting of the fruit, 
since there is an abundance of pollen 
produced and even in the instance cited, 
where 69% of the pollen produced was 
of the aborted type, still there would be 
enough normal pollen, if potent, to 
insure a good setting of fruit. 

The Degeneration of the Nuclei: In 
the mature pollen grain we have two 
nuclei, the generative and the vegeta- 
tive. The generative nucleus, as has 
been stated, divides again to form the 
gametes, and the vegetative nucleus 
functions in the growth of the pollen 
tube. These two nuclei are shown in 
figure 4, the smaller one being the 
generative nucleus. A careful study 
of the pollen, produced by those varie- 
ties which bagging tests have shown to 
be more or less self-sterile, shows that 
the generative nucleus, and in some 
cases, also the vegetative, degenerate, 
as shown in figures 4, 5, and 6. Such 
degeneration precludes the possibility 
of normal functioning in any pollen 
where it occurs. These studies show 
that degeneration in both nuclei occurs 
in a large per cent. of the pollen in 
Brighton, while in other varieties which 
are self fertile, normal pollen (fig. 5c) 
is produced. Sterile pollen in the 


Photomicrographs. 


Both nuclei here 
(Fig. 5.) 


grape, then, is due to degeneration in 
the generative nucleus. 

The Germ Pores: Another fact which 
is interesting in this connection is that 
the germ pores (Fig. 3) are not formed 
in pollen borne by the reflexed type of 
stamen. There is an interesting correla- 
tion, then, in the absence of the germ 
pore, sterile pollen, the reflexed type of 
stamen, and the tendency toward dioeci- 
ousness. 

The general question of sterility 
in plants at the present time is being 
investigated from a number of stand- 
points. It has been known for a long 
time that a good many hybrids are 
sterile. Some workers, particularly Jef- 
fries, have emphasized the relation 
between aborted pollen and hybridity. 
A number of cases are recorded where 
an unequal number of chromosomes are 


brought into the zygote from each 
parent. This is not the case, however, 


in such varieties as Brighton and Barry, 
which, like Concord and V. vulpina, 
have twenty chromosomes in the re- 
duced number. From the heredity 
standpoint some workers hold that 
sterility results from the presence of a 
factor for sterility. The physiology 
of pollen growth and fertilization is now 
being investigated and it is probable 
that some interesting things will be 
discovered from this standpoint. All 
told, the influences leading to sterility 
are not well understood and we shall 
have to reserve judgment on a number 
of points until further work has been 
done. 


Dorsey: Pollen Sterility in Grapes 


DEGENERATION OF BOTH NUCLEI 


In some cases both nuclei of the pollen grain degen- 


erate. At the left is a photomicrograph of a 
pollen grain from Brighton, in which this has 
taken place; at the right is a camera lucida draw- 
ing much more enlarged of the same process, in 
another grain of the same variety. Note irreg- 
ular shape of both nuclei. (Fig. 6.) 


Finally, then, in the case of the grape, 
if sterility results from degeneration in 
the generative nucleus which prohibits 


self sterility in any variety, it will be 
necessary to continue the practice 
firmly established by some of the earlier 


normal functioning of the pollen, it is workers of mixing varieties in the 
clear, that to overcome the defects of vineyard. 
REFERENCES 
Beach, S. A. Self-Fertility of the Grape. N. Y. State Exp. Sta. Bull. 157:397-441. 1898. 
Beach, S. A. Fertilizing Self-Sterile Grapes. N. Y. State Exp. Sta. Bull. 169:331-371. 1899. 


Booth, N. O. 
1-6. fig. 1. 1902. 


Dorsey, M. J. Variation in the Floral Structures of Viits. 


figs. 1-24. 1912. 


(a) A Study of Grape Pollen. 


N. Y. State Exp. Sta. Bull. 224:291-302. pls. 
Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 39:37-52. 


Dorsey, M. J. Pollen Development in the Grape with Special Reference to Sterility. Minn. 


Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 144:1-60. pls. 1-4. 
Munson, T. V. 


Denison, Texas. 1909. 


1914, 
Foundations of American Grape Culture. 252 pp. 


pls. 1-89. figs. 13. 


Reimer, F. C. and Detjen, L. R. Self-Sterility of the Scuppernong and Other Muscadine Grapes 


N. C. Exp. Sta. Bull. 209:5-23. 
Whitten, J. C. The Grape. 


figs. 1-13. 


1910. 
Mo. Exp. Sta. Bull. 46:33-76. pls. 1-7. 


1899. 


Great Men and How They Are Produced 


In order to call attention to his offer which is now in the hands of the American 
Genetic Association, Casper L. Redfield (Monadnock Block, Chicago, Hl.) has 


issued a pamphlet with the title 


“Great Men and How They Are Produced.” 


It gives partial genealogies for 571 eminent men, showing that in most cases such 
men are the product of slow breeding—that is, with an unusual amount of time 


between generations. 


Mr. Redfield has offered two prizes of $100 each to the 


American Genetic Association, if any one can bring forward instances of really 


great men produced by rapid breeding. 


The offer remains open until December 


31, 1915, and its details can be learned from the JouRNAL oF Herepiry, July, 1914, 


or from Mr. Redfield or this Association. 


WELLESLEY 5 2Bis Tiere bE 


Reproductivity of College Graduates Far from Adequate Even to Replace Their 
Own Numbers—Importance of the Problem and Suggestions 
for Its Solution. 


RoswELL H. JOHNSON AND BERTHA STUTZMANN 
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 


O QUESTION is of greater 
importance to eugenics than 
that of the birth-rate among 
the eugenically superior parts 
of the population. The junior author 
has therefore been investigating the 
reproductivity of Wellesley College grad- 
uates; some of her data were presented 
by the senior author in his address on 
Marriage Selection before the Race 
Betterment Conference at Battle Creek, 
Michigan.! This investigation has now 
been completed, and the results are 
summed up in the following table: 


WELLESLEY COLLEGE 


or birth rates; so we have calculated 
the rate at the end of ten and twenty 
years after graduation for each. class. 
The twenty-year period so nearly covers 
the effectively fertile years of a woman’s 
life that it is more significant than 
the unlimited rate of the ’79-’88 
classes. The result destroys the de- 
fense put forward by certain apologists 
for separate colleges, viz.; that the 
earlier college women were more profes- 
sionally inclined, that their marriage 
rate was abnormally low for this reason, 
and that with the more varied classes 


Status in fall of 1912 Graduates All Students 

> ; ; | 
Per cent. married (graduated 1879-1888).............0.--00+2-5-- 55% 60% 
Per cent. married in: 

10 yearsitrom graduations... 00255 = Sere ieee mercesnen ere ates sn 35% 37% 

20 years from ‘praduation.... Je. 5 ie Fa in ee een eh oe oleae 48% 49%, 
Number of children (mothers graduated 1879-1888): 

Per Street 2 is era Oe io elias aoe Paco ear Peden Ge ee shore, aor ce .86 97 

[Ofna 1 | aE ee SEI RR EARS Hd 4 gett ROCs MANO OT Oe IE PRS, 0 1.62 


From a racial standpoint, the sig- 
nificant marriage rate of any group of 
women is the percentage that have 
married before the end of the child- 
bearing period. Classes graduating 
later than 1888 are therefore not 
included in the first case, in which the 
status is of reports in the fall of 1912. 
In compiling this data deceased mem- 
bers and the few lost from record are 
of course omitted. 

It is desirable to find any change 
that may be taking place in the marriage 


of later years, the marriage rate must 
have risen. Let us hope there has 
been a change for the better in the 
uncharted last ten years: but there 
is nothing in the steady decline of the 
previous years to give any confident 
basis for such a hope. 

In the address referred to above, 
statistics were given showing a lower 
reproductivity? of the honor girls (Phi 
Beta Kappa) resulting principally from 
a lower marriage rate. In order to test 
this further, we give the results of an 


1 JOURNAL OF HeEreEpITY, V, 3, pp. 102-110, March, 1914. 
2 The word reproductivity is used as a convenient term to give the net result as expressed in 
number of children per total number of women married or unmarried. 


250 


Johnson and Stutzmann: Wellesley’s Birth-Rate 


investigation of the honor girls before 
Phi Beta Kappa was established at 
Wellesley. These honors consisted of 
Durant and Wellesley scholarships, 
which carry no stipend and are therefore 
awarded by the faculty solely for excel- 
lence in studies. The previous findings 
in regard to Phi Beta Kappa girls are 
confirmed by this newer study, as 
follows: 


Zoi 


(b) The parents have in most cases 
had sufficient economic efficiency to be 
able to afford a college course for their 
daughters. 

Now, these select women, who should 
be having at least the 3.7 children 
each, which Sprague* calculates are 
necessary to maintain a _ stationary 
population, are only giving to the race 
.83 of a child each. Their reproduc- 


WELLESLEY COLLEGE 


GRADUATES OF ’01, ’02, '03, ’04, SraTus oF FALL or 1912 


etem@ea Ga MAnGIGG. 5a. ke ac mee 6 Rie ase nis custs ute eteve 


Number of children: 


GRETA GUAGE, ad eet s ee ante eis oon s poushe wo 
etayihe mer eae re et oa een mehee kes 


All Durant or Wellesley Scholars 
a 44 35 
a Sl | .20 
SS ee 57 


The extraordinary inadequacy of the 
reproductivity of these college graduates 
can hardly be taken too seriously. 
These women are in general, and from a 
eugenic point of view, clearly of superior 
quality, for 

(a) They have survived the weeding- 
out process of grammar school and high 
school. 

(b) They have survived the repeated 
elimination by examinations in college. 

(c) They represent the number left, 
after those with lower mental abilities 
have grown tired of the mental strain 
and dropped out. 

(d) Some have forced their way to 
college against obstacles, because seek- 
ing its mental activities, congenial 
to their natures. 

(e) Some have gone to college because 
their excellence has been discovered by 
teachers or others who have strongly 
urged it. 

All these attributes cannot be wholly 
mere acquisitions, but must be in some 
degree inherent. Furthermore, these 
girls are not only superior in themselves, 
but are ordinarily from superior parents, 
because 

(a) Their parents have in most cases 
cooperated by desiring this mental 
training for their daughters. 


3 Sprague, Robert J., Education and Race Suicide. 


tivity is only 2214% of being adequate 
merely for replacement. 

There are at least three causes for 
this abnormally low birt h-rate, viz.: 

(1) Lack of coeducation. 

(2) The failure of their education to 
make them desirous of having homes of 
their own and efficient in these homes. 

(3) Excessive limitation of the stu- 
dents’ opportunities for social life. 

Sprague expresses a doubt whether 
any adequate data in regard to the 
influence of coeducation on the marriage 
and birth rates have yet been collected. 
But we see no reason for rejecting the 
results of Miss Shinn’s investigation 
(Century Magazine, October, 1895), 
desirable as further studies may be. 
She found that nearly 50% of the 
coeducational women married before 
the age of 30, but only 40% of the 
women from separate colleges. If one 
thinks this difference small, let him 
remember that even 1%, carried over a 
long period of time, would produce a 
great effect in a cumulative process 
such as evolution. 

Furthermore co-education produces 
a larger percentage of marriages with 
college men. 

Separate colleges for women, in the 
United States, are from the viewpoint 


JourNAL oF HEReEpDITY (Organ of the 


American Genetic Association), Vol. VI, No. 4, pp. 158-162, Washington, D. C., April, 1915, 


252 


The Journal of Heredity 


| 
—t 


Class of 79°80:81-82-83:84-85:86 


"87-88°89: 90:91 - 92-93 94-95-96: 97-98-99-00-01- 
Wellesley Graduates and Non-graduates 


Graph showing at a glance the record of the student body in regard to marriage and birth 


rates, during the years indicated. 


Statistics for the latest years have not been com- 


piled, because it is obvious that girls who graduated during the last fifteen years still 


have a chance to marry and become mothers. 


of the eugenist an historic blunder. 
They arose because (1) women were 
debarred from the eastern men’s colleges 
—a most unfortunate circumstance, 
(2) because the mental capacity of 
women was at that time all too fre- 
quently considered to be too inferior 
for college training. It was, therefore, 
a natural result that colleges for women 
should be established. But, unfortun- 
ately, to correct the current depreciation 
of woman’s mentality, it was thought 
necessary to give her the same curricu- 
lum as that used by men. 

The results of the experiment, how- 
ever, have been utterly inconclusive 
because no direct comparison of the 
men and women was possible. It was 
in the coeducational colleges that the 
test was conducted under satisfactory 
conditions. Today it is well known 
that the women capture more than their 
proportion of the honors and average 
higher in their marks. Is there any 
real reason, then, for these eastern, 
separate, women’s colleges to continue 


along the same old lines, with the 
unsatisfactory results that we have 


seen ? 


(Fig. 6.) 


The stubborn resistance of these 
colleges to the introduction of education 
for domestic efficiency, especially in 
the care of the infant, has been amazing. 
They are thereby neglecting one of the 
most important factors in a woman’s 
sound education. 

May it not be that this ill-adjusted 
education is partly responsible for the 
fact that Cattell finds in American men 
of science at the time of his inquiry 
that those having college graduates as 
wives had 2.02 children each, while 
those with wives of partial college 
training had 2.12 children and those 
with wives of no college education 
2.35 children? 

The very proper preference in many 
intelligent men for girls trained to be 
efficient wives and mothers is one of the 
causes of the low marriage rate and late 
time of marriage of the graduates of 
the women’s colleges. The trained girl 
can and will marry a man with an in- 
come too restricted for the support of 
an inefficient wife. 

Rules in force at various women’s 
colleges, which lead to social limitations, 
not to say asceticism, throw up 


Johnson and Stutzmann: Wellesley’s Birth-Rate 


barriers to the social: opportunities of 
the students. And this during the 
critical years of maximum attractive- 
ness when, as we have elsewhere shown, 
so many of the non-collegiate girls are 
marrying or making acquaintances lead- 
ing. to marriage. To take a specific 
instance: at Wellesley no young men 
are allowed to call on a student during 
her one free day, Sunday. 

Since, then, the separation of sexes in 
different colleges, and the failure to 
teach girls domestic science, are con- 
trary to the interests of society and the 
race, Should we not urge: 

(1) Parents to send their daughters 
to coeducational universities, or at 


P4058) 


least to semi-coeducational ones such 
as Harvard and Columbia where they 
will have some opportunity to meet 
superior young men. 

(2) The state or private benefactor 
to provide all men’s colleges with 
closely affihated women’s colleges and 
all women’s colleges with closely affili- 
ated men’s colleges, and to provide all 
women’s colleges with strong depart- 
ments for the teaching of domestic 
science in the broadest sense of the term. 
In case of refusal of the institution to 
accept such provisions, discrimination 
in the distribution of funds might well 
be made in favor of the more soundly 
organized institutions. 


Conformation of Cows and Milk Yield 


Inquiry into the relation between conformation of cows and milk yield has 
lately been made by J. Reimers, an agricultural teacher at Wageningen, Holland, 
and his conclusions were summarized in the Mitt. der Deut. Landw. Gesell., for April 
26, 1913. The data investigated by him were taken from the Friesian Cattle 
Herd Book, and had reference to 300 animals, from 214 to 3 years old. With regard 
to the statistical methods adopted, it may be explained that he divided the animals 
with milk yields between 4,400 pounds and 8,800 pounds into five classes, and 
attempted to correlate the yields with the various features of the conformation. 
He also divided the animals into classes according to their body measurements, 
and attempted to correlate these with the milk vields. 

The investigators’ findings, when summarized, were, generally, to the effect 
that no relationship existed between conformation and milk yield. His conclu- 
sions were as follows: 

The milk yield increases slightly with increasing length of body until the latter 
reaches a certain point, after which there appears to be a slight decrease in the 
yield. Abnormal length of body apparently has the effect of lowering the milk 
secretion. 

The milk yield increases with increasing height of crupper; but the increase can 
by no means be called regular, and a strong connection between the two factors 
could not be established. 

Animals with small or with very deep breasts appear to give a smaller yield than 
animals which are normal in this respect, but the difference was too slight to make 
the deduction of practical value. 

There is no regular relationship between milk yield and length of hindquarters, 
or width between haunches, or breadth of pelvis. Animals with normal breadth of 
pelvis give more milk than those with larger or smaller breadth of pelvis, but the 
difference is not important. 

The system followed by herd book inspectors, in awarding points for conforma- 
tion, was also taken as a basis of comparison. No more success was met with in 
this direction, except, of course, in the case of points for udder, teats, milk veins, 
and similar indications of good milk yield. In the Friesian Herd Book as many as 
twelve points are awarded for shape of hindquarters, but no relation between this 
and the milk yield could be traced. Further, the best milkers had the worst thighs 
(although there was no regular connection between this and the yield).—Journal of 
Board of Agriculture (England). 


DYNAMIC EVOLUTION 


Redfield’s Theory of Inheritance of Results of Training and Use Not Supported 
by Adequate Biological Evidence. 


A REVIEW BY RAYMOND PEARL 
Biologist, Agricultural Experiment Station, Orono, Maine 


HAT “‘dynamic”’ should appear 
as an integral part of the 
title of a book by Mr. Redfield 
is altogether appropriate.! Asa 

writer he is nothing if not forceful. He 
has (by right of training and experience) 
all of the good lawyer’s skill in carrying 
the reader deftly across weak places in 
the logic of the argument or over 
lacunae in the factual basis, by means 
of a flow of vigorous and sometimes 
brilliant rhetoric. His writings have 
been followed with great interest by 
the present reviewer for ten years or 
more past. The occasion of that inter- 
est, however, has not been primarily 
genetics, but rather the psychology of 
scientific paradoxy. De Morgan’s most 
delightful ‘Budget of Paradoxes”’ dealt 
with those ancient and honorable para- 
doxers who squared the circle, made 
machines calculated perpetually to 
move, and engaged in similar activities. 
In his day the biological paradoxer had 
not yet appeared in numbers, and the 
genetic paradoxer was totally absent. 
It would have delighted De Morgan 
beyond measure to have dissected 
Mr. Redfield’s biology and through 
the maze of specious verbiage shown, 
at point after point, where that author’s 
methods of scientific reasoning and proof 
deviated from those of his more orthodox 
colleagues. 

As a scientific investigator Mr. Red- 
field labors under at least one very 
serious handicap. It is that he is 
firmly committed to a thesis in advance 
of the investigation. This assertion 
he would no doubt deny vigorously. I 
am entirely willing to rest my case as 
to its validity on the sum total of Mr. 


1 Dynamic Evolution. 


Redfield. 
254 


A Study of the Causes of Evolution and Degeneracy. 
New York and London (G. P. Putnam's Sons), 1914. 


Redfield’s writings on heredity and 
related topics. 

It would be difficult to state briefly 
this thesis in terms which would be 
entirely acceptable (I fear) to its 
author. I shall therefore merely try 
to state my understanding of it in 
ordinary terminology. It is essentially 
this: that as any organ of the body, 
or the body as a whole, or the mind, 
is used or exercised there results, in 
some manner not made clear physio- 
logically, an accumulation or storage of 
energy in the germ cells with respect 
to the organ or function exercised. 
This accumulation of energy (with 
respect to a particular character) is 
then supposed to be transmitted to the 
next generation, again by some process 
not made clear physiologically, but 
according to definite rules. These rules 
of transmission, while always definite, 
have been variously and sometimes 
curiously modified in the course of 
Mr. Redfield’s writings upon the sub- 
ject. The practical moral for the 
breeder, however, is in general, that in 
breeding for performance of any sort 
it is wise to use as breeders individuals 
which have been ‘“developed’’ and 
hence have stored energy. Further, 
this will in general mean (though Mr. 
Redfield’s latest codification of the 
rules of energy transmission by sex, etc., 
etc., makes a perfectly general statement 
of his precepts impossible in few words) 
that the parents of great performers 
are likely to be found amongst relatively 
aged animals. 

The present book is essentially a 
condensed epitome of the author's 
earlier writings upon this subject which 
By Casper L. 
Pp. 210, price $1.50 net. 


Pearl: Dynamic Evolution 2 


have been published in various journals 
devoted to live-stock or fancy breeding 
interests. He has applied his thesis 


5 


Cn 


Thus on p. 85 he tables the mean age 
of fifty-eight sires of 2:10 stallions in 
the following way: 


Sires of 2:10 Stallions 


45 Sires with records, average age..----------° 
13 Sires without records, average age.-.-------- 


58 Sires of Stallions, average age. -------+++++> 


to trotting horses, setter dogs, Holstein 
cattle, and human beings. The first 
fourth of the book is devoted to an 
exposition of the theory in general 
terms. ‘The discussion is of a most 
fundamental character. It has as its 
only initial assumption existence of 
matter and energy. From that some- 
what unpromising, or at least very raw, 
material there is developed in some fifty 
odd pages, by pure ratiocination, a full 
blown theory of heredity.’ This theory 
consists essentially of the thesis which 
has already been outlined. The at- 
tempt to ground it on elementary prin- 
ciples of physics and pure logic need 
not detain us. 

The rest of the book is nearer the 
ground. It consists in an application 
of the theory to selected facts in the 
breeding history of the animal forms 
mentioned in the preceding paragraph. 
Mr. Redfield apparently regards these 
chapters as an exposition of the results 
of different tests of the validity of the 
theory. In any sense which a trained 
scientist would regard as critical none 
of the material presented can be looked 
upon as furnishing a definite test of 
the theory. 

It would require altogether too much 
space to discuss critically all the pomts 
of alleged fact and their interpretation 
brought out in this book. It will 
perhaps be more useful to point out 
wherein the methods of * investigation” 
followed in general by Mr. Redfield 
seem to be faulty. In the first place 
our author apparently has no concep- 
tion of the meaning of random sampling 
and the errors connected therewith. 
Many of his comparisons are essentially 
statistical in their nature, but there 
is not a “probable error” in the book. 


eee SS 
2 Incidentally in the process there are chipped off some real gems of thought. 


9.8 years 
13.6 years 


He then shows that the mean age of 
1,000 trotting horse sires in general 
(presumably a random sample, but this 
is not entirely clear) is 10.43 years. I 
leave these figures to the consideration 
of the biometrician, with only the addi- 
tional quotation of Mr. Redfield’s 
comment upon the table: “ The striking 
thing about the above table is the fact 
that one group of sires falls below this 
(the general) average while the other 
group 1s considerably above it. As 
age means time, and time is a factor 
of energy and not of anything else, any 
variation, other than a mere accidental 
one, in the average age of a group of 
sires from the normal average, has 
reference solely to work performed by 
those sires before reproduction. 
Whether the present variation is due 
to accident or to the operation of a law 
of nature we may determine by examin- 
ing the sires in detail and learning what 
relationship existed between the ages 
of the different ones and the work they 
performed.” 

To speak about laws of nature on 
such a basis of fact is, to put it quite 
mildly, a thoroughly optimistic piece 
of business. 


CONTRADICTIONS DISREGARDED 


In the second place all unconformable 
facts, and all ways of looking at the 
facts different from the author’s way 
are totally disregarded. For example, 
in the discussion of Laverack’s setters 
the results which that breeder got are 
interpreted as solely due to the fact 
that he hunted his dogs and bred them 
relatively late in life. There is not the 
slightest real evidence that either of 
these two things had any more than a 
very minor part, if any, in accounting 


I would espe- 


cially recommend to the consideration of professional philosophers this last sentence on p. 3: 


“Causes are forces acting upon matter.” 


256 


for his results, whereas all that we know 
from live-stock breeding history, and 
from experimental data, would indicate 
that the primary factor in Laverack’s 
success was inbreeding. Whether or 
not this is true, in any event the whole 
course of genetic knowledge during the 
last fifteen years shows most clearly 
that it is not wise to insist on any one 
factor as the exclusively important one 
in interpreting natural evolution or 
breeding practice. 

In the third place, the author is 
either grossly ignorant of the literature 
of biology and physiology or else feels 
impelled in his theorizing to soar above 
all paltry consideration of ascertained 
biological fact. There are few pages 
of the book which do not contain some 
statement, put in the form of a positive, 
dogmatic assertion, which either has 
no foundation in fact whatever because 
the subject has never been investigated, 
or is contrary to well-known data in 
the literature of biology. For examniple, 
to take a perfectly random chance, the 
place where the book falls open as I 
write these words is p. 145. In the 
middle of that page occurs this state- 
ment: 

“The amount of butter fat produced 
by a cow depends upon two factors, one 
of which is the quantity of milk pro- 
duced, and the other of which is the 
percentage of fat in the milk. Of these, 
the percentage of fat 1s more highly 
variable than the quantity of milk and 1s 
the more important factor in deter- 
mining a cow’s admission to the Ad- 
vanced Registry.” 


The Journal of Heredity 


For the portion of the statement in 
italics (mine) I know of no warrant in 
fact whatever. All the quantitative 
studies on the variability 6f milk which 
have ever been published, including 
those of Gavin, Pearson, and Vigor, 
show that quantity of milk is relatively 
(measured by coefficient of variation) 
more variable than per cent of fat, in 
the ratio nearly of 2 to 1. 

On the inside front cover of each 
issue of this journal stands the following 
statement as to one of the objects of 
the American Genetic Association: ‘“The 
Association constantly strives to further 
the cause of conservative, constructive 
science and to check the progress of 
fallacious and sensational pseudo-sci- 
ence.”’ With the purpose of contrib- 
uting in some small measure to the 
worthy object of checking the progress 
of pseudo-science this review haz been 
written. Like all pseudo-science, Mr. 
Redfield’s is a conglomerate mixture 
of the true, the false and the unknown. 
There undoubtedly zs ‘something in 
it.” There is, for example, an increas- 
ing body of evidence that there exists 
quite generally a correlation between 
birth order and certain other characters 
of the organism. In so far age of par- 
ents is to be considered as a factor to be 
regarded in an analysis of breeding 
results. But the methods by which 
it is sought to make it appear that this 
is a factor of overwhelmingly great 
importance, involving as they do all the 
discussion of the hereditary transmission 
of accumulated energy, do not form any 
part of what the reviewer understands 
as science. 


Annual Meeting of A. G. A. 


Plans are rapidly being completed for the annual meeting of the American 


Genetic Association at Berkeley, August 2-7. 
successful yet held, in point of excellence of program. 


It promises to be one of the most 
Members who may be 


going to the Pacific coast in the late summer are urged to arrange their itinerary 
so that they may be present at this meeting. 


Eugenics Research Association 


The Eugenics Research Association will hold its annual meeting at San Francisco 
August 2-5, in connection with the annual meeting of the American Genetic and 


other associations. 


Particulars can be obtained from the secretary, William F. 


Blades, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, N. Y. 


THE MARRIAGE. OF KIN 


No Adequate Evidence That Any Evil Results from Consanguineous Matings, 
as Such, Although Where Both Stocks Are Weak the Offspring 
May Show Double Amount of Weakness. 


Epwarp NETTLESHIP! 
University of London, England 


HE subject of marriage between 
blood-relations should, I think, 
engage the attention of all 
who are interested in problems 

bearing upon the improvement of the 
race; it is at any rate one upon which 
there has been, and perhaps still 1s, 
much diversity of opinion. Such dif- 
ferences of view are doubtless often 
based, on the one ‘hand, upon the 
experiences of certain single families 
where serious defects or degeneracies 
have appeared in the offspring of con- 
sanguineous marriages, and on the 
other upon acquaintance with families 
in which nothing undesirable has fol- 
lowed the marraige of first cousins. 
Indeed those who object, from what we 
may call individual or single-family 
experience, would perhaps be surprised 
to find that the children of cousins 
sometimes showed a decided improve- 
ment upon their parents. In short I 
venture to think that the subject is one 
upon which we may well seek more 
knowledge and greater clearness of 
thought. 

The fundamental questions are (1) 
whether the offspring of consanguineous 
parents display inferior or degenerate 
characters in larger proportion than do 
the offspring of unrelated parents? 
And (2), if such an effect can be shown, 
is the appearance of these undesirable 
characters attributable to something 
produced de novo by the union of 
parents related in blood, but who them- 
selves contain no trace of such char- 
acters, either manifest or hidden? Or 
are the defects only a result of both 
parents being tainted, but not tainted 
badly enough to show? 


The second question is not merely 
academic. For if consanguinity can 
produce something bad, good, or in- 
different that had never occurred before 
in the genealogy then no cousin marriage 
is safe. But if it is only a case of in- 
heritance from both parents, a tainted 
pair who have no community of blood 
will, so far as we know, be as likely to 
have undesirable offspring as if they 
were tainted cousins; whilst cousins 
who are free from taint will be expected 
to yield normal children. 

It must be said at once that the 
data for answering the first question 
upon statistical grounds do not exist 
because no one up to the present time 
has been able to obtain sufficiently 
accurate returns of the relative numbers 
of consanguineous and unrelated mar- 
riages. 


FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE 


In 1862 a French writer, M. Boudin, 
came to the conclusion that close 
upon 1% of the marriages in France 
between the years 1853 and 1859 were 
between first cousins (counting in a 
few between uncle and niece or aunt 
and nephew.) And he considered that 
if second-cousin marriages had been 
included the total percentage would 
be 2% This conclusion was based 
upon the official records of more than 
twenty million marriages. It is obvious 
that such a return would err, if at all, 
on the negative side; especially in a 
Catholic country such as France was 
then. In the Roman Catholic Church 
marriage between near cousins is for- 
bidden unless an indulgence be obtained 
by payment; and obviously the liability 


1 Dr. Nettleship died shortly after preparing this paper, which was published in the Eugenics 


Review, VI, 2, 130, London, July, 1914. 


It is here reprinted slightly abridged. 


257 


258 The Journal 


to such an exaction would sometimes 
lead to concealment of cousinship. 
Somewhat later returns (up to 1875) 
showed a rather higher proportion 
(1.5%) of first-cousin marriages, the 
consequence, apparently, of instruc- 
tions from headquarters to make 
the enquiries more thorough. Further, 
M. Legoyt (Chief of the Statistical 
Department for France, quoted by 
George Darwin), at about the same date, 
came to the conclusion that the true 
percentage of first-cousin marriages for 
the whole of France was much higher 
than Boudin had supposed, viz., about 
3%. 

In 1875 George Darwin published a 
long and careful paper upon “‘ Marriages 
of First Cousins in England and Their 
Effects.” In this memoir the author 
made the important point that in 
England and Wales cousin marriages 
are probably much more frequent, rela- 
tively, in the aristocracy than in the 
general population, and least frequent 
in London. He estimated that 3.5% of 
aristocratic marriages were between first 
cousins, but only 1.5% of all London 
marriages. The paper was the outcome 
of great labor and care, but the exact 
figures of the cousin marriages were 
admittedly open to revision. 

In 1908 Professor Karl Pearson made 
a limited contribution to the subject. 
He found that of 1,600 members of the 
medical profession no less than 4.5% 
had married first cousins, and that 
if the lesser degrees of consanguinity 
were included the total was 7.5%. 

This 4.5% of first-cousin unions may 
be compared with Legoyt’s estimate of 
about 3% for the whole of France, and 
George Darwin’s 3.5% for the British 
aristocracy. 

Pearson further, from an examination 
of the books of the hospital for sick 
children in London, found only 1.3% 
of cousin marriages of all degrees 
up to third cousins, recorded in the 
histories of 700 in-patients. This so 
far as it goes confirms George Darwin's 
conclusion that consanguineous mar- 
riage was relatively infrequent in Lon- 
don; but the family histories of these 
700 hospital in-patients were probably 


of Heredity 


far from complete in regard to the point 
and 1.3% is almost certainly too low. 


DISCREPANCIES IN DATA 


From these discrepant, and avowedly 
incomplete, materials it seems probable 
that a class or clan or caste influence 
operates in certain cases to produce a 
high proportion of consanguineous mar- 
riages, and therefore conclusions as to 
any effects of consanguinity, whether 
bad or good, drawn from a mass popula- 
tion would not necessarily apply to all 
the groups of which the population was 
composed. However this may be, one 
certainly finds that in some individual 
genealogies cousins often marry, and 
in others seldom or never. 


As to the second question: Are the 
defects sometimes observed in the 
offspring of consanguineous parents 


due to the consanguinity as such or on 
the other hand to both parents being 
tainted? 

In regard to the de novo origin of 
defects in children of cousin parentage 
we find Charles Darwin stating his 
belief as follows, after having devoted 
much attention to the subject: “I hope 
to show in a future work that con- 
sanguinity by itself counts for nothing, 
but acts solely from related organisms 
having a similar constitution, and having 
been exposed in most cases to similar 
conditions;’’ and a recent authority, 
Professor J. Arthur Thomson, of Aber- 
deen, considers that ‘‘the idea that there 
can be any objection to the marriage of 
two healthy cousins who happen to fall 
in love with one another is preposter- 
ous.’’ Many similar, and also some, but 
I think a diminishing number of, oppos- 
ing, opinions might be cited. 

What then is the origin of the view, 
or at least the suspicion, held by many, 
that consanguineous unions are injurious 
as such? 

Without going back to the very 
‘arly history of marriage customs and 
prohibitions—a task I am not competent 
to undertake—it is I think enough to 
say that the early Christian Church 
appears to be chiefly responsible for 
the existing residue of prejudice against 
the marriage of cousins. The church 
put its ban upon consanguineous unions; 


Nettleship: The 


at first in connection with the cult of 
asceticism and celibacy, later because 
it was able by the sale of indulgences to 
make money by allowing consanguine- 
ous couples to break the Canonical 
rules for a consideration. That this 
was so is confirmed by the subsequent 
extension of the prohibitions to various 
affinities, or even accidental associa- 
tions, between persons not related at 
all by blood. 

Thus—to quote from Huth’s “ Mar- 
riage of Near Kin” (p. 122), (1887) 
—the council of Trent in the middle of 
the sixteenth century issued the mon- 
strous declaration ‘‘that the person 
baptized, his parents, god-parents, and 
the priest who baptized him were as 
much inter-related as though they were 
relatives by blood to each other,”’ so 
that, as the author continues, ‘no 
tolerably near relative of the priest 
could marry either the godrelations or 
relations of any child that priest had 
baptized;”’ and there is much more to 
the same effect. Without enquiring 
too closely as to whether such absurd 
regulations were always carried out 
we may, I think, safely agree with Mr. 
Huth when he says that “‘the prohibited 
degrees were far too useful to abolish.”’ 


GENETIC CONSEQUENCES 


Of course other causes have been and 
are still at work in both encouraging 
and discouraging consanguineous mar- 
riages. Any such influences as may 
possibly depend upon supposed social 
inconveniences or inexpediencies arising 
from these marriages are outside my 
purview. I think the most operative 
cause of such hostility to these unions 
as still exists is the confusion, already 
referred to, between «inheritance of a 
defect from two slightly tainted, but 
apparently normal parents and the 
supposed creation of an entirely new 
thing by union between those of related 
blood. Such confusion is only too 
natural, and all of us have, I daresay, 
fallen into the pit at times—certainly 
I have done so formerly. For instance, 
if amongst the children of a pair of 
seemingly normal cousins there should 
be some born deaf and dumb the 
calamity cannot be hidden from the 


Marriage of Kin 259 


friends, and, as casual enquiries about 
cause are seldom carried further back 
than the parental generation, as most 
of us have a fatal facility for stopping 
at the first plausible excuse, no surprise 
need be felt if the cousinship, as such, 
is blamed; although had enquiry been 
possible or been permitted, cases of 
the same malady would very likely 
have been discovered in ancestors or 
collaterals. 

That consanguinity of parents re- 
peated through many generations is 
compatible with the maintenance of a 
high standard of health and _ vigor 
(mental and bodily) is demonstrated 
by well-known instances. 

Near the mouth of the river Loire, 
on the Atlantic coast of France, is the 
small Commune of Batz, situated on a 
peninsula that is almost shut off from 
the mainland by a salt-marsh, so that 
the inhabitants have (or had prior to 
1864 when the investigation now referred 
to was made) very little communication 
with the people of the mainland. The 
principal occupation is salt-making; 
and the inhabitants live an extremely 
simple life and crime is almost unknown. 
They have intermarried amongst them- 
Selves s for, -aS.ib 1S put, countless” 
generations. In 1864 M. Voisin, inter- 
ested in the effects of consanguineous 
marriage, spent a month in personally 
examining the facts om) the “spot. 
Amongst the total population of the 


Commune, at that date 3,300, he 
found forty-six marriages that he 
counted as consanguineous. He made 


no attempt to tabulate the marriages 
of very distant cousins but states that the 
great majority of the marriages were 
of that kind, 2. ¢., he. found “but few 
married couples a were not related 
by blood in some degree. 


COUSIN-MARRIAGES FERTILE 


To begin with, the fertility of the 
forty-six marriages detailed as con- 
sanguineous was decidedly higher than 
the average fertility for the whole of 
France. Next, he failed to find amongst 
the entire population (3,300) a single 
case of any of the various diseases and 
defects that are always named as being 
supposed to result from consanguinity 


260 


of parentage, and he describes the 
people themselves as healthy, robust 
and intelligent. The death-rate of those 
who grew up was very low and many 
of them lived to a great age. The 
infant mortality, however, was very 
high, chiefly from acute diseases of the 
chest and throat and especially “croup.” 
It is of course possible that amongst 
these young children who succumbed 
to acute infantile diseases there were 
some who would have shown infe- 
riorities or defects had they lived; but 
even if we grant that, it is difficult to 
believe that not one of the survivors 
would have suffered in some _ corre- 
sponding way. Nor does it seem likely 
that the acute diseases of childhood 
would have selected a specially large 
proportion of those who might after- 
wards have shown degeneracies. 

A very similar account was given 
in 1885 of the small fishing village of 
Staithes between Whitby and Saltburn. 
And quite a number of almost identical 
cases are upon record. 

Of course plenty of examples are to 
be found where an excessive proportion 
of diseased and degenerate are found 
amongst the offspring of cousin-parents. 
But these prove no more than that if 
such degeneracies exist in the stock 
they may be transmitted. 

That inbreeding, very much closer 
in degree and repeated far more often 
than anything in modern human society, 
does not necessarily lead to degeneracy 
but quite the contrary is shown by the 
history of modern breeds of domestic 
animals. For it is of course admitted, 
not only that the marvelous improve- 
ments effected during the last 150 years 
in the breeds of horses, oxen, sheep and 
pigs—to name only the more important 
kinds of live stock—have been reached 
by careful selection of the individuals 
possessing the characters desired; but 
that, as we are constantly told, the 
only way to secure and to fix such 
desirable characters is to carry out this 
crossing of near relations; 7. e., we are 
told that the desirable characters come 
as the result of crossing parents both 
of whom possess them in some degree. 
Doubtless the same parents sometimes 
also contain the rudiments of undesir- 


The Journal of Heredity 


able characters and degeneracies also, 
but such individuals will as far as pos- 
sible not be used for breeding, and the 
production of the weaknesses they show 
will thus to a large extent be checked. 
It may therefore be asserted that the 
history of modern breeds of domesti- 
cated animals affords little, if any, 
support to the doctrine that marriages 
of blood-relations can produce qualities 
—good or bad—that are not repre- 
sented at all in either parent. 


CLOSE IN-BREEDING 


There does, however, seém reason 
to believe that fertility is, or may be, 
diminished by very close in-breeding, 
repeated for several generations (Dar- 
win, Animals and Plants under Domesti- 
cation, II., 101, etc.); I mean, ¢. g59y 
mating, say, brother (a) with sister (0), 
and subsequently the father (a) with 
their daughter (d), and again with 
her daughter (e) and so on or vice versa 
as to sex. It is further asserted that 
when such infertility has reached a 
dangerous degree it can often be 
counteracted, 7. e., the normal fertility 
of the race or species be restored, by 
crossing with a non-related stock; or 
what appears still more strange, by 
crossing with a very distantly related 
member of the same stock,— one derived 
from another branch of the same 
stem but perhaps reared under some- 
what different conditions. We may 
perhaps take comfort from this and— 
whilst fully admitting that what is 
true for some of the lower animals may 
not always be true for man, especially 
in regard to the higher and distinctively 
human attributes,—conclude provision- 
ally that if it should ever be shown that 
human cousin marriages were less 
prolific than others, this defect would 
most likely be neutralized by the next 
out-marriage. 

Huth (‘‘The Marriage of Near Kin,” 
pp. 193-96), summing up the material 
then available (1887) as to the number 
of children born to parents who were 
blood-relations and to those that were 
unrelated, respectively, found that the 
consanguineous marriages appeared to 
be more fertile than the others; and 
although he thinks that, owing to uncon- 


Nettleship: The 


scious selection on the part of some of 
the authors whose data he quotes, the 
statistics are not entirely trustworthy, 
the conclusion is that consanguineous 
unions have certainly not proved to be 
less productive than others, and that 
the probabilities point to their being 
more so. 

The only contribution I can make at 
the moment to this subject shows very 
little difference between the number of 
children born to parents who were, and 
were not, cousins respectively. The data 
relate to the chronic progressive eye- 
disease, Retinitis pigmentosa; the num- 
bers are not nearly large enough for 
final conclusions, and the information 
on which they are based was sometimes 
unavoidably incomplete. But I give 
them for what they are worth. In 
ninety-three completed families of chil- 
dren (childships) the offspring of non- 
consanguineous parentage, containing 
cases of the disease just mentioned, 
there were 591 children, or 6.3 to each 
marriage (average). In _ forty-eight 
childships the offspring of consanguine- 
ous parentage (usually first cousinship) 
there were 259 children or an average 
of 5.5 to each marriage. The difference 
of fertility, such as it is, is against the 
cousin marriages, but as already stated 
we could not safely draw conclusions 
from such a small series, even if it 
were certain that consanguinity had 
been recorded in every instance where 
it had been present. 

I think, therefore, we may conclude 
that marriages between cousins are as 


Marriage of Kin 261 
safe from the eugenic point of view as 
any other marriages, provided the 
parents and stock are sound. 

The difficulty, of course, both for 
consanguineous and out-marriages is to 
decide upon this vital point; and as for 
obvious reasons the family history is 
more likely to be forthcoming for a pair 
of cousins than for an unrelated pair, 
we have here a part explanation of the 
aversion to cousin marriage met with 
in some families. This explanation will 
tell with special force if the disease or 
defect is relatively rare for then it will 
be more likely to occur, though in a 
latent form, in two cousins than in two 
strangers. But if the defect appre- 
hended be a frequent one, e. g., tuber- 
culosis, the chances of the hereditary 
liability to it being present in both 
parents and intensified in their children 
may be much the same whether the 
parents were cousins or not. 

It seems to me that since we as yet 
know next to nothing of how the 
various transmissible characters, good, 
bad or indifferent, are, or at least may 
be, linked together in inheritance; and 
that there are many other factors in 
marriage beyond those relating directly 
to race improvement or the reverse; it 
is best, in the present state of our 
information, not to discourage marriage 
between cousins unless there be a clear 
case; ¢. g., inferiority or instability of a 
definite kind, or the history in the stock 
of such distinct diseases, or liabilities 
to them, as the eye disease, Retinitis 
pigmentosa, or deaf-mutism and others, 
more familiar to us, that could be named. 


Pan-American Scientific Congress 


The second Pan-American Scientific Congress will be held in Washington from 


December 27, 1915, to January 8, 1916. 


Eugenics has been alloted a place in the 


section for Anthropology, while plant-breeding and animal-breeding will come 
under the Section on Conservation of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Irrigation 


and Forestry. 


It is hoped that the principal genetists of Central and South America 


will be in attendance, and will describe the practical work in breeding which is being 


done in those countries. 


George M. Rommel, secretary 


of this Association, is 


chairman of the subcommittee dealing with conservation and agriculture. 


GREEN LEAF IN CHERRY BLOSSOM 


Davip FAIRCHILD. 


T HAS long been known that the 
reproductive organs of a flower could, 
under certain circumstances, be re- 

placed by leaves—either the ordinary 
stem-leaf or the flower leaf (petal). 
Double flowers are in most cases due 
to a replacement of stamens or pistils 
by petals, and are for this reason 
sterile. Examination of a carnation 
or almost any highly developed double 
flower will show that it must necessarily 
be sterile, since it altogether lacks the 
reproductive organs. 

The appearance of an ordinary leaf 
in place of some part of the seed- 
producing apparatus is rarer, but an 
excellent example is shown in Fic. 7, 
a blossom from a Japanese flowering 
cherry (Prunus pseudo-cerasus) at my 


home near Chevy Chase, Maryland. 
The pistil is lacking, and its place 


is occupied by two well-formed green 
leaves (a) and (b), the teeth or serra- 
tions along the margins of the leaves 
being clearly visible. Such a phenom- 
enon is technically known as phyllody. 

The older botanists looked on such 
a change as a metamorphosis, believing 
that the pistil had actually been changed 
into a leaf. At present, it is more usual 
to regard it merely as a replacement, 
since ‘this does not involve the assump- 
tion, formerly made without hesitation, 
that the reproductive organs are mor- 
phologically nothing but modified leaves, 
which might easily reappear through 
‘“‘reversion.”’ The sporophylls or re- 
productive organs of the flower may be 
modified leaves, but it is equally 
possible that leaves are modified sporo- 
phylls; and until evidence is available 
from which the case can be proved one 
way or the other, it is safer not to 
assume that the sudden appearance of 
a little leaf in the center of the flower, 
as shown in the illustration, is a rever- 
sion of some organ to its ancestral type. 

Even as to the evolutionary origin 
of the petals, we are not yet certain. 
A. P. de Candolle (1817) seems to haye 


been the father of the idea which 
prevailed for nearly a century, that all 
the floral leaves are derived from 


262 


sporophylls, the plant having found it 
presumably advantageous to modify 
some of its sporophylls in a conspicuous 
way, in order that it might attract the 
attention of insects and secure the 
pollination of the remaining sporo- 
phylls. Recently, however, Goebel and © 
others have contended that the petals 
may in some cases be modified bracts or 
true leaves. 

If we go back one step farther, we 
can disregard these slight difficulties 
and say broadly that a flower is merely 
a highly modified stem of the bud type. 
This will be recognized by anyone who 
examines a flower bud before it opens. 
The showy petals, which to the layman 
are the distinctive part of a flower, are 
in fact merely ornaments of compara- 
tively late addition, from an evolu- 
tionary point of view, and not at all 
necessary to make a flower. From the 
morphological viewpoint the presence 
of the sporophylls, the organs which 
bear ovule and pollen grains, is the 
criterion recognized by most botanists. 
The origin of these sporophylls, the 
stamens and carpels, is obscure. They 
are very ancient structures, and al- 
though they are represented in lower 
plants by leaves bearing sporangia, or 
organs for the distribution of spores, it 
is possible, as was indicated above, 
that at a still earlier period leaves were 
the luxury and sporophylls of some 
kind the primary necessity of the plant. 

The causes leading to such a replace- 
ment as that illustrated in the photo- 
graph are still almost wholly obscure. 
They are rather vaguely ascribed, in 
many cases, to an excess in nutrition, 
but there is reason to believe that in a 
large number of instances such a change 
is to be considered as originating in the 
germ-plasm. Evidently, a phenomenon 
of this sort is likely to complicate our 
idea of heredity in a very embarrassing 
way, and to cause us to hesitate before 
accepting too confidently any theory 
which will make heredity a simple 
matter of the shuffling of unalterable unit 
characters in a purely mechanical 
manner. 


GREEN LEAF IN A CHERRY BLOSSOM 

pistil has be 

lly described as the 
srains and 


an evolutionary point 
ot 


(much enlarged) the 
organ which 1s usua 
e appliance tor c 


rtilize the ovule. It 1s possible that it is, from 
‘s here shown would be a case 


apanese flowering cherry 
(a, b). The pistil 1s the 
ovule, and som 


In this blossom of a J 
two green leaves 
part of the flower; it includes an 


atching pollen 


allowing them to fe 
of view, a modified leaf: if so, such a phenomenon as 1 case 0 
le that the leaf is a modified pistil. Phot graph by Fairchild. 


reversion. It is also possib 
(Fig. 7.) 


PRACTICAL DOG BREEDING 


A First Attempt To Apply the Modern Principles of Genetics to the Needs of Dog 
Fanciers. 


REVIEW OF A Book By WILLIAMS HAYNES 


matter of reproach to the science of 

genetics, that it has not succeeded 
in getting in sufficiently close touch 
with the practical, producing breeders 
of the country. Genetics is obviously 
one of the subjects, a knowledge of 
which would be of direct profit to almost 
everyone; yet the average man, even 
the average breeder, knows little of 
modern discoveries in heredity. The 
organizers of the American Genetic 
Association twelve years ago saw the 
need and attempted to meet it, believ- 
ing that if there were some central 
body to collect and disseminate genetic 
information, plenty of individuals would 
be found to put it into further circula- 
tion. So far, this belief has hardly 
been justified, and the genetist must 
therefore welcome with particular 
warmth such a handbook! as the one 
which Williams Haynes, of New York, 
a breeder and judge of long experience, 
has prepared for fellow fanciers of the 
dog. The principal dissatisfaction likely 
to arise in the mind of a reader of it is 
that such handbooks are not available 
to devotees of every other kind of 
livestock. 


[: HAS long and deservedly been a 


DOG BREEDING 


Mr. Haynes has been remarkably 
successful in giving clear and simple 
expression to the ideas of genetics— 
translating them, as he says, into ‘‘dog 
talk’’ and usually illustrating his points 
with examples drawn from the kennel. 
While the book is thus specialized, as 
it should be, it yet deals with the 
fundamental principles of breeding so 
soundly that breeders of any kind of 
live stock would derive enjoyment and 
profit from reading it. 


NOT DIFFICULT. 


pp. 211, price 70 cents. 
264 


As is pointed out in the preface, dog 
breeders, like breeders of other kinds 
of pet stock, have lagged behind the 
breeders of stock for profit, and it is 
still not rare to find a dog breeder of 
note who will acknowledge that his 
system consists of “putting two good 
ones together and trusting to luck.” 
Yet, “compared with other breeders, 
the dog fancier has an easy task. In 
the first place, he has less for which 
to breed. Secondly, dog histories and 
dog pedigrees have been for generations 
carefully recorded. Lastly, dogs have 
been bred toward approximately the 
same ideal for a considerable length of 
time.’’ In spite of this, it is well known 
that dog breeding in the United States 
is in an unsatisfactory condition, and 
that fanciers are continually resorting 
to the importation of dogs from England 
or the continent. This condition could 
easily be remedied, Mr. Haynes thinks, 
if fanciers would study their breeds 
carefully and familiarize themselves with 
the value of the pedigree; and to 
emphasize the desirability of the latter 
end his handbook is largely devoted. 

A chapter briefly recounting the facts 
of reproduction, from a biological view- 
point, is followed by one on variation, 
“the backbone of breeding.’”’ That 
with which the dog fancier is concerned 
is largely of a discontinuous nature, 
although it seems probable that some 
of the fancy points of highly artificial 
breeds appeared as discontinuous varia- 
tions, or mutations. The screw tail of 
the English Bulldog is a case in point; 
it not only breeds true, but has been 
bred into the Boston Terrier and French 
Bulldog. The alleged production of 
variation through telegony and maternal 
impression is mentioned with proper 


‘Practical Dog Breeding, by Williams Haynes. Outing Handbooks, No. 30. Small 8vo, 
Outing Publishing Company, 141 W. 36th Street, New York, 1915. 


Haynes: Practical Dog Breeding 265 
coloring in Chow Chows and _ self- 


skepticism. As to the effect of climate, 
what Mr. Haynes says. will be of 
general interest: 

“The instances of deterioration in 
British breeds of dogs introduced into 
India have been often quoted from 
Darwin, but since he collected his 
information additional facts have been 
brought forward. A strong dog fancy 
has developed in India, with numerous 
shows under the jurisdiction of the 
Indian Kennel Club. Judging from 
descriptions and photographs, Indian 
breeders have been able to produce 
dogs that compare favorably with their 
direct importations from England, and 
today we hear little about the degenera- 
tion of dogs in the eastern country. 
Moreover, the success of the Airedale 
Terrier in the Philippines and through- 
out tropical America is further con- 
firmation of the fact that climate does 
not have such a direct bearing on varia- 
tion as was formerly supposed.”’ 


MENDELISM IN DOGS. 


In his chapter of heredity, Mr. 
Haynes falls back largely on Galton, 
emphasizing particularly the law of 
regression. Mendelism is briefly des- 
cribed, with the comment that not 
enough experimental breeding has been 
done with dogs to throw much light on 
the unit characters present. The work 
of C. C. Little? makes it probable that 
the inheritance of coat color in pointers 
follows Mendelian rules, and can be 
bred for with confidence. ‘‘Dr. C. G. 
Darling believes eye coloring in Airedale 
Terriers is Mendelian, the lght color 
being dominant. He acknowledges that 
he has not sufficient data to either prove 
or discredit this hypothesis, but, as an 
eye specialist and a terrier breeder, his 
opinion bears weight. If he is correct, 
it is probable that all eye color in. dogs 
follows Mendelian inheritance.” The 
same, as every one knows, holds true in 
Man, with the exception that here the 
dark pigment is dominant. 

“Tt is also probable that the smooth 
and broken coats in Fox Terriers, a 
form of cross-breeding that is common, 
is Mendelian, the broken coat being in 
this case dominant. The red and black 


colored spaniels is also probably accord- 
ing to Mendelian inheritance.”’ 

“In our conceptions of heredity,”’ 
Mr. Haynes concludes, “‘ we dog breeders 
have made two mistakes. These are 
natural ones, and it is some consolation 
to know that other breeders, and even 
trained biologists, have fallen into the 
same errors. In the first place, we 
have paid too much attention to the 
exceptional individual, the dog that is 
a ‘stormer,’ way above the average of 
his race. Secondly, and this sounds 
somewhat paradoxical, we have not 
paid enough attention to the individual 
points that go to make up the whole dog. 

“Tn our almost fetish worship of the 
Champion of Record, we have been 
led astray in formulating any sound 
systems of breeding. We have over- 
looked the great average of the race 
and the drag that this average always 
exerts.” And ‘although as breeders 
we are continually working for the 
development or effacement of certain 
points, we have overlooked the fact 
that these different characters behave 
differently in transmission. Some blend, 
others never do. Some are correlated, 
others quite independent.”’ 


SCIENTIFIC SELECTION. 


These facts are the basis for the work 
of selection. The dog breeder is merely 
a spectator of variation and heredity. 
He can not control them directly; he 
must arrive at his goal by selecting 
from the material at hand. Mr. Haynes 
discusses selection under three heads. 

(1) What is the true object of selec- 
tion? ‘It is very evident that the 
only way the breeder can make any 
important, permanent headway is to 
bring the average of his own strain 
closer to the ideal expressed in the 
Standard than it is to the average of 
the race. In this way, and only in 
this way, can the drag of the race be 
lessened, and this drag is the breeders’ 
worst enemy. Until he can overcome 
it, his breeding can only be partly 
successful. To overcome it, by raising 
the average of his own strain, is the 
true object of all selection.” 


2 JOURNAL OF HereEpITYy, V, 6, pp. 244-248, June, 1914. 


266 


Just what this drag of the race means 
to the breeder is expressed in mathe- 
matical form by Galton’s Law of 
Ancestral Heredity, which is generally 
found to be substantially correct where- 
ever large numbers are concerned, 
although it, lke all other statistical 
generalizations, may be wholly mis- 
leading in individual cases. Galton’s 
Law states the average contribution of 
each ancestor, all the way to infinity: 
in the following table only the first six 
generations are considered, the effective 
heritage contributed by each of these 
generations, and by each individual in 


The Journal of Heredity 


of variation. So far as the opportunity 
that variation always presents for 
further selection is concerned, the 
breeder will always have material avail- 
able, but there are mechanical and 
physiological limits beyond which no 
amount of selection can ever be carried. 
However, in all probability, these limits 
have not been reached, except possibly 
in the size of the very large and very 
small breeds.” 

(3) What are the principles involved 
in rational selection? First and fore- 
most, the breeder must know the points 
of the dog he is breeding. “He must 


the generation, being expressed in know the history of his breed. A 
percents. : knowledge of the famous dogs of the 
raved ers Number of Influence of Influence of 
ASI N21) Ancestors Generation Individual 
1 2 50. 25% 

2 4 DNS) 6.25 
3 8 iWe5 1.56 
4 16 (0) 2 245 0.39 
5 32 Sho LS} 0.10 
6 64 | 1.5625 0.024 


In other words, the individual gets 
only half his heritage from his parents, 
the rest from his more remote ancestors. 
The true object of selection, therefore, 
is to establish a strain in which the 
ancestors as far back as possible will 
conform to the desired type. 

(2) Can selection accomplish this 
object? Theoretically yes, without any 
hesitation. ‘A somewhat involved 
mathematical proof has been worked 
out to show that after six generations of 
careful and continued selection a certain 
character will invariably breed true. 
No further selection for that point is 
necessary, provided no dogs which will 
deteriorate the inheritance for that 
point are introduced into the strain.” 
A good pedigree for six generations is 
for most purposes as good as one for 
sixty. 

“The breeder can expect that intel- 
ligent, continued selection will change 
type in any desired direction, and that 
new type will breed true after six 
generations of continued selection. He 
cannot, however, expect to accomplish 
any material reduction in the amount 


past will soon serve to locate prepotent 
strains, which have perhaps been pro- 
duced by inbreeding, and which can be 
of great value. Study of pedigrees, 
then, is a matter of vital importance; 
and as a practical rule, the breeder 
must set before him an ideal and always 
breed toward it. 

So much for the principles of dog 
breeding. In the second part of the 
book Mr. Haynes discusses practice 
rather than theory. What he says 
about inbreeding will be particularly 
interesting: 


WHAT INBREEDING MEANS. 


“The whole subject has been badly 
muddled by a loose use of the term 
inbreeding, and by very hazy notions 
on the part of every one concerned as to 
just how common true inbreeding is 
among dogs. 

‘Inbreeding means nothing more nor 
less than the crossing of the blood of 
one individual. There are only three 
possible ways in which this can be 
accomplished. (1) By breeding a sire 
to his own daughter. (2) By breeding 


Haynes: Practical Dog Breeding 


adam to herownson:. (3) By breeding 
together full brother and full sister. 
These, and only these, are true in- 
breeding.” Any other consanguineous 
matings are to be called line-breeding. 

As a fact, inbreeding is not common, 
it appears, among first-class dogs. An 
examination of records showed that 
“including both inbreeding and the 
primary cross of line-breeding only 
7% of the Scottish terriers are closely 
bred, and but 13% of the Airedales.”’ 
Mr. Haynes strongly indorses _line- 
breeding, but holds that “continued 
inbreeding results in degeneration of 
both physical and mental powers.”’ 

As to breeding systems, whose name 
is Legion, Mr. Haynes reduces them all 
to six different basic systems, three of 
which “‘are no systems at all,’ and he 
takes occasion to warn his readers that 
successful breeding is not a matter of 
some mathematical or mechanical 
“system’”’ but of knowledge and judg- 
ment. The systems he recognizes are: 

Guy obrust to luck. 

(2) Breed to the latest sensational 
winner. This he calls the ‘fashionable 
breeding system.” 

(3) The egotistical system—i. e., the 
one in which the fancier always breeds 
to his own dogs, “because it is cheaper, 
because it gives them greater oppor- 
tunity as sires, or because it supplies the 
puppies with pedigrees that look as if 
he had established a strain of his own.” 
These three systems are all actively bad. 

(4) Inbreeding. 

(5) Line-breeding. 

(6) Outbreeding. Each one of these 
has its own place, but must not be 
considered as an infallible rule. 

The effect of inbreeding is to magnify 
the heredity of a single individual. 
This is often highly desirable, and most 
breeds of live-stock have been built up 
by inbreeding. But as bad as well as 
good points are intensified, inbreeding 
is a two-edged sword which must be 
used with great care. 


VALUE OF LINE-BREEDING. 


“Judged by the results produced, 
however, line-breeding, although its 
results have been slower and are less 


267 


sensational, has been even more effec- 
tive. In our pedigree studies we saw? 
that line-breeding has, in the case of 
two typical terriers, produced more 
than five times as many champions as 
inbreeding.”’ 

‘““Line-breeding can be defined as the 
combination of the blood of a certain 
individual without the direct use of 
that same individual. It is fairly 
represented in the marriage of cousins 
in whose children the blood of the 
grand-parents is again combined.” 

“Straight out-breeding, the scrupu- 
lous avoidance of all close-breeding of 
any type, is a child of the super-fear 
of the noxious effects of continued close- 
breeding. From what has been said, 
it is plain that this is foolish and un- 
profitable. Moreover, from a practical 
point of view, it is almost impossible.”’ 

From these methods, Mr. Haynes 
“pieces together’? a system that he 
feels. confident in recommending to 
breeders. The breeder should learn 
all he can of the history of his variety 
and then he will draw up for himself a 
very definite ideal. His actual breeding 
operations will be directed toward the 
establishment of a strain that will as 
closely as possible approximate this 
ideal. 

How can this be done? By trans- 
forming “the drag of the race’’ from 
an enemy to an” ally, Mr. Haynes 
believes. 

“Even a casual study of any breed 
will reveal the fact that certain points 
‘come good’ in the majority of the dogs. 
Other points are commonly bad. If 
in the selection of the brood bitches of 
his kennels, a breeder gets two or three 
of sound average type, but excelling 
particularly in those points in which 
their breed, as a breed, is weak, he will 
have made the best possible start toward 
the establishment of that ideal strain. 
Naturally, these bitches should not 
only excel in these weak points of their 
breed, but should, so much as possible, 
be bred from stock strong in these 
same characters. Bred to dogs excel- 
ling in these same points, and better in 
others, the foundation of the strain is 
well laid. 


SJOURNAL OF HEREDITY, V, 8, pp. 368-369, August, 1914. 


268 


“In every subsequent mating that 
takes place a breeder should always 
strive to hold every good point pos- 
sessed by his bitch, and to add to them 
something extra from the stud dog. 
The dangerous pitfall that trips hun- 
dreds of thoughtful breeders is the 
attempt to balance points, good and 
bad, against each other. A_ bitch 
excelling in eyes, skull and ears but 
lamentably bad in foreface will be 
bred to a dog with capital foreface, but 
shocking in eyes, ears and skull. Ora 
bitch with speed and hunting sense, but 
lacking in bottom, will be mated to a 
solid dog with substance to spare, but 
little else to recommend him. As an 
example of glorious optimism such 
matings are splendid, but as breeding 
operations they are pathetic. The re- 
sult is more than apt to be a spoiling 
of whatever good points were possessed 
by both parents, for these points were 
probably above the average of the 
race, and the principle of regression 
would tend to pull the avearge of the 
puppies back closer to the breed mean. 
Always hold then whatever good points 
we have, endeavoring in each successive 


The Journal of Heredity 


mating to add to these other good 
points.” 

‘“Working on this basis, there are two 
things useful in narrowing the selection 
of the individual dogs in any particular 
mating. Always judge a dog as a 
breeding unit not by its own points, 
but on its ancestry and progeny.” 

“The elimination of all guess-work 
and the willingness to accept consider- 
able length of time before success comes 
should be the first resolution made by a 
breeder. This means study, first, of 
the principles of genetics; next, of the 
breed with which one is dealing; and 
lastly, of the individuals employed in 
every mating. Working upon a founda- 
tion of excellence in the weak points 
of his breed and always retaining good 
points gained and adding others to 
these, the breeder, provided he judges 
his breeding stock by their puppies 
rather than by their own points, is 
sure to establish a strain upon which he 
can count for results. This, however, 
can not be done in a season. The 
breeder must possess those qualities we 
all admire in our dogs, patience, game- 
ness and faithfulness.”’ 


Fruit Breeding in Alaska 


There are two species of strawberry wild in Alaska, one in the coast region and 


one in the interior. 
vated varieties of the strawberry, 


Pollen from both of these has been used in hybridizing culti- 
in order to induce hardiness. 
the native plant of the coast region have been a conspicuous success. 


The crosses with 
Nearly 


4,000 of the hybrids thus produced have fruited and some hundreds of them are 
good enough to be retained for further testing. 
The crosses with the native plant of the interior have been but few, and so far 
without noted improvement on the cultivated parent, except in matter of hardiness. 
We have crossed the cultivated raspberry with pollen from the native salmon 


berry and produced many seedlings. 


The hybrids, however, are nearly all sterile; 


nothing of value has been produced, but we propose to continue crossing with other 


native species of the genus. 


Attempts are now being made to cross native species of Ribes on cultivated 


varieties of Ribes rumbrum and R. 
gooseberries. 


nigrum. 


Some work is also being done with 


We have for several years attempted to cross the native crabapple on cultivated 
varieties of the apple, but for various reasons little seed has been produced. The 


work is continued, however. 


It is almost certain that if apples are ever to be 


grown successfully in Alaska, the trees must contain the blood of this native 


crabapple. 
can be grown only with partial success. 


Imported cultivated varieties, even the hardiest and earliest of them, 


C. C. Georgeson. 


Special Agent in Charge of Alaska Investigations, U. S$. Dept. of Agriculture. 


DETERMINATION OF SEX 


Experimental Biology Making Progress in the Solution of Fundamental Problem— 
Sex-control in Men Now Impossible but May Some Day Be Realized. 


REVIEW OF A Book BY LEONARD DONCASTER 
Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, England 


ARDLY any problem in biology 
feel has aroused such interest as 

that of sex, and the amount 

written on it is staggering— 
the number of hypotheses put forward 
to explain the determination of sex 
is said to be not far from 500. As 
long as the problem was attacked only 
by wordy speculation, based on philo- 
sophical theories or observation of 
uncontrolled phenomena, little progress 
could be made; but the experimental 
school of biology attacked it in a more 
direct way, and is beginning, its adher- 
ents think, to see light. ‘“‘The last 
few years have seen a considerable 
advance, and we now know at least 
something of the causes which lead to 
the production of one or the other sex, 
although of the manner in which these 
causes act our ignorance is still pro- 
found.” 

The experiments of the biologists 
are scattered through a voluminous 
periodical literature, and it is therefore 
well worth while to have them brought 
together and digested by a man who is 
himself a leader in the work. Dr. 
Leonard Doncaster, superintendent of 
the museum of zoology at Cambridge 
University, has undertaken the task, 
and his book,’ ‘“‘The Determination of 
Sex,” is not only up-to-date and critical, 
but written in a clear and pleasing 
style, which makes it a welcome addition 
to genetic literature. At a time when 
biologists tend to express their ideas 
in mathematical symbols, there is need 
for leaders of the science who are able 
to expose their subjects in literary 
English; and Dr. Doncaster proves 
himself to be such a one. 


His review is also marked by an 
unusually conservative attitude. ‘‘The 
study of sex has not yet reached a stage 
at which it is possible to give an account 
of the established facts, and of generally 
accepted inferences from them, which 
shall be even comparatively free from 
controversial matter,” he remarks in his 
preface. ‘‘The subject has been ap- 
proached by many quite different lines, 
and these lines, although convergent, 
have as yet given no indisputable 
indication of the central point towards 
which they all tend.’’ Nevertheless, 
some solid facts seem well established, 
and it may be of interest to review 
these in company with Dr. Doncaster. 
His book does not discuss sex-determina- 
tion in plants, and a large part of his 
illustrative material is drawn from 
breeding experiments with insects— 
work to which he himself has for a 
number of years given a large part of 
his time. 


THE PURPOSE OF SEX 


In the first place, the author does not 
subscribe to any one of the theories 
which have been confidently put forward 
to explain the origin of sex—the reason 
why the existence of two sexes is an 
advantage toaspecies. “It isa remark- 
able thing,’ he observes, “that apart 
from the fundamental attributes of 
living matter—assimilation, irritability, 
growth, and so forth—no single char- 
acter is so widely distributed as sex; 
it occurs in some form in every large 
group of plants and animals, from the 
highest to the lowest, and yet of its 
true nature and meaning we have 
hardly a suspicion. Other widely dis- 


1 The Determination of Sex, by L. Doncaster, Sc. D. Pp. xiit+172, 8vo, 22 plates; glossary 


and bibliography. 
1914. Price, $2 net. 


Cambridge (England), University Press; New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons; 


269 


27h) The Journal 


tributed characters have obvious func- 
tions; of the real function of sex we know 
nothing, and in the rare cases where it 
seems to have disappeared, the organ- 
ism thrives to all appearance just as 
well without it. And in many other 
cases, especially in plants, where sex 
is definitely present, it may apparently 
be almost or quite functionless, as, for 
example, in the considerable number 
of plants which are habitually grown 
from grafts or cuttings, and in which 
fertile seeds are never set. It is’ of 
course impossible to say with confidence 
that such ‘asexual’ reproduction can 
go on quite indefinitely, but the evidence 
formerly adduced that continued vege- 
tative reproduction leads to degenera- 
tion has been shown to be of doubtful 
validity. Sex, therefore, although it is 
almost ‘universally found, cannot be 
said with certainty to be a necessary 
attribute of living things, and its real 
nature remains an apparently impen- 
etrable mystery.” 

To understand the efforts made to 
solve the problem, it is necessary to 
have a clear appreciation of what sex 
is, and of the mechanism of sexual 
reproduction. We speak of certain 
kinds of animals and plants as female, 
and of other kinds as male: ‘‘The 
fundamental thing about the female sex 
is that female individuals produce 
bodies known as egg-cells or ova, which 
after uniting with a cell of a different 
character derived from the male, develop 
into new individuals.”’ This description 
fits equally an animal or a plant. 
“Superficially, egg-cells vary greatly in 
appearance; they may be relatively 
large, owing to the inclusion of nourish- 
ing substance or yolk for the developing 
embryo, or they may be microscopic, 
as they generally are when no yolk is 


present. They may have a special 
protective covering, or may be naked, 


but apart from these differences, which 
are so to speak accidental, they are 
always characterized, in the most vari- 
ous animals and plants, by consisting 
of a mass of relatively unmodified 
protoplasm? containing a single nucleus. 


of Heredity 


“As the distinguishing character of 
the female is the production of eggs or 
ova, so that of the male is the production 
of male germ-cells, which, however, 
vary greatly in different cases. They 
are characterized by the fact that their 
function is to reach an ovum and unite 
with it in the process of fertilization, 
as will be described in more detail 
below. In nearly all animals and in 
many of the lower plants, the male 
germ-cells are for this purpose endowed 
with the power of independent locomo- 
tion; in animals they are called sperma- 
tozoa (in the singular spermatozoon, 
sometimes abbreviated to sperm) and 
in the lower plants spermatozoids. In 
the flowering plants the male germ-cells 
are enclosed in the pollen grains which 
are produced by the stamens of the 
flower; the pollen-grains have no power 
of independent movement, but are 
carried to the neighborhood of the egg- 
cell in the female flower, or part of the 
flower, either by wind or by insects, 
and thence grow out a tube which 
penetrates to the egg-cell and carries 
the male germ-cell into contact with it. 
Although, therefore, there are great 
differences between the male germ-cells 
of different organisms, they all agree in 
one essential feature, they are adapted 
for reaching in some way the more 
stationary egg-cell, they unite with it 
in the process of fertilization, and the 
zygote so produced proceeds to develop 
into a new individual. In animals, 
in which the spermatozoa have the 
power of independent movement in a 
fluid, these are commonly more or 
less tadpole-shaped, consisting chiefly 
of a ‘head,’ which contains little else 
beside the nucleus of the cell from which 
they have been derived, and a vibratile 
protoplasmic tail by the motion of 
which they travel through the fluid 
in search of the egg-cell. 

“The essential feature of the process 
of fertilization is the union of the two 
nuclei contained respectively in the 
egg-cell and the head of the spermato- 
zoon. The nucleus is a _ portion of 
protoplasm enclosed in a thin membrane 


>“ Protoplasm is the name given to the substance which is the material basis of all living things. 
In chemical constitution it resembles white-of-egg, and consists of very complex compounds of 
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, with a smaller amount of sulphur, phosphorus and other 


mineral elements.”’ 


Doncaster: Determination of Sex 


and differing from ordinary protoplasm 
in containing a quantity of a substance 
called chromatin, so called because it 
takes up stains (Greek, chroma) more 
readily than other parts of the cell. 
In its ordinary condition the chromatin 
is scattered in fine granules on proto- 
plasmic threads enclosed in the nuclear 
membrane. We know that the nucleus 
is of fundamental importance to the 
life of the cell; metaphorically we may 
say that the nucleus is to the cell what 
the brain is to the body. When a 
spermatozoon meets an egg cell, it 
forces its way into it, until its head is 
embedded in the egg protoplasm; the 
tail is then dropped off, and the head, 
which consists almost entirely of a very 
concentrated nucleus, swells up until 
it reaches the size of the nucleus of the 
egg-cell. The two nuclei then slowly 
approach each other until they mect, 
when they fuse into a single zygote- 
nucleus, which immediately begins to 
divide in such a way that equal parts 
of both parental nuclei are contained 
in each half. The whole cell then 
divides in two, and the process is re- 
peated until an embryo containing 
thousands of cells is produced. In 
every division the nucleus is divided in 
such a way that both paternal and 
maternal portions are accurately halved; 
from this it results that every cell of 
the offspring contains equal parts of 
the paternal and maternal nuclear 
substance (chromatin).”” It is by the 
study of the details of this process of 
division that more light has been thrown 
on the problem of sex-determination, 
perhaps, than by any other method. 


MIXTURE OF INHERITANCE 


“In the process of fertilization we 
get almost our only definite indication 
of the ultimate nature and function of 
sex. We have seen that every part of 
every individual includes equal portions 
of nuclear matter descended from one 
and the other parent. The mechanism 
for producing this equal division is 
extremely beautiful and complex, and 
it is impossible to believe that it is not 
of fundamental importance. There is 
evidence that the nucleus, and particu- 
larly its chromatin, is especially con- 


271 


cerned in the transmission of inherited 
characters, and the mechanism of nu- 
clear division insures that, of this 
‘material basis of heredity,’ the portion 
derived from each parent shall be equally 
distributed to every part of the body. 
One of the chief effects, then, of sexual 
reproduction, and perhaps its most 
important function, is the equal min- 
gling in every individual of sets of inher- 
ited characters derived from two 
parents.”’ 

But such a result, whatever its advan- 
tages to the organism and the species 
may be, might also occur in the absence 
of two distinct sexes. ‘‘If all individ- 
uals produced similar germ-cells, and 
if these united with one another at 
random, we should still get fertilization 
and a similar recombination of char- 
acters, although there would be no 
division into males and females.”” Such 
a condition is, in fact, found in some of 
the simplest one-celled animals and 
plants, such as Protozoa, where two 
similar individuals fuse to form one. 
“Tn the higher, multicellular animals, 
such union of similar cells is never 
found, and even in the Protozoa it is 
usual that the two cells which conjugate 
(i. e., unite in fertilization) should be 
dissimilar. One cause for this is not 
difficult to discover. The zygote formed 
by conjugation of two germ-cells has 
to grow up directly into a new indi- 
vidual, and if the function of fertilization 
referred to above is to be fulfilled, the 
germ-cells must come from different 
parents. If both cells were alike, it 
would be much more difficult for them 
to meet each other than if one is rela- 
tively large and stationary, the other 
small and active. Further, it is a 
great advantage to the embryo that it 
should be provided with some source of 
nourishment in its early stages. This 
is done in many cases by the storing 
up of food-material (yolk) in the egg, 
and it would clearly be impossible for 
two such yolk-laden eggs to seek each 
other out and unite. In a number of 
animals belonging to various groups, 
and also in the flowering plants, the 
embryo is supplied with nourishment 
direct from the mother, and this again 
would be impossible if both germ-cells 


212 


were alike. Hence it becomes clear 
that if once it is admitted that sexual 
reproduction is necessary or advan- 
tageous to the organism, the distinction 
of the two sexes, male and female, 
follows almost inevitably.” 


DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SEXES 


Although this distinction between 
male and female as sperm-producer and 
egg-producer is the fundamental one 
for our present purpose, there are in 
general great differences of other kinds 
between the two sexes. The female 
in most species is relatively quiescent, 
passive, and devotes her time to storing 
up energy, for the benefit of her young; 
the male is ‘‘vigorous, restless and 
active, and characterized by the dissipa- 
tion of energy rather than the storing 
of it.’’ These physiological differences 
lead to the production of striking 
external differences, seen in the more 
conspicuous adornment of the males 
of most species, and the relatively 
inconspicuous appearance of most 
females; they even extend to mental 
characteristics of human beings, “since 
woman is said to be more receptive and 
conservative, while men show greater 
originality and are more inclined to- 
wards change.” 

In the adult animal, then, there is 
usually no difficulty in telling at a 
glance to which sex an _ individual 
belongs; ‘‘even in species in which the 
sexes are externally similar an examina- 
tion of the mature reproductive organs 
will always reveal the sex with cer- 
tainty.” But in the embryo this is 
generally not the case: at an early, or 
sometimes even a late stage, it is im- 
possible for the observer to say whether 
the individual is going to become a 
male or female. This puts sharply 
before us the question on which students 
have always been divided: whether at 
such an early stage the sex is already 
determined, or whether it is still to be 
determined by some environmental con- 
dition or conditions. In other words, 
is the sex determined when the egg and 
sperm cells unite, or is the embryo then 
and for some time afterward indifferent 
in character, and able to become either 
male or female, according to conditions? 


The Journal of Heredity 


The latter theory has always been the 
more popular one, but the Mendelian 
school of genetists, and many of those 
who have studied the cell with the 
microscope, during recent years, incline 
to believe that the sex is fixed, once for 
all, when the ovum and spermatozoon 
come together. Each side has strong 
evidence and, as Dr. Doncaster points 
out, it seems very unlikely that both 
can be right; he therefore attempts to 
find some sort of a reconciliation be- 
tween them. 


PARTHENOGENESIS - 


First we must consider cases in which 
the sex is determined before the egg is 
laid. Such is the case among those 
insects, for example. where the repro- 
duction is parthenogenetic—where the 
egg is never fertilized by a sperm. in 
such cases, it can often be predicted 
with certainty whether a given egg 
will result in a male or female. To 
quote a single instance, the plant-louse 
Phylloxera, which has so ravaged the 
vineyards of Europe, produces two kinds 
of eggs—large and small. Neither kind 
is fertilized by a male, but the former 
always produce females, the latter 
males. Among the Rotifers, and else- 
where, an egg which would have yielded 
a male if it had developed without 
fertilization, produces a female if it 
unites with a spermatozoon. The case 
of the honey-bee is well known: queens 
and workers are produced from fertil- 
ized, drones from unfertilized eggs. 
“All the eggs are as far as can be 
discovered originally alike; all undergo 
a similar maturation process, and the 
sex of the offspring seems to depend 
entirely on whether the egg-nucleus 
conjugates with a sperm-nucleus, or 
develops unfertilized.’’ In this case, 
external conditions cannot determine 
sex. Among many similar cases, that 
of identical twins may be cited, as 
observed to good advantage in man and 
the armadillo. When twins, quadrup- 
lets, etc., are produced by the division 
of a single egg, rather than by the 
fertilization of several separate eggs, 
the individuals are always of the same 
sex, indicating that the sex must 
already be fixed immediately after the 


Doncaster: Determination of Sex 


fertilization of the egg, since division 
of the early embryo always gives rise 
to individuals of like sex. 

The complicated phenomenon of sex- 
limited (or sex-linked) inheritance, which 
has been carefully investigated by many 
genetists during the last fifteen years, 
throws further light on the problem of 
sex-determination. Color-blindness in 
man is a common example: affected men 
married to normal women have, as a 
rule, only normal children; their sons 
show no tendency to transmit the 
affection, but some of their sisters and 
probably all of their daughters may 
transmit it to their male children. It 
is thus commonly said that the defect 
appears in men and 1s transmitted by 
women. It has been possible to deter- 
mine exactly the proportion of affected 
individuals likely to appear in a given 
family; but in many cases these propor- 
tions are not found exactly, even in 
breeding experiments where large num- 
bers are dealt with. The evidence from 
sex-limited inheritance can not be 
reviewed at length here, but it is of 
such a nature that to Dr. Doncaster 
“it seems impossible to doubt that sex- 
determining factors are borne by the 
ova and spermatozoa, and from the 
regularity of the observed results, that 
sex is in general fixed from the moment 
of fertilization and is not altered by 
events which may take place later.”’ 
On the other hand, the occasional 
upsetting of the expected ratio indicates 
that other, obscure causes may be 
sometimes at work. 


EVIDENCE FROM CELL-DIVISION 


The next line of attack which Dr. 
Doncaster considers is one that has 
been pursued for only a few years, but 
which has proved particularly profit- 
able—namely, the study, microscopic- 
ally, of the germ-cells at the time of 
their divisions. The evidence here ob- 
tainable is based on the behavior of 
those much-talked-about bodies, the 
chromosomes. 

| the nucleus of..any cell. in its 
ordinary condition is enclosed in a 
membrane, and consists of a more solid 
substance bathed in a fluid. Scattered 


213 


evenly over the network are exceedingly 
minute granules of the substance known 
as chromatin which is especially char- 
acteristic of the nucleus as distinguished 
from the cell-protoplasm. When the 
nucleus is about to divide the chromatin 
gradually collects into masses, probably 
by the contraction and concentration of 
the threads of the network. These 
chromatin masses are known as chromo- 
somes, and in general both their number 
and their relative sizes are constant not 
only in all the cells of any individual, 
but in all the individuals of any species 
Their number varies greatly in different 
species, so that the chromosome number 
may be regarded as a definite specific 
character.’’ At each cell division, the 
chromosomes divide in halves, one half 
of each going into each one of the 
daughter cells. The number of chromo- 
somes in the daughter cells is therefore 
the same as that in the mother cell, 
being in each case the number char- 
acteristic of the species. But if a 
sperm or egg-cell is preparing for 
conjugation, 1t goes through a so-called 
‘maturation division’? at which the 
number of chromosomes is reduced to 
one-half that characterizing the species. 
When it unites with a cell of the opposite 
sex, the full complement is thus restored. 
Obviously, if it were not for such a 
maturation division, the number of 
chromosomes in the fertilized egg-cell 
would be doubled at each generation. 
Without stopping to discuss the complex 
details of this cell division, or the action 
of the chromosomes in parthenogenesis, 
let us proceed at once to the most 
interesting part of the subject—the 
now famous case of the X-chromosome. 

In some species, one sex has one less 
chromosome than the other, and this 
odd chromosome is known as _ the 
X-chromosome. The other sex, pos- 
sessing an even number, is considered 
to have two X-chromosomes. In the 
white human race, for example, von 
Winiwarter found forty-seven chromo- 
somes in the male, the forty-seventh 
being the X-chromosome, while the 
female seemed to have forty-eight, 
both the forty-seventh and forty-eighth 


‘ 


274 The Journal 
being assumed to be X-chromosomes.? 
Now the X-chromosome is conspicuous 
because of its unpaired condition, in 
contrast with all the rest of the chromo- 
somes in the cell, and it can therefore 
be followed under the microscope, by 
anyone possessed of good eyes and 
unlimited patience. Its behavior has, 
in the minds of many, gone far to settle 
the question of sex-determination. 


THE UNPAIRED CHROMOSOME 


“Tt was known at the close of the 
last century,” Dr. Doncaster reminds 
us, ‘‘that in insects of the order Orthop- 
tera (grasshoppers, etc.) one chromo- 
some behaved differently from the others 
in the development of the spermatozoa, 
and it was soon found that this chromo- 
some was unpaired, and that 1n conse- 
quence half of the spermatozoa possessed 
it and half were without it. Its differ- 
ence in behavior consists 1n 1ts remaining 
as a compact body while the other 
chromosomes have the form of elongated 
loops at the stage at which the pairing 
of the ordinary chromosomes takes 
place, and it is this difference in be- 
havior, in addition to its apparent 
connection with sex-determination, that 
justifies its designation by a special 
symbol as the X-chromosome. After 
the unpaired X-chromosome had been 
discovered in the males of certain 
Orthoptera and Hemiptera (plant-bugs), 
it was found that a pair of such chromo- 
somes was present in the females of the 
same species. Since, therefore, in these 
forms, the female before the maturation 
divisions has two X-chromosomes and 
the male only one, it follows that after 
maturation all eggs possess an X-chrom- 
osome, while half the spermatoza have 
it and half do not. The eggs which are 
fertilized by spermatozoa containing X 
will then give rise to individuals which 
have two X-chromosomes, and will 
become females, while those fertilized 
by spermatozoa without X will develop 
into individuals with only one X, and 
these will be males.” 

If men of science could have stopped 
here, we might think that the problem 


total of twenty-two chromosomes. 


of Heredity 


of sex was a simple one. But it was 
soon found that although the condition 
above described existed in a number of 
species, conditions quite different were 
met with in other species. Both sexes 
have two X-chromosomes, in many 
species; but in many of these it was 
later found that one of the X-chromo- 
somes in the male was smaller than, or 
‘different from, the other. It was ac- 
cordingly named the Y-chromosome; . 
and it was decided that, by the laws 
of chance, all fertilized eggs would 
have either the constitution XX or the 
constitution XY: the former would 
clearly become females and the latter 
males. But it has been pointed out 
above that the conditions in some 
species, particularly insects, show that 
there must be two kinds of eggs, some 
male-producing and the others female- 
producing. The “XY hypothesis,” 
therefore, which would make the deter- 
mination of sex wholly a function of the 
spermatozoon, acting under the law of 
probability, could not be supposed to 
have an absolutely universal applica- 
tion. Further investigation has brought 
many complications to light, so that 
sex is not now considered by most 
students to be universally and abso- 
lutely dependent on an X-chromosome, 
although there is a good deal of evidence 
to show that this unpaired or unequally- 
paired chromosome has an improtant 
role in the transmission of sex-limited 
characters. 


IMPORTANCE OF CHROMOSOMES 


The simplicity of the ‘ X-hypothesis”’ 
is so attractive that it still has many 
adherents, but “it cannot be regarded 
as proved. Many eminent biologists 
believe that the chromosome behavior 
is not the cause, but is, so to speak, a 
symptom of sex, and that the cause of 
sex-determination lies deeper. No one 
believes that the presence of horns is 
the cause of a Red Deer being a stag 
instead of a hind; horns are a regular 
accompaniment of maleness in most 
deer, but are certainly not its cause. 
So it may be maintained that an egg 


3In the negro race, Guyer’s observations show a double X-chromosome in the male, with a 
The count of large numbers of such small and elusive bodies 


is extraordinarily difficult, and results are not to be accepted too confidently. 


Doncaster: Determination of Sex 


or a spermatozoon may have one 
chromosome more or less because it 
has in it the power of developing into 
one or the other sex, rather than that 
the chromosome is the cause of sex. 
In any case, it is highly probable that 
sex is not determined simply and im- 
mediately by the presence or absence 
of a chromosome. Even if the chromo- 
some behavior is a necessary link in the 
chain of causes leading to sex-deter- 
mination, as seems to the writer 
probable, it is not the immediate or 
the only cause of sex.”’ 

If the determination of sex were due 
to such a simple cause as the law of 
chance, the two sexes ought to be 
produced in equal numbers, unless 
disturbing causes interfere. Every- 
one knows that in many animals, at 
least, the sex-ratio is approximately 1:1, 
as this hypothesis demands; but when 
the statistics are large enough, it is in 
general found that the excess of males 
is greater than the hypothesis in its 
simplest form calls for. Worse, the 
sex-ratio seems to fluctuate according 
to a variety of conditions. 

“Por 100 females born, it has been 
found that in man the ratio of males 
averages between 103 and 107, in the 
rat about 105, in the horse ninety-eight, 
in the dog about 118, rising in some 
breeds to over 140, while some animals 
have an even greater divergence from 
equality.”’ The ratio is still more 
upset in man when still-births are 
counted, for a large part of early births 
and abortions are those of males, who 
apparently have a lower vitality than 
females at that stage of life. Evi- 
dently, then, the proportion of young 
of the two sexes produced is not equal, 
as the chromosome hypothesis seems to 
demand. 

It has not been difficult, however, to 
find hypotheses to explain this. Two, 
at least, can be supported by some 
facts: “If it is assumed that the sper- 
matozoon determines sex, the male- 
producing spermatozoa may perhaps 
be somewhat more active, or for some 
other reason, such as slightly smaller 
size, more successful in entering the 
egg; if, on the other hand, the egg has 
some share in sex-determination, there 


2TD 


may be a tendency for the polar divisions 
to occur rather more often in such a 
way as to produce eggs of one sex 
rather than the other. Because, there- 
fore, the sexes are not exactly equal in 
number the hypothesis of sex-deter- 
mination by the germ-cells which unite 
to form the fertilized egg is not dis- 
proved. What is required is to 
investigate the causes which have been 
found by observation to influence the 
sex-ratio, and to relate them, if possible, 
with chromosome behavior.” 


EXTERNAL INFLUENCES 


Such influences are to be found in 
temperature, nutrition, age of one or 
both of the parents, moisture content 
of the germ-cells, age of germ-cells at 
time of fertilization, hybridity, etc. 
The experiments and observations on 
the influence of these various factors are 
numerous, and most of them treacher- 
ous. In many cases they can be shown 
to have no effect on the sex-determina- 
tion ratio, but merely to produce a 
differential mortality in the sexes. In 
other cases, the determination of sex 
does seem to Dr. Doncaster really to 
have been influenced. ‘On the whole, 
therefore, the study of the sex-ratio, 
while not leading to any positive con- 
clusion with regard to sex-determina- 
tion, makes it necessary to reconsider 
the simple hypothesis of final deter- 
mination by one or other of two kinds 
of germ-cells, to which the facts of 
sex-limited inheritance and of chromo- 
some behavior seem naturally to lead.”’ 

Lack of space prevents a review of 
the interesting chapters on secondary 
sexual characters, hermaphroditism and 
gynandromorphism. Dr. Doncaster's 
general conclusions must be considered 
at some length, even though the reader 
of this review has not been given in 
many cases the evidence on which 
they are based. 

“Beginning with the question of the 
stage at which sex is determined, it 
was shown that in some cases 1t appears 
to be determined already in the un- 
fertilized egg, in other cases to depend 
on the spermatozoon and to be fixed 
at fertilization, and in other cases 
again to be capable of modification 


276 


during the embryonic development or 
even at a later stage. 

“Evidence for determination by the 
egg apart from fertilization was drawn 
(1) from the facts of parthenogenesis, 
(2) from sex-limited transmission by the 
female, and (3) from cases in which 
two kinds of fertilizable eggs are 
produced, which differ from each other 
in their chromosomes. In all these 
cases it is certain that, normally at 
least, male-determining and _ female- 
determining eggs are produced, and that 
if the kind ‘of egg is known, the sex can 
be predicted without reference to the 
spermatozoon. 

“Similarly, evidence for sex-determin- 
ation by the spermatozoon is provided 
(1) by the cases in which unfertilized 
eggs yield males, fertilized eggs females, 
as in the bee; (2) by sex-limited trans- 
mission by the male, and (3) by the 
existence of two kinds of spermatozoa 
differing in respect of their chromo- 


somes. In each of these three groups 
the evidence for sex-determination 1s 
exactly comparable with the similar 


determination by the egg in the previous 
class.”’ 


A SIMPLE HYPOTHESIS 


If this were the extent of our knowl- 
edge, we would have fairly clear sailing. 
“Sex might be regarded as depending 
on the presence of a greater or less 
amount of some ‘sex-determining sub- 
stance’ present in the chromosomes, or 
more correctly, on the physiological 
condition arising from the interaction 
of this substance with the substance of 
the cells. The presence of an additional 
‘dose’ of this substance in a cell other- 
wise similar would alter its metabolism 
(1. e., general physiological condition), 
and since all cells of the body would 
contain the extra dose, the whole 
physiology of the body would be affected, 
and the sex of the animal would be 
irrevocably determined.”’ 

“So far the problem is relatively 
simple: although nothing is known of 
the manner of action of the sex-deter- 
mining factor supposed to reside in the 
sex-chromosomes, it can at least be 
said that in the cases mentioned it is 
inherited like any other Mendelian 


The Journal of Heredity 


character (as was first suggested by 
Bateson and by Castle), and that 
individuals which receive it from both 
parents would be of one sex, those to 
which it 1s transmitted by one parent 
only, of the other sex. 

“To this scheme, so attractive in its 
comparative simplicity and its close 
accord with the facts on which it is 
based, there are opposed a series of 
observations, usually derived from spe- 
cial cases and differing widely in kind 
among themselves, any one of which 
might perhaps be regarded as due to 
error or to chance, but which, when 
taken together, make a rather formid- 
able obstacle to the acceptance of the 
hypothesis. They may be grouped 
under two heads, including (1) evidence 
that the egg may influence the sex 
in cases in which observations on 
chromosomes indicate that the sex 
should be determined by the sperma- 
tozoon; and (2) evidence that the sex 
may be modified after fertilization by 
influences acting on the embryo or 
even later in life.” 

These various objections are of such 


weight, in Dr. Doncaster’s mind, as to 
make him feel certain “that sex- 


determination does not depend on an 
unmodifiable unit, but rather on the 
reciprocal action between an inherited 
factor and its surroundings.’ In the 
absence of disturbing factors, sex will 
indeed be determined by the chromo- 
somes; and “if the difference between 
the chromosomes of the male and 
female is considerable, it will outweigh 
any other influences which might tend 
to affect the general result.” If the 
difference is not great, the chromosomes 
can absolutely determine the sex only 
under favorable conditions; if other 
agencies intervene ‘‘it becomes possible 
for an egg which would otherwise have 
been female to develop into a male.”’ 


SEX-DETERMINATION IN MAN 


Finally, a few words on the ever- 
interesting subject of sex-determination 
in man. From what has been said, it 
will be fairly obvious that we are not 
now in a position even to predict the 
sex of any child, much less to control it. 
But the possibility of eventual control 


Doncaster: Determination of Sex 


does not seem to Dr. Doncaster to be 
absolutely lacking. Certainly none of 
the. means so far suggested, some of 
which have attained considerable notor- 
iety, has any scientific standing, but 
this does not prove that we may not 
some time know more than we do now. 

On the basis of Dr. Doncaster’s 
hypothesis, it is obvious that control 
of sex might be possible in one of two 
ways: either by seeing that the child 
received the proper chromosomes at 
conception, or by finding some influence 
which would act on the embryo after 
conception so as to modify the deter- 
mination of the chromosomes, if it 
were not what was desired. It is hardly 
possible to conceive of a way in which 
sex might be controlled by the first 
means, and a solution is_ therefore 
probably to be sought along the second 
line suggested. 

While the male in the human species 
carries the X-chromosome, and _ there- 
fore should determine the sex of the 
offspring, there is some evidence to 
indicate that the egg-cell also has an 


277 


influence in determining the sex. So 
far, attempts to take advantage of 
this—e. g., by special diet for the 
mother—have met with no_ success. 
The idea that the right ovary produces 
male eggs and the left one female- 
producing eggs also rests on a very 
slender foundation. When the huge 
mass of evidence available is carefully 
criticized, it becomes evident that at 
present we have absolutely no knowledge 
as to how any condition can so affect 
the mother as to determine the sex of 
her offspring; nevertheless in the light 
of Dr. Doncaster’s hypothesis ‘‘it would 
follow that the search for means of 
influencing the sex of the offspring 
through the mother is not of necessity 
doomed to failure.”’ It cannot be too 
strongly emphasized that at present 
there is no means known to science of 
controlling sex in the human species, 
but it seems to the author still reason- 
able “‘to retain an open mind and to 
regard the control of sex in man as an 
achievement not entirely impossible of 
realization.”’ 


Bud Selection in Apples 


One of the important projects in hand at the Illinois agricultural experiment 
station concerns bud selection with apples. C. J. Crandall writes: 

“Under this project the effort is being made to ascertain whether there are dif- 
ferences in value between buds taken from different portions of trees for purposes 
of propagation. Buds were selected for testing this in three different ways: first, 
on the basis of size; second, on the basis of the location on the tree: and third, 
on the basis of location on the shoot or branch. All selected buds were measured 
and described and then grafted on ordinary apple seedlings. The trees grown 
from these buds have been planted in orchard form, and there are now living 
1,395 trees. Annual growth notes are being kept up on all trees and it is proposed 
to grow them to fruiting age before attempting to report on their behavior. I 
can only say at the present stage of the project that there appear to be some 
slight differences in favor of buds of large size, and in favor of terminal as con- 
trasted with lateral buds.”’ 


Hardy Peaches for Missouri 


Hardy peaches are being bred at the Missouri experiment station by crosses 
between large fruited, purple twigged sorts including Elberta, Champion, Carman, 
and the green twig sorts represented by Rise’s Seedling and Snow. The work 
with peaches has shown them to be self-fertile; therefore growers who plant only 
one variety need not fear that they will not get a crop, although such planting 
with apples, pears and many other fruits, largely self-sterile, would be disastrous. 


DEVEEOPMENT OF A-CHoERIY 


EVELOPMENT of a fruit from 

a flower is a process the details 

of which vary widely in dif- 

ferent species of plants, but of 
which the general outlines are fairly 
constant. In general, it may be said 
that the internal changes are very 
complicated but the external changes 
quite simple. The process can be 
easily followed in the accompanying 
illustrations, made from Japanese flower- 
cherries (Prunus pseudo-cerasus) and 
Japanese apricots (Prunus mumme) and 
considerably enlarged. 

Starting with the flower, as shown in 
Figure 8, we notice first of all the beauti- 
ful pink petals. These represent the 
expenditure of an immense amount of 
energy on the part of the tree, and yet 
have no direct connection with the 
production of seeds—which may be 
said to be the tree’s main purpose in 
life. When the ground below the tree 
is wholly carpeted with fallen petals, it 
may look as if the amount of energy 
thus used was wasted, but as a matter 
of fact the petals have served their 
purpose, and nearly every one knows 
that their purpose is a very useful one— 
that of attracting insects to the flowers, 
and thus securing cross-pollination of 
the blossoms, in order that two lines 
of ancestry may be united in the seed, 
and the resulting plant thus _ benefit 
from the traits of two parents. After 
the petals have fulfilled their end in 
attracting bees to the flower, they are 
of no further use to the tree, and are 
dropped. 

The other conspicuous parts of the 
flower are the stamens or _ pollen- 
bearing organs, and the style, an organ 
designed to catch pollen carried either 
by wind or insects and transmit it to 
the ovule lying in the ovary below. 
It is not necessary here to follow out 
the details of this process of pollination 
—most readers understand how the 
pollen grain sends a long tube into the 
style and down to the ovary, and how 
the cell-nuclei of the pollen grain slip 
down this tube and unite with the 

278 


ovule. There are then two pairs of 
cell-nuclei; one pair unites to form the 
embryo, and the other to form what is 
known as the endosperm—the starchy 
material surrounding the actual germ. 

This union of the male and female 
cells—what the genetists call zygosis— 
not only starts a complicated series of 
cell divisions in the ovule, leading to 
the production of the seed, but also 
stimulates the remaining parts of the 
flower to renewed growth. The sta- 
mens, whose function is finished after 
they have shed their pollen, wither and 
drop off in time. The style has also 
finished its work after it has furnished 
a route for pollen grains to reach the 
ovule, and it accordingly begins to 
wither; but as it is firmly attached, 
being in reality a modified prolongation 
of the end of the stem, it remains in 
place for a long while, frequently until 
the fruit has reached considerable size, 
as shown in the left of Figure 9. 
Finally, however, with the increasing 
size of the fruit, a layer of abscission 
cells is formed at the base of the style, 
all its nutrition is cut off, and the wind 
some day blows it away. 

We have thus disposed of all the 
parts of the flower—petals, stamens and 
style—which were most conspicuous 
when it first appeared. Meantime, a 
part that was then apparently of little 
importance has developed remarkably. 
This is the ovary, which is from a 
historical point of view a thickening of 
the stem to act as a receptacle for the 
ovule—which, when fecundated, be- 
comes the seed. As the seed develops, 
so does the ovary enclosing it. The 
changes here are principally chemical 
in nature, and not yet wholly under- 
stood. The tissues of the ovary swell 
up and become distended and succulent. 
Part of the starch is changed into 
sugar; considerable quantities of acid 
are formed, coloring matter is deposited 
all through the tissues, and _ finally, 
aromatic substances are created. This 
by no means catalogues all of the com- 
plex chemical changes, but it suggests 


Development of a Cherry 


JAPANESE APRICOT BLOSSOMS 


The conspicuous parts of the blossoms—petals and stamens—have no direct part in the formation 


of the fruit that is eaten, the function of the 


stamens being to furnish pollen, and that of the 


petals to advertise the existence of nectar, and attract bees who will distribute the pollen. 


(Fig. 8.) 


the most important ones. By the 
time the seed is fully mature and 
capable of gernimation when placed in 
a suitable environment, the ovary sur- 
rounding it has become the bulky 
structure which we know as the cherry. 

Presumably the advantage to the 
tree in thus surrounding its hard seed 
with a succulent mass of flesh is that 
birds are led to eat it, and thus carry it 


Photograph by Fairchild. 


coat is hard enough so that it passes 
through the intestinal tract of the bird 
without damage, and is finally excreted 
to lodge in some new locality and take 
root. The devices which Nature has 
developed for seed dispersal are varied, 
and some of them are, to man, of a 
disagreeable character. It is, to say 
the least, fortunate that some of them 
on the other hand are of such an agree- 


to considerable distances. The seed able character as our edible fruits. 


Mendelism in Melons 


Mendelian inheritance in melons has been worked out to some extent at the 
New Hampshire agricultural experiment station, through crosses of muskmelons 
with canteloupes. In the hybrid generation blending was found to be the rule, 
but the following generation revealed the segregation of six pairs of contrasted 
characters, or allelomorphs. Advantage can be taken of these results in scientific 
breeding of melons. 


°o ; o| Plopt UOdD Vv 


J pur LOY TIM 


1O LNANdOTHAAG 


Ee EtING OVER BUGENICS 


Making It a Living Force Depends on Sound Application of Psychology and 
Sociology—Camp Fire Girls an Organization Which Will Create Eugenic 
Ideals in Women in an Indirect but Effective Way 


A. E. HAMILTON. 
Extension Department, Eugenics Record Office, Spring Harbor, Long Island, N. Y. 


NE of the finest women, phys- 

ically, mentally, spiritually, that 

I have been honored to meet in 

my lecture travels told me 
that she and her sisters had refrained 
from marriage because her family tree 
showed branches withered by tuber- 
culosis. 

One of the brainest and brawniest 
young men I have ever known told me 
recently that the process of trying to 
rationalize his emotions and bring them 
into line with his intellectual content 
regarding fitness for marriage had led 
him to leave the side of the woman who 
would have made a splendid wife had 
they married, and betake himself to 
the solitary ways of scientific research. 

One of the most sympathetic and 
child-loving men who has crossed my 
path writes of breaking an engagement 
on the score of finding doubtfully 
dysgenic influences in the family of his 
sweetheart, of falling in love with 
another admirable young woman and 
then tearing himself out again because of 
something he deemed not quite fitting 
in her hereditary constitution, and of 
finding another girl who seemed quite 
eugenically built, but who turned him 
down gently but flatly when he sug- 
gested that they be married for the 
sake of wellbornness in children. 

And I might go on recording more of 
this sicklying o’er with the pale cast of 
bluegenic thought the young minds of 
potential parents, which seems to me 
almost the net result of many of the well- 
intended but myopic endeavors hitherto 
made to put over Galton’s idea to the 
coming generation. Perhaps it is time 
for those of us who have the welfare of 
Eugenics at heart to ask ourselves 
what there is in a monograph on 
albinism, a study of the inheritance of 


idiocy, or a lecture on the declining 
birth-rate in college women or American 
men of science, to promote a desire on 
the part of our fittest young people for 
marriage and parenthood—for if that 
be not the keynote of Eugenics, then I 
sadly misconstrue the meaning of the 
word. 

To which it may be answered that 
all our normal young folks desire 
marriage and parenthood—whereupon 
the question becomes; Do they desire it 
enough to overcome the _ obstacles, 
psychological, social and economic, that 
are thrust in their way because the 
conscious attention of those who should 
be educators and leaders has not been 
turned on these problems sufficiently 
to make a dent in them? Marriage 
and parenthood must ever remain 
matters of desire, and the work before 
the true promoter of Eugenics is that 
of social engineering which will make 
for the realization of desire in the 
wholesomest and quickest way. The 
man whose genius has given us the 
first self-supporting social institution 
designed for the most genuine race- 
betterment puts the challenge thus, 
“Can you develop the geniuses who 
will parallel in the social world what 
our inventors have done in the world 
of steam and electricity? Can you 
then create social self-supporting in- 
stitutions that shall take these social 
inventions and so put the power of 
organization, publicity and finance be- 
hind them that they shall be as wide 
spread as the telephone, the movies or 
the telegraph?” In the organization 
of the Camp Fire Girls, the brain child 
of Doctor and Mrs. Luther Halsey 
Gulick, we have the pioneer type of 
such self-reliant and _ self-supporting 
institutions as will doubtless spring up 

281 


OE 


‘sony “HL Toy] “SIP kq ydessojoyg = *}X97 oY} Ul UOT “APY Aq yno poyzutod st yUSWIOAOUI soluasng ay} OF UROL ABUL SI} 
Jey ‘SloyyO 0} PUB [ENPTAIpuL oy} OF Opts yey} AoYs OF pure ‘TENPIAIPUL YOR JO JayOVIEYO OY} JO APIS Seq OY} Ys OF UsBIT AVYY 


‘pamo1d a1oy uo oY} SB SUOTSBODO ONS UO ‘SOTPIUNUIUUOD ITO} UT SassoySOY SB JOR OF POUTBA} oe jus ait dured ‘ayqissod st sev ivy sy 


Yrs | 3 * 
; iy 


4 


ATOM Oe d AV CAL 


4 


ft 
a 


ERED nie SS 
ore a ae 


or 


Hamilton: Putting Over Eugenics 283 


DEVELOPING THE BODY 


Water sports and other carefully chosen forms of recreation are, in connection with the other 
Camp Fire activities, developing a spirit of physical and mental freedom in girls that will 


affect for good the parenthood of the next generation. 


Gulick. (Fig. 11.) 

to meet the demands of our new day. 
That here we have a splendid instru- 
ment for the promotion of true Eugenic 
ideals is sure if the words of its founder 
are made good, and from my own first- 
hand observations I should say that 
already they are being splendidly real- 
ized: 


IDEAL OF THE FOUNDERS. 
“Camp Fire Girls undertake in so 
far as they are able to act as Hostesses 
for their communities. The word Hos- 
tess brings to mind not so much one 
who is correct in matters of social 
usage aS a woman who understands, 
who has insight, sympathy and tact. 
She often enables people to do what 
they never knew they had it in them to 


do. She reveals people even more to 


Photograph by Mrs. Luther H. 


themselves than she helps them reveal 
themselves to others. She draws out 
each one’s abilities by her power of 
intelligent appreciation. To her the 
arts of entertaining are those which 
bring people together, which reveal 
people to each other, which develop 
the social nature. To amuse is not her 
object, but to so treat her guests that 
the best in each is developed and fed 
by the best in everyone else. This is 
social genius. Camp Fire Girls aim to 
discover, develop and use social genius 
just as previous generations have dis- 
covered and used scientific genius. 
Into this work is being thrown an 
army of picked girls under the guidance 
of the ablest women. As they grow 
in power of team work, preserving the 
devotion and vision of youth, gaining 


The Journal of 


Heredity 


GIRLS MUST BE PHYSICALLY FIT 


The Camp Fire is intended to educate girls in the true sense—that is, to give as full opportunity 


as possible to their valuable inborn characteristics to get expression. 
that, 1n the interests of the race, is naturally insisted upon. 


Gulick. (Fig. 12.) 
vision by experience, who shall say 
that they will not do for the affections 
as brilliantly as the previous generation 
has done for the industries. Both of 
these had their origin in the home but 
have grown beyond its confines.” 
“Camp Fire Girls is an organization 


of girls and women to develop the 
home spirit and make it dominate 
the entire community. Hence, the 
ranks should be recruited from those 


who have ability to do and to help 
rather than from those who need help. 
[It is an army of girls rather than a 
mission to them. Military training is 
good for the health, but an army cannot 
be built out of invalids, selected because 
they need the outdoor life and exercise 
of a soldier. The purpose of Camp Fire 


Physical fitness is one 
Photograph by Mrs. Luther H. 


is to find the ablest girls and women 
and to give them a training in team 
work that will enable and incline them 
effectively to give woman’s service to 
the community. Girls and guardians 
do become improved by Camp Fire 
work just as the soldier is benefited 
by the army drill, but self improvement 
is no more the object for the girls than 
it is for the soldier. The primary 
purpose is to develop ideals, to train 
leaders, to create custom and fashion, 
habit and want. As Camp Fire girls 
grow up into women, they will have the 
training, experience and affection to 
help organize and carry on all of the 
social relations of the community, 
including the care of those who primarily 
need help. There are many institutions 


birth and 


» who by 


ite, | 


the popul 


a, ier Oak” WNIT INS! 


roe 


AN ARMY, NOT A HOSPITAL.’ 


[IS 


ate its ideals in their own communities. 


is to help the mass of 


) 


_ 

as 

= 

—_ . 

ie 5 
La? 

a Zs 

os = 

= tS. 

I ve ~ 

<— hee 


ae | 


is not intended primarily as a training school for the unfortun: 


Oo - 
ee 
> . 


The Journal of Heredity 


=- ~ 
ee 


~~ 


= ee 


= 


GAINING CONTROL OF SELF 


Fitness for motherhood is a happy by-product of Camp Fire activities, which make for splendid 
physique and intelligent control of one’s own body and mind, and of Nature as we find her. 


Photograph by Mrs. Luther H. Gulick. 


of the hospital type, devoted to the 
unfortunate, and a few—if any—are 
working on this task to which we have 
devoted ourselves—that of building up 
an army of splendid women, trained 
in team work, devoted to the spiritual 
ideals of the home, and united in giving 
service to the community.”’ 

On being asked how Camp Fire girls 
were instructed and trained for mother- 
hood, the mother out of whose home- 
camp life the movement originally 
sprang replied that no particular train- 
ing or instruction was given to girls 
that could be labelled ‘‘ for motherhood.” 
The concept motherhood will not shrink 
into a course of training or into a text 
It is to be lived, not defined or 
Camp Fire girls win honor 
beads by work in seven crafts—health 
craft, camp craft, nature lore, home 
craft, hand craft, business and patriot- 
ism. As each girl receives honors she 
progresses from rank to rank in her 
group and in the organization, so that 
each attainment of an honor represents 
the realization of a desire for definite 
accomplishment. If the home craft 
honors lure girls to do those things 
that inevitably make for the best in 


be 0k. 


imparted. 


(Fig. 14.) 


home building and tending, if health 
craft and camp craft and Nature lore 
bring strong bodies, tested nerves and a 
realization of the mystery and purpose of 
love in the world of living things, then 
a big part of training for motherhood is 
accomplished as a by-product. But 
the. girls have not been striving to 
become good mothers according to rule. 
They have been ‘“‘seeking beauty,” 
(which is the first of the seven laws of 
the Camp Fire) in a multitude of wisely 
selected and elective activities, and all 
the rest will have been added unto 
them. 


EMBODIMENT OF EUGENICS 


So, too, Eugenics, though nowhere 
mentioned in the literature of Camp 
Fire, finds its embodiment in the 
learning by doing which is Camp Fire. 
“To know the names, homes and 
occupations of grand-parents”’ for the 
earning of an honor in Patriotism, takes 
a girl into the fascinating field of gen- 
ealogy where a little observation will 
suggest the segregation of he reditary 
characters, physical and mental, in the 
family history and so open up the study 


A TEST OF SELF-RELIANCE 


Only those who have tried paddling a birch-bark canoe in rough water and wind can appreciate 


the kinds of qualities that this girl is developing. 


(Fig. 15.) 


of inheritance in a natural, positive 
and interesting way. 

To “investigate the effects of ventila- 
tion and sanitation in stores and 
factories employing women,’ another 
elective requirement for a bead, might 
lead to inquiries concerning the trans- 
mission of acquired characters, the 
difference between immediate effects 
of environment on women and their 
children and the strictly racial modifica- 
tions of circumstance and time. The 
“study of ten public institutions in her 
locality’’ can hardly fail to acquaint a 
girl with the purpose and content of the 
poor-house, jail, insane asylum or home 
for the feeble in mind, and such a study, 
amateur and superficial as it may be, 
will bite deeper into the mind than the 
reading of a shelf full of official reports 
later on. <A patriotism paper on Immi- 
gration brings up the great issues of 
value in human stock and the right 
to enter our gates. Studied and written 
about in a spirit of interest in subject 


Photograph by Mrs. Luther H. Gulick 


matter plus the desire for accomplish- 
ment and the relation of the part to 
the whole, the Jukes and Ishmaelites 
and gunmen who flood into our country 
through the leaks in our immigration 
laws become real and living, and who 
that knows the slightest of the psy- 
chology of adolescence will doubt that 
such an interest, so stimulated, will 
influence the vote to be cast on these 
questions a few years later? 

“To be familiar with National History 
as it affects woman’s welfare’ has 
already led two Camp Fire girls of my 
own acquaintance, walking in entirely 
different spheres, to hit upon the idea 
of camp fire and scouting activities as 
small beginnings of what William James 
dreamed might prove a moral equivalent 
of war. 

Thus ‘‘the study of agencies under 
social control that may improve or 
impair the racial qualities of future 
generations either physically or men- 
tally’’ is begun quite unconsciously, and 


288 


carried far beyond the academic stage 
of reading, writing and discussion, into 
the play-practice by a coming generation 
that will better ft it for facing these 
big world problems than perhaps any 
generation has ever been fitted before. 

From fifty to seventy thousand young 
girls absorbing the Camp Fire environ- 
ment, and their numbers increasing at 
the rate of about 2,000 girls a month, 
actually means something for the future 
of the race. The hiking, canoeing, 
swimming, cooking, and all-round glori- 
fication of work which seemed to my 
young friends a possible “moral equiva- 
lent of war,’’ is developing a spirit of 
physical and mental freedom that will 
doubtless result in a finer fitness for 
motherhood and a keener perception 
of what is wanted in fatherhood for the 
next generation. It will also be found 
to be working out a solution for many 
an economic problem that results from 
our extravagance in luxuries, which 
are more than compensated for in the 
happy recreations of the out-of-doors 
and the simplifying of customs of eating 
and all-round living that comes with an 
appreciation of a life close to the heart 
of nature, whose wayward children 
we still are, despite our carapace of 
over-civilization. 


THE TORCH-BEARERS 


The highest rank in Camp Fire is 
that of the torch-bearer, whose desire, 
expressed on receiving the honor, is: 


“The light that has been given to me 
I desire to pass undimmed to others.”’ 


And its biological and social significance 
is made plain to those who “work for 
and win the rank. In such a spirit 
we may hope to find at least the 
beginning of a realization of Galton’s 
hope that Eugenics might beccme a 
living part of our very religious con- 
ception of life; for surely, as Saleeby 
has aptly put it: “If we have trans- 


The Journal of Heredity 


ferred our hopes of heaven to earth, 
and from ourselves to our children, 
they are no less religious, ‘and they 
that shall be of us shall build up the 
old waste places; for we shall raise up 
the foundations of many generations.’ ”’ 

Nor need this be conscious or rea- 
soned. Perhaps the less we say to our 
young people about Eugenics directly, 
the better. Surely the less they have 
to deal first-hand with the black- 
symboled pedigrees of neuroses and 
disease that constitutes the major part 
of our present crop of eugenic literature, 
the more wholesome will ‘be their 
attitude toward their own relation to 
life and its multiplication. It is not 
so much seeds of fear concerning going 
wrong that we need to sow, as it is 
seeds” of strong desire to go right and 
pass on undimmed_ the light “that is 
given us in a spirit of hope that the 
best is yet to be, for heresy though it 
seem to say so in this journal, it is 
our social heredity that preserves the 
best the race has wrought out of space 
and time, and the unmodifiable germ- 
plasm is, after all, more a matter of 
concern to the microscopist and_ bio- 
chemist than it is to our harvest of 
boys and girls. The hope I see for 
putting over Eugenics to the masses 
who need it most lies in the new inter- 
pretation of the world’s poetry and 
romance, the making of life now and 
here romantic and interesting and 
splendidly worth while, so that we shall 
strenuously desire to perpetuate it and 
enjoy the holy fruits of its perpetuation, 
and this will be done only when we do 
as has been suggested, turn the current 
of humanity’s genius into social channels 
and evolve as magnificent engines for 
social righteousness as we have for the 
discovery and control of weakness, 
disease and death. That this can and 
will be done we may already read in 
the signs of the times, not the least 
of these our Scouts and Camp Fire. 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


Vol. Vi Ne: 7 


July, 1915 


CONTENTS 


The Georgia Velvet Bean, by John Belling................. Frontispiece 
AnpAzteciNarcohe by Witbier SaiOrd!). 6225. fears ts 5 os he ie rae y 291 
Miulattocsin tne Urited) States... . c20 40 es Maar eta po Tepes re 
Sweet Cherry Breeding, by V. R. Gardner...........................312 
Racewbetterment Conterence ya.) 6 eee Oe eee © een 
New Publications: The Great Society, by Graham Wallas...........313 
Black and White Ayrshires, by A. H. KuhIlman...................... 314 
Annual: Meeting of the Association: ) 5.2666 00) 612 obs eng ie eee ne ced 
Ettersburg Strawberries, by Roy E. Clausen......................... 324 
The First-Born’s Handicap, Review of a Book by Karl Pearson... ....332 
Hotel Accommodations at Berkeley......................+-+--+-....--336 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Subscription price to non-members, $2.00 a year, foreign postage extra; 
price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter February 24, 1915, at the postoffice at Washing- 
ton, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, June 25, 1915. 


THE GEORGIA VEEVET- BEAN 


é 


re 6 re pee 
Xen aul ne 


Several cases of “‘mutation’’ which have been thoroughly ring ited can be regarded as due 
to the loss of a single genetic factor. Among ae se cases the best known is the occurrence of the 
“‘false wild oat”’ in pure strains of oats, which was the subject of a masterly monograph by Nilsson- 
Ehle. It appears not improbable that the Rie of a genetic factor may occur occasionally in 
almost any pure line of plants. Sx ae the results are of agricultural value. 

The Florida velvet be ee (Stizolobium deeringianum) has long been grown in Georgia as a soil 
improver and cattle food; usually from Florida seed, since it often fails to ripen seed farther 


north. Several farmers in Georgia, however, seem to have found an earlier eine in their fields, 
three years or more ago, and this strain is now extensively grown there. At the ae hes isa 
photograph of one plant of the Florida velvet bean, taken at Gainesville, Fla., on Se] 19, 1914; 


all plants were similar and bore flowers and young pods. At the right isa photograph, t taken on 
the same day, of one of three plants of the Ge orgia velvet bean, from seeds planted on the same 
day and in the same row as the Florida. The Georgia plants had dropped their leaves and ripened 
all their pods, which were dry and ready to pick. int ime of appe arched of the first flowers, they 
were as early as the Yokohama bean and nearly two months earlier than the Florida. From 
crosses between the Yokohama and the Florida, I conclude that the Florida has a factor for late 
flowering, H, which the Yokohama does not possess. Hence it may be supposed that the Georgia 
velvet arose from the Florida velvet by the “spontaneous” loss of the factor H. Since His domi- 
nant, the early plants would appear only in the second generation.—John Belling, Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Gainesville, Florida. (Frontispiece.) 


AN AZTEC NARCOTIC 


(Lophophora williamsit). 


So-called ‘‘Sacred Mushroom,” or Teonanacatl, Still in Use by the Indians of 
Mexico and the United States, Producing Hallucinations of a Remark- 
able Nature, Is Identified with the Peyotl Zacatecensis, or 
Devil’s Root of Ancient Mexico, and the ‘‘Mescal 
Button” of Texas. 


W. E. SAFFORD 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 


CCOUNTS of many early travel- 
lers in America and missionaries 
to the Indians call attention to 
the veneration of the aborigines 

for various plants, showing that they 
attributed to all plants a spirit some- 
what like that of animals or even of 
man himself. To certain plants special 
honors were paid; others were avoided 
with dread; while others, with no pro- 
nounced virtues or evil properties, were 
little noticed. An example is given 
by a Mexican writer of the homage 
paid to a certain tree cut down in order 
to form a bridge over a stream in 
Michoacan. The people of the village 
were called together by the governor 
and a religious service was held about a 
cross erected for the special ceremony, 
with candles burning before it and 
choristers assisting. A procession was 
formed which climbed the mountain, 
where the tree was growing. When 
it fell there came an aged Indian woman 
who, taking a few of its branches, laid 
them on the trunk where it had been 
cut, and consoling it with loving words 
begged that it might not feel humiliated 
or angry; for they had chosen it on 
account of its magnificent stature and 
great strength, and it was destined to 
span a mighty river, so that all the 
people of the land of Michoacan might 


cross over uponit. And before dragging 
it away they placed upon the place 
where it had fallen a piece of lighted 
candle, which had been left over from 
Holy Thursday; and they repeated in 
its honor a very solemn litany, sprinkling 
it with holy water and much pulque.? 
On the next day, having propitiated 
the spirit of the tree, they bore away the 
hewn beam to the bridge with much 
shouting and jubilation.* 

The same author speaks of the 
veneration paid by the Mexicans to 
certain medicinal plants and to the 
narcotics Ololiuhqui, the sacred Nan- 
acatl, the Peyotl, and the Pictetl (tobac- 
co), “‘to which they ascribe deity and 
with which they practice superstitions.” 


METHODS OF EXORCISM 


The following example is among those 
given to show the method of exorcism 
employed by the Aztec titzitls, or herb 
doctors. In this case the spirit of the 
Ololiuhqui, is addressed. ‘‘Come now, 
come hither, Green Woman, behold 
the green heat and the brown heat; 
remove thou the flaming or scarlet heat, 
the yellow heat, or by this token I send 
thee to the seven caves. And, I com- 
mand thee, put it not off till tomorrow 
or another day; for sooner or later thou 
wilt be compelled to do it. Who is the 


1 Based upon a paper entitled ‘‘Identification of the Teonanacatl, or ‘Sacred Mushroom’ 
of the Aztecs with the narcotic cactus, Lophophora, and an account of its ceremonial use in 
ancient and modern times,”’ read by the author May 4, 1915, at a meeting of the Botanical Society 


of Washington. 


Published by authority of the Secretary of Agriculture. 


2 Fermented sap of the Century Plant (Agave americana), which also yields the strong distilled 


spirit called mescal. 


3 Jacinto de la Serna, ‘‘ Manual de Ministros par el conocimiento de idolatrias y extirpacion de 


ellas.”’ 


In Documentos inéditos para la Historia de Espamia, vol. 104, p. 159-160. 


291 


THE AZTEC NARCOTIC CACTUS, TEONANACATL 


“God’s Flesh,’’ or ‘‘Sacred Mushroom” of the Aztecs —discs cut from the crown of the cactus 
Lophophora williamsii and dried. Photograph of specimens received by the Bureau of 
Chemistry, U.S. Department of Agriculture from the Indian Office in 1914. Now widely 
used as a narcotic by Indians on United States Reservations.—Natural size. (Fig. 1.) 


Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 


god—the so powerful and superior one 
who can destroy the work of thy hands? 
I command it, I, the prince of enchant- 
ment.’’ Others using the Hueinacazth 
(“‘great-ear’’), Mecaxochitl  (‘‘cord- 
flower’’), and Coanenepilli (‘‘serpent’s 
tongue’’), repeat the following: ‘‘Come 
hither, thou, the yellow and ardent 
red one; come and expel the green 
pain, the brown pain, which now wishes 
to take away the life of the son of the 
gods!” And with the herb Atlinan 
(““water-weed’’), “‘I invoke thee, my 
mother, thou of the precious waters! 
Who is the god or who the so powerful 
one that wishes to destroy and burn 
my enchantment? Ea! Come thou, 
sister of the Green Woman, whom I 
am about to go and leave in the seven 
caves, where the green pain, the brown 
pain, will hide itself. Go and rub 
with thy hands the entrails of the 
bewitched one, so that thou mayst 
prove thy power and fall not into 
disgrace!” 


EARLY HISTORY OF TEONANACATL 


Bancroft, in referring to the narcotics 
used by the ancient Mexicans, mentions 
one, which was believed by the early 
Spaniards to be a fungus. In writing 
of their ceremonial feasts he says: 
‘Among the ingredients used to make 
their drinks more intoxicating the 
most powerful was the teonanacatl, 
‘flesh of God,’ a kind of mushroom 
which excited the passions and caused 
the partaker to see snakes and divers 
other visions.”* This information was 
undoubtedly derived from accounts 
of the Spanish padres, one of whom, 
Bernardino Sahagun, writing before 
the year 1569, states that it was the 
Chichimeca Indians of the north who 
first discovered the properties and made 
use of these ‘“‘evil mushrooms which 
intoxicate like wine.’”® 

They were gathered in the territory 
now northern Mexico and southern 
Texas, preserved by drying, and carried 


4 Bancroft, H. H., Native Races, 2: 360. 
5 Sahagun, Bernardino (1499-1590). 


293 
southward. The inhabitants of the 
Valley of Mexico knew them only 
in their dry state. It is also very 
probable that the early writers who 
recorded their use had seen them only 
when dry and never knew then: as 
living plants. Francisco Hernandez, 
the physician sent by Philip II in 1570 
to study the resources of Mexico, or 
New Spain, describes them under the 
heading ‘De nanacatl seu Fungorum 


genere.’ From the harmless white- 
mushrooms (72tacnanacame), red-mush- 
rooms (tlapalnanacame), and_ yellow 


orbicular-mushrooms (chimalnanacame), 
used for food, he distinguished them as 
teyhuinti, which signifies “‘intoxicating.’’® 

In this connection it is interesting 
to note that this Nahuatl word, teyhuinti, 
or teyuinti, (from yuinti, to be drunk) 
survives, in the form of tejuino or tehuino 
in the State of Jalisco, Mexico, and 
tesuino or tizwin in the south-western 
United States, as the name of certain 
intoxicating drinks, the principal of 
which is a kind of beer brewed from 
malted maize. 


DETERMINATION OF THE DRUG 


Three centuries of investigation have 
failed to reveal an endemic fungus 
used as an intoxicant in Mexico, nor 
is such a fungus mentioned either in 
works on mycology or pharmacography; 
yet the belief prevails even now that 
there is a narcotic Mexican fungus, 
and it is supported by Siméon in his 
monumental dictionary of the Nahuatl 
language, in which the following defini- 
tions occur: 

‘“ Teonanacatl, espece de petit cham- 
pignon qui a mauvais gout, enivre et 
cause des hallucinations; il est médicinal 
contre les fiévres et la goutte.’”” 

“ Teyuinti, qui enivre quelqu’un, eniv- 
rant; teyuinti mnanacatl, champignon 
enivrant.’’> 

In connection with his study of the 
economic plants of the Mexicans and 
the Indians of the south-western United 


1875. 
Hist. Nueva Espafia (ed. Bustamente), vol. 3, p. 118. 


6 “‘Quoniam inebrare solent, Teyhuinti nomine nuncupati sunt, et e fulvo in fuscum vergant 
colorem, risum inopportunum concitent, imaginemque citra risum inebriantium possint exhibere."’ 


Hernandez, Francisco (1514-1578). 


Hist. Pl. Nov. Hisp. (ed. Rom.) 2:357. 


1790. 


7 Siméon, Rémi, Dict. de la langue Nahuatl, p. 436, 1885. 


8 Op. cit. p. 412. 


294 


The Journal of Heredity 


THE “DEVIL’S ROOT”’ 


Peyotl Zacatecensis (Lophophora 


liamsit). 
medium 


ing to it. 


ground, 
harm th 
and eat 1 
1576. 

(Fig. 2.) 


wil- 


“The root is of nearly 
size, sending forth 
branches nor leaves above ground, 
but with a certain wooliness adher- 
[On account of its magic 
properties] this root scarcely issues 
forth, but conceals 


as though 


itself in 
unwilling 


ose who may discove 
t.’’"—Francisco Hernandez, 


Photograph 


natural 


no 


the 
to 
r it 


Size. 


States the writer has sought diligently 
for a fungus having the properties 
attributed to the teonanacatl. As this 
narcotic was used by various tribes of 
Chichimecas, and the Chichimecas in- 
habited the territory situated in what is 
now northern Mexico and the south- 
western United States, it was natural 
to look for the plant in this region. No 
such fungus, however, was discovered, 
but in its place a narcotic plant having 
properties exactly like those attributed 
to the teonanacatl was encountered; 
moreover, one form of this plant, when 
prepared as a drug, resembles a dried 
mushroom so remarkably that at first 
glance it will even deceive a trained 
mycologist. It is discoid in form and 
apparently peltate when seen from 
below; but the upper surface bears 
tufts of silky hairs, and a close inspection 
reveals the fact that it is the crown of a 
small fleshy spineless cactus which has 
been cut off and dried. The cactus 
in question, Lophophora williamsiu, when 
entire, resembles a carrot or radish 
rather than a mushroom, and when cut 
into longitudinal slices or irregular 
pieces, would never be mistaken for a 
fungus. For this reason the drug 
prepared in the latter form was not 
recognized in southern Mexico as the 
same as the discoid form, and it was 
called peyotl by the Aztecs, while the 
name nanacatl was applied to the latter. 


IDENTITY WITH THE NARCOTIC PEYOTL 


Sahagun, who described the drugs of 
the ancient Mexicans from specimens 
brought to him by Indian herb doctors, 
failed to recognize the identity of the 
teonanacatl and peyotl of the Chichi- 
mecas, although he attributes similar 
narcotic properties to each. The latter 
he describes as follows: 

“There is another herb, like tunas’® 
of the earth; it is called pezotl; it is 
white; it is produced in the north coun- 
try: those who eat or drink it see visions 
either frightful or laughable; this 
intoxication lasts two or three days and 
then ceases; it is a common food of the 
Chichimecas, for it sustains them and 
gives them courage to fight and not 
feel fear nor hunger nor thirst; and they 


9 Tuna, the Spanish name for the fruit of the Opuntia, or prickly pear. 


Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 


say that it protects them from all 
danger.’’!” 

The plant itself was described by 
Hernandez as follows, under the heading 
De Peyotl Zacatecenst, seu radice molli 
et lanuginosa. 

“The root is of nearly medium size, 
sending forth no branches nor leaves 
above ground, but with a certain woolli- 
ness adhering to it on account of which 
it could not be aptly figured by me. 
Both men and women are said to be 
harmed by it. It appears to be of a 
sweetish taste and moderately hot. 
Ground up and applied to painful 
joints it is said to give relief. _Wonder- 
ful properties are attributed to this 
root (if any faith can be given to what 
is commonly said among them on this 
point). It causes those devouring it 
to be able to foresee and to predict 
things; such, for instance, as whether 
on the following day the enemy will 
make an attack upon them; or whether 
the weather will continue favorable; 
or to discern who has stolen from them 
some utensil or anything else; and other 
things of like nature which the Chichi- 
mecas really believe they have found 
out. On which account this root 
scarcely issues forth. but conceals itself 
in the ground, as if it did not wish to 
harm those who discover it and eat ts 

From the above description, which 
applies perfectly to the plant from 
Zacatecas shown in fig, 2, it follows 
that the Peyotl zacatecensis of Hernandez 
is identical with Lophophora williamsi. 
Specimens of the drug collected at 
Zacatecas by the late Dr. Edward Palmer 
are shown in fig. 3. They bear little 
resemblance to the mushroom-like but- 
tons shown in fig. 1, and it is not 
surprising that they should have been 
supposed to be distinct from the 
teonanacatl by the early Spanish writers. 


RAIZ DIABOLICA, OR DEVIL’S ROOT 


By this name it was designated by 
Padre José Ortega, who tells of its 
use by the Cora Indians in his 
Historia del Nayarit, published anony- 


295 


mously at Barcelona in 1754, and 
republished under his own name in 
1887. In describing their nocturnal 
dances he writes as follows: 

“Close to the musician was seated 
the leader of the singing whose business 
it was to mark the time. Each of these 
had his assistants to take his place when 
he should become fatigued. Nearby 
was placed a tray filled with peyote 
which is a diabolical root (raiz diabolica) 
that is ground up and drunk by them 
so that they may not become weakened 
by the exhausting effects of so long a 
function, which they began by forming 
as large a circle of men and women as 
could occupy the space of ground that 
had been swept off for this purpose. 
One after the other went dancing in a 
ring or marking time with their feet, 
keeping in the middle the musician and 
the choir-master whom they invited, 
and singing in the same unmusical tune 
(el mismo descompasado tono) that he 
set them. They would dance all night, 
from 5 o’clock in the evening to 7 o'clock 
in the morning, without stopping nor 
leaving the circle. When the dance 
was ended all stood who could hold 
themselves on their feet ; for the majority 
from the peyote and the wine which 
they drank were unable to utilize their 
legs to hold themselves upright.’’” 

The early missionaries were opposed 
to the drug not so much on account otf 
its physiological effects upon the Indians 
but because of its connection with 
certain superstitious rites connected with 
their primitive religion. Eating the 
teonanacatl, or peyotl, was declared by 
the padres to be almost as grave a sin 
as eating human flesh. ins a Sst tle 
religious manual published by Fray 
Bartholomé Garcia in 1760, for the 
use of the missionaries to the Indians 
of San Antonio, Texas, the following 
questions, to be used in the confessional, 
are printed: 


“Fas comido carne de gente?” ( Hast 
thou eaten flesh of man‘) 
“Has comido el peyote?” (Hast 


eaten the peyote’) 


10 Sahagun (1499-1590). Hist. general de las cosas de Nueva Espafia (ed. Bustamente) 3:241. 


1830. 
11 Hernandez (1514-1578). 
12 Ortega, Padre José (d. 1700). 
13 Garcia, Fr. Bartholomé. 


De Hist. Plant. Nov. Hisp. 3:70. a 
Hist. del Nayarit, pp. 22-23 (new ed.) 1887. é 
Manual para administrar los Santos Sacramentos etc. p. 15. 


1790. 
1760. 


PEYOTE OF ZACATECAS, I 

This form of the narcotic dru 
or Devil's Root. Photograph of materi 

of Agriculture, collected at Zacatecas, 


ophophora williamsii 
& was called by the early Spanish missionaries “ Raiz diabolica,” 


al in the Economic Collection, U. S. Department 
Mexico, by the late Edward Palmer. (Fig. 3.) 


Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 


The name teonanacatl is now obsolete. 
The drug is called by various names 
among the Indians using it: xicort by 
the Huicholes of Jalisco; hikori, or 
Wikuli, by the Tarahumaris of Chi- 
huahua; huatart by the Cora Indians of 
the Tepic mountains; kamaba by the 
Tepehuanes of Durango; ho by the 
Mescalero Apaches of New Mexico, who 
formerly ranged as far south as Coa- 
huila; seni by the Kiowas; and wokowt by 
the Comanches, some of whom formerly 
lived in the state of Chihuahua. The 
name peyote has survived as a general 
commercial term; and the mushroom- 
like discs from the Rio Grande region 
are now widely spread among the north- 
ern Indians of the United States 
under the misleading names of “‘mescal 
buttons’’ or ‘‘mescal beans,”’ as well 
as under the Nahuatl name peyote. 

This name is of Aztec origin, derived 
from peyotl, the Nahuatl word for 
“cocoon.” That its application to Lo- 
phophora was not general in early 
times is shown by the fact that Dr. 
Leonardo Oliva, professor of Pharma- 
cology at the University of Guadalajara, 
declared it a singular thing that the 
peyote was regarded by the Mexicans 
as a plant having the virtue of giving 
unusual endurance to those using it, 
and the power of walkinggreat distances 
without tiring. The only plant known 
to him by ‘this name was a yellow- 
flowered Composite, with velvety tuber- 
ous roots, which from their form and 
indument might easily be likened to the 
cocoon of a moth.4 As a matter of 
fact this name is still commonly applied 
to several species of Cacalia, the 
principal one of which, Cacalia cordifolia, 
is common in the vicinity of Guadala- 
jara, Jalisco, in the drug markets of 
which the root is offered for sale under 
the name peyote. 


CACALIA ALSO CALLED PEYOTL 


The genus Cacalia belongs to the section 
Senecioneae, which includes Arnica, Tussilago, 
and other medicinal plants. To this genus 
should be referred the Peyotl xochimilcensis 
and the Nanacace of Hernandez, both of which 
are composites endemic in the neighborhood 
of Xochimilco, in the valley of Mexico, having 


297 


a single stem growing from the middle of 
a cluster of nut-like tubers, with a terminal 
cluster of yellow-flowered rayless heads sub- 
tended by a scarious involucre. They should 
not be confused with the narcotic cactus 
called peyotl or peyote. 

The peyote of Guadalajara, Cacalia cordifolia, 
was first described botanically by Kunth from 
specimens collected by Humboldt and Bonpland 
at Santa Rosa, Mexico. Its tubers, about the 
size of walnuts or hickory nuts, are covered 
with soft woolly hairs. From the center one 
of the cluster rises a single smooth terete 
stem bearing alternate, thickish, conspicuously 
net-veined leaves. The lower leaves are long- 
petioled, the upper ones, near the terminal 
inflorescence, are short-stemmed and much 
smaller. The blades are roundish or broadly 
ovate, cordate at the base and angled on the 
margin. The flower heads are arranged in the 
form of a corymb, with many tubular 5-toothed 
flowers crowded on a naked flat receptacle, 
subtended by an involucre cupshaped in form, 
composed of many narrow acute teeth. There 
are no marginal ray-flowers. The  disc- 
flowers have both stamens and pistils, the 
latter with an exserted forked stigma. The 
pappus is pilose, somewhat resembling thistle- 
down when mature. 

Fig. 4 shows the woolly tubers, reticulate 
leaves, and mature inflorescense of Cacalia 
cordifolia, photographed from material in the 
United States National Herbarium, collected 
by the writer in February, 1907, in the vicinity 
of Guadalajara, state of Jalisco, Mexico. 

Other specimens in the herbarium are from 
the Pedregal, or lavabeds, near Tlalpan, in the 
Federal District of Mexico, corresponding 
very closely with the descriptions of Peyotl 
xochimilcensis of Hernandez; and from Alvarez, 
state of San Luis Potosi, where the tubers, 
locally known as cachan, are offered for sale 
in the drug-markets as an aphrodisiac and a 
remedy for sterility. 


THE GENUS LOPHOPHORA 


The genus Lophophora was based by Coulter 
upon a small plant described in 1845 by 
Lemaire, in the Allgemeine Garten-Zeitung, 
under the name FEchinocactus williams. 
This plant, though suggesting certain echino- 
cacti by its form differs essentially from .all 
species of that genus in its fruit, which is devoid 
of scales, and resembles the smooth club- 
shaped ‘‘chilitos’’ of the Mamillarias. The 
plant is also devoid of spine-bearing areoles. 
In 1886 it was referred to the genus Anhalo- 
nium, which it resembles in its flowers and fruits, 
but from the type of which it differs in several 
important features. 

The genus Anhalonium, defined by Lemaire 
in 1839, proved to be identical with the genus. 
Ariocarpus previously established by Scheid- 
weiler, the type of which, Artocarpus retusus, 
described in 1838, is specifically identical with 
the plant described the following year by 


14 “‘ Bs singular que los mexicanos miraban el Peyote (el que conozco es de las Compuestas . . .) 


como un medicamento propio para dar aptitud 4 andar sin cansarse . 


Farmacologia 2:392. 1854. 


” 


Oliva, Lecc. de: 


PEYOTE OF JALISCO, Cacalia cordifolia, H. B. K. 


A member of the Composite, or daisy family, bearing velvety tubers: closely allied to the Peyoll 
I a ’ a=] o - 


Xochimilcensis of Hernandez. The tuber , called peyoll (‘‘cocoons’’), have medicinal prop- 
erties, but they are not narcotic. Photograph of specimen in the U. S. National Herbarium 
collected near Guadalajara in 1907 by W.E. Safford. Photograph natural size. (Fig. 4.) 


t 


Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 


Lemaire as Anhalonium prismaticum.'® This 
fact was recognized in 1845, by Salm-Dyck, 
who, however, adopted the generic name 
Anhalonium.’6 On account of the laws of 
priority the generic name Ariocarpus must be 
retained and its synonym Anhalonium be 
dropped. 

In the genus Ariocarpus (Anhalonium) the 
tubercles are very prominent, usually more or 
less triangular or pyramidal in shape, and 
imbricating somewhat like the scales of an 
artichoke. The lower and upper parts are 
very different, the former comparatively thin 
and flat, while the upper exposed triangular 
part is very thick and hard. The lower surface 
of the tubercles is smooth and keeled, the upper 
surface is plane, as in Ariocarpus retusus; or 
convex and irregularly mamillate, with the 
acuminate apex bearing a woolly pulvillus, as in 
Ariocarpus furfuraceus; or more or less fissured 
and presenting a warty appearance, as in Ario- 
carpus fissuratus. One of these species is figured 
by Lumholtz under the name of hikori sunami,'7 
and it is said by him to be more powerful than 
the common /itkori sunami (Ariocarpus will- 
tamsit), but he offers no evidence that it has 
narcotic properties. The Indians declare that 
if you wear this plant as an amulet the bears 
cannot harm you nor the deer run away from 
you. The latter superstition is also held in 
connection with the closely related Ariocarpus 
kotschubeyanus, commonly called‘‘ pezunfa de 
venado,” (fig. 5) probably on account of the 
close resemblance of its tubercles to the hoof of 
a deer. 

In the genus Lophophora the tubercles are 
quite unlike those of Ariocarpus (Anhalonium), 
being devoid of a differentiated upper part and 
having the lower part broad and rounded. 
Instead of being developed into pyramidal or 
triangular projections the tubercles often 
coalesce into broad continuous vertical or 
somewhat spiral ribs (fig. 7), and in young 
specimens the plant appears almost smooth, 
with the tubercles separated by shallow im- 
pressed lines (fig. 9). 


LOPHOPHORA WILLIAMSII 


Lophophora williams (Anhalonium william- 
sit Lemaire) is a succulent spineless cactus, 
usually shaped like a turnip or carrot with a 
depressed-globose or hemispherical head bearing 
low inconspicuous tubercles and a tapering tap 
root. The tubercles occur normally in longi- 
tudinal ribs, but in some forms of the plant 
they are arranged spirally or irregularly. In 
the center of each tubercle there is a flower- 
bearing areole with a dense tuft of erect hairs, 
from the midst of which the flower issues. 
When mature the tuft of hairs persists as a 
pulvillus in the form of a pencil or brush of 
hairs. Unlike the plants of the genera Echino- 
cactus and Mamillaria there is no spine-bearing 
areole. The flower (fig. 6) is very much like 


15 See Scheidweiler, Bull. Acad. Royale des Sciences de Bruxelles 5:492, 1 pl. 


Gact. 1, 1839. 


16 See Anhalonium retusum Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 15. 


17 Scribners Magazine 16:451. 1894. 


18 See Hennings, Gartenflora 37:410, figs. 1-4. 


299 


that of an Ariocarpus, without a well-deSned 
calyx, but with the outer floral leaves sepal-like 
and the inner ones petal-like and rose-tinted, 
with a darker median line on the back of each, 
giving to it a feather-like appearance. The 
stamens are numerous, with white filaments 
and bright yellow anthers; and the style bears 
four pale yellow stigmas projecting above the 
mass of stamens. The ovary is devoid of 
scales, in which respect it differs from that of 
the genus Echinocactus, and the smooth 
crimson or rose-colored club-shaped fruit 
resembles that of a Mamillaria. The plants 
grow either solitary, or, more frequently, in 
clusters of several from a common base. 

Lophophora williamstt is quite variable, 
sometimes its ribs instead of being vertical 
are more or less diagonal or spiral, and instead 
of being separated by straight grooves the 
latter are sinuous; or the tubercles may be 
irregularly arranged. One form was described 
by Hennings as a distinct species under the 
name Anhalonium lewinii;'5 but the type plant 
described and figured by him was a boiled up 
“mescal-button”’ obtained from Parke, Davis 
& Co., of Detroit, Michigan, in all probability 
gathered in the vicinity of Laredo, Texas. In 
this form the ribs are usually thirteen in 
number separated by strongly sinuous grooves 
(fig. 9). Sometimes there are twelve ribs 
or even as few as nine; while in the typical 
L. wiliamsu there are usually eight ribs 
separated by straight or almost straight 
lines, or sometimes as many as 10. It has 
been wrongly asserted that the petals of 
L. lewinn are yellow: typical plants of this 
form now blooming in the cactus house of the 
United States Department of Agriculture 
(May, 1915) have rose-tinted flowers in no way 
distinguishable in form or color from those of 
L. williiamsu. Indeed, in specimens collected 
by Lloyd in Zacatecas typical plants of 
L. williamsu and L. lewintt are to be found in 
the same cluster growing from a common base. 
Another form (fig. 10) departs from the typical 
L. williamsit even more than the plant figured 
by Hennings. It has the tubercles more or 
less irregularly arranged and separated into 
angular areas by intersecting lines. In young 
plants the surface is smooth, but in older 
plants (fig. 8) the tubercles are often promi- 
nent. At first the writer was inclined to 
separate this form from both L. wlliamsz and 
L. lewintt, but after carefully comparing a 
number of specimens the three types seem to be 
connected by intermediate forms, and they 
cannot, therefore, be specifically distinct. 
Indeed as they sometimes grow from the same 
base it would be improper even to designate 
them as varieties. 


GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 


The general range of the genus 
Lophophora is from southern Texas 


1838. Lemaire, 
1845. 


1888. 


The Journal 


DEER-HOOF CACTUS 


Ariocarpus kotschubeyanus, a p!ant with 
supposed magic properties, highly 
prized by Indians of northern Mex- 
ico, who declare that if the hunter 
wears this cactus (here shown 
natural size), the deer cannot run 
away from him. It probably owes 
this prestige to the resemblance of 
its tubercles to the hoofs of a deer. 
(tires &))) 


FRUIT AND FLOWER 
Flower of Lophophora williamsii (at the 
right) with rose-tinted petals, issuing 
from a tuft of hairs, while the fruit 
(shown at the left) is pink or crim- 
son. Drawing natural size. (Fig. 6.) 


of the Rio Grande, 
from the mouth of the Pecos River 
south-eastward, to southern Querétaro, 
Mexico. Definite localities in which 
plants have been collected are the 
following: 
Texas.—Mouth of 
William Lloyd; vicinity of Laredo, 
Mrs. Anna Bb. Nickels (specimens now 
growing in the cactus house of the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture); near 
Ojuelos, C. Ochoa (dried specimens in 


along the valley 


the Pecos River, 


19 See Safford, W. E:, “C 


for 1908, p. 528 pi. 3, fig. 5. 1909. 


actaceae of Northeastern and Central Mexico, 


of Heredity 


the form of ‘‘mescal buttons” in the 
economic collection of the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture); near Aguilares 
(specimens sent by parcel post to the 
Menominee Indians, now in possession 
of the Bureau of Chemistry). 

Tamaulipas.—In the vicinity of Nuevo 
Laredo, Mrs. Anna B. Nickels; near 
Camargo, south shore of the Rio 
Grande at the mouth of the Rio San 
Juan, E. A. Goldman, ‘of the Uses: 
Biological Survey. 

Nuevo Leon.—Vicinity of Monterrey, 
Professor Emilio Rodriguez, (specimens 
growing in the cactus garden of the 
Colegio Civil, at Monterrey).! 

Coahuila.—Cerro del Pueblo, near 
Saltillo, Dr. Edward Palmer (living 
plants in cactus house, U.S. Department 
of Agriculture; dried plants in economic 
collection E 

Chihuahua.—Near Jimenez, in the 
Sierra de Amole (locality in which the 
Tarahumari Indians collect their sup- 
ply for ceremonial purposes); near 
Santa Rosalia de Camargo, in the 
Sierra de Amargosa (also visited by the 
collecting expeditions of the Tarahumari 
Indians, as stated by Lumholtz). 

San Luis Potosi.—Vicinity of Real de 
Catorce as cited by Diguet (locality 
whence the Huichol Indians obtain 
their supply). 

Zacatecas.—Vicinity of Cedros, near 
Mazapil, near northern boundary, Pro- 
fessor F. E. Lloyd and Dr. E. Chaffey 
(living plants in the cactus house of 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture; 
also dried specimens from the market 
of the city of Zacatecas in the economic 
collection). 

Querétaro.—Near Higuerillos, not far 
from the city of Querétaro, Dr. J. N. 
Rose (specimen in cactus house of the 
Department of Agriculture). 


CHEMICAL HISTORY OF THE DRUG 


Attention was called to the use of 
this plant as an intoxicant by the 
Indians by Mrs. Anna B. Nickels of 
Laredo, Texas, who collected material 
for Parke, Davis and Co., of Detroit, 
Michigan, and for other wholesale 
dealers in drugs. Mrs. Nickels sug- 


’’ in Smithsonian Report 


Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 


gested that a chemical and therapeutic 
study of the plant be made, and stated 
that the plant was also used for “ break- 
ing fevers,’ and that the tops cut off 
and dried were locally known as “‘mescal 
buttons.’”’ The accompanying photo- 
graph of this veteran cactus-lover and 
assiduous collector, in her cactus garden 
at Laredo, was taken by David Griffiths 
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

A serious study of its properties was 
first: begun in 1888, by Dr. L. Lewin of 
Berlin, who used for the purpose speci- 
mens obtained from Parke, Davis, and 
Company. It was afterwards studied 
by Dr. Arthur Heffter of the Pharma- 
cological Institute of the University of 
Leipsic; and, in the United States, by 
a group of persons at Washington, 
centering in the Bureau of American 
Ethnology, and including as associates 
the Division of Chemistry of the 
Department of Agriculture for chemical 
analysis; Drs. D. W. Prentiss and Fran- 
cis P. Morgan of the department. of 
Materia Medica and Therapeutics of 
the Columbian University, for the 
study of its physiological properties; 


and the Botanical Division of the 
Department of Agriculture for the 
settlement of botanical questions. The 


material for the studies carried on in 
this country was supplied by James 
Mooney of the Bureau of American 
Ethnology. The chemical analysis was 
made by Ervin E. Ewell, who announced 
his results in a paper entitled ‘‘The 
Chemistry of the Cactaceae,”’ read 
before the Washington Section of the 
American Chemical Society, April 9, 
1896.?° 

Dr. Lewin obtained from the drug 
an alkaloidal substance which he called 
anhalonin. This substance was a 
brown, syrup-like liquid, having an 
intense alkaline reaction. From it Heff- 
ter obtained three alkaloids; the first, 
which he called anhalonin, was in the 
form of brilliant, colorless, needle-shaped 
crystals; the second was in the form of 
non-lustrous, white rhombic tables; the 
third was an amorphous and very 
poisonous alkaloid left behind by the 
mother liquor. 


301 


Mr. Ewell found, in addition to the 
alkaloids, at least two resinous bodies, 
and a wax-like substance insoluble 
in cold alcohol but soluble in hot alcohol, 
petroleum ether, and chloroform. The 
resinous bodies, of a dark brown color 
and thick consistency, have the char- 
acteristic taste and odor of the moistened 
drug itself. It was suggested that the 
drug’s activity might be due to these 
resinous bodies rather than to the 
alkaloids. One marked peculiarity of 
the plant is that about one-half its ash 
proved to be potassium chloride—a 
proportion greater than that hitherto 
found in any other plant.” 


PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION 


Further investigations are about to 
be made in the Bureau of Chemistry by 
Dr. Lyman F. Kebler, chief of the divi- 
sion of drugs, and Dr. Francis P. Morgan, 
whose work in this drug has already been 
referred to. 

The various accounts of the effects 
of Lophophora differ considerably; but 
nearly all of those who have experi- 
mented with it, including Dr. 5. Weir 
Mitchell, agree in the statement that 
it produces beautiful color visions. The 
pupil becomes dilated and remains in 
this condition for some time, often for 
twenty-four hours, and at the same 
time there is a slight loss of the power 
of accommodation and consequent dis- 
turbance of vision. Depression of the 
muscular system has been observed as 
one of its effects, either well marked or 
indicated only by inactivity and lazy 
contentment; and sometimes this was 
followed by partial anesthesia of the 
skin after the effects of the drug began 
to disappear. Sometimes the patient 
was seized with nausea and vomiting, 
caused perhaps by the bitter and 
unpleasant taste of the drug when first 
put into the mouth. In some cases 
there was a marked loss of the sense of 
time. The effects of the drug have been 
compared with those of Indian hemp 
(Cannabis indica), which has found its 
way from the Eastern Hemisphere 
to Mexico and the southwest United 
States, where it is known as marthuana; 


20 See Ewell, Erwin E., ‘‘The Chemistry of the Cactaceae,”’ in Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc. 18: 624- 


643, 1896. 


21 Prentiss, D. W. and Morgan, Francis P., in Therap. Gazette 19, Sept. 16, 1895, p. 579. 


iS) 
= 
i) 


The Journal of Heredity 


LOPHOPHORA WILLIAMSII 


Typical form with defined ribs. 


Photograph of specimen in the Cactus House of the U. S. 


Department of Agriculture, collected in 1910, on the Hacienda de Cedros, near Mazapil, 


state of Zacatecas, Mexico, by Dr. Elswood Chaffey. 


but instead of the exciting effect of the 
latter, Lophophora produces rather a 
state of ideal content, with no tendency 
to commit acts of violence. 

A detailed account of the experiments 
of Drs. Prentiss and Morgan was pub- 
lished in the Therapeutic Gazette of 
September 16, 1895, pp. 580-585.” 


CEREMONIAL USE BY THE INDIANS 


The first to bring to public notice the 


ceremonial use of this 
isti tribes of Indians wa 


narcotic 


James 


#2 See also Prentiss and Morgan. ‘“ Therapeuti 


1896. 


Photograph natural size. (Fig. 7.) 


Mooney of the Bureau of American 
Ethnology, in a paper read before the 
Anthre yp logical Si ciety of Washington 
on November 3, 1891. His attention 
had been directed to it while making 
investigations among the Kiowas, who 
are descendants of one of the tribes 
known to the Aztecs by the name of 
‘‘Chichimecas.”’ Mr. Mooney found that 
these Indians attribute divine 
to the drug and the ceremony attending 


pow ers 


its use is of the nature of a religious rite 


uses of Mescal Gazette 


Buttons.”’ Therap. 


Safford: An Aztec 


Narcotic 303 


ANOTHER TYPE OF LOPHOPHORA 


Form described by Hennings as a distinct species, Anhalonium lewinii, but often occurring 


in the same cluster with the typical form, growing from the same root. 


Photograph of 


specimen in the Cactus House of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, collected in the 


state of Zacatecas, Mexico, in 1908, by F 


in which all the tribes of the southern 
plains take part. 

The Kiowas and other Indians of 
Oklahoma receive the greater part of 
their supply of the drug from traders 
who bring it from the vicinity of 
Laredo, Texas, in the form of “‘mescal 
buttons,” which are identical with 
the teonanacatl of the ancient Mexi- 
cans. Like the ancient Mexican feasts 
referred to above, their meetings 
are nocturnal, usually beginning 
Saturday night. A summary of Mr. 
Mooney’s account was published in the 


_ E. Lloyd. 


Photograph natural size. (Fig. 8.) 


Therapeutic Gazette of September 16, 
1895. A more detailed description was 
published by Mr. Mooney the following 
January, in the same journal, from which 
the following extracts are taken. 

“The ceremony occupies from twelve 
to fourteen hours, beginning about 9 or 
10 o'clock and lasting until nearly noon 
the next day. Saturday night is now 
the time usually selected, in deference 
to the white man’s idea of Sunday as a 
sacred day and a day of rest. The 
worshipers sit in a circle around the 
inside of the sacred tipi, with a fire 


304 The Journal 


blazing im the. center. ‘he exercises 
open with a prayer by the leader, who 
then hands each man four mescals, 
which he takes and eats in quick 
succession, first plucking out the small 
tuft of down from the center. In 
eating, the dry mescal is first chewed 
in the mouth, then rolled into a large 
pellet between the hands, and swallowed, 
the man rubbing. his breast and the 
back of his neck at the same time to 
aid the descent. After this first round 
the leader takes the rattle, while his 
assistant takes the drum, and together 
they sing the first song four times, with 
full voices, at the same time beating the 
drum and shaking the rattle with all the 
strength of their arms. The drum and 
rattle are then handed to the next 
couple, and so the song goes on round 
and round the circle—with only a break 
for the baptismal ceremony at midnight, 
and another for the daylight ceremony 
= until perhaps. 9. o clock the next 
morning. Then the instruments are 
passed out of the tipi, the sacred foods 
are eaten, and the ceremony is at an 
end . The dinner, which is given 
an hour or two after the ceremony, is 
always as elaborate a feast as the host 
can provide. The rest of the day is 
spent in gossiping, smoking, and singing 
the new songs, until it is time to return 
home.’’*8 


AMONG THE TARAHUMARIS 


Lumholtz, in his account of the plant- 
worship of the Tarahumari Indians of 
the southwestern Chihuahua, mentions 
several kinds of cacti which they regard 
with superstitious veneration; but there 
is no evidence that any of these have 
narcotic properties except the ‘“‘hikori 
huanami,” which is the typical Lopho- 
phora williamstt. A species of Ario- 
carpus (probably A. fissuratus) was sold 
to him under the name of ‘hikori 
sunami,’”’ and was declared by the 
vendor to have certain magical powers; 
but he did not see it used as an intoxi- 
cant. Much that Lumholtz relates in 
connection with the ceremonial use of 
the narcotic hikori appears extravagant 
and fanciful; but it is undoubtedly true 


23 Mooney, James. ‘‘The Mescal Plant and Ceremony.” 


of Heredity 


that the Tarahumari Indians, like their 
more southerly neighbors the Coras and 
Huicholes, have been led by the wonder- 
ful visions induced by the plant to 
attribute to it supernatural powers. 
Even the Christians among them salute 
it and make the sign of the cross when 
approaching it, and it is often carried 
by them as a charm or amulet. They 
declare that Hikori sits next to God 
and is called ‘uncle,’ because it is 
God’s brother. 

It will be shown later that a similar 
superstition is common among some of 
the Indian tribes of the United States 
who pay to the plant divine homage. 
In some of their religious societies 
there is a ceremony of baptism in 
which the candidate is sprinkled with 
an extract of the plant, and also a kind 
of communion in which the plant is 
eaten as an incarnation of the Deity, or 
the flesh of God. 

Lumholtz gives an account of the 
expeditions of the Tarahumaris in 
quest of hikori, describing their conse- 
cration with copal incense before start- 
ing out, their ten-days’ journey to the 
land of the Hikori, the erection of a 
cross on their arrival, the superstitious 
observances attending the gathering 
of the plant, which recall the stories of 
the early European herbalists regarding 
the mandrake and other magic plants, 
and the ceremonies attending their 
return. 

The Indians of the village go out 
with music to welcome the travellers, 
bearing their precious burden; and at 
night there is a festival of teswin- 
drinking and dancing in honor of the 
plant. The hikori is piled in a heap at 
the foot of a cross, and is sprinkled with 
teswin, which is grateful to it; and the 
next day a sheep or even an ox or two 
goats are sacrificed in its honor. The 
wild heathen Indians living in caves or 
under overhanging cliffs in the barran- 
cas, when they hear of the return of the 
expedition, come to buy supplies of the 
hikori for their own use. ‘‘One plant,” 
says Lumholtz, “costs a sheep, and the 
buyer holds a feast in honor of his 


Therap. Gazette 20:7. 1896. 


Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 


purchase, and repeats the feast at the 
same time every year.’’*4 


USE BY THE HUICHOLES OF JALISCO 


The ceremonies attending the acquisi- 
tion and use of the drug by the Indians 
of the Nayarit mountains of Jalisco and 
Tepic were described by Léon Diguet 
in 1899. These Indians belong to the 
tribes known as_ Huicholes, Coras, 
Tepehuanes, and Tepecanos. The 
Coras, whose use of the razz dzabolica, as 
described by Padre Ortega, has already 
been noted, now obtain their supply from 
the Huicholes. The latter send expedi- 
tions across the state of Zacatecas to 
Catorce in San Luis Potosi, where the 
plant is endemic. The specimens from 
Zacatecas in the Economic Collection of 
the Bureau of Plant Industry are not at 
all mushroom-like, but resemble dry 
pieces of radishes or carrots sliced longi- 
tudinally, or small, terminal fragments 
covered with silky wool, such as those 
described by early writers as “ peyote de 
Zacatecas.” (See fig. 3.) By the Hui- 
choles the drug is known neither as 
peyote nor teonanacatl, but as xicolz, or 
hicuri, which is identical with the name 
hikort applied to it by the Tarahumari 
Indians. 

According to Diguet the Huicholes 
collec, the plant in October: “The 
expedition lasts about one month, and 
its return is an occasion for celebration. 
“Those who take part decorate their 
hats and their hair with feathers and 
paint on their faces the distinctive 
attributes of their caste and of their 
gods. After having made an offering 
of peyote upon their altars they distrib- 
ute pieces of it to all those they meet; 
a supply of peyote is kept for the feasts 
which will take place during the course 
of the year; the rest is sold to those who 
did not take part in the expedition. 

“In eating the peyote the Indians 
chew the pulp of the plant, which has 
been cut up into small pieces, and at 
first spit out the saliva which at the 
beginning dissolves a bitter principle 
having a very disagreeable taste, then 


24See ‘“Tarahumari Dances and Plant-worship.”’ 


October, 1894. Vol. 16, pp. 438-456. 
25 Diguet, Léon. 


tifiques 9:622-24. 1899. 


“La Sierra du Nayarit et ses Indigénes.”’ 


305 


TEXAS TYPE 


Specimens of Lophophora from the 
vicinity of Laredo, Texas; the upper 
one a typical L. williamsit, with 
eight ribs separated by straight 
grooves; the lower one identical with 
“ZL. lewimi,’’ with 13 ribs sep- 
rated by sinuous grooves. Photo- 
graphes from plants growing in 
Cactus House of U. S. Department 
of Agriculture; natural size. (Fig.9.) 


they absorb the active principle which 
dissolves little by little in the saliva.’’*® 
According to Diguet the Indians regard 
the drug as food for the soul, and 
revere it on account of its miraculous 
properties. The manifestation of the 
hallucinations which it produces a 
little after the absorption of its active 
principle is held to be a supernatural 
grace by which men are permitted to 
communicate with the gods; and, more- 
over, “in using the drug with modera- 
tion the partaker is endowed with 


Carl Lumholtz, in Scribner’s Magazine, 


Nouvelles Arch. Missions Scien- 


306 The Journal 


energy which permits him to overcome 
great fatigue and to endure hunger and 
thirst for five days.’’?6 


PRESENT USE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Efforts have been made to prevent 
the spread of the drug among the 
Indians of the United States, and 
action has been taken in the courts to 
prosecute those who have been instru- 
mental in procuring it and furnishing 
it. One of the most recent cases is that 
of the United States versus an Indian 
named Nah-qua-tah-tuck, alias Mitchell 
Neck, of the Menominee Indian Reser- 
vation, Wisconsin, accused of furnishing 
intoxicants to certain Indians, in viola- 
tion of thelaw. Dr. Francis P. Morgan, 
of the Bureau of Chemistry, was sum- 
moned as a Government expert. The 
trial developed the following facts: 

On March 15, 1914, the accused 
brought a supply of the drug in a dress 
suit case to the house of an Indian 
family named Neconish, situated a 
short distance north of the village of 
Phlox, Wisconsin, near the western 
boundary of the Menominee Reserva- 
tion, at which place there was a meeting 
of a religious nature. The drug had 
been received by parcel post from 
Aguilares, Texas. The participants first 
made a line about the house to keep out 
the evil spirits, and then invoked God, 
begging him to make all of them good 
and to keep them from evil. The 
peyote was next distributed, and when 
it was eaten caused the partakers to see 
the evil things they had done and 
showed them the good things they 
ought to do. 

The ceremony began about 9 o’clock 
in the evening. One witness testified 
that shortly after having eaten four 
buttons he could see pictures of various 
kinds when his eyes were shut. First he 
saw God, with a bleeding wound in his 
side. This vision vanished when he 
opened his eves, but reappeared when 
he closed them again. Then he saw 
the devil with horns and tail, of the 
color of a negro. Then he saw bad 
things which he had done before, bottles 
of whiskey which he had drunk, a 
watermelon which he had stolen, and 


26 Diguet, Léon. 


loc. cit. p. 621. 


of Heredity 


so many other things that it would 
take all day to tell of them. Then he 
saw a cross with all kinds of colors about 
it, white, red, green and blue. He was 
not made helpless. He stated that he 
could have walked had he wished to do 
so, but that he preferred to sit still 
and look at the pictures. 

Another witness testified that he 
ate the peyote so that his soul might 
go up to God. The witnesses who 
testified at this trial declared that the 
peyote helped them to lead better lives 
and to forsake alcoholic drinks. The 
defendent was acquitted on the ground 
that the meeting was one of a religious 
nature. 


THE PEYOTE SOCIETY 


Thomas Prescott of Wittenberg, Wis- 
consin, testified that there is a regularly 
organized association among the Indians 
called the Peyote Society, also known as 
the Union Church Society, of which he 
had been a priest for seven years. In 
the weekly ceremonies of this society 
the peyote is either eaten or taken in 
the form of tea. In his opinion the 
effect of the peyote is to make better 
men of the Indians. Many of them 
were formerly common vagabonds, liable 
to commit all sorts of crimes when under 
the influence of alcohol. After becom- 
ing members of the peyote society, 
however, they gave up drink, established 
themselves in regular homes, and lived 
sober and industrious lives. In relating 
his personal experience he made the 
following statements: 

‘“We boys, before we got this peyote, 
was regular drunkards; so when I was 
drunk I was lying on the road somewhere 
sometimes, and I got no home nor 
nothing. Before I got this I did wrong 
and everything else. Now, since I got 
this peyote, it stopped me from drinking, 
and now, since I used this peyote, I have 
been sober, and* today I am. sober- yet 
I see a good and a’bad when I 
eat that peyote. When I eat that 
peyote then it teaches me my heart; I 
know anything that is right and what 
is wrong. That is the way peyote 
works for good and works for God, and 
that is how we worship. When 


Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 


I took this peyote I could see myself 
when I used to be drunk; I could see 
the bottles which used to have my 
whiskey and alcohol in; I could see 
myself lying drunk in the road. That 
is the way it shows us the bad and 
teaches us the good. We could 
have our meetings without this peyote; 
but we see some more coming—a new 
person—he wants to use it—when he 
takes this peyote then he believes God. 


That is why we use it for. Without 
this, why, they would not believe 
anybody.’’?” 


Dr. Morgan gave to the court an 
account of his experiments bearing upon 
the physiological action of the drug 
administered in his presence to several 
young men who had volunteered for 
the purpose. The chief effect noticed 
was the production of visions of various 
kinds: of moving objects, constantly 
changing designs and figures of land- 
scapes, friezes, balls of beautiful colors 
in constant motion. Suggestions of 
definite objects also brought up visions 
of that object. These visions were 
seen only when the eyes were closed. 
The pupil of the eye was made larger, 
and this enlargement lasted till the 
following day; the pulse became slower 
at first but increased when a greater 
quantity of the drug was taken; there 
was evidence of muscular depression 
with a disinclination to exertion of any 
kind; and there was a loss of conception 
of space and time and, in some cases, 
symptoms of dual personality, not 
unlike that caused by hashish (Cannabis 
indica). The after effects, however, 
were insomnia, while hashish eating is 
usually followed by sleep. In this 
respect it also differs from opium and 
somewhat resembles the active principles 
of coffee and coca (Erythroxylon coca). 
Dr. Morgan further testified that as 
far as he knew no therapeutic or 
remedial value of the drug had been 
established. 

At a meeting of the Lake Mohonk 
Conference in October, 1914, several 
papers relating to the effects of this 
drug upon the Indians were read and 
affidavits from two Omaha Indians were 


307 


quoted. Fron one of the latter, I take 
the following extracts: 


AMONG THE OMAHA INDIANS 


At the meetings of the Society ‘‘ before 
they sing they pass the peyote around. 
They begin taking this medicine along 
about dark, and when they pass it, 
ask you how many you want, and they 
often try to persuade you to take more 
than you want. The medicine does 


THE SOUTHERN TYPE 


Young plant of Lophophora from 
Higuerillos, state of Queretaro, 
Mexico, the southern limit of the 
genus. Collected in 1905 by Dr. 
J. N. Rose. Photograph natural 
size. (Fig. 10.) 


not work right away, but after it begins 
to take effect along toward midnight 
they begin to cry and sing and pray and 
stand and shake all over, and some of 
them just sit and stare. I used to sit 
in their range right along, and ate some 
of their medicine, but after I ate it the 
first time I was kind of afraid of it. It 
made me feel kind of dizzy and my 
heart was kind of thumping and I felt 
like crying. Some of them told me that 
this was because of my sins. It makes 
me nervous, and when [| shut my eyes 
I kind of see something like an image or 
visions, and when my eyes are open I 
can’t see it so plain. One of these 
fellows took twelve beans, or twelve 
peyote, sitting with some girls 


27 From ms. report of the case of the United States versus Nah-qua-tah-tuck, alias Mitchell 


Neck, in the archives of the Bureau of Chemistry. 


1914. 


308 The Journal 


After I have taken twelve peyote I saw 
a mountain with roads leading to the 
top and people dressed in white going 
up these roads. I got very dizzy and I 
began to see all kinds of colors, and 
arrows began to fly all around me. I 


began to perspire very freely. I asked 
to be taken out of doors. At that time 
it was 20° below zero. I felt better 
when I got out of doors. When I went 


in again I began to hear voices just 
like they came from all over the ceiling 
and I looked around in the other room 
and thought I heard women singing in 
there, but the women were not allowed 
to sing in the meetings usually, and so 
this was kind of strange. After 
eating thirty-six of these peyote I got 
just like drunk, only more so, and I felt 
kind of good, but more good than when 
I drink whiskey, and then after that 
I began to see a big bunch of snakes 
crawling all around in front of me, and 
it was a feeling like as if I was cold 
came over me. The treasurer of the 
Sacred Peyote Society ’. . was sit- 
ting near me, and I asked him if he heard 
young kittens. It sounded as if they 
were right close to me; and then I sat 
still for a long time and I saw a big 
black cat coming toward me, and I felt 
him just like a tiger walking up on my 
legs toward me, and when I felt his 
claws I jumped back and kind of made 
a sound as if I was afraid, and he asked 
me to tell him what was the matter, so 
I told him after a while. I did not 
care to tell at first; but I made up my 
mind then, after what I saw, that I 
would not take another one of these 
peyotes if they gave me a ten dollar 
bill. In this Sacred Peyote Soci- 
ety they have a form of baptism and 
they baptize with the tea made from 
stewing the peyote, and they baptize 
‘in the name of the Father, and the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost,’ the Holy 
Ghost being the peyote. Then you 
drink some of the tea and they make 
signs on your forehead with the tea 
and then take an eagle’s wing and fan 
you with it. I heard an educated 
Indian and he said in a meeting on 


" 98 Daiker, F. H., ‘ 


of Heredity 


Sunday morning, ‘ My friends, I am glad 
I can be here and worship this medicine 
with you; and we must organize a new 
church and have it run like the Mormon 
Churchy 78 


USE IN ANCIENT MEXICO 


From the preceding description of a 
meeting of the Sacred Peyote Society 
held by the Winnebagos and Omahas in 
1914 I turn back to the first account 
we have of the Teonanacatl feasts of the 
Aztecs, written by Padre Bernardino 
Sahagun in the sixteenth century— 
before Sir Francis Drake set out upon 
his voyage round the world—before 
tobacco which, under the name of piczetl, 
the Mexicans also worshipped, was 
first brought to England. 

“The first thing eaten at the party 
was certain black mushrooms which 
they call mnanacatl, which intoxicate 
and cause visions to be seen, and even 
provoke sensuousness. These they ate 
before the break of day, and they also 
drank cacao (chocolate) before dawn. 
The mushrooms they ate with syrup 
(of Maguey sap), and when they began 
to feel the effect they began to dance; 
some sang; others wept because they 
were already intoxicated by the mush- 
rooms; and some did not wish to sing, 
but seated themselves in their rooms 
and remained there as though medita- 
ting. Some had visions that they were 
dying and shed tears; others imagined 
that some wild beast was devouring 
them; others that they were capturing 
prisoners in warfare; others that they 
were rich; others that they had many 
slaves; others that they had committed 
adultery and were to have their heads 
broken as a penalty; others that they 
had been guilty of a theft, for which 
they were to be executed; and many 
other visions were seen by tiem. After 
the intoxication of the mushrooms had 
passed off they conversed with one 
another about the visions which they 
had seen.’’”® 

The following description of a religious 
meeting in July, 1626, at which sacred 
mushrooms were administered in the 


‘Liquor and Peyote a Menace to the Indian,”’ in Report of the Thirty-second 


Annual Lake Mohonk Conference, October, 1914, pp. 66, 67. 


29 Sahagun, Bernardino. 


Hist. Nueva Espana (ed. Bustamente) 2: 366. 


1829. 


Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 


309 


MRS. ANNA B. NICKELS IN HER CACTUS GARDEN 


This veteran cactus lover, a resident of Laredo, Texas, called attention to the narcotic proper- 
ties of Lophophora, and supplied to Parke, Davis & Co. material with which to investigate 


the drug. 


form of communion, is related by 
Padre Jacinto de la Serna, at that time 
beneficiary of Tenantzingo. 

“To this meeting had come an Indian, 
native of the pueblo of Tenango (about 
25 kilometers from Toluca) and grand 
master of superstitions, named Juan 
Chichiton (or “John Little-dog’’), who 
had brought some of the mushrooms 
that are gathered in the monte, and with 
these he had performed a great idolatry. 
But before proceeding with my story 
I wish to explain the nature of the said 
mushrooms, which in the Mexican 
language are called Quauhtlananacatl 
(““wild mushrooms’’). When I asked 


Photograph by David Griffiths, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 


(Fig. 11.) 


the licenciado Don Pedro Ponce de Leon 
what they were like, he said that these 
mushrooms were small and _ yellow, 
and that they were collected by priests 
and old men, appointed as ministers 
for these impostures, who would proceed 
to the place where they grow and remain 
almost the whole night in prayer and in 
superstitious conjuring; and at dawn, 
when a certain little breeze known to 
them would begin to blow, then they 
would gather the narcotic, attributing 
to it deity, with the same properties 
as ololiuhqui or peyote, since when 
eaten or drunk, they intoxicate those 
who partake of them, depriving them of 


310 The Journal 


their senses, and making them believe 
a thousand absurdities.*° 

“This man, Juan Chichiton, brought 
these mushrooms one night to a house 
where there was a gathering for the 
celebration of a saint’s feast. The saint 
stood on the altar and below the altar 
were the mushrooms, with some pulque, 
and fire. All night long the teponaztli 
(wooden drum made from a hollowed 
log) kept time to the singing, and after 
the greater part of the night had passed, 
the said Juan Chichiton, who was the 
priest of that solemnity, administered 
to all those congregated at the feast 
mushrooms and pulque after the manner 
of communion, winding up the celebra- 
tion with an abundant quantity of 
pulque; so that the mushrooms on their 
part and the pulque on its, took away 
their reason, which was a pity. The 
said Juan Chichiton fled soon afterward, 
nor could I obtain information about the 
others who took part, in order to chas- 
tise them, with the exception of Leonor 
Maria, whom I kept as a prisoner in my 
house for having joined in the idolatry 
which they performed with the mush- 
rooms. 

“T asked the said licenciado Don 
Pedro Ponce de Leon in what manner 
these creatures perform their acts of 
witchcraft in working harm to others; 
and he told me that in making their 
threats and menaces they strike them- 
selves on the breast as at the Sanctus 
with the tips of their fingers and then, 
opening their hand, they make a gesture 
as if hurling something in the direction 
of the person whom they are menacing 
or wish to bewitch, saying: ‘ You shall 
pay me for that, as you will see!’ But 
concerning other words and_ things 
which they say and do by order of the 
devil in these embustes, never or scarcely 
ever could anything be ascertained; 
though it stands to reason that they 


of Heredity 


must have them as a pact with the 
devil; and he, who is the author of all, 
closes their mouths, so that there may 
be no means of remedying the evil.’’*! 


SUMMARY 


After comparing the preceding ac- 
counts of the use of narcotics by the 
ancient Mexicans and by the Indians 
of the present day, separated in time 
by three centuries and in space by 
thousands of miles, there can remain 
no doubt that the mushroom-like peyote 
used by our own Indians in the United 
States, which we know to be identical 
with the sacred hikuli, or hicort, of the 
Sierra Madre Indians, is the same drug 
which was called teonanacatl, or “sacred 
mushroom,” by the Aztecs. According 
to the earliest writers, it was endemic 
in the land of the Chichimecas, the 
early home of our Apaches, Comanches, 
and Kiowas, which is also the source 
of the modern supply. The ancient 
Mexicans, like the Huicholes and Tara- 
humaris of the present day, obtained 
their supply of the drug through the 
medium of messengers, consecrated for 
the purpose, who observed certain 
religious rites in collecting it, and who 
were received with ceremonial honors 
on their return. Although the Indians 
on our northern reservations now receive 
it through the medium of the parcel 
post; yet they attribute to it the same 
divine properties as the ancient Mexicans 
and like them combine its worship 
with the religion they have received 
from Christian missionaries. It is only 
natural that those who are engaged in 
the work of Christianizing and uplifting 
our Indians should try, like the early 
Spanish missionaries, to stamp out its 
use. On the other hand many of the 
Indians who use the narcotic declare 
that they take it as a kind of sacrament 
or communion, and that it helps them 


30Lumholtz gives a somewhat similar account of the expeditions of the Huichol hikuli-seekers: 
their prayers before starting forth on their journey, the’r priestly character, their worship of 
the God of Fire, the importance attached to their dreams while on the road, the ceremonial 
shooting of arrows on their arrival in the hikuli country, their votive offerings, their prayers to 
the five winds, and their petition to the hikuli not to make them crazy, the gathering of the 
sacred plants and of the discharged arrows covered with dew, and the return home with its 


attending ceremonies. 


Lumholtz, Carl—Unknown Mexico 2: 126-136. 


1902. 


81 Jacinto de la Serna, ‘“‘ Manual! de los Ministros para el conocimiento de sus idolatrias y extir- 


pacion de ellas,”’ 
1892. 


in Documentos inéditos para la Historia de Espana, vol. 104, p. 61. 


Madrid, 


Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 


to turn from wickedness and lead good 
lives. 

A knowledge of botany has been 
attributed to the Aztecs which they 
were far from possessing. Their plant 
names show that their classification of 
plants was not based upon real affinities, 
and it is very probable that they had 
not the slightest notion of the difference 
between a flowering plant and a fungus. 
Certainly they applied the names nan- 
acatl and nanacace to both fungi and 
flowering plants and the name peyotl 
to both the narcotic cactus, Lophophora, 
and to the tuber-bearing composite, 
Cacalia. The botanical knowledge of 
the early Spanish writers, Sahagun, 
Hernandez, Ortega, and Jacinto de la 
Serna, was perhaps not much more 
extensive: their descriptions were so 
inadequate that even to the present 
day the chief narcotic of the Aztecs, 


311 


these narcotic drugs only in their dry 
state; and the general appearance of 
the peyotl brought from the vicinity of 
Zacatecas (fig. 3) was so very different 
from the teonanacatl from the more 
northerly region inhabited by the Chi- 
chimecas (fig. 1) that the two forms 
might easily have been regarded as 
coming from distinct plants. 

As far as the author knows, this is 
the first time that the identity of the 
“sacred mushroom”’ of the Aztecs with 
the narcotic cactus known botanically 
as Lophophora williamsii has been 
pointed out. That it should have been 
mistaken by the early Spaniards for a 
mushroom is not surprising when one 
notices the remarkable resemblance of 
the dried buttons to peltate fungi, and 
also bears in mind that the common 
potato (Solanum tuberosum) on _ its 
introduction into Europe was popularly 
regarded as a kind of truffle, a fact 


Ololiuhqui, which they all mention, which is recorded by its German name, 
remains unidentified. They knew Kartoffel, or Tartuffel. 


32 Sahagun describes two plants bearing the name Ololiuhqui: one, which is not narcotic, with a 
fleshy turnip-like root, leaves like those of a Physalis, and yellow flowers; the other, also called 
Coaxoxouhqui, or “green snake,” with highly narcotic seeds. (Op. cit. vol. 3, pp. 264, 241.) 
Hernandez describes the latter as round like those of Coriander, and says that they are produced 
by a twining plant called Coaxthuttl, or ‘‘snake-weed,” which has fibrous roots and longish white 
flowers (Hern. ed. Recchi, p. 145); while Serna does not describe the plant, which he probably 
never saw, but compares the form of the seeds to that of lentils: ‘‘semilla a modo de lantejas que 
Maman Ololiuhqui.”” (Op., cit. p. 163.) Hernandez thought the plant might be the same as the 
Solanum maniacum of Dioscoroides. Dr. Manuel Urbina, of the National Museum of Mexico, 
declared it to be [pomoea stdaefolia of Choissy; but this identification, while agreeing with Hernan- 
dez’s illustration, lacks confirmation through investigation of the chemical properties and physio- 
logical action of the seeds of this species; and it is not known that any of the Convolvulaceae are 
narcotic, though many of the Solanaceae, which have somewhat similar flowers, are highly so. 
It is very strange that Mexican botanists living in the country of the Ololiuhqui have not solved 
the mystery of its identity. 


Mulattoes in the United States 


Elaborate statistics regarding the Negroes in the United States are given by 
the Bureau of the Census in its recently-issued bulletin 129, compiled by Dr. 
Joseph A. Hill. “Of the 9,827,763 Negroes enumerated in 1910, 7,777,077 were 
reported as ‘black’ and 2,050,686 as ‘mulatto.’ In 1850 the percentage reported 
as mulatto was 11.2 It had advanced but little in 1870, being only 12%, but 
since 1870 the proportion of mulattoes in the Negro population appears to have 
increased very materially, reaching 15.2% in 1890 and 20.9 in 1910. Considerable 
uncertainty necessarily attaches to this classification, however, since the accuracy 
of the distinction made depends largely upon the judgment and care of the enu- 
merators. Moreover, the fact that the definition of the term ‘mulatto’ adopted 
at the different censuses has not been entirely uniform may affect the comparability 
of the figures to some degree. At the census of 1910 the instructions were to 
report as ‘black’ all persons who were ‘evidently full-blood Negroes’ and as ‘mulatto’ 
all other persons ‘that have some proportion or perceptible trace of Negro blood.’ ”’ 


SWEET CHERRY BREEDING 


Scientific Improvement only Beginning—Breeders in Ignorance as to Nature of 
Material with Which They Are Dealing—Needs of Growers— 
Self-sterility of Cultivated Varieties.' 


V. R. GARDNER 
Professor of Pomology, Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Ore. 


T THE. ‘present. time the sweet 
cherry varieties grown in this 
country number among the 
hundreds. A large percentage 

of these varieties are of old world origin. 
‘Though seedlings of American origin 
were named and introduced at a com- 
paratively early period in the history 
of American pomology, it is only within 
recent years that American varieties of 
commercial importance have appeared. 
Among a number of reasons for this 
is the fact that while the sweet cherry 
has not proved to be particularly well 
adapted to much of the territory east 
of the Rocky Mountains, at the same 
time it has not practically refused to 
grow there, like certain other fruits of 
European origin. Consequently, there 
has not been the same amount of effort 
devoted to its breeding in Eastern 
America, as the many good qualities 
of the fruit would seem to warrant. 
On the other hand, the last fifty or 
seventy-five years have shown that the 
sweet cherry reaches a high degree of 
perfection on the Pacific Coast; and 
with the rapid development of a com- 
mercial cherry industry there, new 
varieties of more or less promise have 
appeared. 

With the hundreds of European 
varieties upon which to build an in- 
dustry it might seem that there would 
be little need of breeding new varieties 
for the section in question, especially 
since such a large percentage of those 
in existence seem to do as well here as 
in the countries of their origin. In 
fact such a need has not been felt 
until comparatively recently—as market 
demands have come to be more exacting. 


Today certain sections have come to 
cater to particular markets. Only by 
being able to send a particular type of 
cherry to particular markets at certain 
seasons can competition with other 
sections be largely avoided and the 
largest profits be realized. Forinstance, 
certain California sections are mainly 
interested in an extra-early firm shipping 
rariety that can be placed upon the 
Eastern markets in late April and early 
May; certain eastern Oregon and Wash- 
ington valleys are desirous of growing 
very late shipping varieties that can be 
placed upon those same markets in 
late July and early August; still other 
sections desire a light colored canning 
variety that can be grown with the 
Napoleon to lengthen the harvesting 
season for the cannery. Many other 
“vacant places,” if such they may be 
called, might be mentioned in our 
present catalogue of cherry varieties; 
but enough have been indicated to 
suggest the nature of the practical 
problems presented to the breeder by 
the cherry industry. 


OBSTACLES TO BREEDING 


It would seem that these objects 
not only ought to be possible of attain- 
ment, but that many of them ought to 
prove comparatively simple problems 
for the plant breeder. However, when 
the situation is investigated it is found 
that the breeder has very little in the 
way of detailed information regarding 
the materials with which he must 
work. With but few exceptions nothing 
is known regarding the ancestry of 
present day varieties. Most of them 
originated as chance seedlings. When 


1 Report to the committee on research in plant-breeding, American Genetic Association. Sub- 


mitted by the committee. 
312 


Gardner: Sweet 


supposed parentage is given for some 
of them in standard pomological works 
it is often found that there is only 
circumstantial evidence to indicate such 
parentage. Perhaps the seedling sprang 
up near a tree of some other known 
variety and hence was assumed to be 
its offspring. 

Of course the cherry breeder can make 
large numbers of crosses between varie- 
ties he thinks might combine to give 
him the particular qualities he desires, 
but in this he would be very largely 
dependent upon chance for his results. 
No body of facts is available which will 
enable him to select parents that he 
can depend upon for transmitting cer- 
tain qualities. It would seem that one 
of the first things for the cherry breeder 
to do is to make a careful analysis of 
the varieties now in his possession, to 
determine if possible what is the nature 
of their gametic constitution, what 
really are the unit characters or factors, 
or the combinations of unit characters 
or factors, that they possess; and to 
determine how these factors or combina- 
tions of factors are transmitted. This 
is not essentially different from the 


Cherry Breeding els 


work that is necessary when starting 
breeding studies with other plants; 
but the problems associated with an 
analysis of his materials are somewhat 
more difficult than usual for the cherry 
breeder, because at least a large per 
centage, if not all, of the varieties with 
which he would work are self sterile. 
The inter-sterility of a number of the 
apparently more promising varieties 
still further complicates the whole 
question. A certain amount of progrcss 
in this direction is being made, but it 
will probably require many years to 
acquire the data that are really funda- 
mental to scientific cherry breeding 
work. This is not stating that valuable 
varieties will not originate as chance 
seedlings within the near future, just 
as Lambert, Bing and a number of 
others have originated during recent 
years. If’ is* to. be-expected that 
valuable additions to our cherry list 
will come in that way. Furthermore, 
varieties of merit are almost certain to 
appear incidental to the careful experi- 
mental work necessary in studying 
the inheritance of characters in the 
sweet cherry group. 


Race Betterment Conference 


The second Race Betterment Conference will be held at San Francisco August 5-8 


inclusive. 


Arrangements are in charge of a committee with David Starr Jordan as 


chairman, Dr. Herbert Stolz of Lane Hospital, San Francisco, as secretary. 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


THE GREAT SOCIETY— 


don School of Economics and Political Science. 


Macmillan Company, 66 Fifth avenue, 1914. 


A PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS, by Graham Wallas, 


Lon- 


Pp. 382, 8vo., price $2. New York, The 


“This book is written with the practical purpose of bringing the knowledge which 


has been accumulated by psychologists into touch with the actual problems of 
present civilized life.’ It should be particularly helpful to eugenists, now that 
they are coming generally to realize that the success of their propaganda depends 
largely on the expertness with which they use applied psychology. The author 
himself is in warm sympathy with the biological study of the question, declaring 
that “‘social psychology can never lead men to w ise practical conclusions unless it 
keeps in view its relation to that science of human breeding which Sir Francis 
Galton named Eugenics.’ He analyses the important human dispositions in an 
extremely readable way, showing how they can be used for the improvement of 
the organization of society. A perusal of it would tend to broaden and clarify 
the ideas of almost every social worker. 


BLACK AND WHITE AYRSHIRES 


Colors as Old as the Breed—Rare in America but Much More Common Abroad— 
No Indication of Mixed Ancestry—Possible Origin of the Breed. 


A. H. KuHLMAN 
Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 


LACK and white cattle are well 
KB known to all Americans inter- 

ested in dairying, because of 

the popularity of the Holstein- 
Friesian breed, but those colors are not 
commonly associated with Ayrshires in 
this country, and it is a surprise to most 
travelers to find black and white cattle 
in the Ayrshire district of Scotland. 
My attention was first attracted to 
them at the Kilmarnock (Scotland) 
Show in April, 1914, where several of 
them were on exhibition, one of which 
(Fig. 12), was among the prize winners. 
The black and white Ayrshire cattle as 
the illustrations (Figs. 12 and 13) show, 
have the typical Holstein markings in 
that the black and white are distinctly 
separated and there seems to be a 
tendency for the spotting to occur in 
large patches rather than in numerous 
small spots as commonly seen in Ayr- 
shires. 

In the scale of points as adopted in 
1906 by the Ayrshire Cattle Herd Book 
Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 
the following description is given of the 
color of the breed: 

“Red of any shade, brown or these 
with white, mahogany and white, black 
and white; or white; each color distinctly 
defined.” 

The description of the color of the 
breed as given in the Herd Book in 1884, 
however, shows that black and white 


was not always popular with the 
members of that organization as is 


shown by the following reference to it: 
“Color, red of any shade, brown, or 
white, or a mixture of these, each color 
being distinctly defined. Brindle or 
black and white is not in favor.” 
William Bartlemore in describing! his 


ideal of the breed in 1889, makes the 
following statements: 

‘As regards the color, it is much a 
matter of fancy. The prevailing one is 
flecked brown and white, but there are 
many splendid animals all brown while 
the leading show yard color during the 
last ten years has been white, with 
brown or dark brown sides of head. 
Few dairies in Scotland of any size at 
the present day are without their 
flecked black and white Ayrshire and 
strange to say, that color is much in 
demand by gentlemen who keep a few 
cows for family use.”’ 


AMERICAN STANDARD 


The American and Canadian Ayr- 
shire breeders have adopted a uniform 
scale of points which closely resembles 
the British, but does not recognize the 
black and white cattle. It refers to 
color as follows: 

“Color. Red of any shade, brown or 
these with white; mahogany and white, 
or white; each color distinctly defined.” 

Very few black and white Ayrshires 
have been imported into this country, 
because American buyers think the 
color shows the presence of Holstein 
blood. 

The red color of the Ayrshire is 
apparently a different kind of red than 
that of the Shorthorn or the Red 
Polled cattle. It seems to be a peculiar 
red which usually shades into a mahog- 
any or wine colored tinge producing a 
color commonly recorded as brown in the 
Ayrshire Herd Book. The term brown 
as used in this way, includes many 
shades of red ranging from a bright red 
to a very dark brown. 

Further observation and inquiry in 


1 Speir, J., Early History of the Ayrshire Breed of Cattle, Glasgow, Aug. 13, 1909. 
I u s b g g 


314 


Kuhlman: Black and White Ayrshires 


BLACK AND WHITE AYRSHIRE PRIZE WINNER 
Heifer exhibited at the Kilmarnock (Scotland) show, 1914. 


are quite like those of a typical Holstein. 


in an American Ayrshire, but this prejudice against them is not founded on reason. 


12 ;) 


Scotland showed that many of the 
leading breeders of pure bred Ayrshires 
have one or more black and white 
animals in their herds. It is claimed 
by many that they are better producers 
than the white, brown, or brown and 
white animals. Some also claim that a 
black and white Ayrshire cow from a 
black and white dam, always produces 
calves of that color even if bred to a 
bull that is white and brown. 

A count of several hundred animals in 
the’ local markets showed that from 
3 to 4% of the grade Ayrshires were 
black and white. Grades of this color 
are considered good producers and 


As will be noticed, her markings 
Black and white are almost unknown colors 
(Fig. 


often bring a higher price on the market 
than grades of the more usual color. 
Some breeders who do not admit the 
superior milking qualities of the black 
and white cows, keep them for “good 
luck’? as they say or for the contrast 
they add to the color of the herd. 

A study of several volumes of the 
herd book, brought out some interesting 
details. Volume 8 of the Ayrshire 
Herd Book, published in 1885, is the 
first one in which any mention is made 
of the color of the individual animals 
recorded in it and in Volume 9 this 
record is not complete, for the color 
of about one hundred cows entered in it 


316 


is not given. However, it does show 
that even at that time black and white 
cattle were accepted for registration. 
Brown as used in these tabulations 
includes all shades of red and likewise, 
for convenience, red and white animals 
are tabulated with those that are brown 
and white. It may be assumed that 
the terms brown or white as used in the 
herd book do not always refer to a self 
brown or self white, but rather to 
animals that would ordinarily be called 
brown or white by the casual observer. 
For example, some of the so-called 
white cows have brown eye lashes and 
dark colored eyes which would not be 
present in a true self white. The 
designations brown and white, and white 
and brown are freely used in the herd 
books, the former apparently referring 
to animals appearing more brown than 
white and the latter to those showing 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


more white than brown, but it would 
seem as if there would be many cases in 
which it would be hard to determine 
which should be used. 

A comparison of Tables I and II shows 
a decrease from 1886 to 1913 of about 
10% in the number of white and brown 
cows. Table II shows a remarkable 
similarity in the per cent. of cows and 
bulls of the different colors, which is 
not the case in Table I. It is probable 
that this difference may be largely due 
to greater care being exercised in the 
later registration work. Table II also 
shows that there are only about one-half 
as many black and white cows as 
either red or white. 

Table III shows in more detailed 
form the marking of the bulls referred 
to in Table II, as they are entered in 
the herd book. It brings out an inter- 
esting point that is well known among 
Ayrshire breeders and exporters, namely, 


TABLE I 


Summary of Registration in Vol. 9, of the Ayrshire Herd Book 


Cows Bulls 
i 
Color Number | Per cent. _ Number | Per cent. 
We io coe ts oe Re a ee ey ee 53 Se SS 26 23.64 
BAT O WT Acts ee tee kine a Ec rin ew 59 14.86 10 9.09 
Black and “white. his Sa eee ene eta bre, Mae 9 226 Us cas ere eae 
Brown and whiteres je eee eens ce eae 191 48.12 38 34.55 
Wihite-andybrowinre 22 0)4 ene Riteee notes ee eae 85 21 41 36 |. S32 a2 
; Total. ‘. eee pe NN A EE PA oe ok ROIS OLIN aS 397 100.00 110 100.00 
TABLE II 
Summary of Registration in Vol. 36, Published 1913 
Cows (pedigreed) Bulls 
Color Number | Per cent. | Number | Per cent. 
White /4i< seerte oe 176 3.91 54 5.42 
Brow? oe as 145 S222 32 her | 
Black and white......... 67 1.48 15 1.50 
Brown and white...... 4119 91.39 896 89.87 
. Total. 4 j 4507 100.00 997 100.00 


Kuhlman: Black and White Ayrshires 


317 


TABLE III 


Summary of Bulls Registered in Vol. 36 


Color Number Per cent. 
WHERHR@ | 2 eRe Ms Ars CR ieee er 54 5.42 
RAR ON TILT Cc AIAG kes Cee eI Coen coe CERO Re aera ea 32 Sy) 
PP OLeAnG ewer sc, tain sie nthe de Sh cc esters tans. ale 15 1250 
Lv GR Ch Lh 7 LOT ACA aS arg Re 339 34.00. 
MR OEALIGH DLO WIL, ©) ciara cc a Fabs ole 418 41.93 
Wine worOwil Cheeks. (24 Jas. oon alae oe 55 79 7.93 
Whines brO wine Kes) ce.cs iva tie Sevaites ae ee fed Dy Dei 
eM ClatkuGheelcse ta fic = Mw nldh wis Bey eels ey cas Sie 20 2.00 
WuITnE MG AGKISMOUS 2. nee ee ae aces tis ein eoate bis ete te 8 80 
aneetseClnpe ee pat Ne SP ys Sea Reh Wem tBR ria sete ok or ane 3 30 
i Tear EGS es ea ee id eed Ya rc ee a re 2 . 20 
997 100.00 


the tendency to select sires with much 
white (Figs. 14 and 15) to satisfy popular 
fancy. It shows that of almost 1,000 
bulls registered in that volume, 34% 
were brown and white, 41.93% were 
white and brown and 12.64% had 
the brown restricted to the head and 
neck. The latter form of marking is 
one of the most popular at the present 
time. Almost all of the black and white 
bulls now used for service are marked 
in this way and it is doubtful if very 
many bulls marked like the black and 
white cows (Figs. 12 and 13), are kept for 
breeding purposes today, but bulls with 
black or very dark jaws or cheeks are 
very popular. It is interesting to note 
that by careful selection the color 
pattern of a spotted breed can be greatly 
changed. 

The so-called ‘White horse with 
black eyes,’”? is a striking illustration of 
what may be accomplished along this 
line. By careful selection from brown 
and white spotted animals, a strain of 
horses was produced in Denmark and 
also at Hannover which are entirely 
white in color of hair and skin, but are 
distinguished from albinos in that 
the eyes always remain black. 

The Ayrshire Herd Book Society is 
one of the very few breed associations 
that still makes provision for the 
registration of animals not the offspring 
of recorded ancestors. All animals en- 


tered in the Herd Book are divided into 
three groups: (1) those entered with a 
number or in the Herd Book proper, 
(2) those entered in Appendix A, and 
(3) those entered in Appendix B. 
Subject to the approval of the committee 
in charge of this work, a cow or heifer 
becomes eligible for entry in Appendix 
B, on one of the first three following 
conditions in addition to the fourth: 

1. The sire of such a cow or heifer 
must be entered in the herd book. 

2. She must be an individual of high 
merit, as shown by winning a prize at 
an agricultural show in a class for 
Ayrshires. 

3. She must be able to attain a high 
standard of production by producing 
an authentic milk yield within one year 
and in addition an examining committee 
must declare that she possesses the true 
characteristics of the Ayrshire breed. 

4. In addition to fulfilling one of 
these three requirements, the owner and 
breeder must sign a statement declaring 
that she is a pure bred Ayrshire. 

The female offspring of a dam entered 
in Appendix B, sired by a recorded 
bull, is eligible for entry in Appendix A. 
Cows entered in either Appendix A or 
B are entered by name but without a 
number. No bulls can be entered in 
either Appendix A or B. 

An animal is eligible for entry in the 
Herd Book proper, that is with a 


2 Walther, A. R., Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Vererbung der Pferdefarben, 1912. 


318 


The Journal of Heredity 


CHARACTERISTIC COLOR DISTRIBUTION 


In the black and white Ayrshires, the colors usually occur in large patches, and are distinctly 


separated. 


number, if both sire and dam are 
entered with numbers, or if the sire is 
recorded and the dam is entered in 
Appendix A of any volume. 


BREED IS KEPT PURE. 


Under these provisions it is possible 
for the progeny of many animals that 
have been bred pure for many years to 
qualify for registration in the herd 
book. That Ayrshire breeders are tak- 
ing advantage of these provisions is 
shown by the numbers recorded in 
Vol. 36, in which 4,507 cows and 895 
bulls are entered with numbers, 1,128 
cows are entered in Appendix A, and 
1,848 cows in Appendix B. .This seems 
like introducing a large amount of new 
blood into the breed every year, but it 
must be remembered that these animals, 
for all practical purposes, have exactly 
the same kind of breeding as the pedi- 


Other colors in the Ayrshire more usually occur as numerous small spots. 
The cow here shown is the dam of the heifer illustrated in Fig. 12. 


(Fig. 13.) 


greed animals. Then, too, this breed is 
confined to a rather small area into 
which comparatively few animals of 
other breeds have been introduced for 
breeding purposes for several centuries. 
Confinement to such a small section 
has the further advantage that the 
committees in charge can very easily 
obtain reliable information about the 
breeding of any herd. 

Table IV shows that the per cents. of 
black and white cows in Appendices A 
and B are considerably higher than those 
shown in the preceding tables, but that 
does not prove that the black and 
white color is introduced into the breed 
by this method of registration, for 
Table I shows that Vol. 9 contained 
2.26%, black and white cows, which 
would tend to indicate that black and 
white was present in the breed in the 
early stages of its development. 


— 


oh ee os “tee oe ef 


A CHAMPION AYRSHIRE BULL 


Hobsland Perfect Peace, champion Ayrshire bull at Kilmarnock, Scotland, in April, 1914, 
and also at the National Dairy show in Chicago in October, 1914. His color is nearly 
white, the brown markings being almost exclusively confined to head and neck; and he 
represents very well the prevailing fashionable type of Ayrshire bull in this country. 


(Fig. 14.) 


The study of the early history of the 
Ayrshire breed leads to several theories 
explaining the appearance of this black 
color as shown by the investigations of 
John Speir. Even though the Ayrshire 
is one of the most recent breeds, its 
origin is as great a mystery as any of the 
older ones. The original cattle of 
Scotland were black in color, small in 
size and had short horns. The Roman 
invasion brought other types of cattle 
into the country. The resulting fusion 
may have formed the basis for some of 
the later breeds. 

As a much larger number of the 
Ayrshire cattle of today are white or 
almost white, when compared with the 
numbers of the early days some people 
think that the white color of the 
Ayrshire is a reversion to the color of 


some white ancestor like the wild white 
cattle of Cadzow Forest. It seems 
unlikely that the Ayrshire is in any 
way related to the Cadzow Forest 
cattle. Speir states that between 1865 
and 1880 several bulls, mostly white in 
color, became noted prize winners. 
As a result they became very popular 
and in a few years their progeny was 
widely distributed. This easily accounts 
for the prevalence of many Ayrshires 
at the present time that are mostly 
white. 

Other suppositions suggest Norwegian 
or Spanish origin, but nothing has ever 
been found to substantiate these claims. 
That Dutch cattle were used in the 
early formation of the British breeds 
is quite probable. Writers of the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries fre- 


320 The Journal of Heredity 
TABLE IV 
Summary of Cows Registered in Appendix A and B of Vol. 36 
Cows Registered in Appendix A | Cows Registered in Appendix B 
Color Number Per cent. Number Per cent. 

White see ai are eee 44 3.90 Sil 215 
BrowWilvi.0 2 Scatts: Sateaae cae 55 4.88 90 4.86 
Blacktandiwhite: os 4 ee 39 3.45 ilies 6.05 
Brown and white.*® i225 55. 340: 530 46.99 
White and! browns... see oe 460 40.78 1596 86.34 

1128 100.00 1848 | 100.00 


* This number included 13 black cows. 


quently mention red and white, and 
black and white, but do not give any 
direct mention of Dutch cattle. No 
writer before 1600 mentions any breed 
that even remotely resembles the Ayr- 
shire breed, but before 1800 the breed 
had spread over the county of Ayr and 
surrounding districts. 

Before and during this period there 
was close connection and much trade 
with Holland. It is not unlikely that 
many of the cattle of that country were 
imported before 1600. That most of 
the Ayrshires are red and white instead 
of black and white, may be due to the 
fact that more of the former color were 
imported from Holland. For example, 
many red and white cattle are still 
found in some sections of Holland, and 
red and white seems to have been the 
common color of Dutch cattle before 
1750. It may be that most of the 
British importations were selected from 
such cattle. It is true that there are 
many differences between the Dutch and 
the Ayrshire cattle of today, but these 
differences might be expected from 
differences in selection, food and en- 
vironment during a period of several 
centuries. 

Speir also states that the Dutch 
paintings between 1600 and 1750 usually 
represent cattle as red and white in 
color, but after 1750 black and white 
seems to have become the popular color. 


der K. K. Hochschule far Bodenkultur in Wien. 


Brody* in a very interesting discus- 
sion of the Ayrshires, also refers to the 
color and origin of the breed. The 
following free quotations are taken 
from his paper: 

“The tendency towards partial albi- 
noism is quite pronounced in Ayrshires. 
This is rather remarkable for the breed 
originally was very dark colored, but 
systematic selection for color, as prac- 
ticed by the breeders, probably accounts 
for the change in color. During the 
eighteenth century only a few white 
markings were usually found, but as 
early as 1811 Aiton‘ found that there 
was a decided tendency towards a 
mixture of white and brown markings. 
That the darker colored animals were 
previously more common is also shown 
by the reproductions of the Ayrshires 
of the latter part of the eighteenth 
century as well as by the method of 
designating the white spotted animals 
that were employed by the breeders. 
Cows with a white face were called 
‘bassened,’ those having white on the 
neck ‘hawked,’ those having white 
along the back or loin ‘rigged’ and if 
the switch of the tail was white they 
were called ‘tagged.’ This would seem 
to indicate that if white was present at 
all,it was confined to comparatively small 
areas and found on one part of the 
body only. Since that time a decided 
change has occurred with reference to 


* Brody, Dr. Ladislaus, Die Ayrshires. Mitteilungen der Landwirthschaftlichen Lehrkanzeln 


Aug. 18, 1914. 


‘Aiton, William., General view of Agriculture of the County of Ayr, 1811, Glasgow. 


Kuhlman: Black and White Ayrshires 


oS) 
bo 
— 


CHAMPION AT THE AYR SHOW 


Howie's Sir Hugh, champion bull at the Ayr show in Scotland in 1914 and 1915. 
prominent sires now in use in herds of Ayrshires resemble this bull in being mostly 
but the preference for a predominantly white bull seems to have no sound genetic 


(Fig. £53) 


the distribution of the color pattern in 
the Ayrshire.” 

The results of Brody’s investigations 
of the color of the breed are given in the 
following table: 

Color of Animals 
Almost wholly or mostly white..... 


Equally white and brown...........-.--- 


Almost wholly or mostly brown......... 


Black or black and white....... a4 


As nothing is said about registration 
in this connection, it may be assumed 
that this tabulation was made without 
considering it and it is very probable 
that similar results could be obtained in 
many sections of the Ayrshire district. 

Among the many theories that are 
advanced as to the origin of the breed, 
he enumerates the following: 

1. A local theory is that the breed 
was imported. 

2. Some claim the 
veloped locally. 


breed was de- 


Most of the 


white; 
: basis. 
3. John Speir claims that the breed 


is of Dutch origin. 
4. Professor Wallace thinks it 
scended from the Bos longifrons. 
5. Sanson designates it as a hybrid 


de- 


he 
Y 


ho Go Go 


NMG Wn 
1 


100.00 


breed tracing to the celtic cattle and 
showing certain resemblances to the 
Kerry. 

From a study of the history of the 
British Isles as well as the skulls and 
other characteristics of the Ayrshire, 
Brody assumes that the breed is of 
celtic origin, had been bred pure for 
a long time and was brought into 
Scotland when the Celts were forced to 
withdraw before the Romans and later 
before the Anglo-Saxons. Of course 
these cattle resembled the present day 


a22 


breed very little, and many changes 
have occurred since that time. Brody 
accepts Aiton’s view of the later develop- 
ment of the breed. 

“Aiton reports that the cattle of 
Ayrshire formerly were mostly black, 
with a white stripe along the back, 
white in the flank or face and had horns 
that were turned upwards and _ in- 
wards.” 

“The present day breed was de- 
veloped by introducing other blood, 
better care and selection. He states 
that about 1740 to 1800 a large number 
of Dutch as well as Shorthorn cattle 
were introduced and crossed with the 
native cattle. Which of the two were 
used more freely, is not certain, but as 
the Shorthorn was even then famous on 
the Island and also easier to obtain, 
this fact leads to the assumption that 
perhaps more Shorthorns than Dutch 
cattle were used. The striking feature 


The Journal of Heredity 


about it is that as a result of such 
unsystematic introduction and crossing, 
such a remarkably uniform breed was 
obtained which for many decades has 
maintained its individuality. Two 
things may have aided in this—(1) the 
introduction of foreign blood may have 
been. confined to a relatively short 
period and (2) as the work of develop- 
ment was probably begun in the large 
herds the smaller breeders soon fell 
into line and followed their example. 
Then, too, information about the merits 
of any animal or system of breeding 
would be quickly disseminated in such 
a small section as that in which the 
breed was developed.” 

Whatever may have been the origin 
of the black in Ayrshires, it is certain 
that this color is as old as the breed 
itself and black and white Ayrshires 
are just as pure as those that show 
other colors. 


ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 
ASSOCIATION 


HE American Genetic Associa- 
tion will hold its annual meeting 
at Berkeley, California, August 
2-6, inclusive. The sessions 

now scheduled are as follows: 


Monday afternoon, August 2, joint session 
of the American Genetic Association with 
section for Animal Husbandry, American 
Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Tuesday morning, August 3, opening session 
A.G. A. 

Tuesday afternoon, August 3, second session 
A.G. A. 

Wednesday, August 4, joint sessions with 
A. A. A. S. at Stanford University: ‘‘The 
Role of Variation and Heredity in Evolution.”’ 

Thursday morning, August 5, meeting of 
plant-breeding section, A. G. A. 

Friday morning, August 6, joint meeting 
with section for Horticulture, A. A. A. S. 

Friday afternoon, August 6, closing session 


of A. G. A. 


This program is subject to change. 
The complete outline of the meetings 
will be published about July 15, and 
a copy will be sent to any member who 
requests it. Address the secretary at 
Washington, or Professor E. B. Bab- 


cock, University of California, Berkeley, 
California. 

All meetings of the association will 
be open to the public. There will be 
an opportunity for discussion of each 
paper. 

Following is an incomplete list of the 
papers to be presented, embracing 
probably two-thirds of the whole. The 
titles of these papers are subject to 


change. 
E. D. Ball and Byron Adler of the 
Utah Experiment Station, “Is Egg- 


laying in the White Leghorn a Unit 
Character ?’’. Results of tests extend- 
ing over number of years and designed 
to show in what way the capacity of 


high egglaying is inherited will be 
presented. 
E. E. Barker, Cornell University, 


“Color Studies in the Morning Glory.” 

S. Boshnakian, Cornell University, 
“A Better Method for Representing 
Mendelian Segregation,” and “A Coef- 
ficient of Squarehead Form Necessary 
for the Statistical Study of Density in 
Wheat.’ 


Annual Meeting of the Association 


Leon J. Cole, University of Wiscon- 
sin, will describe some of the experi- 
mental breeding done there to deter- 
mine the facts of inheritance in pigeons. 

G. N. Collins and J. H. Kempton of 
the Bureau of Plant Industry will 
describe crosses of Tripsacum and Euch- 
laena, two grasses, which may throw light 
on the ancestry of cultivated maize. 

B. O. Cowan, Santa Monica, Cali- 
fornia, ‘““Inbreeding.”’ 

R. A. Emerson, Cornell University, 
“Genetic Correlation. between Plant 
Colors and Aleurone and Endosperm 
Colors in Corn.” 

Albert F. Etter, Briceland, Cali- 
fornia, will describe his methods of 
strawberry breeding. Professor Roy 
E. Clausen of the University of Cali- 
fornia will show lantern slides of the 
subject. : 

Irving Fisher, professor of economics 
at Yale University, has promised to 
speak on the relation between eugenics 
and sociology. 

A. C. Fraser, Cornell University, 
“Heredity in Phaseolus.”’ 

B= F. Gatnes, Pullmari, Wash., “The 
Inheritance of Qualitative Factors in 
Small Grains;” results obtained at the 
Washington State Experiment Station. 

Alexander Galbraith, DeKalb, IIl., 
‘Inbreeding,’ a description of his ex- 
perience with Clydesdale horses and 
other stock. 

R. Ruggles Gates, University of 
London, “‘On Successive Duplicate Mu- 
tations’ and “The Modification of 
Characters by Crossing.”’ 

A. W. Gilbert, Cornell University, 
“Color Inheritance in Phlox drum- 
mond.” 

Frank M. Harding, secretary Ameri- 
can Shorthorn Breeders Association, 
Chicago, IIl., ‘“Inbreeding.”’ 

H. Hayward, Delaware 
ment Station, ‘‘Inbreeding.” 

A. C. Hottes, Cornell University, 
“Multiple Hybrids, with Special Refer- 
ence to the Genus Gladiolus.”’ 

David Starr Jordan, Chancellor of 
Leland Stanford Junior University, 
“The Long Cost of War.” 

Wilhelmina E. Key, Hartland, Wis., 
“Creating a Eugenic Conscience.” 

H. E. Knowlton, Cornell University, 


Experi- 


O23 


“Studies in Pollen Germination.” 

Samuel C. Kohs, House of Correction, 
Chicago, Ill., ‘‘Eugenics and the Un- 
conscious.” 

Isabel McCracken, Stanford Univer- 
sity, “Notes on Silkworm Heredity, 
with Special Reference to theMoricaud 
Race.” 

C. L. Redfield, Chicago, Il., ‘Dynamic 
Evolution.”’ 

G. P. Rixford, Bureau of Plant 
Industry, San Francisco, Cal., ‘The 
Pistacio Nut in the Southwest and 
Some Morphological Features in the 
Development of the Embryo.” 

A. J. Rosanoff, Kings Park State 
Hospital, Long Island, N. Y., ‘‘Pre- 
liminary Report of a Study of the 
Offspring of the Insane.”’ 

A. D. Shamel, Bureau of Plant 
Industry, Riverside, Cal., ‘‘Problems 
of the Navel Orange.”’ 

R. R. Slocum, Bureau of Animal 
Industry, Washington, D. C., ‘Poultry 
Breeding; illustrated with motion 
pictures. 

W. B. Swift, Boston State Hospital, 
Boston, Mass., “The Possibilities of 
Voice Inheritance.”’ 

W. T. Swingle, Bureau of Plant 
Industry, Washington, D. C., “Plant 
Breeding in Japan.” 

Ethel H. Thayer, Mendocino State 
Hospital, Talmage, Cal., ‘“‘Cacogenic 
Problems in California.”’ 

C. C. Thomas, Cornell University, 
“Preliminary Observations on Varia- 


tions in Trillium grandifiorum and 
Podophyllum peitatum. 
E. N. Wentworth, Kansas State 


Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kans., 
“Sex-limited Inheritance.”’ 

G. L. Tundel, Cornell University, 
“Evolution of Celery’? and ‘Disease 
Resistance in Celery.” 

The Surgeon General, U. S. Public 
Health Service, has promised to detail 
one of his assistants to speak on immi- 
gration through the port of San Fran- 
cisco, as it bears on eugenics. 

Several motion picture films will be 
shown, including one illustrating the 
horse breeding work of the U.S. Depart- 
ment of. Agriculture. 

A number of the papers will be 
illustrated with the stereopticon. 


ETTERSBURG STRAWBERRIES 


Successful Hybridizing of Many Species and Varieties in Northern California 
Leads to Production of New Sorts Which Are Apparently Adapted 
to Meeting Almost All Requirements. 


Roy E. CLAUSEN 


Instructor in Genetics, College of Agriculture, University of California, Berkeley, 
Calzf. 


N THE early seventies a Captain 
Cousins, in command of a freighter 
plying between North and South 
American Coast points, brought from 

Callao, Peru, to Eureka, California, some 
plants of the sand strawberry, Fragaria 
chiloensts, indigenous to that region. 
He tutned these: plants over toxA--’). 
Monroe of Eureka, and from him Albert 
F. Etter of Briceland, California, ob- 
tained the strain of Peruvian Beach 
strawberry which he has since used so 
successfully in his strawberry breeding 
work. This strawberry crossed with 
an inferior third generation seedling of 
Sharpless x Parry gave, among twelve 
others, his first superior seedling, Rose 
Ettersburg. Since then Mr. Etter has 
made numerous other crosses, using not 
only the wild Peruvian beach straw- 
berry, but the beach strawberries native 
to California as well, the wood straw- 
berry of the interior of California, the 
Alpine strawberry, and in later times 
others in addition to these. Some 10,000 
seedlings have been fruited in the course 
of the twenty years following the pro- 
duction of the Rose Ettersburg straw- 
berry, and the success that has been 
achieved well merits the attention here 
given it. 

Mr. Etter’s success is unquestionably 
due to the skilful way in which he has 
united the advantageous characteristics 
of a number of distinct species and 
forms, and cannot, therefore, be con- 
sidered intelligently without giving due 
attention to these forms. In the course 
of his work he has made a considerable 
collection of strawberry varieties and 
species, including a large number of the 


1 Georgeson, C. C. 
324 


varieties grown commercially in the 
United States and several from French 
sources, besides the strictly wild species 
of which a number are represented. 

The first and foremost of the species 
which Mr. Etter has used is F. chiloensis, 
the sand or beach strawberry. This 
strawberry is native to the Pacific 
Coast of the Americas and is distributed 
from South American points well up 
into Alaska, and has also been collected 
at Argentine points on the east coast of 
South America. In this region it is 
strictly coastal in its habitat, growing 
at most perhaps not more than 2 miles 
inland. It grows on the bleakest and 
most wind swept situations, enduring 
alike the sterile soil of the beach and 
the salt spray of the ocean. Even in 
Alaska, Georgeson! writes of it thus: 


_ 


THE BEACH STRAWBERRY 


“The species is known as Fragaria 
chiloensts. It grows along the coast 
from Muir Glacier to Prince William 
Sound and probably also in other places, 
but throughout this region it is quite 
abundant. Its favorite soil is the sand 
and gravel along the old beach line just 
above the reach of high water. It here 
disputes the possession of the surface 
with grasses and weeds of many kinds 
and is quite able to hold its own against 
them.” 

In fact wherever found it appears to 
be a notable characteristic of F. 
chiloensis that it is able by virtue of a 
deep rooting system and hardy foliage 
to endure the most unfavorable condi- 
tions with respect to the fertility of the 
soil and the available supply of moisture. 


An. Rept. Alaska Expt. Sta., 1909, p. 11. 


Clausen: 


Ettersburg Strawberries 


Ww 
bo 
O71 


STRAWBERRIES FOR LAWN PLANTING 


The beach or sand strawberry 


(Fragaria chiloensis) which occurs almost from one end to the 


other of the Pacific coast, is so hardy and resistant to all sorts of unfavorable conditions, 
that it is often used in that region to cover slopes or exposed places, in landscape garden- 
ing. This photograph shows it so used, and flowering free ty. on the univ ersity campus 


at Berkeley, California. (Fig. 16.) 


But aside from these general char- 
acteristics of the sand strawberries of 
the Pacific Coast, the species shows a 
remarkable diversity of forms, so much 
so as to lend considerable support to 
the tendency of some systematists to 
sub-divide the group still further. Mr. 
Etter has growing at Ettersburg half a 
dozen strains of F. chiloensis from 
Chilean, Peruvian, and Californian 
sources and all of them possess distinct 
characteristics which would unmistak- 
ably separate them from one another, 
and all appear to present notable 
differences from the Alaskan form 


which Georgeson has used so successfully 
in his plant breeding work. Thus for 
example we have forms with light green 
floes and petioles covered with a 
dense coarse pubescence. The Cali- 
fornia forms for the most part have 
glossy dark green leaves practically 
free from any pubescence. Some forms 
have characteristically long fruiting 
trusses, while in others the trusses are 
short. In some forms the berries are 
nearly white in color, while others bear 
distinctly red berries. The differences 
extend to every character, and they are 
mentioned here because they 


Serve as 


as 


19 


AAG 


The Journal of Heredity 


) \ \ \\ 


? 


HYBRIDS ARE NOTED FOR VIGOR 


The center row in this photograph is a collection of ordinary commercial varieties of straw- 


berry; while on either side are rows of hybrids produced by Albert F. Etter. 


Tt is well 


known that, in general, hybridization tends to increase the vigor of plants and animals, 


and this fact is often turned to advantage in modern breeding. 


It is evident that the Etters- 


burg strawberries are much more vigorous growers than common commercial varieties 
which, although originally hybrids, have been propagated so long that they have lost most 


of the benefit accruing to them from their original hybridization. 


an indication of the extreme variability 
which consequently might be expected 
in the hybrids. 

The two other species which have 
been used extensively in the hybrids 
thus far produced are F. vesca semper- 
florens, the Alpines, and F. californica, 
the native wood strawberry. Stock of 
the former was obtained by growing 
seedlings from seed supplied by John 
Lewis Childs of Floral Park, New York. 
Some of these seedlings bore red and 
others white berries, and some of the 
plants produced runners and others did 
not, as is characteristic of the Alpine 
strawberries. All of these forms were 
used in the hybridization work. The 
wood strawberry used was derived from 
local sources and displayed the char- 


(Fig. 17.) 


acteristics usual for that species, namely 
free production of very small inferior 
berries and a tendency towards winter 
growing. These three represent all the 
wild species concerned in the hybrids 
considered in this article. Others are 


now being used, among them F. 
cunetfolia, a distinct and somewhat 


peculiar type from Oregon, and F. 
chinensis varieties originally derived 
from Chinese sources. 


GARDEN VARIETIES USED 


As a foundation 
number of common 
which have met 


for the work a 
garden varieties 
with some favor in 
California have been used. Among 
these are the Sharpless and Parry, 
previously mentioned, and of the others, 


Clausen: Ettersburg Strawberries 


Michel’s Early, Senator Dunlap, Mar- 
shall, Chesapeake, Crescent, William 
Belt, Bederwood, Dornan, and Aus- 
tralian Crimson have yielded promising 
hybrids. It is unnecessary to go into 
the characteristics of these, because 
they are well known and further because 
these characteristics, except in so far 
as they are common to all the straw- 
berry varieties in general cultivation, 
would lend but little aid to a study of 
the hybrids which have been produced 
from them. Suffice it to say that the 
garden varieties which are represented 
in the pedigrees of the best of Mr. 
Etter’s productions are not there be- 
cause they have displayed any particular 
value in this respect compared with 
garden varieties which are not repre- 
sented. 

The methods which Mr. Etter uses 
in his strawberry breeding work are 
very simple but admirably adapted to 
the material with which he is working. 
In many cases advantage is taken of the 
fact that pistillate strains exist within 
the species and forms with which he is 
working, and in almost all his crosses 
such pistillate strains and _ varieties 
have been used as the mother parents. 
Shortly after the blossoms on these 
selected mother plants open a flower of 
the desired male parent is bound over 
it with a strip of muslin, and the pollen 
then is scattered over it by the thrips 
which work around in the blossoms and 
also by the mere contact of the two 
flowers. In case the desired female 
parent is perfect flowering the stamens 
are, of course, removed before pollina- 
tion. The strip of muslin with the 
label attached to it remains over the 
fruit untilitisripe. When the fruits are 
ripe they are picked and enclosed in 
little muslin bags. They are then 
mashed together and hung up to fer- 
ment for a few days, after which the 
pulp is washed away from the seeds as 
thoroughly as possible. The seeds are 
sown immediately in specially prepared 
seed boxes in which spaces are marked 
off for each different cross, and there 
the young seedlings remain until they 
are strong enough to be transplanted to 
the field. No particular attempt is 
made to hasten germination, conse- 


eye 


quently under these conditions most of 
the seeds germinate the second year 
after sowing. Obviously these methods 
do not enable us to be absolutely sure 
of the parentage of the seedlings, but 
any doubt as to their hybrid nature 
would be soon dispelled by a study of 
the seedlings and their parent plants. 
THOROUGH TESTS GIVEN 

The second feature of Mr. Etter’s 
methods lies in the thorough test to 
which all seedlings thus secured are 
subjected. They are first transplanted 
to the trial patch where they are 
planted in hills, usually three in each 
hill. Here they remain until they fruit. 
Those which prove inferior from the 
start are soon rooted up while those 
which seem to possess desirable qualities 
are given Ettersburg numbers and 
subjected to a further test in four to 
ten hill units. There they may be 
compared directly with previous selec- 
tions which have made good and, if 
found especially worthy, they are further 
subdivided and propagated. Mr. Etter 
has no faith either in his own or any- 
body else’s ability to pick out the 
varieties which will be successful by any 
other method than that of a thorough 
trial; and in the same way in selecting 
his parents for hybridization, he is 
guided only by the dictates of 
experience. 

The selections which Mr. Etter has 
made have been based almost entirely 
on the commercial value of the char- 
acteristics that the seedlings have dis- 
played under trial. The endeavor has 
been made to improve the strawberry in 
vigor, in quality of fruit with respect to 
texture, flavor, color, etc., in produc- 
tiveness, and in such other character- 
istics as might increase its commercial 
value. A few freaks have been produced 
in the course of the work but they are 
merely by-products and very few of 
them have been retained. In the work 
several objects have been held in mind, 
such as the production of strawberry 
varieties particularly suitable to the 
home garden, the production of others 
suitable for canning, and the production 
of still other varieties suited to more or 
less special demands. Perhaps these 


328 


features may be best brought before 
the reader by a specific consideration of 
a few of the varieties which have been 
retained. 

Rose Ettersburg, the first successful 
variety, is a hybrid of a third generation 
Sharpless x Parry seedling by Peruvian 
Beach. It is a strong, vigorous grower 
and produces large berries, always true 
to shape, and of a light pink or rose 
color, thus indicating its Peruvian 
Beach parentage. It is remarkable for 
its quality and fragrance, the flavor is 
decidedly different from other straw- 
berries, and on that account desirable 
or undesirable according to individual 
tastes. It possesses the usual extreme 
vigor of the Beach hybrids, and has 
produced at the rate of 8 tons per acre 
on Mr. Etter’s place without irrigation. 
Its light color and rather peculiar flavor 
would probably be against it at the 
present time as a general commercial 
variety. It is a splendid variety, how- 
ever, for the home garden. 

Ettersburg No. 121 is supposedly a 
direct hybrid of the two species Alpine 
x Cape Mendocino Beach. Like Rose 
Ettersburg it is very vigorous and pro- 
ductive; unlike Rose Ettersburg the 
berries are deep glossy red in color and 
even the flesh is intensely red to the 
center. This is one of the many Etters- 
burg varieties that pick without the 
hulls like blackberries and with about 
as little abrasion, a characteristic which 
is derived from the Alpines. The 
variety is notable for high quality and 
solidity. It has a full, sweet flavor that 
could not fail to be attractive to anyone 
who likes strawberries. The profusion 
of blossoms which it produces makes it a 
beautiful sight when in bloom. This 
is a variety of considerable commercial 
promise. 

A COMPLEX HYBRID 

Ettersburg Trebla, formerly Etters- 
burg No. 222, in contradistinction to 
Ettersburg No. 121 possesses a very 
complex pedigree as shown in the 
following outline: 


(Etterst surg No, 84 


Unnumbered seedling 


Ettersburg Trebla i 


Unnumbered seedling 


Ettersburg No. 114 - 


| Alpine 


(Seedling No. 3 


The Journal of Heredity 


When the derivation of Rose Etters- 
burg, as given previously, is considered 
it can be seen how complicated this 
pedigree is and how many species and 
varieties are included in it. 


Out of this mixed ancestry has been 
derived the variety which Mr. Etter 
considers his best variety thus far. 
This variety evidently considers its 
mission in life to be the production of 
fruit, and splendid fruit at that. The 
berries are of medium size, deep red, 
and solid to the center. Eaten fresh it 
is a berry that would not appeal to 
most people on account of its high 
acidity, but in canning it develops a 
remarkably rich and pleasant flavor. 
Like Ettersburg No. 121 it picks with- 
out the hull and with scarcely any 
abrasion. At Mr. Etter’s place it has 
produced at the rate of 20 tons per acre. 
The plants present a peculiar appear- 
ance at fruiting time when the heavy 
foliage is mostly weighed down by the 
large quantities of fruit produced and 
only a few stiff leaves remain erect. 
We have here a variety which is ap- 
parently particularly suitable for canning. 
The solidity of the berry is such that it 
has no tendency to break down during 
the canning process, and the deep color, 
high flavor, productiveness, and ease 
with which it may be prepared for 
canning are other features which make 
it an especially desirable variety on 
which to build up a strawberry canning 
industry. 

Ettersburg No. 200 is a cross between 
Senator Dunlap and the Peruvian 
Beach strawberries. It is merely a 
unique novelty. The berries are small 
to medium in size, and with only a very 
faint pink color, very nearly white. 
The achenes (seeds), however, are deep 
red in color and set in deep depressions 
in the surface of the fruit. A single 
plant has borne as many as 200 berries 
at one time. It is strongly Peruvian 
Beach in its characteristics and is 
certainly a strange strawberry. 

{Rose Ettersburg 
F. californica 
{Cape Mendocino Beach 
Rose Ettersburg 
F. californica 
Rose Ettersburg 


TWO TYPES OF STRAWBERRY BLOSSOM 


Commercial varieties of strawberries fall in two classes: those with perfect flowers, including 
both stamens and pistils (as shown at the top of the photograph) and those whose flowers 
lack the male element, and are called pistillate. A flower of this type is shown 
bottom of the photograph. It is obvious that if plants of the second type are I 
exclusively, the flowers cannot be fertilized, and will produce no fruit. It is therefore 
necessary for every grower to have at least some plants of the perfect-flowerin; 
in order to pollinate the blossoms and ensure a crop. It is not advisable to limit a pl 
to a single variety, even if this have perfect flowers, because although they will ] 
an abundance of pollen, yet it has been shown by experiment that better result 
secured when cross-pollination takes place from some other variety. Photograph by 
Fairchild. (Fig. 18.) 


’ he 
al l 


330 


These are typical examples of the 
results which have followed Mr. Etter’s 
strawberry breeding work, and they 
are only a few cases selected as illustra- 
tions “of. “these “results ihe most 
remarkable general characteristic of 
the hybrids is their extreme vigor lead- 
ing to the production of a deep rooting 
system and of stiff, leathery, heat 
resistant foliage unlike any of the com- 
mon garden varieties. On this account 
it is actually necessary to grow some of 
the varieties under not too favorable 
conditions lest they expend their energy 
in the production of a rampant vegeta- 
tive growth at the expense of the pro- 
duction of fruit. 


DIVERSITY OF TYPE 


This extreme vigor, perhaps an illus- 
tration of the stimulating effects of 
crossing, gives the strong foundation to 
which many other desirable features 
have been added. Some of the hybrids 
produce fruit which is nearly white in 
color and from them we have a con- 
tinuous series of varieties with respect 
to color of fruit up to those which 
produce deep glossy red fruit with 
intensely red flesh. The flavors are 
even more extensive in range. Many of 
them are peculiar and not easy to 
describe, some resemble the flavors of 
other fruits, banana, muskmelon, Tar- 
tarian cherry, raspberry, and so on; 
and we would not greatly exaggerate 
if we were to compare the range of 
flavors found here with that occurring 
in the apple. In acidity the hybrids 
vary from those which are insipid, 
watery, and practically tasteless to 
those which are very acid, lemon sour 
in fact; and some are full, rich, and 
sweet. The texture and quality of the 
flesh is another item to which Mr. 
Etter has given special attention, partic- 
ularly with reference to use in canning, 
and for this he has had a wide range of 
forms from which to make selections. 
Some of the hybrids seem to possess 
practically no substance, they are ex- 
tremely watery like many of the 
common garden varieties, and on can- 
ning naturally break down into a purée 
mixture with little solid matter in it. 
There are others which are somewhat 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


firmer, but some of these do not possess 
the desired uniformity of texture—in- 
stead they are inclined to be fibrous. 
A few are firm and solid to the center 
with no suggestion of a core. These 
stand up well when canned. They 
remain firm and solid and retain their 
shape remarkably well. There is also 
naturally enough a large range of sizes 
and shapes from small to very large, 
from spherical to sorts which are very - 
elongated or even irregular. Some of 
the varieties pick free from the hulls and 
others pick in the usual way, the former 
characteristic apparently representing 
a heritage from the Alpine race. This 
is a characteristic which is of consider- 
able importance from a canning stand- 
point. In productiveness there are all 
degrees up to the 20 tons per acre limit 
of Ettersburg Trebla. A fairly large 
percentage of the varieties are imperfect 
flowering as might be expected on 
account of the use of such forms so 
extensively in the hybridization work; 
and some of these varieties have a 
tendency to produce irregular berries, 
apparently on account of imperfect 
fertilization. These then represent some 
of the variations found in the Ettersburg 
hybrid strawberries, and among the 
200 or more which have been found 
worthy of further trial it is possible to 
please almost any taste or satisfy any 
demand. 


WIDE ADAPTABILITY 


The question naturally arises as to 
the adaptability of these hybrids to 
various environmental conditions, and 
on this question we unfortunately do 
not possess a very extensive knowledge 
as yet. Under the conditions obtaining 
in the northern coast region of Cali- 
fornia they have demonstrated their 
excellence and fitness. These condi- 
tions, however, are almost ideal for 
strawberry growing. The soil on which 
they have been grown is rich, newly 
cleared forest land, perhaps somewhat 
acid; the climate is mild, and there is 
sufficient rainfall to carry them through 
the fruiting season in good shape. The 
hybrids are being tested throughout 
California and at several experiment 
stations, and preliminary reports of 


Clausen: Ettersburg Strawberries 


these trials are on the whole very 
encouraging. Thus in New York 
Taylor? has tested seventeen of the 
varieties which have been introduced, 
and even under the totally different 
conditions of that locality with respect 
to soil and climate he has found four of 
them good enough to include in his list 
of desirable varieties. It appears, there- 
fore, that some will be found excellently 
adapted to other than the ideal condi- 
tions of Humboldt County. Their 
remarkable vigor and their deep rooting 
system and drouth resistant foliage 
would indicate an ability to withstand 
trying summer conditions with respect 
to heat and drouth, and such in fact is 
the case. The enduring qualities of F. 
chiloensis are, if anything, accentuated 
in the hybrids. The varieties un- 
doubtedly deserve a wide and thorough 
trial, and the indications are that, when 
the story of that trial shall have been 
told, certain of the hybrids will have 
been found adapted to almost any con- 
dition under which strawberries are 
grown. 

The work which Mr. Etter has done 
has great significance in practical straw- 
berry breeding. Whether or not it has 
succeeded in producing varieties which 
are suitable for all the varied needs and 
conditions of strawberry growing 1s 
not so important as the fact that it has 
demonstrated the wonderful possibilities 
which lie in practical strawberry breed- 
ing, and has developed a method of 
attack of that problem which yields 
remarkable results. Most important of 
all is the demonstration of the fact that 
further hybridization of the common 
garden varieties of the strawberry, 
themselves supposedly largely F. chilo- 
ensis derivatives, with wild forms of 
that species results in a notable increase 
in vigor and in the production of new 
varieties superior in every respect to 
the commonly cultivated ones. George- 


2 Taylor, O. M., Strawberry Varieties. 
3 Georgeson, C. C. 


a) 


son,*® endeavoring to breed new varieties 
of strawberries suitable for Alaskan 
conditions by hybridizing their native 
F. chiloensis with a common garden 
variety, has found exactly the same 
thing to be true, and his enthusiastic 
accounts of the work remind one very 
much of the parallel results which Mr. 


Etter is securing under California 
conditions. 
SECRETS OF SUCCESS 


We have reported in this article the 
remarkable results which Mr. Etter 
has secured in thirty years of persistent 
and intelligent strawberry breeding. 
This success is due to the fact that he 
has become thoroughly familiar with 
the material with which he is working 
and has evolved a method of strawberry 
breeding which has proved very effec- 
tive in the production of new, superior 
varieties. Essentially this method is 
the same as that which has_ been 
adopted by a number of successful plant 
breeders, namely that of hybridization 
followed by thorough trial and careful 
selection. The work of selection is of 
course simplified in the strawberry by 
the fact that vegetative propagation 
may be used to perpetuate any par- 
ticularly excellent individual, and that 
perhaps with very little likelihood of 
any subsequent deterioration. The 
selection in effect has been made through 
several generations, as is usually neces- 
sary before the desired combinations of 
characteristics are secured. While the 
new varieties thus secured have not 
yet been thoroughly tested, present 
indications are that many of them will 
prove highly successful under a variety 
of conditions. At any rate a successful 
method of attack in strawberry breeding 
has been discovered, and these Etters- 
burg hybrid strawberries are a success- 
ful application of that method. 


New York Geneva Sta. Bul. 401, pp. 165-192, 1915. 
An. Repts. Alaska Expt. Sta., 1906-1913. 


THE FIRST-BORN’S HANDICAP 


Accumulation of Statistics Appears to Show That Eldest Members of a Family 
Are ‘‘Weighted’’—Possible Explanations of the Fact. 


REVIEW OF A Book BY KARL PEARSON 


Director, Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics, University of London. 


HEN Karl Pearson, in 1907, 
published statistics which 
appeared to show that the 
first and second-born in 
any given fraternity or sibship were 
more likely to be attacked by tuber- 
culosis and were, therefore, presumably 
constitutionally inferior, in that respect 
at least, to their later brothers and 
sisters, his conclusions did not lack 
assailants. The succeeding years have 
seen a good deal of work on the problem, 
the latest contribution being from 
Pearson himself.! Before its contents 
are considered, it may be of interest to 
recall Pearson’s original contribution, 
which Schuster sums up as follows: 
“The Crossley Sanatorium at Frod- 
sham is filled with lower middle-class 
and working-class patients suffering from 
consumption, who come mostly from 
Manchester and, to a lesser degree, 
from Liverpool and its neighborhood. 
From the records kept of the family 
histories of the patients it is possible to 
tell how many came in each particular 
place in their families. It was then 
found that of 381 patients, 113 were 
first-born and 79 second-born. When 
the patients and all their brothers and 
sisters, living or dead, are taken to- 
gether, it was found that in the 381 
families there were 381 first-born and 
366 second-born. Dividing these num- 
bers by the average number of children 
per family, one arrives at the number of 
first-born and second-born which, ac- 
cording to the theory of probability, 
one would expect to find in a sample 
made up by picking one child at random 
from each family. The numbers are 67 
and 64. The 381 sanatorium patients 


1QOn the Handicapping of the First-born, by Karl Pearson, F. R. 5S. 
four diagrams, pp. 68, price two shillings net. 
National Eugenics, Eugenics Lecture Series X. 


W., 1914. 
332 


may be regarded as a sample selected 
by consumption, one from each family 
and among them the corresponding 
numbers are 113 and 79—that is to 
say, about 124 times as many first-born 
and 114 times as many second-born, as 
in the random sample of the same size. 
As the differences are too large to be 
due to chance, they appear to show 
that consumption does not pick at 
random, but selects more particularly 
the first-born and second-born. With 
regard to the third and later born 
members the differences were reversed, 
there being fewer of these among the 
patients than would be the expectation 
if the latter were drawn by chance, one 
from each family.” 

Pearson contented himself with pre- 
senting the statistics, not attempting to 
explain them. His critics attacked 
them from two sides—first on purely 
statistical grounds, and second, by 
attempting to explain them away. 
Pearson’s new paper on the subject is 
devoted largely to refuting those of his 
critics who attacked him on purely 
statistical grounds; and into this aspect 
of the case the reviewer will not go. 
Those who are interested in the mathe- 
matical theories involved may consult 
the original paper. Pearson also sums 
up the evidence in support of his con- 
tention, however, and brings forward 
new data which equally tend to indicate 
that the first-born members of a popula- 
tion are weighted. It may be of 
interest to review this data. 


DIVISION OF THE PROBLEM 


There are, it is evident, several ways 
in which a statistically demonstrated 


With frontispiece and 
University of London, Galton Laboratory for 


London, Dulau and Co. Ltd., 37 Soho Square, 


Pearson: The First-Born’s Handicap 


handicap of the first-born might be 
made up, and it is important for the 
reader to keep in mind these differences. 
If there were a lot of one-child families 
in the population, and if this single 
child in each case were inferior, it is 
obvious that he or she would be listed 
as first-born in an enumeration, and 
the first-borns as a whole would get a 
black mark from the bad record of 
these one-child families; whereas it 
is conceivable that the first-borns in 
large families might at the same time 
be as good as or better than any of 
their brothers or sisters. 

It is by such an explanation that some 
of Pearson’s critics attacked his statistics 
from the Crossley sanitorium, as will 
be later explained. 

On the other hand, it might be that 
the first-born in a family was inferior 
to his or her own brothers and sisters. 
To demonstrate this would obviously 
require a different line of statistical 
attack; and the meaning of the results, 
from a eugenic point of view, would like- 
wise be distinctly different. Following 
Pearson’s original contribution, many 
investigators have adopted this second 
method of attack altogether. The 
problem it involves is the more interest- 
ing and perhaps likewise the more 
important, but Pearson contends, and 
with apparent justice, that both prob- 
lems are worthy of solution, and that 
the eugenist can not be content if the 
case is approached from either side 
alone. 

In his new memoir he has worked out 
methods of analyzing his data from 
both points of view. Unfortunately 
his results are not easily followed in 
detail by a reader who lacks training in 
advanced statistical method. This is 
the more unfortunate, because in some 
instances a handicap is discernible by 
the one method of attack, but from the 
other viewpoint is found to be non- 
existent—thus in epilepsy, it appears 
that the greater number of first-born 
in asylums is due to the fact that they 
come from tainted stocks, and not to 
the fact that they are first-born. 

This distinction must be kept in 
mind, whenever the problem of the 
first-born’s handicap is_ studied, for 
without it an entirely erroneous result 


oa3 


will be reached, a result likely to cause 
needless anguish to some of the large 
number of first-born children in the 
world. 


DANGERS AT BIRTH 


Before attacking the problem from 
the conventional side, Pearson notes 
the dangers which meet the first-born 
even at birth. Ansell has given the 
still-births per 1,000 born alive, in order 
of birth for 48,843 births; the rate for 
the first-born is 40, for the second-born 
20, for the third-born 15.5, tor the 
fourth to sixth 17.4 and for the seventh 
and over 20.9. ‘It will be seen that 
still-births for the first-born are double 
those of later births. And this dis- 
advantage follows the first-born tnto 
the first year of life.” The infantile 
mortality of the rrofessional and upper 
classes for 48,843 births, likewise com- 
piled by Ansell, shows that in the first 
year, per 1,000 born alive, the following 
numbers die: 


Pinst=bOrlietnatt slate eee 82.2 
SeconG-DOnIA ec. aute See ee 70 
ShhirG-DORM ees aoe. Shou ee eee 69 
IRoGrih to.Sixthins 6.8 eet cee 78.3 
Sevenhhvand.oveb ne see se eee 97.4 


Confirmatory data collected by the 
Galton Laboratory from the manufac- 
turing towns of northern England are 
given. In Sheffield, “it is not till we 
get to the eight or ninth birth that the 
mortality is as great as for the first- 
born.”’ The health of the children 
follows a similar course—it is not until 
the thirteenth child, in about 4,400 
cases from Sheffield, that we find as 
much delicacy as in the first-born. 
This inferiority in health, of course, to 
some extent wears off with age, but it 
would still appear to be appreciable 
at twelve and thirteen, according to 
statistics quoted from school inspections. 

Physical evidence of the defect of the 
first-born is also found in statistics as 
to the weights and lengths of 2,000 


babies, made at Lambeth Lying-in 
Hospital. The first-born, both in boys 


and girls,weighs less and is shorter than 
the subsequent children, who in general 
increase regularly in these respects in 
accordance with their order of birth. 
There is some reason to believe that 
this increase is correlated to the increas- 


334 


ing age of the mother. ‘We have, 
however, distinctly guarded ourselves 
from any expression of the source of 
the inferiority of the first-born till the 
data, slowly accumulating, suffices to 
determine how much the first-born pays 
for the juvenility and how much for 
the inexperience of its parents. 

“Tt will be seen from the totality of 
the above results that physically, in 
the early months of life, the first- or 
earlier-born babies are inferior to any 
babies before at least the seventh or 
eighth. We have now to ask whether 
this inferiority persists to later life, and 
whether it shows itself also in congenital 
defects.” 


CONGENITAL DEFECTS 


Idiocy or imbecility is the first 
defect considered.2 No matter in what 
way the data are analyzed, it appears 
that there is a distinct bias against the 
first-born. 

Weeks’ American data on epilepsy 
are next analyzed. ‘‘We must, I think, 
conclude by recognizing that, while 
there is a weighting of the elder-born 
even in epilepsy, this is due to a selec- 
tion of families rather than to a selec- 
tion of the elder-born in each individual 
family.’ In other words, the statistical 
observation that there are more first- 
born than later-born epileptics in an 
asylum is of no_ significance except 
when a large population is considered— 
it does not mean that in any given 
family the first-born is likely to be 
inferior in this respect to his or her 
successors. 

The data for insanity are said not to 
have been available for such full 
analysis as were data of other defects. 
They appear to show that there is a 
weighting of the elder-born in the case 
of insanity, but they do not furnish 
grounds for saying that this may not 
be due merely to the fact that the 
subjects observed come of defective 
stocks. 

Pedigrees of 952 albinos of European 
race are next examined. There is 
marked excess of albinos among the 
first-born: 241 cases instead of the 216 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


expected by the theory of probability; 
the second-born have no excess and 
the last-born seem to show a slight 
defect. ‘I think there cannot be the 
least doubt,’ Pearson concludes, ‘of 
a quite significant weighting of the 
first-born in the matter of albinism.”’ 

Criminality, on the basis of Dr. 
Goring’s figures, seems equally to be a 
prerogative of the elder members of the 
family. When expected and observed 
distribution of criminals in families of 
each size is computed, “the actually 
observed first- and second-born crim- 
inals amount together to 717 as.against 
557 which would be anticipated if the 
tendency to crime were divided equally 
among all members. There is a defect 
of both intermediates and of last-born 
criminals. The general bias against 
the elder-born appears amply substan- 
tiated on these data.”’ 

Statistics for the tuberculous are 
next considered, in a much more refined 
way than was attempted when the 
first study was made. Even when each 
family is considered individually, it is 
found that there is a heavy preponder- 
ance of tuberculosis in the case of the 
first-borns, and a defect in the case of 
the late-borns. 

Pedigrees of fifty families with con- 
genital cataract are finally taken up, and 
here too ‘‘the less robust members of a 
tainted stock—and such are the first- 
born—appear more likely to be 
affected.” 


CRITICISMS NOT VALID 


In conclusion, Pearson holds “that 
the criticisms raised against the handi- 
capping of the first-born are not valid. 
The first-born is very significantly 
handicapped, and this statistical result 
will coincide with a good deal of personal 
and individual experience.”’ 

At the risk of tiresome repetition, it 
must onc? more be pointed out that 
when the problem is demonstrated by 
statistics, the handicap of the first-born 
might be of two kinds: it might be that 
the first-born in each family is actually 
inferior to the later-born, or it might be 
that the first-borns, as a whole, in the 


2 The type of feeblemindedness known as Mongolian is excluded from consideration, because it 


is already known to be associated with late births in large families. 


‘‘uterine exhaustion”’ of the mother. 


It is ordinarily attributed to 


Pearson: The First-Born’s Handicap 


population are an inferior group, because 
they come from inferior families. This 
point was particularly brought out by 
Dr. Alfred Ploetz of Munich, president 
of the International Society for Race 
Hygiene, in an address which he delivered 
before the First International Eugenics 
Congress (London, 1912). He said: 

‘Among the children of a number of 
marriages taken at random, there are a 
good many children of parents who 
died early, consequently there is a high 
proportion of children who represent 
early members in birth-rank, and prin- 
cipally first, second and_ third-born. 
Because of the death of one or both 
parents there could be no later born. 
First, second and third-born children 
therefore come in a far greater percent- 
age from early deceased, that is on the 
average weaker parents, than do the 
later born, and they will therefore 
inherit in a higher degree the weaker 
constitution of their weaker parents.”’ 

“There is further another factor 
weighting small families,’’ Pearson adds, 
“namely, they represent very fre- 
quently an exhausted virility in the 
parents. Certain types of parental 
degeneracy seem incapable of producing 
more than one or two children at most,?® 
and the children of such parents are 
themselves feeble. But, if any small 
families are thus selected, we _ shall 
increase the number of early borns in 
the diseased population, for such small 
families have no late-borns.”’ 

Furthermore, he suggests “that the 
growth of the first child is hampered by 
conditions [physiological in the mother] 
which exist to a far less extent for the 
following births; but these conditions 
will be much harder for the first-born 
child when its mother is forty than when 
she is twenty-five. But the resulting 
family in the former case is likely to be 
far smaller than in the latter case. In 
other words, the handicapping of the 
first-born in small families may be 
increased by the addition of many 
small families in which the first-born is 
also late-born.”’ 


302 


Thus general statistics on the weight- 
ing of the first-born must carefully 
distinguish whether it is actually the 
individual, or the family, that is 
weighted; and in this fact lies comfort 
for first-born members of healthy 
families. 

Early critics appeared to think that 
the whole problem of the handicapping 
of the first-born might be explained 
away by this fact that in many cases 
it is the family, rather than the in- 
dividual, which is handicapped. Pear- 
son’s first statistics of the tuberculous 
were indeed vulnerable on this ground, 
but his re-analysis of the data takes 
both these factors into account and 
appears to show that in many cases at 
least the first-born are handicapped 
altogether apart from the recognized 
weighting of small families. 


EVIL OF SMALL FAMILIES 


If this be the case, it seems evident 
that, from a biological point of view, and 
entirely apart from its effect on up- 
setting the selective birth rate, the 
small family is detrimental to race 
progress. That, says Pearson, “is the 
reason why I have approached this 
subject at all. After this lecture was 
delivered, I was asked by an anxious 
mother: ‘Why, even if the doctrine be 
true, should it be published to the world 
as it would only alarm and so further 
injure a class of the community already 
asserted to be handicapped?’ My 
reply to that question is: ‘Study in 
the first place the incidence rates of 
these abnormalities we are discussing, 
and you will see that it is only in mass- 
statistics that the handicapping be- 
comes sensible.’ Further, I must add 
that in the science of National Eugenics 
we have to consider what profits the 
nation at large, and I feel strongly con- 
vinced that the present tendency (ex- 
hibited so markedly in France),* to 
make the first-born 50% instead of 
something less than 22% of the whole 
number of births, spells degeneracy. 
The individual feelings of the first-born, 


’ This does not necessarily contradict the generally well established principle that degenerate 


stocks are as a rule very fertile. 


4 The German birth-rate is notably high, but in Berlin the percentage of first-born in every 100 


births had increased from eighteen in 1880 to thirty-three in 1906. 


The reader will recall that 


Cattell’s statistics show American men of science almost habitually to have families of two children. 


336 The Journal 


even if the handicapping were far more 
substantial than it is, cannot be con- 
sidered to outweigh the national im- 
portance of the problem. If this principle 
of the handicapping of the first-born be 
true, as I have little doubt that it is— 
and if a similar principle holds for the 
last-born (to a lesser degree it is true) 
for some conditions like Mongolian 
imbecility—what must be the moral of 
the present lecture’ Surely, that the 
better born are the intermediates in 
families from five to eight, and that 
when families are restricted to twos or 
threes, or extended to twelves and 
thirteens, there may be a quite appreci- 
able tendency to increase the proportion 
of the less efficient in the community. 
I make no pretence at present to asso- 
ciate inferiority at beginning or end 
with too young parents or too old parents. 
I am only aware that we want much 
fuller data, so that we can correct for 
parental ages at marriage, and for 
period after marriage of the birth of 
each child. We want to study not 
only the order and number of children, 
but the interval between their births. 
“The handicapping of the first-born 
is not, as some of my correspondents 
have supposed, subversive of any faith 
in heredity. It would not even be an 
argument against an hereditary Upper 
Chamber, except in so far as such 


5 In ‘“ Hereditary Genius” 
order of the eminent men whom he studied: 


of Heredity 


chamber is based on primogeniture. 
Statistics of the failure of the eldest- 
born of peers and of the success of their 
younger brothers might from this stand- 
point be of real interest.2 The real 
argument against an hereditary chamber 
is the customary want of hereditary 
power in its members, 7. e., the neglect 
of the fact that a man has sixteen great- 
grandparents, and, possibly, only one_ 
of them may be of distinctior 
man who won the title. As Galton 
wrote: ‘An old peerage is a valueless 
title to natural gifts, except’so far as it 
may have been furbished up by a suc- 
cession of wise intermarriages. ... I 
cannot think of any claim to respect, 
put forward in modern days, that is so 
entirely an imposture, as that made by 
a peer on the ground of descent, who 
has neither been nobly educated, nor 
has any eminent kinsman within three 
degrees.’ The dearth of ability in the 
‘hereditary’ peers of the present day 
is largely due to their neglecting mar- 
riage into able stocks, and in some 
cases quite possibly to a succession of 
eldest son inheritance—an evil which 
the whole community may bring upon 
itself, if it selects its surviving offspring 
in the same restricted manner. To 
criticize primogeniture is not to discard 
heredity.” 


Galton presented the following statistics concerning the relative birth- 


OnilySOnse oe) )<G8 23. See ees be bein: «Pets. '? 9a Sir eae 11% 
| DULG Resa erste copes earned RP Oh i a aoe e  PN EE Mian ee noes. a Ge eesti 20 17% 
SéConG: SONS Ma. 5.2 os oe Se Ce se et ahs chads om Suen Free eee 38% 
athe 0) 1\- Cae ens ie aa 9 cen ae eS © POR POR sy 22% 
Latter SOmsc shee c uc cee eee Oe etna tie oc ru nee 12% 


Hotel Accommodations at Berkeley 


Acting on the advice of its California committee, the American Genetic Associa- 
tion has designated Hotel Claremont, Oakland, California, as official headquarters 
during its annual meeting, August 2-7. This hotel is just across the line from 
Berkeley, and has excellent transportation facilities to the university. It has 
accommodations for about 1,000 guests, prices being as follows: 

Single room with bath, $3 per day ($1.50 if two persons occupy room). 

Single room without bath, $1 per day; room for two without bath, $1 per person. 

The secretary will be glad to make reservations for members of this association. 
It is highly important that these should be made as soon as possible. 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


Vol. VI, No. 8 August, 1915 


CONTENTS 


The Mangosteen, by David Fairchild............. Le 0 ge 
Physical Conformation of Cows and Milk Yield. by J. Arthur Harris 318 
punts PidiGations gemiok, ars 5. Saas ts ie ult... ee ma aD) 
Crossing Wheat Flowers Unprotected afier Emasculation. by 

D. W. | ST PS Oe none  e RE e ces a ees DES? 
Single-Germ Beet Seed, by C.O. Townsend........___ Teta: oe AO 
Pactess wathisugar ane i 1.20, 8h) 1) ae ey. ee ee 
penne Drecdtia ae ns, 8) Seek teat pat a neh eae PE 
Cuntrolled CottonBreeding., 0.0: cnt es. Gee. a 
py euld' Wullize Bud Variations 5.0205 (0.89 e ho. ke 
Offspring of the Insane, by A. J. Rosanoff and Helen E. Martin..... .355 
sod Se eC UOMO ADPIeR! ce orn. a. kee) ie el we 
Apples of the Cordilleras, by Walter Fischer.... 0... 357 
UE Sc ET ae a is valence ae manent RL 2 GONG eo MRR * 362 
es Mag Ea CELUOUA Ss riem Re uc Mok ik EBERT, oe kik ts ke, ste 
A Working Model of Mendelism. bys WeBarns) ote. be Se se 
itpronancavaliwe Grapes 8.50, . ste st, oe ie ae cage 
BeetnaS Wurab Nectantesi ian. 56 tet) eee pene 
Babbtenitasrect intl lswers (sails > 2! oF erg ah cao eae eee? He 371 
Peemericanme New) Jersey: 203 08h cs Ue ps te A, ee TD 
Genealogy and Eugenics. by The Editor........ Spies a, eis tee 372 
Big Tree Fhotograph WOME sis ree Sl cece Ect) AS gon gO 
peunummering and) Heredity > r.1050 tre. to beet ee Se 383 
iniheritability of Cancerim Mice............5................. 28383 
ie SouthAmerican’ Traveler's: Palmics,...5).5 4. 2.0.0.4. ke 384 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Subscription price to non-members, $2.00 a year, foreign postage extra; 
price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter February 24, 1915, at the postoffice at Washing- 
ton, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, July 26, 1915. 


a ——— — < 


SS eee eee eee 


(‘ooodsryuo1y) “arourssed “4 “CT SSH Aq Yo aHs 10[OO 19yeM e Woy] ydei80j0ug *reak oy qnoySnomy} 
SOABOT SIT SUTEJOI ‘soIdos} BY} UT Sod} YSOU oyT] ‘OI} OL, ‘queid Joqqni Jerre 
NADLSOONVIA AO HONVEH ONLLDVA 


J ay} JO asoY} oYITUN you av saava, Uses Assops OY. 


THE MANGOSTEEN 


“Queen of Fruits’ Now Almost Confined to Malayan Archipelago, But Can Be 
Acclimated in Many Parts of Tropics—Experiments in America— 
Desirability of Widespread Cultivation. 
Davip FAIRCHILD 
Agricultural Explorer in Charge, Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, 


Bureau of Plant Industry, | 


). S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 


NE of the first questions which 

a traveller in the Malay Archi- 

pelago may expect old residents 

to ask him, is, “Have you 
eaten a mangosteen?” If he has not, 
he may then expect to hear an enthusi- 
astic description, more or less vague, 
of the deliciousness of what has justly 
been called the “queen of fruits.” 

It is a mistake to think that you have 
only to cross the line into the oriental 
tropics to have bunches and basketfuls 
of this fruit offered to you at the ridicu- 
lously low price of Eastern Shore 
peaches in the height of the season. 
Outside of the Straits Settlements, 
Java, Sumatra and the Moluccas the 
fruit is a rare one and as much sought 
after by the resident of the country as 
it is by the visitor. 

It is not difficult for one who has 
tasted 1t to understand why the mango- 
steen is such a general favorite, although 
to give someone else an idea of its 
qualities is by no means an easy task. 

There are many people who never 
acquire a taste for any of the fruits 
of the tropics. The Prussian finds 
them insipid in comparison with his 
plums and prunes, and the wall peaches 
of Kent are considered by the English 
as immeasurably superior. Tropical 
fruits are often stigmatized as insipid, 
resinous, mawkish, or too sweet. There 
are, it is true, many which are open to 
these objections, but it must be remem- 
bered that most of the fruits of the 


1 This has been recognized by travelers in the East from the very earliest times. 
Bontius, in his Hist. Nat. et Medic. Indiae Orientalis, VI, 


astic ally: 


tropical zone are ungrafted seedlings 
analagous to our wild apples; and the 
wonder is that they prove as good as 
they do. 


MANGOSTEEN UNIQUE 


The mangosteen, however, though 
belonging to the category of a strictly 
tropical fruit, is so different from the 
majority of them as to deserve the 
special place accorded to it by all who 
have ever tasted its snowy white 
pulp. It outranks in delicacy, if not 
all other fruits in the world, certainly 
all others of the tropical zone,! and it 
is a joy to the eye as well as to the palate 
to feast on mangosteens. 

This delicious fruit is about the size 
of a mandarin orange, round and 
slightly flattened at each end, with a 
smooth, thick rind, rich red-purple in 
color, with here and there a bright, 
hardened drop of the yellow juice 
which marks some injury to the rind 
when it was young. As these mangos- 
teens are soldin the Dutch East Indies— 
heaped up on fruit baskets, or made 
into long, regular bunches with thin 
strips of braided bamboo,—they are 
as strikingly handsome as anything 
of the kind could well be, but it is only 
when the fruit is opened that its real 
beauty is seen. The rind is thick and 
tough, and to get at the pulp inside 
requires a circular cut with a sharp 
knife to lift the top half off like a cap, 
exposing the white segments, five, six 


Jacobus 


28, 115 (pub. in 1631), wrote enthusi- 


Cedant Hesperii longe hinc, mala aurea, fructus, 
Ambrosia pascit Mangostan et nectare divos— 
Inter omnes Indiae fructus longe sapidissimus. oe 


oe) 
‘oO 


340 


The Journal of Heredity 


FRUITS OF THE MANGOSTEEN 


One of the admirable qualities of the mangosteen is the beauty of its fruit. 


The thick, cc rky, 


outer shell, when cut, is of a delicate pink, rapidly deepening to crimson on exposure to 


the air. 


graph natural size. (Fig. 1.) 

or seven in number, lying loose in the 
cup. The cut surface of the rind is of 
a most delicate pink color and is studded 
with small yellow points formed by the 
drops of exuding juice. As you lift 
out of this cup, one by one, the delicate 
segments, which are the size and shape 
of those of a mandarin orange, the light 
pink sides of the cup and the veins of 
white and yellow embedded in it 
visible. The segments a 
between snow white and ivory in color 


are 
separate 


re 


The segments of flesh inside are of an ivory tint. 
tinct commercial advantage, in protecting the fruit from bruises, during shipment. 


The heavy outer shell is a dis- 
Photo- 


and are covered with a delicate network 
of fibers, while the side of each segment 
where it presses against its neighbor is 
translucent and slightly tinged with 
pale green. As one poises the dainty 
bit of snowy fruit on his fork, and looks 
at the empty pink cup from which it 
has been taken, he hardly knows whether 
the delicate flavor or the beautiful 
coloring of the fruit pleases him the 
more, and he invariably stops to admire 
the rapidly deepening color of the cut 


Fairchild: The Mangosteen 


rind as it changes on exposure to the 
air from light pink to deep brown. 

The texture of the mangosteen pulp 
much resembles that of a well-ripened 
plum, only it is so delicate that it 
melts in your mouth like a bit of ice 
cream. The flavor is quite indescrib- 
ably delicious, and resembles nothing 
you know of; and yet reminds you, 
with a long after taste, of all sorts of 
creams and ices. There is nothing to 
mar the perfection of this fruit, unless 
it be that the juice from the rind forms 
an indelible stain on a white napkin. 
Even the seeds are partly or wholly 
lacking and when present, are so thin 
and small that they are really no 
trouble to get rid of. Where cheap and 
abundant, as in Java, one eats these 
fruits by the half peck and is never 
tired of them; they produce no feeling of 
satiety, such as the banana and the 
mango do, for there is little substance to 
the delicate pulp. 


MAY BE DISSEMINATED 


The tree which bears this fruit was 
once supposed to be able to live nowhere 
outside of the Malay region. It has in 
recent years, however, shown itself 
capable of acclimatization in many 
tropical regions remote from its original 
home, and it has even fruited in the 
unnatural conditions of an English 
greenhouse. 

The mangosteen is no way related 
to the mango as it is sometimes thought 
to be from its name. Its foliage is of 
an even richer dark green than that of 
the orange, and its individual leaves 
are not wholly unlike those of the rubber 
plant, though, as a rule, smaller. The 
regular, rounded crown is strikingly 
characteristic and there are no more 
beautiful fruit trees in the tropics than 
the mangosteens. It has probably been 
in cultivation for centuries among the 
fruit-loving inhabitants of Java and 
Malacca, although the absence of any 
distinct varieties would seem to indicate 
the contrary. Perhaps in its wild 
state it was so nearly perfect that no 
attempts to improve it have ever been 
made. 

Such a fruit seems almost to have 
been “born to blush unseen’’ for those 


341 


parts of the world in which it grows are, 
as a rule, populated by half civilized 
races, who do not fully appreciate its 
extraordinary qualities. Had it been 
within easy reach of some great metrop- 
olis of white people, there would have 
been millions of dollars invested in its 
culture and thousands of acres planted 
with the beautiful trees. 

The most delicious fruit in the tropics 
is surely worth the careful consideration 
of any government which owns territory 
suitable for its culture that is within 
easy reach by steamer of a big home 
market. The United States, since its 
acquisition of Porto Rico and the Canal 
Zone, 1s now in this position and the 
possibilities of the establishment of 
this fruit as an industry deserve to be 
thoroughly investigated. Trials of an 
extensive character should be carefully 
worked out, large numbers of plants 
ought to be started in different localities, 
and the intelligent attention of experts 
be given it. The establishment of the 
mangosteen as a minor industry in our 
tropical dependencies, should it prove 
a possibility, would be of very important 
commercial advantage to the inhabitants 
and would put within reach of our 
fruit-eating public, one of the greatest 
delicacies in the world. 


SHIPPING QUALITIES GOOD 


Although it is a very delicate fruit, 
its pulp is protected by an extremely 
hard, tough rind which makes it a 
tolerably good shipper. Quantities have 
been sent from Singapore to Ceylon 
and even to Shanghai and Japan, over 
eleven days by boat. The head steward 
of a Dutch vessel in the Malay Archi- 
pelago once informed me that he had 
carried mangosteen fruits for twenty-five 
days without their decaying, but that 
they must not be exposed to the sea 
air; and he was of the firm belief that 
they carried best in a dry, warm, close 
place, but decayed rapidly if given too 
much air orif put onice. The decaying 
mangosteen hardens its rind, which is a 
distinct advantage, and makes continual 
sortings for fear of contamination un- 
necessary, as well as the immediate 
detection of a decayed fruit a very easy 
matter. According to Dr. I. N. Ridley, 


iS) 
ue 
bo 
es 
=] 
(@>) 


Journal of Heredity 


MANGOSTEEN TREE IN LOMBOK, DUTCH EAST INDIES 
The tree likes a large amount of water about its roots, but this water must not be stagnant. 
Most of the failures in cultivation appear to be due to overlooking this requirement. 
If it is properly attended to, the mangosteen will endure a considerable variety of soils 
and climates, and experiments made during the last generation leave no doubt as to the 
possibility of its acclimatization in various parts of the American tropics. 


1 


by Fairchild. Fig. 2 


Photograph 


formerly superintendent of the Botanic America, is a possibility and that the 
Gardens of Singapore, the drops of principal difficulties of its culture have 
vellow gamboge which sometimes form _ probably arisen from an ignorance of the 
inside the fruit are not, as has been _ soil conditions demanded by the plant. 
upposed, caused by a disease, but art In Java, so far as the writer is aware, 
he direct result of external bruis« there are 


scarcely any commercial 
A heavy storm may sometime O 


orchards of the mangosteen, every land 


ure fruits about owner having a few trees in his yard; 
e majority will be worthl in fact, the orchard method of cultiva- 
\ I ough handling duri he ing fruits is, as a rule, little understood, 
ma DT1 ibou he { Or pays too poorly, to be followed in the 
resul tropic Scattered trees through the 
Al ore or le ireful tudy of the native village upply all the demands 
question 11 Java, th Strait Settlement f the market 
ae rar ced ‘ VI 
} climatization of the mango- EXPERIENCE AT SINGAPORE 
) he island. of Porto Ri In Singapore there are some small 


ingosteen orchards, that is, mango- 


Fairchild: The Mangosteen 


steens mixed with other fruits. One 
which is easily accessible lies on the 
well-known road to the Botanic Gardens, 
some 2 miles from Raffles Hotel. The 
land is low and wet and several drainage 
canals cut it up into large, square 
blocks. The soil is a clay and evidently 
saturated with moisture. About each 
tree is a circular bit of cultivated soil 
the rest being in grass, and scattered 
over the bare soil under the trees 1s a 
mulch of leaves and coconut husks. 
I do not know how old the orchard is, 
but it is presumably about 30 years of 
age. At this season, January, no sign 
of a bloom or fruit was to be seen. 
Dr. Ridley, then director of the Botanic 
Gardens in Singapore, remarked that 
though apparently in excellent condition 
this orchard was not productive. It 
was his belief that it needed pruning 
and his experience with a tree in 
Government House Gardens bears out 
his belief. He cut out the innermost 
branches from one of the lot of old 
mangosteen trees there, which had not 
borne well for years, and as a conse- 
quence it produced, the next year, an 
abundance of fruit. 

His opinion is that the trees should be 
regularly pruned of all the small inner 
branches. 

In Ceylon, where the species was 
introduced from the Straits Settlements 
about 1800, it is still a rare plant. 
This is the history of most fruits de- 
manding certain special conditions in 
the tropics and, when one is told by 
those who should know that the natives 
of one part of Ceylon do not even know 
what the bread fruit is, although it 
forms a staple food plant in other 
sections of the same island, he ceases 
to wonder that even so remarkable a 
fruit as the mangosteen should be a 
rarity a century after its introduction. 

The introduction of the mangosteen 
into Saigon about a century ago was 
more successfully done and it is inter- 
esting to note that the fruit was first 
brought from Penang by a _ noted 
Bishop, Father D’Adran. There are 
said to be at Lai Thiou, not far from 
the city of Saigon, what are probably 
the largest mangosteen orchards in 
the world, comprising 300 to 400 trees, 


343 


and Dr. Haffner, formerly director of 
Agriculture of Cochin China, says that 
in the season the fruit from this orchard 
is sold for about two dollars gold a 
thousand, which price cannot be called 
high when compared with what they 
bring in Ceylon. 

The popular idea that it is a difficult 
tree to cultivate has undoubtedly pre- 
vented many in Ceylon from trying it, 
and the secret of its successful cultiva- 
tion seems even yet to be understood 
by only a few men in the island. To 
W. H. Wright, of Mirigama, the writer 
is indebted for full particulars of the 
culture of the mangosteen, with which 
Mr. Wright has been one of the most 
successful of all the men in Ceylon who 
have attempted to grow the plant. 


SUCCESS IN CEYLON 


His orchard consisted, at the time of 
my visit in 1902, of 23 trees and was 
then probably the largest in the colony. 
It was from 8 to 10 years old, having 
been planted out with young 2-year-old 
trees which were sent him as a present 
from the Malay Peninsula. The selec- 
tion of a site for his orchard was a very 
happy one; a moist spot in his coconut 
plantation, a part of which had at one 
time been used as a rice field. The 
ground was so moist that open drains 
were cut through it to carry off the 
superfluous water and these are still 
kept in order. The soil of the squares 
on which the trees are growing is so 
moist and soft that, were it not for a 
layer of coconut husks, one’s feet 
would sink in up to the ankle as he 
walks across them. The roots, under 
these circumstances, are bathed con- 
tinually in fresh, not stagnant, moisture. 
Mr. Wright attributes his success in 
growing mangosteens to the fact that 
he has planted them on soil that never 
dries out but has, at a few feet from the 
surface, a continual supply of fresh 
moisture. The water in his well near 
by is six feet from the surface of the 
ground. H. L. Daniel, who has been 
for fifteen years trying to grow this 
fruit, and who, during that time, has 
planted over a hundred young trees, 
assures me that this is one of the secrets 
of the culture of this difficult fruit, and 


344 


gives Mr. Wright the credit for first 
finding it out. 

Another important detail relates to 
the matter of transplanting the young 
seedlings. Mr. Daniel plants the seeds? 
in a small pot or in a coconut husk, 
and keeps them well watered and 
slightly shaded with a coarse matting 
of coconut leaves. He transplants from 
this small pot to a larger one when the 
roots have filled it; and in removing 
he cuts off the top root if the latter is 
exposed. For two years these young 
plants are kept in the pots and grow toa 
height of 2 to 2% feet. It is useless to 
transplant them before they are at 
least 2 feet high, for the check given 
them, if too young, by the transplanting 
is so great that they refuse to grow, or, 
to use Mr. Daniel’s expression, “they 
only croak.” 


SHADE IS NECESSARY 


When transplanted, the plants are 
set in a hole 3 feet cube in size. Stiff 
soil is best but not absolutely necessary, 
as they will grow in light soil if the 
subsoil is a good paddy mud. From 
the first the young trees should be 
shaded with a matting of coconut 
leaves, which is suspended 2 feet or so 
above the top of the plant. This is to 
prevent the wilting and subsequent 
death of the two red, partly developed 
leaves, which first appear from the 
seed, and which must be kept alive if 
the plant is to make a rapid growth. 
If these precautions of potting, shading, 
and selection of soil are followed, trees 
should come into bearing seven years 
from seed, producing a small crop of a 
hundred fruits or so. The subsequent 
treatment of the mangosteen orchard 
seems to be very simple,—no pruning 
of any kind is commonly practiced, 
although it might be advisable to prune; 
and little cultivating is done. A mulch- 
ing of coconut husks about the base of 
the tree to keep the surface soil con- 
tinually moist, and the application of a 
small amount of earth from the poultry 


The Journal of Heredity 


yard sprinkled about underneath the 
trees each year, are the only attentions 
given them. Whether or not artificial 
fertilizers could be employed with 
profitable effect is a question that has 
not been answered. 

Favored with the conditions de- 
scribed, the trees on Mr. Wright’s 
place have done remarkably well. They 
produce two crops of fruit a year: the 
first ripening in January, being from 
blooms produced in August, is a small 
one, not more than 100 fruits to each 
tree, while the second, from flowers 
produced in January or February, is a 
large one and matures in July and 
August. Mr. Wright estimates that 
each tree of his orchard produces from 
600 to 800 fruits a year, counting both 
crops, and he has been selling these for 
six to nine rupees ($1.98 to $2.97) a 
hundred, making his gross receipts, 
figured on the lowest price, $11 to $15 
per tree. The work of picking, packing 
and transporting to the railway station, 
although repeated every other day, is 
not expensive in a land where laborers 
earn only 12 to 16 cents a day. There 
can be no question that such an orchard 
pays well even in Ceylon, where the 
fruits are sold for from 2 to 3 cents 
apiece. What the profits would be if 
they were sold for such fancy prices as 
would be offered by the fruiterers of 


any big metropolis can be _ easily 
imagined. 
AMERICAN POSSIBILITIES 


There are many essential questions 
to be considered in connection with the 
introduction and establishment of the 
mangosteen industry in Porto Rico, 
Hawaii or Cuba, or in America generally. 

The possibility of the plants living 
outside of their own home has been 
abundantly demonstrated. Trees are 
growing and have fruited well in Trini- 
dad and Jamaica in the West Indies. 
Specimens have even been shipped from 
there to London. In the Territory of 
Hawaii, on the Islands of Kauai and 


2 The fruit is technically a berry, containing many ovules or seeds; but most of these in each 
fruit are aborted, for which reason it is difficult to get mature, well-developed seeds from good 


strains of the mangosteen. 


interfere with the growth of this aril. 


The pulp which is eaten is technically an aril, an extra coat that is 
developed in the same way as the original integuments are. 


The abortion of the ovule does not 


Fairchild: The Mangosteen 345 


ORIENTAL VENDOR OF MANGOSTEENS 


The fruits are seen piled up in the basket on the left-hand side; among them are the fruits of the 
rambutan, Nephelium lappaceum, covered with long, fleshy protuberances while a small tray 
contains the fruits of the Doekoe (Lansium domesticum), an interesting fruit which is 


known in the Philippines as the “‘lanzon.”’ 


The rambutan is closely related to the licher 


(Litchi chinensis), a fruit with which every traveler in South China is probably familiar. 


(Fig. 3.) 


Maui, mangosteen trees fruit regularly, 
bearing good sized specimens of excel- 
lent flavor. Francis Gay, who planted 
the tree at Makaweli, Kauai, wrote 
that where the tree is growing the water 
is about 6 feet below the surface of the 
soil, that the tree is irrigated twice or 
three times a month, and that the 
rainfall of the region is 6 to 7 inches a 
year. This tree of Mr. Gay’s 1s about 
25 years old, fruited first when 10 years 
old and now bears only a few fruits 
per year; which latter very from 21% to 
3 inches in diameter. It stands about 
15 feet above sea level in a spot well 
protected from the winds by windbreaks 


and is growing on a sandy, alluvial soil. 


Mr. Gay finds that only a small propor- 
tion of the young plants set out, live, 
the most of them dying the first year, 
but whether proper protection was 
given to the tender leaves of these young 
plants or not he does not state. 

Dr. J. C. Willis, formerly director 
of the Botanic Gardens in Ceylon, 
assured me that trees grew well in the 
Gardens at Burliar in the Nilgiri Hills 
in the Madras Presidency of India. 
There are a number of trees in the 
Sulu archipelago of the Philippines, 
and even in islands much farther north, 
and fruit is shipped to Manila in the 
season. The mangosteen has even 
been brought into fruit under the grey 


346 The Journal 


skies of England in the conservatory of 
the Duke of Northumberland, at Syon 
near Kew, as far back as 1854. 

In Florida and California the mango- 
steen has been tried on numerous 
occasions, but without success. It is 
not likely that it will ever prove adapt- 
able to the continental United States. 

In Porto Rico it is not reported ever 
to have fruited—due merely to the fact, 
I believe, that it has not been adequately 
tried. In Cuba a number of trees 
have been planted, and some of them 
are flourishing; none of them has yet 
borne fruit. That they will under 
proper conditions stand a very high 
rainfall is evident from the climatic 
records of the country of their origin. 
Further, a tree 30 years old has long 
been bearing fruit at St. Aroment, 
Dominica, B. W. I., 400 feet above sea 
level, where the average annual rainfall 
is 105 inches; and at the Point Mulatre 
estate in the same island are a dozen 
healthy trees, growing in rich valley 
soil under an average annual rainfall 
of 150 inches. No report is available 
on the fruiting of the latter trees. 


FLOURISHES IN CANAL ZONE 


The tree was introduced to the Canal 
Zone nine years ago, in a rather in- 
teresting way. Dr. W. W. Keene of 
Philadelphia, traveling in Malaya, ate 
the fruit, admired it and wrote to the 
Secretary of Agriculture in Washington 
asking whether it could not be intro- 
duced to the Canal Zone. The Secre- 
tary referred the matter to me, and | 
took it up with Col. Gorgas. After 
investigating the possibilities, the canal 
authorities finally decided to take up 
the introduction of new plants that 
promised to be of commercial value, 
and established an experimental garden. 
Among the first things I sent them were 
some mangosteens. They gave promise 
of being a complete success, but the 
experimental garden was unfortunately 
discontinued before any definite results 
had been realized. Lately the work 
has been taken up again, and I con- 
fidently expect to see the mangosteen 
fruiting in the Canal Zone. 

There certainly can be no question, 
that the plant is amenable to acclimati- 
zation, and where the proper physical 


of Heredity 


soil conditions are given it, which 
conditions seem to have been generally. 
misunderstood, there is no reason why 
this plant should not be as common 
throughout the tropics of the Western 
Hemisphere as it is in the Malay region. 
Roxburgh’s complaint that he could 
not get plants to grow anywhere in 
India has done much injury by dis- 
couraging attempts to cultivate it and 
loses force in the face of similar unjusti- 
fied complaints formerly made in Ceylon 
where now there are successful orchards 
under cultivation. 


RELATIVES OF THE MANGOSTEEN 


There are several species of the big 
genus to which the mangosteen belongs 
that deserve attention as possible stocks 
upon which to graft the latter advan- 
tageously. The only record I have 
found of any attempts being made in 
the tropics to graft the mangosteen is 
that in Woodrow’s Gardening in India, 
p. 173, where he states that he grafted 
one upon a related species of Garcinia 
(G. indica) at the request of a Revenue 
Commissioner at Rutnagberry, where 
104 inches of rain fall in a year and the 
average temperature is 78. Unfor- 
tunately, nothing is said as to the success 
of this effort. Trials made at the 
Peradeniya Gardens, in Ceylon, to 
graft it upon another nearly related 
species, Garcinia xanthochymus, met 
with little success. This, however, does 
not signify that any unsurmountable 
difficulty would be encountered if the 
most careful methods of grafting which 
are in vogue in temperate regions were 
employed, or if even a sufficiently large 
number of trials were made. 

The Garcinia xanthochymus is a rapid 
grower, abundant seed producer, and 
easy of cultivation, and might prove 
most valuable as a_ stock. If not, 
however, there are a couple of hundred 
other species which should be tested, 
some of them with edible fruits and 
others suited to dry hilly situations. 

By using the old method of inarching, 
or ‘grafting by approach,” G. W. Oliver 
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 
was able to get altogether satisfactory 
results in working the mangosteen on 
twenty other species of the genus 


Baiehiid: The Mangosteen 


Garcinia. Of these, he says, “only a 
few can be recommended as promising 
stock plants. The most promis- 
ing species of Garcinia for use as stock 
plants for the mangosteen are Garcinia 
tinctoria, G. morella and G. livingstonet, 
in the order named, the last a native of 
Portuguese East Africa. The two first 
named are from the Malay Peninsula. 

All the promising species ought 
to be tried whenever there is an oppor- 
tunity. Some species of Garcinia lately 
found in the Philippine Islands would 
seem to be especially promising mango- 
steen stocks, especially those said to 
grow under widely varying conditions. 


STOCKS EASILY GROWN 


“None: of the species of Garcinia 
used as stocks are difficult to raise from 
seeds, provided they are fresh. They 
are easiest to germinate when sown in 
soil composed largely of partially de- 
composed leaves mixed with a little 
loam and rough-grained sand. They 
should be potted as soon as the first 
leaves are well developed. All the 
Garcinias with the exception of G. man- 
gostana have magnificent root systems, 
and they thrive under ordinary treat- 
ment in so far as soil watering and a 
considerable range of temperature are 
concerned.” 

Dr. Ridley, of Singapore, says the 
seashore mangosteen, G. hombroniana, 
is a species which he has long wished 
to cross with the true mangosteen. It 
has fruits with a delicate peach flavor 
and white flowers, and crosses between 
the two species might prove more rapid 
growers and better producers or make 
good stocks for the true mangosteen. 
In Cochin China there are at least ten 
species of Garcinia, three of which are 
edible, G. cochin-chinensis, G. louretri, 
and G. indica, according to L. Pierre in 
his La Flore Forestiére de la Cochin Chine. 
Specimens of several of these are now 
growing in the Botanic Gardens of 
Saigon and the late Dr. Haffner ex- 
pressed a willingness to secure seeds 
for experimenters. 

The whole subject of suitable stocks 
and improved methods of propagation 


3 See Oliver, G. W., ‘‘The Seedling-Inarch and Nurse-Plant Methods of Propagation.” 
Dept. of Agr., B. P. I., Bull. No. 202, Washington, D. C., 1911. 


347 


of the mangosteen, deserves to be given 
a study in connection with its introduc- 
tion into America. There are forty-two 
genera and 450 species belonging to the 
mangosteen’s family (Guttiferae), many 
of which deserve investigation as mango- 
steen stocks. Mr. Oliver worked with 
two of these allied genera,—Calophyl- 
lum, which did not yield good unions, 
and Platonia insignis, which he says is 
‘““a very promising stock from one to 
three years after germination, and if it 
will grow under conditions suitable for 
the mangosteen, it may turn out to be 
the best stock of all those tried.” 

Especial effort should be, and to a 
certain extent is now being, made to 
find hardy stocks that will permit the 
propagation of the mangosteen in less 
strictly tropical regions than those to 
which it is now confined. It is possible 
that hybridization of some of these 
species would produce vigorous, resistant 
stocks that would be of great value. 
Here as everywhere among _ tropical 
fruits, the plant breeder faces opportuni- 
ties of almost illtmitable promise, and a 
field that has hardly been touched. 

It is not likely that much is to be 
expected from direct hybridization of the 
mangosteen. It is already so far supe- 
rior to its congeners, that hybrids could 
hardly fail to be worse, rather than 
better, than the parent, as far as 
quality is concerned. There is, how- 
ever, ample room for selection, and 
isolation of the best strains, which may 
then be propagated under varietal 
names. 

A thorough experimental study of the 
subject would doubtless show other 
possibilities that can not now be seen. 
At present, however, it is perfectly 
safe to say that there is no obstacle to 
the dissemination of this queen of 
tropical fruits, throughout the warmest 
parts of the American continent; and 
that if it can be grown on a commercial 
scale within easy shipping distance of 
Unites Stated markets, the connois- 
seurs of this country will have added to 
their menu a fruit which has been 
long acknowledged by many as the most 
delicate flavored fruit in the world. 


Use: 
Valuable details in regard to 


the growth of seedlings as well as propagation by grafting are given in this publication. 


Physical Conformation of Cows and Milk Yield 


J. ArTHUR Harris 


Station for Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. 


N a quotation from the Board of 
Agriculture on conformation of cows 
and milk yield which recently ap- 
peared in the JOURNAL OF HEREDITY, 

(p. 253, June, 1915) it is pointed out 
that so far as the studies of J. Reimers 
go, they show that there is no correlation 
between physical conformation and milk 
yield. 

The results (at least as far as relation- 
ships close enough to have any practical 
significance for purposes of predicting 
yield from conformation are concerned) 
are quite what those who have an 
extensive first hand acquaintance with 
biometric work would have expected. 

The purpose of this note is to call 
attention to and suggest an explanation 
for an anomalous series of data of this 
kind. -G. Korreng has recently ex- 
pressed the conviction (Jahrbuch ftr 
wissenschaftliche und praktische Tier- 
zucht, vol. VII, pp. 132-142, 1912) 
that there is an intimate negative 
relationship between width of nether 
jaw, ‘‘Ganaschenweite,”” and milk yield 
—animals with the narrower jaws being 
the best milkers. In substantiation 
of his views he gives a series of 112 
measurements and yields, which actually 
show a strong negative correlation 
between width and yield. The fre- 


quency of individuals having various. 
widths and yields is shown in the 
accompanying table, which has been 
drawn up from his data. 

In Figure 4, I have plotted out the 
mean yields for animals of different 
widths. They decrease with great reg- 
ularity as width increases, as is shown 
by the straight line fitted to the data. 
Apparently, therefore, the data fully 
substantiate the contention that there 
is a relationship between conformation 
and milk yield so close as to be of prac- 
tical value in selecting the best milkers. 

If, however, one carries the analyses 
of the records a step farther than 
Korreng has done, and examines the 
frequency distributions for the char- 
acters under consideration as shown in 
the totals of the table, and represented 
in Figures 5 and 6, he sees at once 
that both are distinctly bimodal. This 
is particularly conspicuous in the case of 
width. The two-humped condition is 
not so pronounced in the case of milk 


yield, but is nevertheless probably 
significant. These conditions suggest 


that Korreng’s measurements were taken 
on a group of animals that are not 
racially homogeneous. A mixture of 
heavy beef cattle giving a low milk 
yield and light built dairy cattle would 


MILK YIELD IN LITERS 


- 2.8 | 3.7 | 4.61 °5.8 | 6:4 
re to to to to to 
& 3.6 4.5 5.4 6.3 je 
Se 75—16-25 

‘= 16.50-17.00 1 
is PN As My dg bs 1 
—= 18.00-18.50 3 4 6 
S 18.75-19.25 1 1 % 5 10 
= 19.50-20.00 1 4 1 

= Totals...¢.| .4 2 7 10 +18 


1.3) 82 | 9.1 110.0) 10.9:) 11.38: 
to to to to to to to Totals 
8.1 9.0.} 9.9.1 10.8.) 1:7 | 12:6 tea 
1 1 1 5 ioe 6 
3 1 5 9 5 6 3 33 
1 2 5 5 14 
8 7 6 31 
1 1 22 
va 6 
13 12 16 15 6 9 3 112 


‘uowAlep uvoliouy Aq pose} oq pynoys puv ‘ysesoqyuT YonUT Jo st 41 yey} Ysry Os st BudtIOy 
Aq PpUNOF UOTZLIIIOD VY} ‘sseToYyJIVAON = ‘Jopaeiq oY} 0} on[VA ywaIs JO YOU JIB SUOT}E[IIIOD yey} YUOPTAd St yr ‘440s sty Jo dnois 
poxtue UG ‘aT}Veo Alrep 7YsI] pure ‘pyolA HPI MOT & BUTATS 9]}7¥9 Jood AAVOY JO d1N4XIW B ‘9OURYSUI JOJ—PporpNys oy [elIoyeUU oYy UT 
9[}7¥9 JO SpuLy JUoJOYIp OM pey SudtIoy yey qoodsns 03 sn spree] siy, ‘oinsy podumy-omy ve yo3 aM ‘OAINO YYOOUIS ATATET B VAS 04 
joodx9 OM OJOYM oSeo YOR UT yey puy 9M ‘aAOge g pUv ¢ ‘SSI ULOUOp sey Sliey “AP, sv ‘suorynqiystp Aouonbo.j oyy ourwrexo pue 
‘IOAMMOY ‘SUINJoI oY} pUTYeq O38 aM UdY AA ‘SJOHIIW poos oom YOIYM SMOO Jos P[NOM om ‘smel MOIIEU YIM SMOD YO BuTyoId Aq 
Jey} WUoprAd SI 41 ‘O[qeI[el oIOM YL JT “oAOQe F ‘SI UI UMOYS SI JOR] SIU, “Woy, UsdMJoq ZY" JO UOTPPJAIION VAT}eBOU VB SEM 9.10Y} 
yey) Suoloy “4) 1ossojoid uevultor) 9Y} poystzVs SMOo ZZ] JO pyotA HU puv Mel JoMO] Jo YIPIM UdaMJoq UOT}LIOI OY} JO SyUOUTOANSva TY 


NOLLVTAYHOD V NE AOVTIVA V ONISOdXY 


(9 “O1y) (¢ “OM) (Ff “9l) 
PPK IW Hpi MEM 
zg GLb. WO6) SCR DST oro) 40797 
eal I ig 
ras 
ae 
Ray 
ey 
real l 
fo 
[eeee) 
nS 
SS 
mn 
éxx 
Ky 
x 
0/ 
// 


c/ 


350 


theoretically give just such a result as 
this. Biometricians have frequently 
warned against the dangers of just such 
spurious correlations as this. Every- 
one knows that races of cattle differ in 
physical dimensions and in milking 
capacity. 

What is really needed is a means of 
predicting yield from more readily 
measured characters within a pure race. 
Korreng’s data are certainly not con- 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


Nevertheless it must be admitted 
that here is a set of measurements which 
show a far more intimate relationship 
with milk yield than is generally found. 
The explanation suggested in this note 
may not be the correct one at all. 
Until such cases as the present are fully 
cleared up by those who have the 
necessary biological facilities the prob- 
lem of the relationship between bodily 
conformation and milk yield cannot be 
considered finally solved. 


vincing in this regard.! 


1 Korreng states explicitly that he used the greatest care in the selection of his animals. If 
they are really racially homogeneous the frequency distributions are very unusual. The only 
other explanations that I can suggest are that the bimodal condition is due to random sampling 
merely, or that personal equation played a part in the making of the measurements. 


Milk Indications 


For many years breeders have sought to find something in the appearance of a 
cow which would indicate whether or not she would yield much milk. Kronacher 
and Schmidt suggested that an animal with slender, delicate bones and horns 
would prove the best milker, and Laurer in 1910 presented measurements to prove 
this. He further attempted to show that there was a correlation in the growth of 
these parts: the finer the skeleton, the finer the horns, and conversely that large 
horns were always associated with a large skeleton. The numbers which he used 
were inadequate, so Dr. Max Miller and K. Narabe, of the Imperial Japanese 
University of Tohoku, have continued the investigation with 136 cows of different 
breeds, reporting their conclusions in the Landwirtschaftliche Jahrbuch, XLVI, 1, 
Berlin, 1914. They decide that the growth of bones and horns is closely related, 
and that the animals with small skeletons or delicate horns are the best milkers. 
Such ‘‘milk indications” have been reported many times in many countries during 
the last half century, and the breeder should take them all with a grain of salt, 
but it may prove of interest to some of the members of this association to test the 
theory in their own herds. 


Crossing of Wheat Flowers Unprotected After Emasculation. 


During the summer of 1911, 140 Turkey Red winter wheat flowers were emasculated. These 
flowers were on seven heads, each head containing twenty flowers. Two flowers, the first and 
second, were left in each spikelet, the upper flowers being removed by pinching off the rachilla above 
the second flower. Five spikelets were left on either side of the rachis, making a total of ten 
spikelets for each head. The spikelets left were the lower ones of the head, the upper spikelets 
being removed by cutting off the rachis above the tenth spikelet. The remaining flowers of the 
ten spikelets were emasculated in the usual way. The flowers were not artificially pollinated and 
the heads were not covered or protected in any way. At the end of the season the heads were 
harvested, the grains from each head being threshed out and counted. It was found that out 
of the total of 140 flowers emasculated, 112, or 80% had set seed. 

It has been the writer's practice always to cover and protect the heads worked with after 
emasculation and after pollination to avoid the possibility of foreign pollen pollinating the stigma 
before the desired poilen was applied artificially and fertilization had resulted. This test was 
made for the purpose of determining whether there is any possibility of the emasculated flower 
becoming pollinated if left unprotected before pollination. Simultaneous with this trial another 
was made, in which a number of flowers were emasculated and were covered but were not pollin- 
ated. When these heads were harvested, it was found that less than 1% of the flowers had set 
seed, the small number of seeds produced apparently being the result of faulty emasculation, in 
which the stigmas became fertilized in removing the stamens from the flowers. 

D. W. FREAR, 
Colorado Agricultural College. 


SINGLE-GERM BEET SEED 


Sugar Beet Is Being Made to Produce Single-germ Seeds Instead of Multiple-germ 
Seed Balls—Labor Thus Saved Will Mean Gain of Several 
Million Dollars Annually to Industry. 


C. O. TOWNSEND 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 


HE effort to produce a strain 

| of sugar beets that will bear 

only separate seed germs, in- 

stead of the seedballs  con- 

taining several germs, which ordinarily 

characterize the sugar beet, arose from 

a desire to reduce the cost of producing 
sugar beets and beet-sugar. 

The term “seed ball,’”’ as applied to 
beet seeds, implies a combination of 
seeds into a mass having a more or 
less rounded appearance. Each germ 
arises from a single flower, and when 
they are in clusters of two or more, 
as is usually the case, a multiple-germ 
seed arises; whereas if the flower stands 
by itself on the stem, a single-germ 
seed results. If two or more single 
flowers stand very close together but 
do not arise from the same point as in 
the case of the flower clusters, each will 
produce a single-germ seed. Even if 
the flowers are so close together that 
the seeds slightly adhere in the process 
of development, they are easily sepa- 
rated and readily distinguished as 
single-germ seeds. It appears, there- 
fore, that the arrangement and distri- 
bution of the flowers on the seed stalk 
determine whether the seeds are to be 
single-germ seeds or whether they are 
to be parts of multiple-seed balls. One 
can determine in practically all cases, 
even before the flower and buds are open, 
whether they will produce single-germ 
seeds or whether they will be parts of a 
multiple-seed ball. 

More than 95 per cent. of the beet 
seed of ‘commerce is composed of 
multiple-germ seed balls, the germs of 
which are so closely welded together by 
nature that they cannot by any known 
means be separated without injury to the 


germ. In other words, less than 5 per 
cent. of the seed balls of commercial beet 
seed consist of a single germ. The 
number of germs in the remaining 95 per 
cent. or more of seed balls varies from two 
to seven germs per ball. Hence the 
number of germs produced normally as 
single-germs, that is, not welded into 
combination with other germs, does not 
exceed 1 per cent. of the total number of 
germs produced by any commercial 
seed-producing plant that has come 
under the observation of the writer. 


METHOD OF PROCEDURE 


The fact that. almost every beet 
seed plant that matures seed produces 
a few one-germ seeds shows that we 
did not create anything new by our 
work, despite a popular belief to the 
contrary. Wesimply took advantage of 
a tendency to produce single germs, 
and selected with a view to getting an 
increase in this tendency. Our goal is 
the production of a strain of sugar beets 
which will yield only one-germ seeds. 

The principal value of such a strain 
lies in the economy of labor it would 
make possible. It is an established 
fact that the best results in beet growing 
are produced when each beet plant 
stands alone and 8 inches or more from 
every other beet plant. Remembering 
the construction or make-up of com- 
mercial beet seed, it is apparent that 
the only way to have each beet stand 
by itself, so long as multiple-germ seed 
balls are planted, is to pull out by hand 
all beets but one at regular intervals in 
row. This is called hand thinning and 
is the most expensive and laborious 
single operation in sugar beet growing, 
costing from $5 to $8 per acre, or 


351 


The Journal of (deredity: 


AND MULTIPLE-GER\MIL BEET SEEDS 


SINGLE-GERM 


edball at the left is made up of four seeds or get welded together so clo it they 
not be separated without injury. It prest ( ymmon type of be er whe 
planted, several beets are likely to arise from the same point, and all but e of the 
il] to be pulled up hand ( und « I e operation. U.S. Department 
Agi ilture reed the “eTore 1¢ 1 ) e 1 I ( produce ed 
gern own on the righ d th ( f 
( ed yf the r re. 
er ( ore than 5 per c e seeds art g I 7 
ap ximatel $3.000.000 annually for thinning beets 1 oO! e all single-germ 
1 . % | 


Lee if 


reage in the United ee 


ed 1 

le tl 99 per cr O he le-ge1 a WwW: oc 

1 ] Oo ore o Secr i] Wilso1 1903 b lrun 
O ¢ h « (>. Palmer. Secr of the Be Sugar 

) ( , y | a ( \ Secre 1 
Ral W d within 
( ] We UT 1 lred sinegle- 
} > | : | 

( ] d ( | og- 

( H { | re 7 shov 
( | 1 e-vern 


FE owhsend: single-Germ Beet Seed 


The first step in the solution of the 
problem was to grow roots from seed 
known to contain but a single germ. 
These seeds germinated freely and the 
plants grew vigorously, but since the 
beet does not usually produce seed the 
first year, it was necessary to store the 
roots and plant them out the second 
season for seed production. Hence the 
first crop of seed produced from single- 
germ seeds was in 1904. As was 
expected, there was a wide variation in 
the percentage of single-germ seeds on 
the various seed-producing plants in 
this experiment. In an effort to secure 
single-germ strains and to prevent 
crossing with plants of low potential 
with regard to singleness of germ, the 
most promising plants were covered 
with closely woven cloth bags. By 
promising plants is meant those that 
indicated by the number of single or 
isolated buds that the percentage of 
single germ seeds would be _ high. 
Further to insure the isolation of single 
flowers, all clusters of buds were care- 
fully removed from some branches and 
the remaining buds were covered with 
paper bags, to prevent them from 
becoming pollinated with pollen from 
flower clusters. In many cases the 
pistils of the single flowers thus isolated 
were hand pollinated as soon as they 
were ready to receive the pollen. For 
this purpose pollen from flowers stand- 
ing alone, that is, not in clusters, was 
used. Sometimes the pollen was taken 
from the plant bearing the flower to be 
pollinated, sometimes it was taken from 
other plants, thereby producing both 
close and cross fertilization. The work 
of hand pollinating was done under 
tents to guard further against unfavor- 
able crossing. 

Subsequent improvements have shown 
that in spite ot all these precautions it 
was possible for unfavorable crosses to 
have been made by minute insects. 
However, our results indicate that we 
were in a measure successful in pro- 
ducing the pollination desired. Indeed, 
in our first generation of plants from 
seeds selected without any knowledge 
of their ancestry we found plants show- 
ing a single flower tendency and con- 
sequently a single-germ tendency to a 


ooo 


marked degree. On the other hand, 
in some of the plants from single-germ 
seeds the flower clusters and consequent 
multiple seed ball tendency so_pre- 
dominated that the percentage of single- 
germ seeds was not appreciably greater 
than in plants grown from multiple- 
germ seeds. However, of the several 
hundred roots produced from single 
germ seeds over fifty produced upwards 
of 25 per cent. single-germ seeds. 


RESULTS OF THE WORK 


The fifty showing the highest number 
of single germs, as indicated in the bud 
stage, were selected, trimmed and 
isolated as thoroughly as possible in 
the manner indicated above. Having 
trimmed the best fifty plants, that is, 
removed all the flower clusters, leaving 
only the single flowers, it was obviously 
impossible for us to determine the 
percentage of single-germ seeds in this 
best fifty. The fifty-first plant selected 
was not trimmed and produced 25 
per cent. single-germ seeds. The next 
best one had 21% per cent., the next 21 
per cent., and so on down to normal. A 
commercial beet seed field of 17 acres 
in the same locality was carefully 
searched and the plant having the highest 
number of single-germ seeds showed 
4.77 per cent. by actual count, the 
average for the best ten in the com- 
mercial field being 2.7 per cent. 

In the second generation the number 
of single germ seeds was upwards of 
50 per cent. on the best plant and in 
the third generation it was about 75 
per cent. Therefore, continuing along 
these lines, it is fair to assume that it 
is only a matter of time when a plant 
bearing only single-germ seeds will be 
produced. 

To sum up the work, it is apparent 
that commercial beet plants normally 
produce a few single-germ seeds. Our 
problem was, by selection, to increase 
the proportion of single-germ seeds 
from less than 5% to 100. Our selected 
plants are now producing about 75% 
of single-germ seeds, and individual 
plants in a few cases show a somewhat 
higher percentage than this. The work 
and progress of single-germ beet seed 


354 The Journal 


production is based upon the fact that 
certain beet plants possess the ability 
to so develop the seed stems that the 
buds and flowers are separated from 
each other in the process of growth. 


of Heredity 


parent to oftspring; whether or not this 
will become a fixed character time only 
can tell. The indications are that this 
character will become fixed and that a 
reasonable amount of care on the part 


of the beet seed growers will make the 
production of single-germ beet seed 
commercially practicable. 


This tendency to separate the flowers 
and thereby to produce single-germ 
seeds seems to be transmissible from 


Success with Sugar Cane 


Sugar cane breeding has been in process at the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment 
Station for nearly twenty years; the varieties D74 and D75, which make up about 
half the acreage of the State, were both put out by the station. Rice, cotton and 
tomatoes are also handled. 


Sugar Cane Breeding 


By selecting seedling sugar canes, the Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment 
Station has secured varieties that are notably more resistant to disease, give a 
larger tonnage and have a higher percentage of sucrose. Improvement of the pine- 
apple by seedlings is also under way. Those who have eaten the pine-apple 
will object that they know it has no seeds; but if cross pollinated, seeds are fre- 
quently developed. Conditions are the same with the banana, by the seeds of 
which, secured through crossing native varieties with fiber-producing species from 
the Philippines, the station is attempting to produce better races. 


Controlled Cotton Breeding 


Although a good deal of cotton breeding has been done in the United States, 
little of it has been so controlled as to afford reliable information about the manner 
of inheritance of characters of the cotton plant. The Mississippi Agricultural 
Experiment Station has taken up this study, using American Upland, Sea Island 
and Egyptian varieties in crosses, followed by isolation and self-fertilization. One 
of the interesting points involved is the extent to which Mendel’s Law is obeyed in 
inter-specific as well as inter-varietal crosses, the claim being made by De Vries 
and others that where distinct species or genera are concerned, Mendelism rarely 
is demonstrable. The station also wants to produce cotton that, by ripening 
earlier, will avoid ravages of the boll weevil; this leads to a careful investigation of 
the numerous factors which combine to make the quality loosely termed “‘earliness,”’ 
while the possible correlation between earliness and production of greater lengths 
of fiber is also being studied. 


Would Utilize Bud Variation 


The West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station is endeavoring to take advan- 
tage of bud variation in sweet potatoes and strawberries, to improve the strains 
grown in that State. 


OFFSPRING OF THE INSANE 


Preliminary Report of Study of Ten Families Shows That Taint Ordinarily Does 
Not Manifest Itself in Filial Generation—Imperfection of Dominance 
Suggested by the Results.! 


A. J. RosANOFF AND HELEN E. MartTIN 
Kings Park State Hospital, Kings Park, Long Island, N. Y. 


NY study of the ancestors of the 
IS insane brings to light cases, 
not only of insanity, strictly so 
called, but also of various kinds 
and degrees of slighter neuropathic 
affection, some of which are not readily 
and sharply to be distinguished from 
the normal state. The material of 
such a study reveals, for the most part, 
not the manner and frequency with 
which insanity is transmitted from 
parent to offspring, but rather the 
frequency with which slightly neuro- 
pathic or even normal parents may, in 
some cases, beget insane offspring. 

It may be that if satisfactory material 
could be made available for a study of a 
sufficiently large number of generations 
of ancestors the inheritance could in 
every instance be traced to cases of the 
same kind and gravity of neuropathic 
disorder as that which is taken as the 
starting point of the investigation and 
which all agree upon as being properly 
designated by the term insanity. 

But the fact is that such material is 
not made available by even most 
thorough investigations and that the 
information secured concerning even 
the more immediate ancestors is apt 
to be indefinite and incomplete. 

These considerations have led us to 
undertake the collection cf material 
for a study of the offspring, in place of 
the ancestors, of the insane. The 
object of this report is to describe the 
plan of our study and some of the ma- 
terial that has been collected since its 
inauguration a little over a year ago. 

The first feature of our plan is to 
select cases of patients who have off- 


spring old enough to make possible 
a fairly definite judgment as to degree 
of intellectual development at its height 
and as to the presence or absence of 
notable nervous or mental anomalies. 

No* matter what theory of the 
mechanism of heredity may be preferred, 
it is now generally conceded that, in 
order to be complete, a consideration of 
the inheritance of any trait must take 
into account the facts presented by not 
one but both ancestral branches. In 
the present connection, it is hardly to 
be doubted that whether the offspring 
of an insane subject will or will not 
show evidences of neuropathic inheri- 
tance will depend not only upon the 
inheritable nature of the one parent’s 
insanity but also on the nature of the 
mental inheritance from the other 
parent. 

Accordingly, the second feature of our 
plan is to collect information concerning 
the consorts of the patients, the consort’s 
parents and sibships, and other relatives 
if necessary or advisable. 

The third feature of our plan is to 
make, as far as possible, direct observa- 
tions of the offspring. The material 
is to consist not of ready judgments as 
to the normality or abnormality of 
subjects but of biographical facts and 
records of observation which might 
serve as basis for such judgments and 
which, if there be mental derangement, 
would make possible a comparison of 
its nature with that of the source of its 
inheritance. 

The work is necessarily slow; the 
investigations of some families have been 
halted for one reason or another at 


1 Submitted to the annual meeting of the American Genetic Association, Berkeley, California, 


August 2-7, 1915. 


355 


356 


various stages of their progress, and 
those of some others have had to be 
definitely abandoned. 

Thus far we have completed the 
investigations, in accordance with the 
plan here outlined, of ten families, 
including a total of over 400 individuals. 

The total number of direct offspring 
of the insane represented in this material 
is sixty-nine, and of these forty-one 
lived to an adult age. They are the 
offspring of five patients with dementia 
praecox, three patients with psychoses 
not definitely diagnosed but classified 
as allied to dementia praecox, one 
patient with paranoic condition, and 
one patient with epileptic dementia. 

We hope, when our work is finished, 
to publish a full description of our 
material; for the present, we would 
submit the following general account of 
our findings: 

In four out of the ten families that 
have been investigated all the offspring 
who survived to an adult age, sixteen 
in total number, were entirely normal 
so far as it was possible for us to judge. 
This part of our material, then, seems 
to support the view, already expressed 
in a previous study,? that the forms of 
insanity here dealt with behave in 
heredity as Mendelian recessives in 
respect of failing to appear in the first 
filial generation of hybrids. 

In four other families some or all of 
the offspring showed slight or transient 
Ueuropathic symptoms interfering but 


2 Rosanoff and Orr. 


The Journal of Heredity 


little, if at all, with living at large and 
pursuit of ordinary occupations. This 
suggests, as a possible explanation, 
imperfection of dominance, for which 
some evidence in material of neuro- 
pathic inheritance has also been ad- 
duced’. The total number of offspring 
in these four families, which survived 
to an adult age, was seventeen; and 
of these eleven showed slight neuro- 
pathic symptoms, as mentioned above, 
the remaining six being entirely free 
from even such symptoms. 

Of the offspring in the remaining 
two families, of whom nine survived 
to an adult age, two were insane and 
committed to institutions; one was 
insane a short time and committed 
suicide—the physician who was called 
in had suggested that she be sent to an 
institution; two showed slight neuro- 
pathic symptoms; and the remaining 
four seemed entirely normal. 

The facts concerning the consorts of 
the patients and the consorts’ parents, 
sibs, and other relatives, as we have 
them on record, contain much that 
would help to explain the contrasts 
presented by the fraternities of the ten 
families; we hope that some parts of 
the material may serve also as basis for 
the formulation of definitions of inherit- 
able units in human mental constitution, 
for we do not believe that traits that 
can be tolerably well defined without 
reference to facts of their hereditary 
transmission are necessarily, or even 
probably, true biological entities. 


A Study of Heredity in Insanity in the Light of the Mendelian Theory. 


Amer. Journ. of Ins., Vol. 68, Oct. 1911; also Bulletin No. 5, Eugenics Record Office, Cold Spring 


Harbor, N. Y. 
3 Rosanoff. 
July, 1913. 


Dissimilar Heredity in Mental Disease. 


Amer. Journal of Insanity, Vol. 70, 


Bud Selection in Apples 


At the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station, bud selection is the subject of 


research in apples. 


lhree crops have now been harvested from trees, part of 


which were grown from scions selected from high producing parents and part from 


parents of low producing habits. 
to be significant. 


ic The difference in yield has not been large enough 
lhere was practically as much variation in yield of fruit and in 


size and color of fruit between trees from the same parent as there was between 


trees of different parentage.”’ 


Aree Or THE CORDILLERAS 


A Notable Case of Plant Migration—Fruit Now Grows Wild in Profusion— 
Introduced by Spaniards and Immediately Took Possession of the 
Country—Account of Early Explorer 


WALTER FISCHER, 


Washington, D. C. 


HERE are few of us to whom 
| some one or all of the great 
movements or migrations among 
the myriads of our earth’s 
inhabitants are not of more than 
passing interest, be they among plants 
or animals or among the races of man 
himself. In history the period of the 
great migrations is perhaps the most 
fascinating of all to the average reader. 
Census figures, showing the rapid growth 
and shifting of populations, aside from 
their special value and interest to the 
sociologist and business man, are of 
general interest to every one, as phenom- 
ena of nature. Hunters, stockmen and 
fishermen notice the movements and 
migrations of the flocks, herds and 
schools in which they are particularly 
interested, to say nothing of the appear- 
ance and disappearance of the flora 
and fauna upon which their charges 
and interests are dependent. The man 
who tills the soil, whatever his specialty 
may be, is undoubtedly most vitally 
affected by invasions and inroads of 
plants and animals, while for the nature 
student the opportunities for study and 
observation of such phenomena are 
extraordinarily rich. 

The migrations of man lead all others 
in importance, not only on account of 
their magnitude in themselves but 
because, since his appearance in the 
field, practically all changes in the 
position and number of different species 
of plants and animals have been due 
directly or indirectly to his activities. 
Some of the changes going on in the 
fauna of a country are: the reduction, 
extermination and transfer of native 
species; the introduction of domestic 
animals and household pests; and the 
introduction and spread of insects and 
other forms of life that prey on animals 


and plants newly introduced or that 
chance to find unusual opportunities 
for development in a new environ- 
ment. In the flora the changes that 
take place are similar: numerous species 
and individuals of cereals, vegetables, 
fruits and ornamental plants are intro- 
duced, to say nothing of the multi- 
tudinous plant pests, such as the weeds 
and fungous parasites which accompany 
them; while corresponding transforma- 
tions take place in the native flora to 
make room for the new comers. Nature 
becomes cosmopolitan wherever man 
has left his footprint. 


ADAPTATION TO 


The ready adaptation of certain 
species of plants and animals to their 
new environment, where they often 
thrive and multiply in a manner never 
dreamed of in their former home, 1s 
usually the object of no small wonder- 
ment. It is one of the most natural 
things in the world, however, and 
merely proves that the best conditions 
for their development are more or less 
duplicated throughout the world, often 
even more favorable in a new locality 
than in their old home, and that their 
distribution has been largely due to 
causes other than those that were 
responsible for their original evolution. 
In plant life we have been led to believe 
by our observations that herbaceous 
plants, and most commonly the annual 
weeds found near habitations or accom- 
panying the sown crops, have been the 
most successful invaders and colonizers, 
and this on the whole is undoubtedly 
true. These very weeds, however, in 
most cases and in a certain sense, are 
domesticated plants largely dependent 
upon artificial surroundings to which, 
like the more useful plants, they have 


357 


NEW ENVIRONMENTS 


WILD ARGENTINE 


In some parts of Argentina and Chile 


The Journal of Heredity 


APPLE TREE 


, the apple has found particularly congenial surroundings, 


and appears to ‘have escaped from cultivation within a few years after the Spaniards intro- 


With incredible 


duced it. 


now gives every appearance of being absolutely at home. 
Argentine Republic. 


Alumine River, Territory of Neuquen, 
conformed themselves and in which, 
in ah » of our efforts at extermination, 
they find the most favorable conditions 
for growth. Shrubs and trees, although 
just as successfully transferred to new 
countries by the help of man, more 
rarely are invaders of their own accord 
or become aggressive in their new 


surroundings. By their very nature and 


ize, there is little chance for them to 
escape destruction under the artificial 
conditions where herbaceous plants 
flourish, and, as in the case of those 
herbaceous plants which have actually 
been aie toaeuaee and compete success- 
fully with the indigenous species in 
their own habitat, those that survive 
are few in number and exceptional. 
It 1s of such an exceptional case that 


this article treats. 


rapidity it established itself through the 


river valleys, and 
Photograph in the valley of the 
(Fig. 8.) 


The apple is, generally speaking, the 
best known and most widely planted of 
all trees. The first and most natural 
inference, at least as far as it relates to 
any of the newly discovered continents, 


is that it was introduced from else- 
where, and that inference is correct. 
Its exact place of origin is obscure 
but that 1t came from the old world is 


certified by historical records of its 
use and cultivation in very ancient 
times and more especially by the charred 
remains of apples that have been found 
in the Swiss lake dwellings, which 
flourished probably 2000-4000 Baa 
[It is now grown in all countries of the 
temperate zone where it usually escapes 
from cultivation to a limited extent. 
It furnishes a good example of what was 
said above about plants or animals often 
doing better in a new locality than in 


Fischer: Apples of the Cordilleras 


their original home. It is generally 
recognized, for instance, that, under 
cultivation at least, it has found more 
favorable conditions for its development 
in North America than in Europe or 
Asia from whence it originally came, 
although it has never escaped to a large 
extent nor gone far from the orchard 
or fence corner. De Candolle speaks 
of the apple as ‘appearing most 
indigenous” in the region between 
Trebizond and Ghilan in Persia. It is 
doubtful, however, whether it appears 
more indigenous there than it does in 
the southern Cordilleras of Chile and 
Argentina. In this case the question 
as to whether it is indigenous or not 
could hardly arise, and its presence 
tere constitutes one. of the most 
remarkable phenomena in the great 
movements of plants on this earth. 


THE CORDILLERAN APPLE COUNTRY 


Roughly speaking, the wild apple 
country of Chile and Argentina is cut 
in half by the 40th degree of latitude 
south, having a total extension of 
about 200 miles north and south and 
lying on both sides of the continental 
divide. Im Chile it extends to the 
Pacific coast and in Argentina to the 
eastern limit of tree growth. The 
Argentine side without doubt, on ac- 
count of the more definite landmarks in 
the history of its settlement, offers 
the more interesting and_ profitable 
meldtor study, The theart of this 
apple country, a region of many moun- 
tain lakes, snow-capped peaks, small 
rivers and valleys, vying in scenic beauty 
with the Alps and the Yosemite, lies 
just north of the beautiful lake Nahuel 
Huapi, between the river Limay and 
the divide, and drained for the most 
part by the Colloncura, a branch of 
the Limay, and its extension the 
Alumine. The general level above the 
sea of the valleys is about 3,000 feet; 
there are no extremes of temperature, 
the minimum, so far observed, being 
7° F. The region lies within the sphere 
of the western trade winds of the 
southern hemisphere which bathe the 
Chilean slopes of the Andes in the same 
latitude with from 100 to 120 inches of 
rain annually, but which lose their 
moisture on contact with the cold 


2B, 


Andean peaks and sweep down on the 
eastern side with great velocity and 
drying powers. One small district still 
has, however, the greatest rainfall of any 
in the Argentine Republic, something 
like 75 inches at San Martin de los Andes 
not so very far from the Chilean 
boundry; but it varies greatly, amount- 
ing to only 32 inches at Junin de los 
Andes, for instance, not more than 20 
miles distant, and decreasing to about 
15 inches at the beginning of the Patago- 
nian tablelands in the interior. About 
three-fourths of this precipitation occurs 
during the winter months, making the 
seasons similar to those of the Pacific 
Coast and the Mediterranean. The 
indigenous vegetation varies with the 
rainfall and according to the amount of 
protection found against the cold drying 
winds from dense rain forests, similar 
to those of Washington and Vancouver, 
with almost impenetrable undergrowth, 
and more open coniferous forests of 
Araucaria, to mountain meadows and 
dry grass-lands bordered and broken 
by forests or clumps of trees and shrubs. 
In the moister regions, strawberries, 
currants and potatoes are native, while 
white and red clover, timothy and other 
grasses have escaped from cultivation. 
The region is quite thickly dotted with 
ranches and settlements at the present 
time, although not yet accessible by 
railroad. 

The apple is especially abundant in 
the valleys of the Alumine and its 
continuation the Colloncura, their num- 
erous tributaries and the lakes which 
drain into them. It is found along the 
borders of forests, streams and lakes 
and reaches its greatest development 
in the regions of moderate rainfall, 
where it is found singly or in groups 
wherever there is some protection from 
the cold dry winds, in sheltered valleys 
and ravines, and especially near streams 
and springs where the roots can find 
water. It is Pyrus malus L., the apple 
that is planted throughout the world; 
all plants are seedlings, of course, and 
the fruit, as might be expected, is of 
all sizes, forms, shades, flavors and 
degrees of sweetness and acidity. Where 
the trees are much exposed they seldom 
bear on account of the hard winds 
prevalent at blossoming time. But on 


The Journal of Heredity 


GROWING UNDER CULTIVATION 


A wild apple of the Cordilleras 


, domesticated in the Rio Negro valley. 


When given some care, 


these trees bear large crops of fruit, and although the quality is very diverse, as is usual with 


seedlings, much of it is good. (Fig. 9.) 


many branches the apples are gathered 
to the extent of hundreds of bushels 
and usually made into cider, or they are 
eaten by the numerous herds of cattle 
that range the mountains. The woolly 
aphis has commenced its depredations 
among the trees and is fast penetrating 
to the most remote. 


HISTORICAL RECORDS 


The generally accepted explanation 
of the apple in this region is that 1t was 
introduced by the early Jesuit mission- 
aries. The oldest record found is that 
in the diary of D. Basilio Villarino, pilot 
of the royal armada, who had been 
ordered to lead an expedition up the 
Rio Negro from the sea for the purpose 
of reaching Valdivia on the Pacific 
coast by an overland route. His voyage 
lasted 8 months, from the twenty-eighth 
day of September 1782 to the twenty- 
fifth day of May, 1783, only three 
f which were needed for the 


. f 
WEEK oO] 


return. Hardly a month out, October 
26, and not yet far from the Atlantic 
coast, he speaks of the 7Jzerra de las 
Manzanas (apple land), about which 
he had heard through the Indians that 
were accustomed to descend to the 
Pampas in search of cattle and horses. 
By January 23 he had reached the 
juncture of the rivers Neuquen and 
Limay, and ascending the latter, about 
three weeks later, his advance party 
brought in branches from apple trees 
found on the banks of a small stream 
flowing into the Limay from the west. 
Unfortunately, for the purpose of his 
expedition, Villarino did not continue 
to follow the Limay to its source, 
but went up the Colloncura which was 
more f navigation; he then 
probably proceeded up the Chimehuin, 
a river flowing into the Colloncura 
from the west just a little north of the 
40th parallel, to the neighborhood of 
lake Huechulaufquen. Almost daily, 


easy ol 


Fischer: Apples of the Cordilleras 


while navigating up these two rivers, 
his scouting parties brought in apples 
that they had got by barter from the 
Indians. He mentions apples weighing 
as high as 17 ounces and remarks about 
what good apple gatherers the Indians 
were as they never left “even one’”’ on 
the trees found by his men. The 
Indians made chicha from them, evi- 
dently a kind of cider, and orejones, 
dried apples. The following is a 
literal translation of the entry in 
Villarino’s diary for the twenty-ninth 
of April, 1783, probably written not 
very far from the present town of 
Junin de los Andes: 


“Tt dawned cloudy, with the wind W. 
strong and very cold. At 8 it commenced to 
clear, and I set out to observe the latitude of 
the mouth of the River Huechum-Huechuen; 
I returned at 4 in the afternoon. Today the 
Chinas (Indian women) led in fifty to sixty 
packs with apples. They set out at 8 o’clock 
and returned at 2 in the afternoon; others who 
set out yesterday noon, returned today at 
4 o'clock in the afternoon, and these say they 
went to Huechum-Huechuen, because the 
apples from there are much better than those 
from other parts. I could very easily and at 
small cost have loaded the shallops with this 
fruit, but the apples came all bruised and 
battered, not only because they pick them up 
from the ground when they are already bruised 
from the fall, but because of striking and 
rubbing against one another in the packs, 
through the motion and trotting of the horses, 
so that few sound ones remain that can be 
saved. I put on board more than 8,000 and 
inspecting them this afternoon found them 
nearly all rotted: so that I think I shall inspect 
them tomorrow, and of the pieces which I 
find sound make orejones. Many are the 
varieties of the apples on hand, and in flavor 
the apples of Galicia, my native land, surely 
do not excel them. This evening they brought 
me twelve pippins, which they were able to 
select from the less bruised; it is surely a 
pleasure to look at them, and apples of this 
kind are called repifialdos reales in my country. 
In none of all the places ever traversed by me, 
were there such good apples and such a variety 
and abundance as here. 


On the following fourth of May, 
discouraged by sickness among his men, 
by the hostility of the Indians to his 
plans and by the approaching snows of 
the season, Villarino started out on his 
return voyage. 

And now-as to the date of the first 
possible introduction of the apple into 
the region east of the Andes, from which 
its rapid and remarkable spread might 
be traced. The Spaniards first at- 


361 


tempted to conquer and settle southern 
Chile between the years 1541 and 1551, 
those being the dates of the founding of 
Santiago and Valdivia on about the 
33d and 40th parallels of latitude 
respectively. In 1553 Francisco de 
Villagran, a captain of Valdivia, crossed 
the Andes in 39° latitude as far as a 
large river (perhaps the Alumine) and 
in the same year most of the settlements 
in Chile were destroyed by the Arau- 
camians, followed by nearly 100 years of 
almost incessant warfare until the peace 
of Quillen in 1640 (which was soon 
followed by other wars, however), 
allowed the Indians undisputed sway 
over all the territory south of the 
Bio Bio, or 37° and 38° latitude. The 
first settlement east of the Andes was 
that of the Jesuit mission founded by 
Nicolas Mascardi in latitude 41 on 
the shores of lake Nahuel Huapi in 
1670, but destroyed in 1717. Unsuc- 
cessful attempts at its restoration were 
made in 1764 and, outside of a few other 
unimportant expeditions which could 
have left no impression upon the region, 
and the notable expedition of Villarino 
in 1783, the country was left undis- 
turbed by white men until settled 
during the latter half of the nineteenth 
century by the gradual infiltration of 
settlers from Chile and still later from 
Argentina. 

Taking into account the unsettled 
conditions on the Chilean side of the 
southern Andes or Cordilleras and that 
the eastern side had hardly been touched 
by white men, and above all that the 
influence of the Jesuits was never great 
among the Araucanians and Transandine 
tribes, the wide distribution of the 
apple in a region so remote at such 
an early date as 1783, is truly remark- 
able. It proves that it spread very 
rapidly either from the solitary mission 
post on Nahuel Huapi or through the 
passes in the Andes from Chile, or both, 
by natural means such as animals or 
semi-savage Indians and water currents, 
and that it found exceptionally congenial 
conditions for its development. A closer 
study and comparison of this region 
with some of those parts of the old 
world where the apple appears in- 
digenous might throw additional light 
on its origin. 


FROG'S HAIR 


African Batrachian Possesses Hair-like Appendages Whose Origin Is Shrouded 
in Mystery—Probably Secondary Sexual Character 


2 ROG’S HAIR’ has long. been 
an ingredient of popular meta- 
phor, and considered as myth- 
ical as the equally famous 

‘“‘hen’s teeth.’”’ When, therefore, G. A. 

Boulenger described in 1900 two frogs 

from the German Congo which had a 

partial covering of what looked very 

much like hair, his description did not 
fail to awaken a deal of interest, 
among those who came across it. 

Were the mammals to lose one of 
their distinguishing characteristics, 
through its extension to the frogs? 
Boulenger admitted that he did not 
know much about it, but said that these 
‘“‘villose dermal papillae” were not a 
nuptial attribute of the males, but were 
rather more strongly developed in the 
female than the male. He suspected 
them of being a seasonal appendage. 

In 1902 he published another short 
paper on the subject describing seven 
more specimens of the same _ species 
(Astylosternus robustus Blgr.). In this 
case the females showed no trace of the 
appendages, while in the two males 
they were fully developed. The speci- 
mens were evidently obtained during 
the breeding season. 

Meantime Dr. H. Gadow had made a 
microscopical examination of the hair- 
like structures, and reported that he 
was unable to find any nerves in them, 
although he made out some insignificant 
blood vessels and lymph spaces. He 
concluded that these appendages could 
not be considered a sensory apparatus, 
and agreed with Boulenger that their 
function was a mystery. 

There the case remained until Willy 
Kuakenthal, working in the Museum of 
Comparative Zoology at Harvard Col- 
lege, reviewed it! by the study of eleven 
specimens from Kribe, Kamerun. He 
established that the hair-like appendages 
were present only in the males, and 


altogether wanting in the females. 
This confirms Boulenger’s second report; 
evidently his first one was an error. 

It was further found “that these 
appendages do not attain the same 
degree of development in all male 
individuals, and that even in full grown 
males there are very conspicuous differ- 
ences in this regard.” 

He believes, although data are few, 
that the hair-like covering is most 
highly developed during the breeding 
season, and that it is to be considered a 
secondary sexual characteristic. 

“The fact that a younger (smaller) 
male, contained in the same jar with 
the two adult males possessing fully 
developed appendages—and_ therefore 
apparently captured at the same time 
with these—showed this hairy coat in 
its beginnings, points to the conclusion 
that the appendages are fully developed 
only on adult animals and probably, as 
I have already suggested, at the time of 
mating. 

‘“‘ Now arises the question, from what 
do these organs originate’ The reply 
requires a careful investigation of the 
female. It is quite surprising, that 
none of the former investigators has 
observed the fact, that the females 
have, on exactly the same parts of the 
body that on the males bear these 
appendages, small but quite distinct 
tubercles, which have the same diameter 
as the bases of the appendages in the 
males. Their distribution over exactly 
the same areas of the surface shows 
clearly that they are homologous with 
the appendages of the male. 

‘*Moreover, if we carefully study the 
surface of the skin, we find that both 
males and females show similar tubercles 
scattered over the whole back, and that 
they are more closely crowded in the 
region of the angle of the jaws. In 
some areas of the surface of the males 


'Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. at Harvard College, Vol. LIII, No.9, pp. 371-376, 2 figs., 5 plates. 


362 


A “HAIRY? FROG FROM THE GERMAN CONGO 


Owing to the extraordinary development of tubercles on the 
skin, this species seems to have hair. The hair-like 
appendages appear to be a peculiarity of the males 
only, and to be most highly developed among adults, and 
at the breeding season. They apparently serve as sensory 
organs, and are to be considered a secondary sexual 
characteristic, but their exact purpose is a matter on 
which one can hardly even guess with profit. From 
Kiikenthal. (Fig. 10.) 


364 


we may even observe the transition of 
these tubercles into villose appendages. 
From these comparisons we must there- 
fore draw the conclusion that these 
appendages have arisen from tubercles 
of the skin, such as we find scattered 
over the skin of this species in other 
regions of the body and such as are 
recorded from other Ranidae. 

‘“ These hair-like appendages are there- 
fore to be considered as highly developed 
tubercles of the skin.”’ 

Mr. Ktikenthal then had recourse to 
the microscope, and arrived at quite 


The Journal of Heredity 


different conclusions from those of Herr 
Gadow. In particular, he found that 
the organs contain both nerves and 
nerve-terminations, ‘‘and that therefore 
they do serve as sensory organs.”’ 

As to the exact function of these 
peculiar appendages, one can only 
guess. Evolutionists will certainly hope 
for observations on living specimens, in . 
order that some light may be thrown 
on the cause which called forth this 
hair-like covering, so different from 
anything found on other frogs. 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


REPORT OF THE COMMISSION to investigate the extent of feeblemindedness, epilepsy and 
insanity and other conditions of mental defectiveness in Michigan. Lansing, Mich., Wynkoop, 
Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers, 1915. 


In 1913 the Michigan Legislature appointed a commission to make a survey of 
the State and report on the amount of mental defect in the population. The 175 
page report of this commission makes a startling document, although it is not to 
be supposed that conditions are worse in Michigan than in most other states of the 
Union. It is found that there are 7,703 insane in institutions, of whom probably 
two-thirds owe their insanity to heredity, and that the various county infirmaries 
and reform schools are crowded with people, many of whom are feebleminded. 
Many of these are set at liberty each year, to reproduce their kind, and many 
insane persons are similarly uncontrolled. The State laws prohibiting marriage 
to these classes are not enforced, and the Michigan sterilization law is practically a 
dead letter. A general reorganization of the method of caring for defectives in the 
State is necessary; but as the commission points out, the first, cheapest and most 
effective thing to do is to segregate at least the female defectives for life. 


INSANE AND FEEBLEMINDED IN INSTITUTIONS IN 1910. Department of Commerce, Bureau of 
the Census. Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, 1914. 


Statistics in regard to the insane and feebleminded in the United States in 1910 
have been published by the Bureau of the Census, with an analysis by Joseph A. 
Hill. It is reported that the number of insane in institutions was 248,560, an 
increase of 25.1% over the figures for 1904, while the general population of 
the United States increased only 12% in that time. This indicates, in part, 
that more insane are being segregated, rather than that insanity is increasing so 
rapidly. A summary of laws relative to the care of the insane is presented. The 
number of feebleminded in institutions was 33,969, but there is reason to believe 
that the number in the United States is well above 200,000,—effective institutional 
segregation of the insane has gone far ahead of similar segregation for the feeble- 
minded. Even of the small number of feebleminded who are in institutions, 
40% are in almshouses. 


A WORKING MODEL OF MENDELISM 


W. Burns 


Economic Botanist to the Government of Bombay; Agricultural College, Poona, India 


NE of the first things told to a 

student of Mendelian inher- 

itance is that the distribution 

of characters is according to the 
law of chance: but to those who have 
not learned to think mathematically, 
chance in the abstract means little. I 
have, therefore, used the following 
method for the last five years to demon- 
strate the 3:1 ratio in the simplest case 
of Mendelian inheritance, and the way 
in which it is controlled by chance. 

Take two packs of playing cards 
without jokers, each containing the 
usual fifty-two cards only. Put the 
red cards (hearts and diamonds) from 
both packs into one heap, and the black 
cards (spades and clubs) into another 
heap. These two heaps are now looked 
on as masses of male and female 
gametes, or germ-cells, of two plants 
(the supposition would hold equally for 
animals), one having a red character, 
and the other a black character. 

If these two hypothetical plants are 
crossed, we have a black gamete uniting 
with a red gamete to make the zygote 
or fertilized egg-cell from which the 
new individual develops. To represent 
the cross, we take a card at random from 
each heap, as represented in Fig. 11. 


Fic. 11 


As red and black cannot be well 
distinguished in a photograph, I have 
represented the red cards by black with 
white bars. These cards represent the 
parental generation. 

Black is dominant in this cross; the 
hybrid produced from such a union 
therefore shows only the dominant 
character (black), the red being hidden 
behind it—recessive, to use the technical 
term. This isshownin Fig. 12; the red 


Bre? 


has been allowed to stick up, in order 
that its existence may be seen. In the 
actual plant, the individual will show 
only the black, the red being wholly 
latent. This generation is designated 
as the first filial or F,; generation. 

We now assume that this hybrid 
plant of ours, showing the black dom- 
inant character, but still carrying the 
red as recessive, is self-fertilized. To 
illustrate the process of self-fertilization, 
make up both packs properly again, and 
shuffle each very thoroughly. Each 
pack will then consist of twenty-six 
red and twenty-six black cards, mixed 


ya 


305 


366 


up anyhow. The right-hand pack rep- 
resents the female gametes, and the 
left-hand pack the male gametes. 

Now take up one card from the top 
of each pack, as shown in Fig. 13. 


RiGealtS 


There are four possible pairs which 
you can pick up in this way: Red Black, 
Red Red, Black Red and Black Black. 
Make four columns on the blackboard 
or a sheet of paper, with these headings, 
and put down a unit for every combina- 
tion as it is taken up from the packs. 


If the cards have been thoroughly 
shuffled there will be thirteen units 


under each heading. If the cards have 
not been thoroughly shuffled, there may 
be a deviation: instead of 13, 13, 13, 13, 
we may get 12, 14, 14, 12, or something 
similar. If this occurs, shuffle the same 
packs and try again. I have always 
found that the ratio comes out correctly 
the second time. 

Taking up the analogy again, we have 
the combination Black B lack repre- 


The Journal of Heredity 


senting the pure dominants. Their 
germ-plasm has thrown out the red 
altogether and contains nothing but 
black; as long as they are self-fertilized, 
they will breed pure black generation 
after generation. 

The next two combinations are Black 
Red and Red Black; but as black is 
dominant, it is evident that these will 
look and behave just alike, the black: 
in each case concealing the red, which 
remains recessive or latent. These 
combinations are known to the Mende- 
list as heterozygotes, or impure domi- 
nants, while the pure black or pure red 
is called a homozygote. 

Finally, the combination Red Red 
represents the pure (or “extracted,” 
as it is often called) recessive. This 
line of germ-plasm has gotten rid of all 
the black, and will breed pure red 
indefinitely, provided it be self-fertilized 
and no new dominant introduced. 

As to the heterozygotes, the Black Red 
and Red Black combination, it will be 
evident to the reader, if he thinks back 
over the whole process, that when they 
are again self-fertilized, they will again 
split up into the simple Mendelian 
proportion of three dominants (two of 
which are impure) to one recessive. 
And so the process goes on, generation 
after generation, where a single pair of 
contrasted characters (called “‘allelo- 
morphs’’) is concerned, each generation 
seeing a segregation of the characters 
according to the law of chance, just as 
if the characters were shuffled about by 
Nature as we shuffle the cards; and 
each generation seeing a repetition of 
the famous 3:1 ratio. 


Improving Native Grapes 


Like several other southern States, Georgia is endeavoring to exploit the hardy 


native grape (Vitis rotundifolia), 


eC ithe ‘r through selection or hybridization. 


So far 


the work accomplished at the ee ite Experiment Station has been preliminz ary, 


and devoted to a study of the 
carefully controlled conditions, 
pecan, which has 
years, is also under 
sterile, and what advantage 


investigation, 
lies in keey 


attained considerable 
to determine 
ing such trees in an orchard. 


behavior of the white scuppernong variety under 
so that its characters could be 


determined. The 
importance in the South during recent 
why a number of trees are self- 


EXTRA-FLORAL NECTARIES 


F THE many adaptations of 
flowers to secure that cross- 
pollination which ordinarily 
seems to be so advantageous to 
-them, none is of more obvious use than 
the nectary. If it is desirable for the 
flower to attract insect visitors, surely 
nothing could be more attractive than 
a reservoir or fountain of nectar, from 
which they can drink. 

Early botanists indeed were consider- 
ably puzzled by the case. Patrick Blair 
guessed that the honey absorbed the 
pollen and thus fertilized the ovary; 
Pontedera thought it kept the ovary ina 
moist condition: Linnaeus “ gave it up;” 
“Krinitz thought he observed that in 
meadows much frequented by bees the 
plants were more healthy, but the 
inference he drew was, that the honey, 
unless removed, was very injurious, 
and that the bees were of use in carrying 
at off:”” 

But since the cross-pollination of 
plants, and the part that insects play 
in it, have been understood, there has 
been little doubt as to the utility of 
nectaries in most flowers. 

When, however, we come to nectaries 
outside the flowers, such as not a few 
plants possess, we are obliged to pause 
for consideration. Such nectaries can 
be seen to good advantage on the leaf- 
stem of any cherry, on the passion 
flowers (for example, the ‘‘may-pop,”’ 
Passiflora incarnata, of the United 
States), on the cowpea and various 
other legumes, on the castor bean 
(Ricinus communis), and on many other 
less common plants. The accompany- 
ing photographs show the extra-floral 
nectaries at the base of cherry leaves, 
where there are usually two, and 
sometimes half a dozen, which may be 
not only on the petiole, but on the mar- 
gin of the leaf itself. 

The early Darwinian school of natur- 
alists, who felt it necessary to find a 
purpose for the existence of every 
feature of an organism, in order to 
account for its development through 
natural selection, spent a good deal of 


ingenuity on the extra-floral nectary. 
In the numerous cases where this 
gland is on the flower-stem or close to 
the flower, it was suggested that its 
purpose was to act as a sort of “blind”’ 
for ants, which might otherwise enter 
the flower itself, in their search for 
honey, and thus self-pollinate it. If 
they found a nectary at the base of the 
flower, it was argued that the ants 
would satisfy their needs from it, and 
depart without upsetting the flower’s 
plans for cross-pollination. 

The idea that extra-floral nectaries 
were a special appeal to ants was 
developed most fully by Belt and 
Delpino, the former of whom about 
forty years ago published his description 
of the remarkable bull-horn acacias of 
Central America, in the huge spines of 
which colonies of ants make their 
homes, feeding on syrup from extra- 
floral nectaries, and paying for their 
entertainment by protecting the tree 
from all other living things. Describing 
these acacias, W. E. Safford writes: 
“The bi-pinnate leaves have nectar 
glands on the rachis and petiole, as in 
many other acacias and they are still 
further provided with peculiar processes 
on the tips of the leaflets, minute, wax- 
like bodies rich in oil and protoplasm, 
which Thomas Belt in his Naturalist im 
Nicaragua (1874) discovered to be 
used as food by the ants inhabiting the 
spines, and which in his honor were 
named Beltian bodies.” F. Delpino, 
in a classical work on the subject 
(Funzione mirmecofile nel regno vegetale, 
1886-9) brought together many other 
illustrations of these supposedly pro- 
tective nectaries outside the flower 
proper, enumerating their occurrence in 
3,030 species of 292 genera, of which 
563 are in America. The _ greatest 
number is in the pea family (Legumin- 
osae), closely followed by the Euphor- 
biaceae or spurge family. 

Microscopical examination of these 
nectaries at various stages shows that 
their development takes quite different 
courses in different species. There 


367 


or leaf-stem 


looking 


A CLUSTER OF EXTRA FLORAL NECTARIES 


Nectar is ordinarily thought of as a product of flowers, but some plants also excrete it from 
leaves and stems. ‘This photograph of a cherry leaf-stem gives a vivid idea of the pro- 
fusion with which nectar-glands are sometimes formed outside the flower. Three large 
extra-floral nectaries can be seen on the stem, while the margin of the leaf bears half a 
dozen more, most of them not functional. When they are functional they are visited 
by ants and various other insects, but their presence seems to be of no particular advantage 
to the tree. Highly magnified. (Fig. 15.) 


370 The Journal of Heredity 


of. 


seems to be no single underlying princi- 
ple governing their appearance. Their 
secretions also vary widely, although 
in general they give off merely a kind of 
sugar-water, containing varying propor- 
tions of dextrose, levulose and sucrose. 

When, only a few years ago, natural- 
ists generally began to realize that there 
might conceivably be parts of an organ- 
ism which had no particular use, and 
that the appearance of such parts 
could be perfectly explained in various 
ways, without resorting to the principle 
of natural selection, and that their 
useless existence, further, would not 
cause the whole structure of organic 
evolution to totter on its foundation, 
the extra-floral nectaries began to be 
examined in a more critical way. 

Numerous plants with extra-floral 
nectaries have been deprived of these 
organs, but it has been found that they 
produce the normal amount of seed 
just the same, and that none of their 
activities appears to be altered. 

Further, it has appeared that plants 
which attract ants by extra-floral nec- 
aries sometimes have their flowers 
more robbed by ants, than would 
robably be the case if they lacked 
extra-floral nectaries. The idea that 
he presence of such nectaries is a ‘‘sop”’ 
o divert the attention of ants from the 
greater treasures in the flowers, there- 
fore, appears to have little basis in fact, 
as far as observation goes. 

Again, in some of the broad beans 
(Vicia), it has been found that bees 
visit the extra-floral nectaries, in prefer- 
ence to those in the flower. In such 
cases, the flower may fail altogether to 
be cross-pollinated; evidently, then, the 
presence of extra-floral nectaries is in 
these cases a distinct disadvantage 
rather than an advantage to the plant. 

Finally, the theory that nectaries 
Outside the flower are intended to 
protect those inside the flower from 

elcome visitors, would seem to 
demand that the two sets of nectarie 
be functioning at the same tim: | 
oint of fact, it ha been observed 


that there is rarely exact correspondence 

me, and that in some cases the chief 
ecretion of extra-floral nectar occur 
betore, in others after, the period when 


NECTARIES ON 


LEAF STEM 


Extra-Floral Nectaries 


the flower is open and seeking visits 
from its limited list of select visitors, 
for-cross-pollination. 

But the fact that extra-floral nectaries 
occur also on some ferns, which have no 
flowers, indicates most forcibly that 
the furiction of these structures is not 
necessarily to take part in the plant’s 
schemes for avoiding self-fertilization. 

If one must form a general theory 
covering all cases, it would seem that 
the most plausible in regard to the 
extra-floral nectaries is that they have 
no role of real importance. This idea 
would have shocked most of the early 
Darwinians, who would have felt it 
impossible to account for the origin of 
the structures, unless through their 
value to the plant in securing its 
survival. But most naturalists now 
agree that there are many structures 
in every plant and animal which have 
no conceivable function of real import- 
ance, and which can hardly have arisen 
and been maintained because of their 


Sia 


survival-value. As to how such things 
originated, we are obliged sometimes 
to admit that ‘they just happen;”’ 
that there seems to be no particular 
reason. Once there, they remain; for, 
if they are of no particular advantage, 
neither are they of any particular 
disadvantage. 

It is admittedly dangerous for Man 
to assume that he can understand all the 
ways of Nature and decide by his own 
standards whether or not a certain 
structure is of value to a plant. But so 
far as our observation can guide us, it 
appears that in many cases, at least, 
extra-floral nectaries must be looked on 
as little better than accidents in the 
development of the plant; they may, of 
course, have been more useful at some 
earlier stage in the plant’s evolutionary 
history, but at present we can hardly 
avoid the conclusion in many cases 
that they have no vital function and 
that the plant would probably get along 
just as well without them. 


Inheritance in Flowers 


Two lines of experiment of strictly genetic interest have been undertake by the 
Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station—namely, a study of the inheritance 
of flower form and color in Phlox drummondt, anda similar study in Mzrabilis jalapa, 
the Four O’clock. Both these flowers are among the stock in trade of genetists; 


the latter is particularly rich in surprises. 


Correns, for instance, crossing a white 


with a cream-color, got eleven kinds of red, white, yellow and striped offspring 


among the grandchildren. 


In the cross of white and red Four O’clock occurs one 


of the classic examples of blended inheritance, the color of the hybrid generation 
being pink, while in most plants the color of one parent dominates in the hybrid 


generation to such an extent that it completely masks the other. 


The station is 


also attempting, in tobacco, to find why hybrids are sterile, particularly in cases 
where germination is low and where seedlings fail to mature. 


Genetics in New Jersey 


The New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, one of the pioneers in plant 


breeding, has the following projects under way: 


Inheritance of size and form in 


tomatoes: inheritance of pungency and of morphological characters in peppers; 
inheritance in crosses of popcorn with flint, dent and flour varieties, and in hybrid 
beans and egg plants, the object of the last project being to produce a true spineless 
commercial kind. A hybrid okra has been developed that may be of value as an 


ornament. 


Wide crosses are being made with the Prairie-berry (Solanum nigrum ?). 


An interesting experiment under way is to test the correlation between variability 
and vigor in a population; while the inheritance of prolificness 1s being tested in 
beans, tomatoes, peppers and soy beans, one of the objects being to find out the 


value of barren plants in any population. 


GENEALOGY AND EUGENICS 


Study of Human Lineage Can Be Greatly Increased in Value if Illuminated by 
Genetics—Methods To Be Followed—Results To Be Expected.! 


THE EDITOR 


CIENTIPFIC plant breeders today 
have learned that their success 
often depends on the care with 
which they study the genealogy 

of their plants. 

Live-stock breeders admit that their 
profession is on a sure scientific basis 
only to the extent that the genealogy of 
the animals used is known. 

Human genealogy is one of the oldest 
manifestations of man’s intellectual 
activity, but until recently it has been 
subservient to sentimental purposes, or 
pursued from historical or legal motives. 
Biology has had no place in it. 

Genealogy, however, has not alto- 
gether escaped the re-examination which 
all sciences received after the Dar- 
winian movement revolutionized modern 
thought. Numerous ways have been 
pointed out in which the science—for 
genealogy is certainly a science—could 
be brought into line with the new way 
of looking at Man and his world. The 
field of genealogy has already been 
invaded at many points by biologists, 
seeking the furtherance of their own 
aims. 

I propose to discuss briefly the 
relations between the conventional 
genealogy and the modern application 
of biological principles to everyday life 
which, as it is here viewed, may be 
broadly described by the name Eugenics, 
“good breeding.’”’ It may be that 
genealogy could become an even more 
valuable branch of human knowledge 
than it now is, if it were more closely 
aligned with biology. In order to throw 
light on this possibility, we must 
inquire: 

(1) What is genealogy? 

(2) What does it now attempt to do? 


' Address before the International Congress of Genealogy, 


1915. 


372 


(3) What faults appear, from the 
eugenist’s standpoint, to exist in its 
present methods’? 

(4) What additions should be made 
to its present methods? 

(5) What can be expected of it, after 
it is revised in accordance with the 
ideas of the eugenist ? 

The answer to the first question, 
“What is genealogy’’’ need not detain 
me long, for you are already more 
familiar with it than I am. Genealogy 
may be envisaged from several points. 
It serves history. It has a legal func- 
tion, which is probably of more conse- 
quence abroad than in America. It has 
social significance, in bolstering family 
pride and creating a feeling of family 
solidarity—this is perhaps its chief 
office in the United States. It has, or 
can have, biological significance, and 
this in two ways: either in relation to the 
pure science or the applied science. In 
connection with pure science, its func- 
tion is to furnish us means for getting 
a knowledge of the laws of heredity. In 
application, its function is to furnish a 
knowledge of the inherited characters 
of any given individual, in order to 
make it possible for the individual to 
find his place in the world and, in 
particular, to marry wisely. It is 
obvious that the use of genes ilogy in 
the applied science of eugenics is depen- 
dent on the preceding use of it in the 
pure branch of the science; for marriage 
matings which take account of heredity 
can not be made unless the laws 
of heredity have previously been 
discovered. 

The historical, social, legal and other 
aspects of genealogy do not concern 
the present paper. I shall discuss only 


Calif., July 26-31, 


San Francisco, 


The Editor: Genealogy and Eugenics 373 


the biological aspect: first, because I 
am incompetent to discuss the others; 
and secondly, because I hold that the 
biological conception has by far the 
greatest true value, accepting the cri- 
terion of value as that which furthers 
the progressive evolution of the race. 
By this criterion, I believe the historical, 
legal and social aspects of genealogy are 
of secondary importance; the greatest 
worth it can possibly have is in coopera- 
tion with biology. This definition may 
appear to be a begging of the question 
of my whole paper; I shall attempt to 
justify it farther on. 

(2) Genealogy now too often professes 
to be an end in itself. It can, of 
course, be looked upon as an end in 
itself, but I believe that it will be 
recognized as a science of much greater 
value to the world if it is admitted to be 
not an end but a means to a far greater 
end that it alone can supply. 

It has, indeed, been contended, even 
by such an authority as Ottokar 
Lorenz, who is often considered the 
father of modern scientific genealogy, 
that a knowledge of his own ancestry 
will tell each individual exactly what 
he himself is. This, as I understand it, 
is the basis of Lorenz’ valuation of 
genealogy. It is a step in the right 
direction: but 

(3) The present methods of genealogy 
are inadequate to support such a claim. 
Its methods are still based on the his- 
torical, legal and social functions, and 
it has not yet begun, save in a few in- 
stances, to realize its almost incom- 
parable opportunity for the betterment 
of mankind. Let me indicate just a 
few of the faults of method in genealogy, 
which the eugenist most deplores: 

(a) The information which is of most 
value is exactly that which genealogy 
ordinarily does not furnish. Dates of 
birth, death and marriage of an ancestor 
are of interest, but rarely of real bio- 
logical value. The facts about that 
ancestor which vitally concern his living 
descendant are the facts of his character, 
physical and mental; and_ these facts 
are given in very few genealogies. 

(b) Genealogies are commonly too 
incomplete to be of real value. Some- 
times they deal only with the direct 


male line of ascent—what animal breed- 
ers call the tail-male. In this case, it 
is not too much to say that they are 
nearly devoid of genuine value. For- 
tunately, American genealogies do not 
often go to this extreme, but it is not 
uncommon for them to deal only with 
the direct ancestors of the individual, 
omitting all brothers and sisters of 
those ancestors. Although this sim- 
plifies the work of the genealogist 
immensely, it deprives it of value to a 
corresponding degree. 

(c) As the purpose of genealogy in 
this country has been largely social, it 
is to be feared that in too many Cases 
discreditable data have been tacitly 
omitted from the records. The anti- 
social individual, the feebleminded, the 
insane, the alcoholic, the “generally 
no-count,’’ has been glossed over. Such 
a lack of candor is not in accord with 
the scientific spirit, and makes one 
uncertain, in the use of genealogies, to 
what extent he is really getting all the 
facts. There are few families of any 
size which have not one such member or 
more, not many generations removed. 
To attempt to conceal the fact is an 
action of doubtful ethical propriety; but 
from the eugenist’s point of view, at any 
rate, it is a falsification of records that 
must be regarded with great disapproval. 

(d) Even if the information it furn- 
ishes were more complete, human gen- 
ealogy would not justify the claims 
sometimes made for it as a science, 
because, to use a biological phrase, “the 
matings are not controlled.’’ We see 
the results of a certain experiment, but 
we can not interpret them unless we 
know what the results would have been, 
had the precedent conditions been 
varied in this way or in that way. We 
can make these controlled experiments 
in our plant and animal breeding; we 
have been making them by the thou- 
sand, by the hundred thousand, for 
many years. We cannot make them 
in human society. Of course, we don't 
want to; but the point on which I wish 
to insist is that the biological meaning 
of human history, the real import of 
genealogy, cannot be known unless it is 
interpreted in the light of modern plant 
and animal breeding. It is absolutely 


374 The Journal 


necessary that genealogy go into partner- 
ship with genetics, the general science 
of heredity: that it do not consider itself 
cheapened by an alliance with the 
plant and animal breeders. If a spirit 
of false pride lead it to hold aloof 
from these experiments, it will make 
slow progress. The interpretation of 
genealogy in the light of modernresearch 
in heredity through the experimental 
breeding of plants and animals is full 
of hope; without such light, it will be 
discouragingly slow work. 

Genealogists are usually proud of 
their pedigrees; they usually have a 
right to be. But I beg of you, do not 
let your pride lead you to scorn the 
pedigrees of some of the peas, and corn, 
and snap-dragons, and sugar beets, and 
bulldogs, and Shorthorn cattle, with 
which genetists have been working 
during the last generation; for these 
humble pedigrees may throw more 
light on your own than a century of 
research in purely human material. 


BIOLOGY NECESSARY 


Your science will not have full 
meaning and full value to you, unless 
you bring yourselves to look on men and 
women as organisms subject to the 
same laws of heredity and variation as 
other living things. Biologists were 
not long ago told that it was essential 
for them to learn to think like genealo- 
gists. It is excellent advice and if I 
were speaking to biologists I would 
repeat it. As Iam speaking to genealo- 
gists, I say with equal conviction that 
it is essential for genealogists to learn 
to think like biologists. For the pur- 
pose of eugenics, neither science is 
complete without the other; and I think 
it is not invidious for me to say that 
biologists have been quicker to realize 
this than have genealogists. The 
Golden Age of your science is yet to 
come. 

(4) In addition to the correction of 
these faulty methods, there are certain 
extensions of genealogical method which 
could advantageously be made without 
great difficulty, I think. 

(a) More written records should be 
kept, and less dependence placed on 
oral communication. The obsolescent 


of Heredity 


family Bible, with its chronicle of 
births, deaths and marriages, is an 
institution of too great value to be given 
up, in more ways than one. In the 
United States, we have not the advan- 
tage of much of the machinery of 
State registration which European gen- 
ealogy enjoys, and it should be a matter 
of pride with every family to keep its 
own archives. 

(b) Family trees should be kept in 
more detail, including all brothers and 
sisters in every family, no matter at 
what age they died, and including as 
many collaterals as possible. This 
means more work for the genealogist, 
but the results will repay him. 

(c) More family traits should be 
marked. Those at present recorded are 
mostly of a social or economic nature, 
and are of little real significance after 
the death of their possessor. But the 
traits of his mind and body are likely 
to go on to his descendants indefinitely. 
These are the facts of his life on which 
we should focus our attention. How 
this can be most conveniently done, 
I shall discuss later. 

(d) More pictorial data should be 
added. Photographs of the members 
of the family, at all ages, should be 


carefully preserved. They are often 
of inestimable value. Measurements 
equally deserve attention. The door 


jamb is not a satisfactory place for 
recording the heights of children, par- 
ticularly in this day when real estate 
so often changes hands. Complete 
anthropometric measurements, such as 
every member of the Young Men’s 
Christian Association, most college stu- 
dents,and many other people are obliged 
to undergo once or periodically, should 
be placed on file. 

(e) Pedigrees should be traced upward 
from a living individual, rather than 
downward from some hero long since 
dead. Of course, the ideal method 
would be to combine these two, or to 
keep duplicate pedigrees, one a table of 
ascendants and the other of descendants, 
in the same stock. This plan is not too 
laborious to use, in many cases; the 
combined tables, which show all the 
relatives of an individual, although 
attractive to the investigator, are tco 


The Editor: Genealogy and Eugenics 


complicated ever to become popular, 
I suspect. 


THE IDEAL GENEALOGY 


Genealogical data of the kind we 
need, however, can not be reduced to a 
mere table or family tree. The ideal 
genealogy, as described by Davenport,’ 
starts with a whole fraternity—the 
individual who is making it, and all 
his brothers or sisters. It describes 
fully each member of this fraternity. 
“Tt then describes each member of the 
fraternity to which the father belongs 
and gives some account of their consorts 
(if married) and their children. It does 
the same for the maternal fraternity. 
Next it considers the fraternity to 
which the father’s father belongs, con- 
siders their consorts, their children and 
grandchildren, and it does the same for 
the fraternities to which the father’s 
mother belongs. If possible, earlier 
generations are to be similarly treated. 
It were more significant thus to study 
in detail the behavior of all the available 
product of the germ-plasms involved 
in the makeup of the first fraternity 
than to weld a chain or two of links 
through six or seven generations. A 
genealogy constructed on such a plan 
would give a clear picture of heredity, 
would be useful for the prediction of the 
characteristics of the generations yet 
unborn, and would, indeed, aid in 
bringing about better matings.” 

(5) With these changes, genealogy 
would become the study of heredity, 
rather than the study of lineage. Per- 
haps you will not all agree that this 
would be a desirable change; but I 
think if you can once get the biological, 
the eugenic point of view, you will 
realize that any other field for genealogy 
is too narrow. 

I do not mean to say that the study 
of heredity is nothing more than applied 
genealogy. As we understand it now- 
adays, it includes mathematical and 
biological territory which must always 
be foreign to genealogy. I should prefer 
bo put~it. this way: That. in so far as 
Man in concerned, heredity is the 
interpretation of genealogy, and eugen- 


375 
ics the application of heredity. But I 
do mean to say that genealogy 


should give its students a vision of the 
species as a great group of ever-changing, 
inter-related organisms, a great network 
originating in the obscurity of the past, 
stretching forward into the obscurity 
of the future, every individual in it 
organically related to every other, and 
all of them the heritors of the past in a 
very real sense. 

No one is so well fitted as the geneal- 
ogist to realize the solemn grandeur of 
Weissmann’s doctrine that the germ- 
plasm is continuous from the beginning 
of existence on this world to the now 
unseenend. Our bodies, as you all have 
heard, are made up of two parts: this 
mass of highly differentiated cells which 
represent the man or woman, and which 
are destined to die when the individual 
shall have completed his three score 
years and ten, more or less; and 
within, the little mass of germ-cells, the 
undifferentiated, immortal or at least 
potentially immortal carriers of the 
heritage of the race. Generation after 
generation this germ-plasm goes on 
dividing; from parent to child it is passed 
on, unchanged save by the addition at 
each generation of a new line from the 
second parent. The body dies, but if 
the individual has left posterity, the 
germ-plasm lives after him. Immor- 
tality is, in this sense at least, a very 
real thing to the biologist; and I believe 
the genealogist would see a new meaning 
in his work if he kept the same concep- 
tion in mind. 


IMPORTANCE OF INDIVIDUALS 


Genealogy does well in giving a 
realization of the importance of the 
family, but it errs if it bases this teaching 
altogether on the family pride in some 
remote ancestor who, even though he 
bore the family name and was a prodigy 
of virtues, probably counts for very 
little in the individual’s makeup 
today. Let me take a concrete though 
wholly imaginary illustration: what man 
would not feel a certain satisfaction in 
being a lineal descendant of George 
Washington? And yet, if we place the 


2 Davenport, C. B. Heredity in Relation to Eugenics, p. 240. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 
il 


376 


Father of his Country at only four 
removes from the living individual, 
nothing is more certain than that our 
hypothetical living individual had fifteen 
other ancestors in George Washington’s 
generation, any one of whom may play 
as great or greater a part in his ancestry; 
and so remote are they all that, on 
statistical grounds alone, it is calculated?’ 
that the contribution of George Wash- 
ington to the ancestry of our hypothet- 
ical living individual would be perhaps 
not more than one-third of 1% of the 
total. 

I do not mean to disparage descent 
from a famous man or woman. It isa 
matter of legitimate pride and congratu- 
lation. But claims for respect made on 
that ground alone are, from a biological 
point of view, usually contemptible, 
if the hero is several generations 
removed. What Sir Francis Galton 
wrote of the peers of England may, 
with slight reserves, be given general 
application to the descendants of famous 
people: 

“An old peerage is a valueless title 
to natural gifts, except so far as it may 
have been furbished up by a succession 
of wise intermarriages. I cannot 
think of any claim to respect, put for- 
ward in modern days, that is so entirely 
an imposture as that made by a peer on 
the ground of descent, who has neither 
been nobly educated, nor has any 
eminent kinsman within three degrees.”’ 

But, some one may protest, am I not 
shattering the very edifice of which I 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


am a professed defender, in thus denying 
the force of heredity? Not at all. I 
wish merely to emphasize that a man 
has sixteen great-grandparents, instead 
of one, and that we too often overlook 
those in the maternal lines, although 
from a biological point of view they are 
every bit as important as those in the 
paternal lines. And I wish further to 
emphasize the point that it is the near 
relatives who, on the whole, represent 
what we are. The great family which 
for a generation or two makes unwise 
marriages, must live on its past reputa- 
tion and see the work of the world done 
and the prizes carried away by the 
children of wiser matings. No family 
can maintain its place merely by the 
power of inertia. Every marriage that 
a member of the family makes is a 
matter of vital concern to the future of 
the family: and this is one of the lessons 
which a broad science of genealogy 
should inculcate 1n every youth. 


QUALIFICATIONS FOR WORK 


Is it practicable to direct genealogy 
on this slightly different line? As to 
that, I must allow you to judge; it 
would be presumptuous for me_ to 
express an opinion. Let me recall, 
however, the qualifications which old 
Professor William Chauncey Fowler laid 


down® as essential for a_ successful 
genealogist: 


Love of kindred. 
Love of investigation. 
Active imagination. 


’Galton'’s Law of Ancestral Heredity (which is purely statistical in nature and may be quite 
misleading when applied to individual cases) makes it possible to calculate the contribution of each 


ancestor, all the way to infinity. 


way of illustration, I give Galton’s original version for the sake of simplicity. 


calculation for the first six generations: 


Number of 


Generations 5 
Ancestors 


1 2 
2 4 
3 8 
+ 16 
5 32 
6 64 


‘Galton, Francis. Hereditary Genius, p. 87. 
5 Fowler, William Chauncey. 
Hist. and Gen. Soc., Boston, 1866. 


Conditions of Success 


Pearson has modified this law, but as I cite it here only by 


Following is the 


Influence of 
Individual 


Influence of 
Generation 


50. 25%, 

ate 6.25 
iA 1.56 
6.25 0.39 
Fae WAS 0.10 
1.5625 0.024 


London, The Macmillan Company, 1869. 
in Genealogical Investigations. 


N...E. 


5 


The Editor: Genealogy and Eugenics otf 


Sound and disciplined judgment. 

Conscientious regard to truth. 

A retentive memory. 

A pleasing style as a writer. 

With such qualifications, one can go 
far, and I venture to express the opinion 
that one who possesses them has only 
to fix his attention upon the biological 
aspect of genealogy, to become con- 
vinced that his science is only part of a 
science, as long as it ignores eugenics: 
After all, nothing more is necessary 
than a slight change in the point of view; 
and if genealogists can adopt this new 
point of view, can add to their equip- 
ment some familiarity with the fun- 
damental principles of biology as they 
apply to man and are laid down in the 
science of eugenics, I am firmly of the 
conviction that the value of the science 
of genealogy to the world will be 
increased at least five-fold within a 
generation. 

Let us examine a little more closely 
what can be expected from a genealogy 
with eugenic foundation. 

First and foremost, it will give 
genetics a chance to advance with 
rapidity, in its study of man. Genetics, 
the study of heredity, cannot success- 
fully proceed by direct observation 
in the human species as it does with 
plants and rapidly-breeding animals 
because the generations are too long. 
Less than three generations are of little 
value for our researches, and even three 
can rarely be observed to advantage by 
any one person. Therefore, second- 
hand information must be used. So 
far, we have gained most of this by 
sending field-workers—a new kind of 
genealogist—out among the people in 
whom we are interested, and having 
them collect the information we wanted, 
either by study of extant records, or by 
wordofmouth. But the written records 
of value have been usually negligible in 
quantity, and oral communication has 
therefore been our mainstay. It has 
not been wholly satisfactory. Few 
people—aside from genealogists—can 
give even the names of all their great- 


6 Woods, Frederick Adams. 


7 Pearson, Karl. 
p. 74. London, 1903. 


Mental and Moral Heredity in Royalty. 
Holt & Co., 1906; also The Influence of Monarchs. 
Royal Society of London, Phil. Trans., vol. 192A, p. 277: Biometrika, vol. I, 


grandparents, far less can they tell 
anything of importance about them. 

It is thus to genealogy that we are 
driven. Unless we have family records 
we can accomplish little. And we 
cannot get these family records unless 
you genealogists realize the importance 
of furnishing them; for as I have already 
pointed out, and as I wish to emphasize, 
genealogies at present available are of 
little value to genetics, because of the 
inadequacy of the data they furnish. It 
is only in the case of exceptional 
families, such as the royal houses of 
Europe, that enough information is 
given about each individual to furnish 
an opportunity for analysis. What 
could be done if there were more such 
data available is brilliantly illustrated 
by the investigation® of Dr. Frederick 
Adams Woods of Boston of the reign- 
ing houses of Europe. I commend 
his writings to every genealogist, as a 
source of inspiration as well as inform- 
ation. 


HOPE FOR QUICK RESULTS 


To get more such data, we must look 
to the future. We must begin at once 
to keep our family records in such a 
way that they will be of the greatest 
value possible—that they will serve 
not only family pride, but bigger 
purposes. It will not take long to get 
together a large number of family 
histories, in which the idea will be to 
tell as much as possible, instead of as 
little as possible, about every individual 
mentioned. Let me run over a few of 
the problems on which such genealogies 
would throw light. 

There is the important problem of the 
inheritance of longevity. Karl Pearson 
showed’ some years ago, by advanced 
statistical methods, that longevity is 
inheritable. Dr. Alexander Graham 
Bell, whose investigation of the ancestry 
of congenital deaf persons at Martha’s 
Vineyard and elsewhere, more than a 
generation ago, was one of the first 
pieces of biological genealogy executed in 
this country, and indubitably estab- 
New York, Henry 
New York, The Macmillan Co., 1914. 


378 The Journal 
lished the heritable nature of congenital 
deafness*—Dr. Bell is now working on 
the published history of the Hyde 
Family in the United States, and 
analyzing it from many points of view 
to bring to light the ways in which 
longevity is inherited. It is obvious 
that this trait is a particularly easy one 
for investigation, because we need to 
know nothing more than the dates on 
which an individual and his parents 
were born and died. Certainly a gen- 
ealogy that does not tell so much, must 
be considered defective; and yet of the 
8,000 or more persons listed in the Hyde 
genealogy, there are less than 3,000 for 
whom these data are complete. 

Longevity being due more to heredity 
than to anything else, it is evident, as 
Dr. Bell has clearly pointed out, that 
it is a trait of which families may well 
be proud, if it runs consistently in their 
stock. And, as we eugenists try as far 
as possible to put our knowledge to 
practical use, he has also pointed out 
that it is very desirable for a young 
man or young woman to marry into a 
family possessing that trait, since it 1s 
a good indication of general soundness 
of constitution and physical vigor. 
Families in whose ancestry longevity is 
a characteristic can well afford to make 
the fact known and take pride in 
alliance with other worthy families 
similarly endowed. 

Such a mating, like with like, is 
technically known to us as assortative. 
It used to be supposed that people 
tended to marry their opposites—the 
blonde and the brunette, the short and 
the tall. The use of exact methods in 
eugenics has demonstrated that the 
reverse is the case, and that for almost 
every measurable trait there is distinct 
evidence of assortative mating.® That 
such a fact is of great value to the race, 
when the character involved is one of 
so much importance as longevity, is 
obvious, and the tendency should be 
encouraged. Genealogy can give much 
help in this connection. 


8 Bell, Alexander Graham. 


of Heredity 


There are certain phases of the 
always interesting problem of  sex- 
determination on which genealogy can 
easily throw light. It has sometimes 
been asserted that the age of the parents 
influences the sex of the offspring. We 
do not know that this is so, but with 
the help of genealogy we might find out. 

Another question of great practical 
importance, on which we seek informa- - 
tion, relates to the posterity of men of 
genius. Is there any truth in the idea 
that their mental activity tends to use 
up some vital force, with the result that 
they are either sterile or leave posterity 
of mediocre quality? The idea does 
not sound convincing, but we shall not 
dismiss it dogmatically; we shall appeal 
to genealogy for data on which to dispose 
of it definitely. Of course the alleged 
fact here must not be confused with the 
well-known fact of regression, formu- 
lated as a mathematical law by Galton. 
We know that, on the average, the 
children of superior parents will tend 
to be inferior to their parents, and the 
children of parents who are below 
normal will tend to be a little better 
than their parents. This is due to the 
vast bulk of their remote ancestry, 
most of which is necessarily average or, 
as the statistician puts it, mediocre. 
The drag of this more remote heredity 
tends to pull every child toward 
mediocrity, or the mean, the average of 
the race. I must emphasize the fact 
that this is purely a statistical law, 
applying only to a quantity of cases, 
and is frequently untrue for individual 
cases. 

The results of early as compared with 
late marriage offer another big problem, 
in the solution of which we need your 
help. 

That the first-born children are, on 
the whole, inferior to the brothers or 
sisters who come after them has been 
asserted in recent years, and the asser- 
tion has been supported by a good deal 
of evidence. It is highly important 
that a much greater body of evidence 
be brought together on this point, and 


Memoir upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race. 


Washington, D. C., National Academy of Sciences, 1884. 


9 For asummary see Harris, J. Arthur. 


Assortative Mating in Man. 


Popular Science Monthly, 


LXXX, No. 5, pp. 476-493, New York, May, 1912. 


The Editor: Genealogy and Eugenics 


here genealogy can aid with very little 
trouble. Unfortunately, it is not un- 
common to find in the earlier gencra- 
tions of a family tree that the exact 
birth-rank of the various children is 
not designated; nor is account always 
made of infant deaths or still-births, as 
should certainly be done in every case. 

The question of consanguineous mat- 
riage is one in which every genealogist 
is certain to have taken an interest, 
merely because of the doubling up of a 
name in his chart, if not froma biological 
point of view. Until recently, the 
question of the marriage of kin was 
debated largely by an appeal to dogma. 
I daresay every genealogist has seen 
cases where the marriage of first cousins 
was followed by good progeny, and 
equally cases where the result was bad. 
There is plenty of evidence of that sort 
to be had on both sides. I think it is 
safe to say that genetics has established 
the status of consanguineous marriage 
beyond all dispute. It certainly is not 
bad in itself, although first cousins are 
forbidden by law to marry in a third of 
the States of the Union. It simply 
results in a doubling up of the traits 
which the two may have incommon. If 
these traits are good, the children get 
a double dose of them, and will be more 
highly endowed than their parents. If 
the traits are bad, the children equally 
get a double dose of them, and may far 
surpass their parents in worthlessness, 
or in the prominence of any particular 
defect. The general conclusion is clear 
to us: marriages between cousins or 
other relatives of equal consanguinity, 
should not be condemned offhand, but 
the facts should be taken into considera- 
tion in each individual case. And it 
should be borne in mind, of course, 
that a trait may be latent or concealed 
in each of the cousins, but come into 
expression in their children. Although 
cousin marriages, therefore, should be 
scrutinized closely, we certainly find no 
reason to forbid them when the con- 
tracting parties are of sound stock. 

The question of the inheritance of 
disease is one of great importance, 
which can be studied very easily through 


10 Davenport, C. B. State Laws Limiting Ma 


379 


genealogy. Of course, no one with a 
knowledge of modern work in genetics 
now believes that diseases are truly 
inherited as such: but there is a great 
deal of evidence to show that what the 
doctors call a ‘‘ diathesis,” a predisposing 
tendency to some disease, may be 
inherited. Greater research is urgently 
needed to find the extent and limits of 
such inheritance, and it is to enlightened 
genealogy that we must look for the 
solution of the problem—or rather, 
problems, since there are aS many 
problems as there are diseases, defects 
and abnormalities. We must not draw 
hasty generalizations, but attack each 
subject separately. We have pretty 
good evidence, for instance, that the 
tubercular diathesis is inherited: that 
the white plague ravages some families 
and leaves others untouched; that al- 
most every city-dweller, at least, is at 
some time or other during his life in- 
fected with phthisis, and whether he 
resists or succumbs depends on_ his 
heredity. Herein lies guidance for those 
who would marry: other things being 
equal, let them avoid the weak stocks, 
the stocks known to be marked by 
tuberculosis. But because tuberculosis 
is thus a matter of heredity, it does not 
necessarily follow that cancer, or any 
other disease, is. We must take nothing 
for granted; we must find out by examin- 
ing many families in which a given 
disease or abnormality occurs. And to 
do this, we must depend on the data of 
genealogy. 

Here, however, let me utter an em- 
phatic warning against superficial inves- 
tigation. The medical profession has 
been particularly hasty, many times, 
in reporting cases which were assumed 
to demonstrate heredity. The child 
was so and so; it was found on inquiry 
that the father was also so and so: 
post hoc, ergo propter hoc—it must have 
been heredity. Such a method of 
investigation is calculated to bring the 
science of genetics into disrepute, and 
might easily ruin the credit of the science 
of genealogy, should genealogy allow 
itself to be so misled. As a fact, one 
case counts for practically nothing as 


rriage Selection, p. 14. Eugenics Record Office 


Bull. No. 9, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, N. Y., June, 1913. 


380 


proof of hereditary influence; even half 
a dozen or a dozen may be of no sig- 
nificance. There are two ways in 
which we can analyze genealogical data 
to deduce biological laws: one is based 
on the application of higher mathe- 
matics to mass statistics, and needs some 
hundreds of cases to be of value; the 
other is by pedigree-study, and needs 
at least three generations of pedigree, 
usually covering numerous collaterals, 
to offer any certain results. Not all 
the findings announced even by pro- 
fessional eugenists have met one or other 
of these requirements, and to the extent 
in which they have fallen short, they 
are being discredited. It is not to be 
supposed that anyone with a sufficiently 
complete record of his own ancestry 
would necessarily be able by inspection 
to deduce from it any important contri- 
bution to science. But if enough com- 
plete family records are made available, 
the professional genetist can be called 
into codperation, can supplement the 
human record with his knowledge of 
the results achieved by carefully con- 
trolled animal and plant breeding, and 
between them, the genealogist and the 
eugenist can in most cases arrive at the 
truth. That such truth is of the highest 
importance to any family, and equally 
to society as a whole, must be evident. 


SEX-LINKED INHERITANCE 


The whole question of sex-linked 
inheritance depends for its solution on 
the extension of genealogical material. 
It is often said that sons take after their 
mothers, while daughters tend to resem- 
ble their fathers. The Arabs and 
Hebrews put the same idea a little 
differently, that a son tends to resemble 
his maternal uncle. Is there anything 
in these ideas? In a small way, there 
is no mystery about it; we know that 
certain hereditary traits are sex-linked— 
that they are carried by one sex but 
appear in the other. Thus, it is rare 
to find women who are color blind, but 
a woman who does not show this defect 
herself may have inherited it from her 
father, who was visibly affected, and 
transmit it to her sons, who will also be 


The Journal of Heredity 


visibly affected. Extending this prin- 
ciple, it is easy to see that a boy might 
inherit some traits from his mother, 
which his father wholly lacked, and that 
a daughter might similarly receive 
exclusive traits from her father. I must 
say that sex-linked heredity in the 
human race has so far been definitely 
proved only in regard to color-blindness, 
hemophilia, and a few other abnormal - 
conditions; but with the codperation of 
the genealogists it is probable that we 
will find this condition, as important as 
it is interesting, to prevail more widely. 

The problem of the inheritance of 
fecundity can obviously be settled only 
through proper genealogical material. 
It is known that fecundity is to some 
extent an inherited character, although 
doubtless affected in Man largely by 
outward circumstances. The voluntary 
limitation of births, which has become 
so widespread during the last genera- 
tion, of course complicates the study of 
this subject, but there is nevertheless 
room for much work of a distinctly 
practical kind. Obviously, one of the 
easiest ways to improve the general 
average of the race would be to have 
high fecundity in the superior stocks 
and low fecundity in the inferior ones. 
It is equally obvious that if fecundity is 
associated with inferiority—with feeble- 
mindedness, for example,-that disastrous 
results will ensue if Nature is allowed to 
“take its course.’ The genealogist 
can contribute indispensable material 
for this study, and for the general study 
of the birth-rate in various sections of 
the community at various periods—a 
study which is the very foundation of 
applied eugenics. 

Frederick S$. Crum’s work" on pub- 
lished genealogies of New England 
families shows what can be done in this 
line. From his material, Crum was 
able to get figures for 12,722 wives, and 
he found that the number of children 
per wife had decreased as follows: 


1750-17995» vn dnt gees} oo tu Bien 
LS00-1849 «os a eke kia > atk Oe 4.94 
1850-1869. 0.5 siscae.c% + nap vis ell 
1870-3619. Ko ceu ees «~ \Sn ep ee 7 a Ot 


11 Crum, Frederick S. The Decadence of the Native American Stock. Quarterly Pub. Amer- 


ican Statistical Assn., XIV, n. s. 107, pp. 215-223. 


Sept., 1914. 


The Editor: Genealogy and Eugenics 


Before 1700, less than 2% of the wives 
had only one child each; nowadays the 
percentage is about 20. The percentage 
of wives, in his records, who are abso- 
lutely childless, has increased as follows: 


ROD ce eect aig cg YO agaretne, «te 1.88 
US ONO EE ON accra ay ie ld eae Are 4.07 
MOOS es O ORE S ss skilviacn- oie bead sists shes SES SOO 
SHA Des fes hegre aide aes och ecm pana e aR 8.10 


He finds, on analysis of the most recent 
material, that the New England wives of 
the present day, representing the old 
colonial stock, have an average of 1.92 
living children each, while the foreign- 
born mothers in the same districts 
have 3.01. We are accustomed to point 
with pity at France as a nation commit- 
ting race suicide, with more deaths than 
births; as a fact, the old American stock 
in New England is dying out more 
rapidly, through race suicide, than is the 
population of France. Unless a change 
takes place, the stock which has 
furnished most of the genealogies and a 
large part of the great men and women 
of America is doomed to perish. 

The inheritance of the tendency to 
produce twins is an interesting trait, not 
without practical as well as theoretical 
importance, which could probably be 
solved were a sufficient number of well- 
kept family trees made available for 
study. It is known that twinning is 
largely a matter of heredity, although 
the exact manner in which the tendency 
is inherited is still obscure. A good ex- 
ample of the danger of hasty generaliza- 
tion is furnished by the announcement 
made by some enthusiastic investigator 
a few years ago” that he had found a 
number of cases which made it evident 
to him that the tendency to twinning 
was due to the father rather than the 
mother. As ordinary twins are due to 
the production of two ova instead of 
one, and as the production of ova can 
hardly be denied to be a function of 
the mother rather than the father, the 
claim is absurd. Yet it is possible 
that a tendency to twinning might be 
sex-linked and transmitted through a 
father to his daughters, as has recently 
been asserted to be the case with high 
egg production in hens. Whatever the 


2 Cited by Weinberg, W. Methode der Vererbungsforschung beim Menschen. 


381 


solution may be, it still lies hidden in 
pedigrees which the genealogist will 
make, or 1s already making. 


DATA ON ALL TRAITS WANTED 


But this list might grow interminably: 
for properly kept genealogical records 
will furnish material, without further 
trouble, for attacking very nearly all 
the problems in human heredity that 
are conceivable. The compiler of family 
histories need only include every phys- 
ical or mental trait possible, bearing in 
mind that the genetist will ask two 
questions about it: 

Is this characteristic inherited ? 

If so, how? 

Nor must it be forgotten that we are 
often as much interested in knowing 
that a given character is not inherited 
under certain conditions, as that it is. 

It is highly desirable that genealogists 
should acquire the habit of stating the 
traits of their subjects in quantitative 
terms. We are too often told that a 
certain amount is ‘‘much;’’ what we 
want to know is how much. ‘Thus, 
instead of saying that an individual 
had fairly good health, tell exactly 
what diseases he had during his life- 
time; instead of remarking that he was 
a good mathematician, tell us some 
anecdote or fact that will allow us to 
judge the extent of his ability in this 
line. Did he keep record of his bank 
balance in his head instead of on paper? 
Was he fond of mathematical puzzles? 
Did he revel in statistics? Was the 
study of calculus a recreation to him? 
Did he solve to his own satisfaction the 
problem of squaring the circle? Such 
things probably will appear trifles to 
the genealogist, but to the eugenist 
they are precious. 

Aside from biology, or that phase of 
it which we call eugenics, genealogy may 
also serve medicine, jurisprudence, soci- 
ology, statistics, and various other 
sciences as well as the ones which it now 
serves. But in most cases, such service 
will have aeugenic aspect. The alliance 
between eugenics and genealogy 1s 
so logical that it cannot be put off much 
longer. 


Berliner Klin- 


ische Wochenschrift Vol. 49, 1912; No. 14, pp. 646-649 (April 1) and No. 15, pp. 697-701 (April 8). 


382 


You may well ask what facilities we 
have for receiving and using pedigrees 
such as I have been outlining, if they 
were made up. Yow care, tall.” of 
course, familiar with the repositories 
which the different patriotic societies, 
the National Genealogical Society, and 
similar organizations maintain, as well 
as the collections of the Library of 
Congress and other great public insti- 
tutions. Anything deposited in such a 
place can be found by the investigators, 
mostly attached to colleges and universi- 
ties, who are actively engaged in eugenic 
research. 

In addition to this, there are certain 
establishments founded for the sole 
purpose of analyzing genealogies from 
a biological or statistical point of view. 
The first of these was the Galton Labor- 
atory of the University of London, 
directed by Karl Pearson. I shall not 
take time to mention the European 
institutions, but shall call to your 
attention the two at work in the 
United States. 

The larger is the Eugenics Record 
Office at Cold Spring Harbor, Long 
Island, New York, directed by Dr. 
Charles B. Davenport, and maintained 
largely through the generosity of Mrs. 
E. H. Harriman. Blank schedules are 
sent to all applicants, in which the 
pedigree of an individual may be easily 
set down, with reference particularly to 
the traits of eugenic importance. When 
desired, the office will send duplicate 
schedules, one of which may be retained 
by the applicant for his own files. The 
schedules filed at the Eugenics Record 
Office are treated as absolutely confi- 
dential, access to them being given only 
to accredited investigators. 

The second institution of this kind is 
the Genealogical Record Office, founded 
and directed by Dr. Alexander Graham 
Bell at 1601 Thirty-fifth Street NW., 
Washington D. C. This devotes itself 
solely to the collection of data regarding 
longevity, and sends out schedules to 
all those in whose families there have 
been individuals attaining the age of 
80 or over. It welcomes correspondence 
on the subject from all who know of 
cases of long life, and endeavors to put 
the particulars on record, especially 


The Journal of Heredity 


with reference to the ancestry and habits 
of the long-lived individual. 


DUTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL 


Persons intelligently interested in 
their ancestry might well consider it a 
duty to society, and to their own 
posterity, to send for one of the Eugenics 
Record Office schedules, fill it out and 
place it on file there, and to do the same 
with the Genealogical Record Office, ~ 
if they are so fortunate as to come of a 
stock characterized by longevity. The 
filling out of these schedules would be 
likely to lead to a new viewpoint of 
genealogy; and when this viewpoint is 
once gained, I am satisfied that the 
student will find it adds immensely to 
his interest in his pursuit. 

You are all familiar with the charge 
of long-standing, that genealogy is a 
subject of no use, a fad of a privileged 
class. I do not need to tell you that 
such a charge is untrue. But I think 
that genealogy can be made a much 
more useful science than it now is, 
and that it will be at the same time 
more interesting to its followers, if it 
ceases to look on itself as an end in 
itself, or solely as a minister to family 
pride. I hope to see it look on itself as 
a handmaid of evolution, just as other 
sciences are coming to do; I hope to see 
it link arms with the great biological 
movement of the present day; I hope 
to see the two of them working in close 
harmony, for the betterment of man- 
kind. 

So much for the science as a whole. 
What can the individual do? Nothing 
better than to broaden his out-look so 
that he may view his family not as an 
exclusive entity, centered in a name, 
dependent on some illustrious man or 
men of the past; but rather as an 
integral part of the great fabric of 
human life, its warp and woof continu- 
ous from the dawn of creation and criss- 
crossed at each generation. When he 
gets this vision, he will desire to make 
his family tree as full as possible, to 
include his collaterals, to note every 
trait which he can find on record, to 
preserve the photographs and measure- 
ments of his own contemporaries, and 


The Editor: Genealogy and Eugenics 


to take a pride in feeling that the history 
of his family is a contribution to human 
knowledge, as well as to the pride of the 
family. 


383 


few, will be felt by all, as a positive, 
dynamic force helping them to lead more 
worthy lives in the short span allotted 
to them, and helping them to leave more 


If the individual genealogist does 
this, the science of genealogy will 
become a splendid servant of the whole 
race, and its influence, not confined to a 


worthy posterity to carry on the names 
they bore and the sacred thread of 
immortality, of which they were for a 
time the custodians.'* 


13 Since the above was written, the Eugenics Record Office has published Bulletin No. 13 on 
“How to Make a Eugenical Family Study.” It gives details of procedure which will be of much 
help to any one interested in eugenic genealogy. 


Big Tree Photograph Contest 


Because of the large number of entries received at the close of the Big Tree 
photograph contest (more than 200 arriving during the final ten days of the offer), 
the Association officials were unable to make an announcement of the result, in 
time for this issue. The full results will be printed in the September issue. 


Stammering and Heredity 


Stammering is largely due to heredity, according to Dr. G. Hudson Makuen, 
who presents a study of 1,000 cases in the Volta Review (July, 1915). 

“Thirty-nine per cent. of my patients,” he says, “‘admitted having or having had 
relatives who stammered, and this percentage is probably too low, because there is 
always a tendency to conceal the facts in matters of this sort, and because stammer- 
ing probably existed in some of the families without the knowledge of the patients. 

“Stammering is an affection that develops with the development of the speech 
of the individual, and it develops chiefly in those children who have inherited, or 
it may be acquired, the physical anomalies which make the development of the 
affection possible or even probable. These anomalous cerebral conditions which 
give rise to stammering may be transmitted from parents who themselves may not 
have stammered, but who possessed all the cortical conditions which usually result 
in the affection and only escaped it through more favorable environmental surround- 
ings.” 


Inheritability of Cancer in Mice 


Cancer in mice is due to the inheritance of a tendency or “diathesis’’ which 
behaves as a Mendelian recessive, according to Maud Slye (Journal of Medical 
Research, XXXII, 1, March, 1915). ‘‘Among over 9,000 autopsies, yielding more 
than 500 cases of spontaneous cancer in this laboratory (Otto S. A. Sprague Memo- 
rial Institute, University of Chicago), the cancers almost without exception have 
occurred in strains of known cancerous ancestry.’”’ Some evidence is offered 
that this regular appearance of the disease in certain strains, and not in others, 
cannot be due to infection. It is stated that mouse cancer is not distinguishable 
from human cancer. The author concludes, ‘‘Cancer is not transmitted as such, 
but rather as a tendency to occur from a given provocation, probably in 
the form of over-irritation. The elimination as far as possible of all forms of 
Over-irritation to the tissues of an individual of high cancer ancestry should go 
far to eliminate the provocation of cancer; and the eugenic control of matings so 
that cancer shall at least not be potential in both sides of the hybrid cross ought 
to eventuate in a considerable decrease in the frequency of human cancer.”’ 


CLT Sty) ‘“suuyed uvorioury yynos oatyeu oy} JO [NFIWNvaq YsOUL 9Y} JO aUO ‘eIUIODOIOY Jo 
uourtoods [njoowss v st ydesisojoyd oy} Jo yYSII oy} YW ‘OBAIL] OJNDsow Jo [[NJ puv praqynd Ayyensn st saavay oy} JO aseq dy} 78 WaT]oo 
SeOp YOTYM Jo} OY} OUTS pUe “potoyeM [Jom AT[PINZeU o1e YOTYM suOIZeI UI ATUO sMmoIs jur|d ay} douts ‘sdeysed ‘ansy uey) onl 
-o1d 940UL ST JUNODR oY, ‘d]qR[IBAw st voINOS Joyo OU UY ‘}t YULp puv puy 0} pres st Jopavsy A4s11y} oY} o1dYM ‘soAvo] a4} jo 
SSE OY} YE SJOOT[OO JVM UTR LY} JOVJ OY} WOIf OULU SPI SoALOp Wed oY, “vULULG dy} Jo aATIEIAI B ‘(SIsuaUDINS DI DUaADY 
StoOABL], UBOLIOWW YINOS oy} jo suswtoads oyI]-Uve} ‘][e} [eJOAVS YJo] 9Y4 ye SuIMOYs ‘TIzeIg ‘oneuel ap ory Jo uapses otue}Oq ayy UT A 


WIVd SHA THAVULL NVOINAINY H.LOOS FH 


L 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


Vol. VI, No. 9 | September, 1915 


CONTENTS 


Color in Cocker Spaniels, by W. M. Barrows and J. Mel. Phillips... .387 


New Publications: 


The Next Generation, by Frederick A. Rhodes...................397 
The Mutation Factor in Evolution, by R. Ruggles Gates....... 432 
Societal Evolution, by Albert Galloway Keller...................432 
limprovincsthe:Chile:Peppertne ie ee ens ae See OOU 
STudessitt Corel ati Ole eee Oa ea ee tse ee SE EOE 
Plant Breeding in Canada, by W. T. Macoun........................398 
lamtabreedineosn Vianylamdrae cme yyat aed eee oo ees os ae ae 403 
Plant Breedine auneMuchigant® . 2. 22, 45222634. eee ns ee eee eee 403 
War’s Aftermath, by David Starr Jordan and Harvey Ernest Jordan 
(CABEVS VR) ene es ee A eS, Ore Rare tIOE otgereke s 404. 
mhotorraphsiotslancevErees ar osc action ae + eG, ates BE on hats oo 407 
Experimental Breeding in Nebraska.......................-.....--- 423 
WValuciotithe Contest, pyaW oH bambi) ee bee ee ee 424 
Plantebnceedinein) South @arolima™-) ..-22662 7s aes ee ees soe 428 
Rosavuconiss bys avid Pairebilde a see esa se 2s ot ee ee ae 429 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Subscription price to non-members, $2.00 a year, foreign postage extra; 
price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter February 24, 1915, at the postoffice at Washing- 
ton, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, August 26, 1915. 


Sycamore, buttonwood or plane tree 


LARGEST TREE FOUND BY THIS ASSOCIATION 
is) near Worthington, Ind., by a big 
the American Genetic Association's 


Platanus occidental 


margin the largest tree submitted in response to tl 
offer of prizes for photographs. It is 42 feet 3 inches in circumference and about 140 
feet high. Barring conifers, among which the California Sequoias defy competition, the 

¥e than anv other tree in North America, and although 


sycamore probably reaches a larger siz 
hiover trees are from time to time made, this asso ‘iation has been unable to get 


rep rts of bigg 
is the Worthington tree in size. Its age is 


authentic record of any specimen V 
lare it has not increased perceptibly 1n size 1n the 


“oldest inhabitants 
Frontispiece. ) 
407 


unknown, but 
last sixty years. 


“Photographs of Large Tree 


COEOR WN: COCKER: SPANIELS 


Study of Eighty-nine Matings Shows Numerous Correlations in Color and Indicates 
That Inheritance Is Along Same Lines as in Pointer Dogs—Analogies 
in Other Breeds 


W. M. Barrows 


Assistant Professor of Zoology, Ohio State 


University, Columbus, Ohio. 


and 
J. Mcl. Puivurps 
Director of Pasteur Institute; Owner, Scioto Kennels; Columbus, Ohio. 


NE of the few serious pieces of 

research work on the inherit- 

ance of coat color in dogs is that 

reported in this journal last 
year by C. C. Little. _He showed! that 
in Pointers, black, brown (liver), and 
yellow (lemon, orange and tan) are 
inherited in true Mendelian fashion, 
segregation showing the colors to be due 
to two factors. 

Little’s data were from the American 
Kennel Club records. The authors of 
this article have utilized private records,” 
comprising eighty-nine matings; in each 
case the record includes the names and 
colors of the grandparents, parents and 
offspring. With this material, we tested 
Little’s conclusions, to see to what 
extent, if any, they hold good for 
Cocker Spaniel dogs. 

It is, perhaps, worth emphasizing 
that our records include every pup born 
in a litter, whether these dogs were 
later registered or not. Dogs are in- 
cluded here that are in some cases 
considered undesirable from the breeders 
standpoint, and would not ordinarily 
be shown or recorded. To the genetist, 
this is naturally a distinct advantage, 
and makes private records rather more 
trustworthy than stud- or herd-book 
records on which most investigators are 
obliged to rely. And as we were per- 
sonally acquainted with the owners of 
the dogs, we were able to take every 
possible precaution to ensure accuracy 


in the records and descriptions of the 
colors. For these reasons we feel that, 
although the total number of matings 
studied is not large, the results are 
worthy of confidence. 

The colors of Cocker Spaniels are 
ordinarily spoken of as blacks, livers, 
reds, and lemons, the reds and lemons 
corresponding to the yellow colors of 
Pointers. It is well known that livers 
may occur in two shades, one a dark 
chestnut, the other a lighter, more faded 
liver color. The reds vary from ma- 
hogany to lemon, through the red and 
orange shades. The colors known as 
lemons are difficult to distinguish from 
the reds, in fact a good many reds are 
registered in the Kennel Records as 
lemon, and some lemons as red. The 
lemon color may be a brilliant lemon or 
dull buff, almost without lustre. In 
distinguishing red and lemon the final 
test is the color of the offspring when the 
doubtful animal is mated with a recog- 
nized lemon. Asa rule a lemon pup is 
cream or white at birth, and becomes 
darker with age, while a red shows 
considerable color at birth. 

Our method in attempting to deter- 
mine whether or not the scheme sug- 
gested by Little would hold for Cocker 
Spaniels was as follows: a table was 
constructed to show what results might 
be expected when a dog of any color 
type was crossed with a bitch of any 
color type. This arrangement is re- 


‘Coat Color in Pointer Dogs, Journal of Heredity, Vol. V, no. 6, pp. 244-248; June, 1914. 


2 The largest number of records are from the Scioto Kennels. 
Hark, Mrs. M. G. Faber, Mrs. Bonner, Mrs. Walls, F. E. Curtis and Mrs. F. J. Frank. 


Others were furnished by O. B. 
We take 


this opportunity to thank them for their interest and help in this study. 


387 


CHAMPLON FRANZA 


A good specimen of the black and tan bicolor Cocker Spaniel, with typical markings, owned 
by the Daffodil Farm Kennels (Mrs. F. J. Frank). From a genetic point of view, this 
color combination is to be looked on as due to a pattern-factor which allows a lighter 

(lemon) color to show on certain well-defined areas of the body The bicolor combination 

hy sive, so when two black and tan animals are mat 


is certainly 
lid-colored ones. Fig. 1.) 


é -d, they should always 
produce bicolor potted dogs, never any sol 


Barrows and Phillips: Color in Cocker Spaniels 389 
n ” 
Espacio cpt cupd gee ca) gel ees i eMC ge 
See een On nO ee ati.) Or Cates 
wo | cB | BLACK | BLACK | BLACK | BLACK | LIVER | LIVER | RED REDS eee 
LEMON 
Zygotes || [oe BE] BE ie [aR DE [ BE be [BE BE [he bel Bee [Bebe [be be 
Gametes mee toe ora eee bE | be | bE | Be | Be | Be | be | tbe | be 
Be | mE 
Class] Brack a rE | B B 
Class 2 Brack BE | BE | Ee 1B 1B 
Be as is 1R IR_ | 1R 
Class 3 stack BE | BE | 3B 1B 3B 1B 
ee i 1L 1L ites) Ae 
Class 4 stack selec] || : oe 2 3B 3R/1B IR 
be a ae | 1L 1Y/iL 1¥ 
1B 
Class 5 iver a Ea 2 
Ua re on =e 
iL 1¥| 1¥ 
Class 7 
R 


Class 9 


YELLOW | be 
LEMON 


S52 a a 
ee et ae 


i SS a ae 


BREEDING COCKER SPANIELS BY ALGEBRA 


Table I, for determination of average results to be obtained by interbreeding the different 


colors of Cocker Spaniels. 


and then trace the columns to the square in which they meet. 
and their average relative numbers will be found. 

indicates that the entire litter will be of that color. B 
The class to which a given dog belongs can in some cases be deter- 


late, and Y=lemon. 


To use table, first determine the class to which each dog belongs 


Here the colors to be expected 
A single large letter in the square 
=black, R=red, L=liver or choco- 


mined by a careful analysis of the pedigree and its color, in others by the results of a previous 


mating. 


Or the procedure may be reversed. To determine the class of any animal ex- 


amine a litter the result of mating with another animal, preferably of another color. 
The determination of the class of two black parents is the most difficult and several other 
matings may be necessary b2fore an accurate determination 1s made. 


produced herewith as Table I. A 
glance at the table will show that, 
using Littie’s formulae in which BE 
represents the essentials of the black 
color type, there will be four possible 
kinds of black dogs. These are BE BE, 
BE Be, BE bE, BE be, and will be 
mentioned as classes 1, 2, 3, and 4 
respectively. So far as we have been 
able to learn there is no way to deter- 
mine accurately, from the external 
appearance, to which class a given black 
dog may belong. However, rusty black 
dogs do not belong to class 1. Two 
classes of livers will be noted, bE bE, 
and bE be, classes 5 and 6. Two 
kinds of reds Be Be, and Be be, classes 
7 and 8, are found; but only one kind 
of lemon, be be, class 9, can occur. 


The red colors of Cockers seem to 
differ from the yellows of Pointers in 
being usually very clearly red, not 
yellow. For convenience we will here- 
after speak of the different color types 
of dogs by giving their class numbers 
as they are shown in the table. Table I 
was next used by taking the individual 
pedigrees and determining from them 
the class to which each dog belongs; 
for example, Lucky is known to be of 
class 3, that is, he has the formula 
BE Be. He should be found to have 
the same formula judging by his off- 
spring no matter to what color of bitch 
he was mated. In this particular case 
we have found in the records that Lucky 
belongs to class 3. We have records of 
nine of his matings, five times to females 


The Journal of Heredity 


11B(2) |10B) 


7 Bit) 


HOW EXPECTATION WAS FULFILLED 


Table II shows the results of crossing various types of Cocker Spaniels, made up from the 


records of matings furnished to the authors, and based on Table I. 


Only those matings 


are here shown in which the formula (class) of each parent is known from two or more 


matings, 
the number litters. 


of class 3 or 4, three times to class 7, 
and once to class 8. The results of the 
first five matings gave thirty-six blacks 
and twelve livers, an exact agreement 
with the table. The next three matings, 
(classes 3 by 7) yielded fifteen black 
pups. The last mentioned cross (3 by 8) 
gave four blacks and one liver. In this 
list each of the red bitches of class 7 
was mated more than once and in each 
mating behaved as a class 7 should, 
no discordant results being obtained. 

We have now double-checked each 
individual which occurs in two or more 
matings, and find that the records show 
the actual existence of each of the 
nine classes represented, and that with 
two exceptions the results accord with 
those expected from Table I. Table II 
shows part of our actual records. 

A comparison of this table with 
Table I will show that the results agree 
very closely with those expected. The 
litter shown as a result of the mating 


B=black, R=red, L=liver, Y=lemon or yellow. 


Figures in parenthesis indicate 


of class 4 by class 4 is placed here 
because the sire when mated to a red of 
class 8 gave four blacks and one liver. 
The only possible arrangement of these 
litters is to class one as 4 by 4 and the 
other as 4 by 8. This is, perhaps, the 
most questionable case given in the 
table. We have no records of the 
matings of liver to liver. But Rev. T. 
Moore-Smith, an extensive breeder of 
Irish Water Spaniels, writes us that 
they always breed true in his kennel, and 
so their formula is probably bE bE, 
and they represent the mating 5 by 5. 

The litter shown as a result of two 
livers (6 by 6) is a litter of English 
Water Spaniels. However, there is 
probably very little objection to its 
inclusion since at one time both English 
and Irish Water Spaniels were freely 
bred with the Cocker Spaniels. 

Out of eighty-nine litters there were 
two which could not be fitted into the 
table. A red dog of class 8 was sup- 


Barrows and Phillips: Color in Cocker Spaniels 391 


CHAMPION MEPAL’S THE JUDGE 


By examination of pedigree and the results of previous matings, it 


is known that this red 


and white Cocker Spaniel has the formula Be Be, and also carries the recessive bicolor 


factor. 


On the basis of this information, it will henceforth be possible to predict with 


fair accuracy the kind of pups that will be produced from his mating with any female 


of known genetic makeup. 
without exception, red. 


posedly mated to one of class 7. The 
litter resulting contained one red, one 
liver, and one lemon. It was recognized 
at once that for two reds to produce 
anything but red or lemon was decidedly 
out of the ordinary. Our data shows 
that in seventeen matings of red by red, 
eighty-three red or lemon pups resulted. 
This one exception, then, cannot well 
offset such clear evidence that red by 
red gives red or lemon especially when 
one considers the difficulty of keeping 
these active little dogs confined when 
the breeding period lasts from five to 
twelve days. 

The second exception occurs in the 
cross of a black of class 2 with a black 
which we may call Bob. The first 
cross yielded six blacks. The second 
time that this mating was made its 


Photograph from H. K. Bloodgood’s Mepal Kennels. 


If the latter is red, yellow or lemon, all the pups should be, 


(Bicee22) 


result was four blacks and one red. 
Taken by themselves these two litters 
are not necessarily incompatible. Two 
other matings with Bob show conclu- 


sively that he is class 1. Hence the 
second litter mentioned above was 
probably not sired by Bob. In this 


case whelping occurred several days 
ahead of time. This, taken with some 
other evidence shows conclusively that 
the mating was not correctly recorded. 
The conclusion to be drawn from a 
comparison of the two tables is, that in 
Cocker Spaniels the clear colors are 
inherited in typical Mendelian fashion 
and can be accurately predicted when 
the type of the parent is known and due 
regard is given to the i 
chance in fertilization. 


vagaries of 


The Journal of Heredity 


CHAMPION SCIOTO TAD POLE 


Black and white Cocker Spaniel bitch owned by the Scioto Kennels (Dr. J. MclI. Phillips). 


There occurs occasionally among 
Cockers a dilute color (dilute black), 
known as blue, and also individuals 
which appear to be white. Fig. 6 
shows Simcoe Purity, one of these 
whites, owned by Frank E. Curtis. 


Her formula has been ascertained to be BE Be, and reference to the table published on 
another page makes it easy to predict the results of mating her with any kind of dog of 
the same breed, whose formula is likewise known. Black is a harder color to work with 
than any other in Cocker Spaniels, because research shows that there are four kinds of 
black which look alike but breed differently. Furthermore, the presence of white (or 
‘spotting ’’) adds another complication, because it is apparently due to a number of separate 
factors, which usually act as a unit. As the spotting is usually dominant, we can say at 
a glance that the pups of this bitch will probably all be spotted, but whether they will 
be black and white or red and white can only be predicted by complete knowledge of the 
genetic makeup of the dog with which she will be mated. (Fig. 3.) 


DILUTE COLORS in these words: “I bred Purity to his 
two litter sisters Doris and Betty and 
never failed to get one or two pure white 
pups in every litter, and with one excep- 
tion they were always strong and 
healthy. I usually had in each litter 
what might be called a blue pup (in my 
opinion a miserable color) the others 


Simcoe Purity was from a solid black were either red or black. When Purity 
sire and a solid red dam. In the same was in stud he was bred to outside 
litter were two red females, Doris and bitches, but never threw a pure white 


Bet 


ty. Mr. Curtis describes the pro- pup.” ‘Purity’s eyes, nose, and foot 


ductions of whites and blues from these pads were black.”’ 


Barrows and Phillips: Color in Cocker Spaniels 


3 9 3 


CHAMPION SCIOTO PHILIP 


Red and white Cocker Spaniel owned by Dr. J. MclI. Phillips; his formula is known to be Be 


be, and he also carries the bicolor factor. 


Mated with a black female of pure ancestry, 


all the pups will be black; mated with a red female of pure ancestry, all the pups will be 
red; while if the mating is with a female that likewise carries the bicolor factor, all the 


pups will be bicolor. 


case of a mating with any other type of Cocker Spaniel. 


This single pedigree is mentioned to 
show that dilute colors do occur, and 
that the dilution factor is a recessive 
and becomes visible only occasionally 
or as a result of inbreeding in a strain 
which carries it. It seems improbable 
that the whites mentioned are true 
albinos. We are inclined to consider 
them as dilute lemon. Dilute reds are 
cream in color. The photograph of 
Simcoe Purity shows a slight darkening 
which might be due to yellow, invisible 
to the eye, but accentuated by the 
photographic plate. 


ROAN PATTERN 


A mixture of white hairs with the 
normally colored ones gives rise to the 
roan colors, of which our records show 
two litters. In the first a blue roan 


Results of the mating can be predicted with fair accuracy in the 


(Fig. 4.) 


(black with white hairs) mated with a 
red spotted gave three black and white 
pups and two red roans, in the second 
another blue roan mated with red 
spotted gave three blue roans, and one 
liver roan. This is probably a 3 by 8 
mating, the roan animal being homo- 
zygous for the roan factor. The roan 
pattern factor is evidently dominant. 


SPOTTING 

Spotting occurs in two general types, 
which we shall speak of as ordinary 
spotting and bicolor spotting. The 
ordinary spotting is the common condi- 
tion in which the dog is more or less 
irregularly marked with patches of 
black and white, red and white, lemon 
and white, or liver and white. The 
spots vary from small breast or face 


394 The ‘Journal of Heredity 


CHAMPION LUCKY 


Black and white Cocker Spaniel owned by Pleasant Hill Kennels (O. B. Hark). Investigation 
of his pedigree showed that his formula was BE Be (class 3). According to theory, when | 
he is mated with a female of similar genetic makeup, the pups should be 75% black and | 
25% liver. Five matings of this sort were recorded, and it was found that they resulted 
in thirty-six blacks and twelve livers—an exact agreement with the calculated total. 
By the law of chance, the results will not always come so close, when a small number is 
concerned; but it is evident that much of the uncertainty surrounding dog-breeding will 
be removed by the use of such Mendelian calculations as are described in the accompanying 
article. (Fig. 5.) 


splashes to the condition in which the Spotting is dominant in this case as 
dog is largely white, with afew scattered in most cases so far studied, and is 
marks of color. The method of inher- apparently due to multiple factors, 
itance is shown in the accompanying’ which in their most perfect development 
summary of our records. act as asingle factor. The irregularities 


Table ITI 


Wiatino All Individuals Individuals Mixed All Individuals 
ole Spotted Spotted and Solid Solid 
Spotted by spotted 207 13 10 4 
(30 litters (5 litters) (1 litter) 
Spotted by solid 18 49 45 13 
(3 litters) (12 litters) (2 litters) 
Solid by solid 2 (very small spots on 19 
breast) (2 litters) 


(1 litter) 


SIMCOE PURITY, A WHITE COCKER SPANIEL 


A valuable “‘sport’’ in the breed is this dog, produced in the Simcoe kennels of r. 
He is the offspring of a solid black dog and a solid red bitch. 


Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. 


B. Curtis: 


The animal is not an albino, for his nose and foot-pads, as well as eyes, are dark in color. 


He is probably to be considered a dilute lemon. 


The value of inbreeding is well illustrated 


in a case like this: bred to outside females, Purity has produced no white pups, but when 
mated with his own close relatives a few pups in each litter are white. Asa result, a pure 


white strain, hitherto unknown in the breed, might be established. 


in the table probably arise from the 
curious behavior of the spotting factor 
in different strains of dogs. If two 
individuals, which show small spots, 
coming from a solid color strain, are 
crossed, half of the resulting offspring 
are apt to be solid color, while the rest 
will be spotted. Selection for larger 
areas of white or color has a cumulative 
effect, which affects the ratio of spotted 
to solid offspring. 

Another cause of apparent irregular- 
ities in the table arises from the fact 
that a dog showing a breast spot or 
white on the toes may be classed as a 
solid color in the kennel records. The 
two litters of thirteen solid color pups, 
shown in the last column of the table 
are from a tricolor mated with a spotted 


See Pocock, R. I., 1907. 
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7. 


(Fig. 6.) 


dog. The bicolor pattern factor, which 
will be described later, seems to have 
some effect in producing pups of solid 
color. 

The second type of spotting, which 
we shall call bicolor spotting,? is in 
reality due to a pattern factor which 
allows a lighter (hypostatic) color to 
show on certain definite parts of the 
body. For example the condition most 
frequently seen is that of a black dog 
having dark or light red or lemon spots 
over each eye, and extended red areas 
distributed on the sides of the muzzle, 
inside of the ear, posterior surfaces of 
the legs, and on the ventral sides of the 
chest, abdomen, and tail. This pattern 
is most striking when found on dogs 
showing much black, but it is commonly 


On the Black-and-Tan Pattern of Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris). 
Vol. 19, pp. 192-194. 


396 The Journal 


met in animals of other colors. Liver 
colored dogs may be marked with 
red or lemon, red dogs with lemon. If 
white occurs along with the bicolor 
pattern the dog is usually described as 
tricolor. 

The inheritance of this factor is 
indicated by the following observation: 
Three matings in which principals are 
not bicolors or tricolors, but have 
tricolors among their ancestors, yield 
twenty-one non-tricolors and three tri- 
colors, as shown in the pedigree below. 
Among these noted as non-tricolor are 
probably some red_ bicolors. When 
tricolors are crossed with non-tricolors 
which come from strains not showing the 
bicolor or tricolor patterns there result 
only plain colored offspring. However 
in two cases where tricolors were crossed 
with non-tricolors from strains con- 
taining the tricolor factors there occurred 
seven non-tricolor and three tricolor 
offspring. 

The bicolor factor is certainly reces- 
sive.~ “Certain combinations should al- 
ways produce tricolors. For example a 
tricolor of class 2 mated with a liver and 
white of class 5 which shows the buff 
marks should produce litters consisting 
exclusively of black tricolors. Several 
similar matings are possible, as can be 
seen from the table. We know of no 
such mating, but it should be an easy 
matter to test this hypothesis. 

The tricolor markings with the hypo- 
static colors are limited, in the following 
breeds, to the same areas as in Cockers; 


of Heredity 


Dachshunde, Toy Black and Tans, 
Manchester Terriers, Gordon Setters, 
King Charles and Prince Charles Spani- 
els, some Fox Terriers, Pointers, Beagles 
and Collies. The combination of red 
with lemon marks is more often found 
in Collies than in any other breed. 

In certain Fox Terriers and Beagles 
the tan extends further up on the legs, 
and over the face, until the black is 
limited to the ears, the upper part of the - 
occiput, and over the back and sides. 
In the Welsh Terriers this distribution 
of color -is the usual one. In the 
Airedale the black is limited to a saddle 
commencing at the withers and extend- 
ing over the back, tail and sides. All 
of these markings are probably due to 
the same pattern factor which we call 
bicolor in Cockers. 

This pedigree was sent to us by one 
of our correspondents, as an example of 
the absolutely unpredictable nature of 
the heredity of colors in Cocker Spaniels! 
The solid red parent is evidently of 
class 8, while the liver and white parent 
is of class 6. The presence of a tric 
color pup, and the fact that approxi- 
mately half of the pups were spotted 
makes the pedigree most interesting. 
We shall leave it to the reader to decide 
whether or not the results of this mating 
could have been predicted with fair 
accuracy. 

In this mating the number of lemons 
is insufficient. One of those noted as 
red may be, in reality,alemon. In our 
records lemon seems to occur less often 


Red (solid) 


[1 Liver, 1 liver and white. 
1 Red, 1 red and white. 
)1 Black, 1 black and white. 


1 Black and 
(tricolor). 


white with orange marks 


Liver and white 


Black 
Orange and white 
Liver and white 
Black 
Blac k 
Black, white and orange marks, 
(tricolor). 
Black 
Black 
Liver and white 
Black 
Black, white and 


orange marks, 
(tric olor). 


Liver and white 


New Publications 


than it is expected. This lack could be 
explained by the hypothesis that the 
gametes containing be are not as active 
in the fertilization process as_ those 
which contain B or E or both. 


EYE, FOOT-PAD, AND NOSE COLORS 


While we do not have complete 
records of the eye, foot-pad and nose 
colors, there are a few general observa- 
tions which it seems well to add here 
for the sake of calling attention to the 
association of these colors. 

The eye colors of Cockers range from 
black through various shades of brown 
to yellow. The eye color is not neces- 
sarily correlated with the coat color, or 
the color of the nose and foot-pads, 
except in the case of liver colored 
individuals where the eye is usually not 
darker than the coat, and is commonly 


397 


have black, brown or yellow eyes. As 
far as our records go they show that the 
darker colors are epistatic to the lighter 
ones. 

The nose color is always the same as 
the color of the foot pads. Black dogs 
alwavs have black noses, while red dogs 
may have black or brown noses and 
foot pads, and may also have black 
spots on the skin which are not associ- 
ated with colored spots in the coat. 
Lemon colored dogs may have the nose 
and foot pads black, brown, or a 
dusky pink. Chocolate colored dogs 
always have chocolate nose and foot 
pads. Itisclearthat the red animal can 
produce black pigment in the skin and 
eye but not in the hair, while the 
chocolate or liver colored individual 
can produce no black either in the eye 


much lighter. A black or red dog may _ or skin. 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


THE NEXT GENERATION, by Frederick A. Rhodes, Chairman of the Morals Efficiency 
Committee of Pittsburgh. Pp. 290, price $1.50 net. Boston, Richard G. Badger, 1915. 


Dr. Rhodes has attempted to test a great many social problems by the principles 
of biology, but his book bears the evidence of being hastily put together from news- 
paper articles, and is not likely to take rank as a serious contribution to eugenics. 
Although its scope and general attitude toward race betterment are admirable, the 
work is marred by a great many errors of fact, and a tendency to substitute quoted 
opinions of other people for reports of research. It is easy reading, however, and 
may lead students of the wide range of problems on which he touches to desire 
further knowledge of what biology has to offer them; in this case it will perform a 
real service. 


Improving the Chile Pepper 


The chile pepper (Capsicum annuum), so much relished by Mexicans, is the object 
of attention at the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station, where for the last 
five years it has been improved by selection for larger, smoother, fleshier pods and 
freedom from blight. Three good strains have been perpetuated from the fifteen 
with which the experiment started. 


Studies in Correlation 


Correlation is the principal concern of breeding studies, at the Montana Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station, the characters of plants being measured in comparison 
with those of their parents. Practical breeding of various cereals is also being done. 


PLANT BREEDING IN CANADA 


Work at Dominion Experimental Farms Begun by Late Dr. William Saunders— 
Mostly with Apples—Many Hardy Types Produced—Work with 
Vegetables and Ornamentals. 
W. T. Macoun 
Dominion Horticulturist, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Canada. 


HE breeding of horticultural 
plants at the Dominion Experi- 
mental Farms was begun when 
the late Dr. Wm. Saunders 

brought from London, Ont., in 1888, 
a large collection of bush fruits and 
grapes which he had accumulated as a 
result of his work in cross-breeding 
begun in 1868. Since 1888 a continuous 
effort has been made to originate new 
varieties of fruits, vegetables and flowers 
which would be more useful in some 
parts of Canada than anything available 
from other sources. Canada had up to 
that time depended almost entirely 
for new varieties of fruits on foreign 
countries and while this is true to a 
large extent today, much has been done 
by the Dominion Experimental Farms 
to develop new plants. While the main 
purpose has been to obtain new varieties 
of commercial value, the possible dis- 
covery of underlying principles has 
been kept constantly in mind. 

As the main work in breeding has 
been with the apple, the greater part 
of this article will be devoted to giving 
an account of what has been done with 
this fruit. 

In 1887, seed of the wild Siberian 
crab apple Pyrus baccata was imported 
from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Petro- 
grad, Russia, and sown at the Central 
Experimental Farm, Ottawa. Young 
trees grown from this seed were sent 
to the Experimental Farms at Brandon, 
Man., and Indian Head, Sask., in the 
prairie provinces, where the winters are 
very severe, the temperature at Indian 
Head falling at times to 50 below zero, 
Fahr. These trees proved quite hardy 
on a practically treeless prairie, while 
trees of cultivated varieties of crab 
apples and apples succumbed. 

398 


The fruit of this wild crab apple is 
very small, only half an inch in diameter, 
and it is quite astringent. In 1894 the 
late Dr. Wm. Saunders, then Director 
of the Experimental Farms, began 
crossing this wild crab apple with named 
varieties of apples in the hope of 
obtaining fruits of larger size and better 
quality than P. baccata but which would 
retain sufficient hardiness to endure the 
climate of the prairie provinces. All the 
crosses recorded have P. baccata as the 
mother; reciprocal crosses were not 
made. One hundred and sixty trees 
resulted from the first crossing and 
several hundred from subsequent work, 
or about 800 in all. 

Some of the varieties of apples used as 
male parents are Tetofsky, Duchess, 
Wealthy, Anis, Beautiful Arcad, Broad 
Green, Excelsior, Fameuse, American 
Golden Russet, Haas, Herren, Krimskoe, 
McIntosh, McMahan, Osimoe, Pewau- 
kee, Red Astrachan, Ribston, Scott 
Winter, Simbirsk No. 9, Swayzie, Tol- 
man, Winter St. Lawrence and Yellow 
Transparent. 

In 1899 thirty-six of the first crosses 
bore fruit and five of them were consid- 
ered large enough and sufficiently good 
in quality to be propagated. By far 
the largest proportion produced fruit 
not sufficiently larger than the mother 
parent and of so inferior a quality as to 


be not worthy of propagation, but 
sixteen varieties were thought suffi- 


ciently promising to name. On weigh- 
ing average specimens it was found that 
the best of these were from twelve to 
fourteen times heavier than the fruit of 
P.baccata. The largest fruits, however, 
were under 2 inches in diameter. 

The better varieties of these crosses 
have little ornoastringency and compare 


Macoun: Plant Breeding in Canada 


very favorably in quality with the named 
crab apples on the market. Nearly all 
of them retained the marked crab 
characteristics of long, slender stem; 
thin, tender skin, and crisp, breaking 
flesh. 


SOME HARDY VARIETIES 


After being propagated and_ thor- 
oughly tested on the prairies some of 
these have proved hardier than any 
other varieties of apples or crab apples 
tested, thus marking a stage of develop- 
ment in hardy apples for the prairie 
provinces. Some of the hardiest varie- 
ties have proved to be Jewel (P. baccata 
by Yellow Transparent, size 1.4 by 
1.3 inches), Columbia (P. baccata by 
Broad Green, size 1.8 by 1.6 inches), 
Charles (P. baccata by Tetofsky, size 
1.6 by 1.5 inches), Silvia (P. baccata by 
Yellow Transparent, size 1.4 by 1.5 
inches), Tony (P. baccata by McMahan, 
size 1.6 by 1.4 inches), Elsa (P. baccata 
by Yellow Transparent, size 1.4 by 1.3 
inches), Eve (P. baccata by Simbirsk 
No. 9, size 1.6 by 1.2 inches). Seedlings 
grown from these gave in nearly every 
case fruit smaller than the parent. As 
none of the fruits resulting from this 
cross was large enough to compare 
favorably with less hardy varieties of 
apples and crab apples, the best of 
these first crosses were, in 1904, re- 
crossed with named varieties of apples 
with the object of obtaining varieties 
bearing larger fruits but which would 
retain sufficient hardiness to be grown 
in the open on the prairies. 

In this work Dr. Saunders used the 
crosses as the mother parents in all 
cases. The varieties of apples used as 
male parents are McIntosh, Baldwin, 
Cranberry, Duchess, Northern Spy, 
October, Scott Winter, Simbirsk No. 9, 
Tetofsky, Yellow Transparent, Ontario, 
Gideon, Rideau, Haas, August, Walter, 
- Wealthy, McMahan. From seeds ob- 
tained through this work 407 trees were 
grown at Ottawa which began to fruit 
in 1910 and of which a large proportion 
have borne. While many of these have 
borne fruit no larger than the mother 
parent, 24 have produced apples two 
inches and more in diameter. Some of 
the largest varieties which have fruited 


599 


are Wapella (Dean by Ontario) size 
2.25 by 2.25 inches; Angus (Dean by 
Ontario) size 2 by 2.5 inches. The 
parentage of Dean is P. baccata by 
Wealthy. Martin (Pioneer by Ontario) 
size 2.25 by 2.37 inches; Gretna (Pioneer 
by Northern Spy),2 by 2.25inches. The 
parentage of Pioneer is P. baccata by 
Tetofsky. Most of these second crosses 
retain the long, slender stem, the thin, 
tender skin, and the crisp, breaking flesh 
which are characteristic of Pyrus baccata, 
but a few are quite apple like. 

It is not known yet whether these 
will be sufficiently hardy or not, but 
this will soon be determined. 

It is to be regretted that the apple 
(Pyrus malus) was not used as the 
mother in these crosses, as it is believed 
by the writer that larger apples would 
have been obtained more quickly, but 
size might have been obtained at the 
expense of hardiness which is the first 
consideration on the prairies. If these 
second crosses prove hardier than any 
other apples or crab apples which have 
been tested they will mark another 
step in advance. 


NEWER WORK WITH APPLES 


As some of the Russian varieties of 
apples had proved hardy in certain 
places in the prairie provinces and had 
produced considerable quantities of 
fruit, a new line of breeding hardy apples 
for the prairies was begun by the writer 
in 1912. Seed was sown of such hardy 
varieties as Anis, Anisette, Antonovka, 
Beautiful Arcad, Blushed Calville, Char- 
lamoff, Hibernal, Tetofsky and Yellow 
Transparent. After the trees had made 
one season’s growth in the seed bed 
they were transplanted one foot apart 
into nursery rows 3 feet apart on the 
six Experimental Farms at Brandon, 
Man., Indian Head, Sask., Rosthern, 
Sask., Scott, Sask., Lacombe, Alta., and 
Lethbridge, Alta., and a few were sent 
to a sub-station at Fort Vermilion in the 
Peace River District. Some 50,000 
trees were planted out.in this way and 
it is planned to plant many more. 
Many of these trees have now passed 
through three winters and some of 
them have proved quite hardy, though 
a marked difference in this respect has 


400 The Journal of Heredity 


THE SIBERIAN CRAB APPLE 


Actual size of the hardy Siberian crab apple (Pyrus baccata) which is being used 
by Canadian government breeders to cross with cultivated apples and 
produce a type that will be more resistant to the cold of the northern 
prairies. Some of the hybrids had fairly good flavor, without the astrin- 
gency of the Siberian crab, but they lacked size, so they were recrossed 
with cultivated apples. The result is promising, in size and flavor, but 
it remains to be seen whether the hardiness of the Siberian stock has been 
retained. (Fig 7.) 


been found. The hardy ones are now There is a very large area in Canada 
being transplanted to orchards for where the apple succeeds well, but 
further test. It is hoped in this way where the range of suitable varieties is 
also to obtain hardy varieties for limited as up to recent years Canada 
Canada’s coldest climates. has depended mainly on foreign conu- 


Macoun: Plant Breeding in Canada 


tries for her fruits, and many of the 
varieties introduced from warm coun- 
tries: have only been suitable for the 
most favored districts in Canada, hence 
an effort has been made to obtain other 
and hardier sorts which will cover the 
season better. As the Horticultural 
Division was not organized to do much 
work in cross-breeding, the writer, in 
1898, believing that in an orchard at the 
Central Experimental Farm containing 
between 400 and 500 named varieties 
of apples all sorts of combinations of 
characters would be taking place by 
natural pollination and that the chance 
of obtaining some good varieties would 
be very great, had seed saved of some 
of the best flavored apples then fruiting 
in the orchard as well as some other 
varieties desirable on account of other 
characteristics. There were included in 
these McIntosh, St. Lawrence, Fameuse, 
Wealthy, Shiawassee, Swayzie, North- 
ern Spy, Winter St. Lawrence, Lang- 
ford Beauty, Scott Winter, Salome, 
Lawver, Gano and American Golden 
Russet. 


OPEN-POLLINATION SEEDLINGS 


The seedlings from these were planted 
in the orchard in 1901 and later until 
about 2,000 were set out, The results 
from this work have been very grati- 
fying. The first tree to fruit from seed 
was a Wealthy seedling now called 
Crusoe which fruited in 1903, two years 
after planting and five years from seed. 
Detailed descriptions have been made 
of the fruit of more than 1,200 of these 
seedlings. There have been so many 
good apples among them that 100 
varieties have been named because giv- 
ing promise of being useful in some part 
of Canada. The male parent was 
unknown in this series of seedlings, 
but it is very interesting to note that a 
large proportion of such seedling varie- 
ties from McIntosh, Wealthy, and 
Northern Spy had characteristics 
strongly resembling the mother parent, 
while Fameuse, Swayzie, St. Lawrence 
and others were lacking in this respect, 
although in the case of Swayzie the 
spicy flavor of the mother parent was 
marked in most of the seedlings. Only 
about 5% of the seedlings have been 


401 


small or crab-like. Further details in 
regard to these seedlings will be found 
in the reports of the Experimental 
Farms. 

Following are the names of some of 
the best varieties: 

McIntosh Seedlings—Melba, Joyce, Pedro. 
These are three apples of the McIntosh type: 
the Melba, an August apple, the Joyce, a 
September apple, and the Pedro, an October 
apple, thus extending the season of apples of 
this type. 

Northern Spy Seedlings ——Autumn: Galton, 
Epsom, Thurso, Rocket, Tasty. Early winter: 
Lipton, Ascot. Winter: Elmer, Emilia, Spar- 
ta, Niobe. 


While it is not claimed for any of 
these that they are better than Northern 
Spy or quite as good in most cases, they 
have all proved hardier than Northern 
Spy at Ottawa and they give a longer 
season of apples of the Northern Spy 
type. 

The names might be given of seedlings 
of other varieties but as McIntosh and 
Northern Spy are two of the most 
popular varieties grown, their seedlings 
are given as examples. Detailed de- 
scriptions will be found in the annual 
reports of the Experimental Farms. 

Previous to this series of seedlings, 
some 3,000 trees raised from seed 
received from north of Riga in Russia 
in 1890 had been tested but had given 
practically nothing of value as the 
fruit as a rule was of inferior quality. 


CROSS-BREEDING APPLES 


A little work in cross-breeding was 
done in the Horticultural Division in 
1895 when McMahan was crossed with 
Scott Winter and Walbridge with Nor- 
thern Spy, but beginning in 1899 some 
work has been done almost every year 
since. The parents used in making 
crosses are Anis, Anisim, Antonovka, 
Baldwin, Baxter, Bethel, Bingo, Cobalt, 
Crusoe, Duchess of Oldenburgh, Dyer, 
Danville, Fameuse, Forest, Glenton, 
Gravenstein, Hibernal, Lawver, Low- 
land Raspberry, Malinda, Milwaukee, 
McIntosh, McMahan, Newton, Nor- 
thern Spy, North Western Greening, 
R. I. Greening, Rosalie, Rouleau, Scott, 
Winter, Stone, Winter Rose, and Wal- 
ton. Reciprocal crosses have been made 
in many cases. There have been two 


402 The Journal 


main objects in view in this work, first 
to obtain hardier winter apples for the 
colder parts of Canada where apples are 
grown commercially and, second, to 
obtain early bearing varieties covering 
the whole season, as there seems to be 
no good reason why more apples of the 
Northern Spy type should not be 
obtained which will bear as early as 
Wealthy and Wagener. 

More than 1,000 trees are now grow- 
ing as a result of a little crossing almost 
every year and nearly 100 of these have 
already fruited. So far not many 
apples have fruited which have been 
thought worthy of propagation, but 
there have been a few from a cross 
between McIntosh and Lawver where 
the object was to obtain varieties which 
would keep better than McIntosh. 

In six out of ten crosses which have 
fruited with Lawver as the mother no 
marked resemblance to either parent is 
recorded, and similarly in three of the 
six with McIntosh as the mother. Of 
the four varieties with Lawver as the 
mother that have marked characteris- 
tics of the parent, two have distinct 
McIntosh flavor and two _ resemble 
McIntosh in color. The Lawver char- 
acteristics are not very marked. Of the 
six varieties with McIntosh as the 
mother only two show marked resem- 
blance to either parent in the important 
characteristics of color, flesh, and flavor, 
although as regards season a large 
proportion resembles both parents. The 
McIntosh seedlings from open pollina- 
tion have given a larger proportion with 
marked McIntosh characteristics than 
has been the case in this cross. While 
there are none of the sixteen varieties 
of this cross which have yet fruited 
which are as good as MelIntosh in 
quality, ten of the sixteen are better than 
Lawver in quality and thirteen of the 
sixteen are later in season than McIn- 
tosh, and most of the varieties are of 
high colour and attractive in appear- 
ance. Following are those which have 
been named: Lawver by MclIntosh- 
Holz, Vermac. McIntosh by Lawver- 
Mavis, Rustler. 

The new varieties of apples which 
have been referred to are being tested 
in different parts of Canada and no 


of Heredity 


doubt some of them some day will take 
their place among the list of best 
varieties offered for sale, but their 
introduction is not being pushed as 
there are too many already. 


WORK WITH OTHER FRUITS 


Pears.—Some work has been done in 
recent years with pears. It has been 
found that certain Russian varieties 
such as Bessemianka and Gliva Kurs- 
kaya are comparatively immune from 
fire blight and these have been crossed 
with other and better varieties. 

Plums.—lLittle cross-breeding has 
been done but many seedlings have been 
grown of Prunus americana and P. nigra, 
some of which have been named. It is 
believed that P. nigra offers the better 
field of work as it has more good char- 
acteristics for Canadian conditions than 
P. americana. 

Cherries.—Seedlings are being grown 
of a wild cherry from North-Eastern 
Asia called Prunus tomentosa, the fruit 
of which varies considerably. This is a 
bush cherry which is hardy where the 
tree cherries do not succeed. Varieties 
with better fruit are sought. 

Grapes.—Little progress has been 
made in breeding grapes though many 
seedlings of Rogers Hybrid grapes are 
now being grown and it is expected that 
some good sorts will be obtained. 

Gooseberries.—Seedlings are being 
grown of crosses between Kibes oxya- 
canthoides, R. cynosbati, and R. grossu- 


laria varieties looking to obtaining 
larger fruited sorts not subject to 
mildew. 


Currants.—A number of seedlings and 
cross-bred varieties, the best saved 
from a large number, are being tested 
out. 

Strawberries —A large number of 
seedlings have been grown but few good 
varieties have been obtained. Some 
of the most promising are Cassandra, 
Cordelia, Desdemona, Ophelia and 
Portia. In recent years crosses have 
been made between wild strawberries 
obtained from different parts of Canada 
and cultivated varieties with the object 
of obtaining hardier sorts. 

Early varieties of vegetables are of 
great importance everywhere, but are 


Macoun: Plant Breeding in Canada 


much needed in certain parts of Canada. 
Selections for earliness have been made 
with tomatoes, beans, peas and corn 
particularly. The Alacrity tomato and 
Early Malcolm corn are two selections 
which have been most disseminated. 
During the past two years considerable 
work has been done in cross-breeding 
corn, the Squaw (flint), Early Adams 
(dent), and Early Malcolm (sweet) 
being mainly used as parents. The 
Squaw corn matures in districts where 
the nights are cool and the season with- 
out frost is short, whereas sweet varie- 
ties will not do so. 
crossing to obtain sweet varieties which 
will mature anywhere the Squaw does. 


It is hoped by 


403 


Comparatively little work has been 
done in breeding ornamental plants, 
but some progress has been made with 
roses, sweet peas, geraniums, petunias 
and columbine. Two worthy varieties 
of roses originated at Ottawa by the late 
Dr. Wm. Saunders are Mary Arnott 
and Agnes, the former a brilliant crimson 
scarlet cross between Rosa rugosa and 
Prince Camille de Rohan, the latter, 
pale yellow with a salmon tinge, a cross 
between Rosa rugosa and Persian Yellow. 
Some interesting and attractive Fy, 
seedlings are growing from a cross made 
between Gerberis thunbergu and Ber- 
beris vulgaris purpurea. 

There is a specialist in the Horti- 


cultural Division who devotes his whole 
time to plant breeding. 


Many interesting and promising crosses 
have been obtained. 


Plant Breeding in Maryland 


Plant breeding at the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station is on a large 
scale, both as regards practical problems and the theoretical problems which it is 
attempting to solve. Mendelism is being investigated 1n cowpeas, 1n connection 
with selection; wheat, oats and barley are being cross-bred and selected, corn is 
being bred and studied in a series of experiments which has now been under way 
for ten years, mutations are being systematically sought in the cereals. A new 
variety of pear of good quality and resistant to blight is sought by crossing, par- 
ticularly Kieffer by Seckel; apples are being bred in a similar way, to produce a 
good, early, red apple of good cooking quality. Grape hybrids include most of 
the hardy American species as well as the Malaga type of southern Europe, V7tzs 
vinifera. Strawberries, celery, tomatoes, muskmelons, Irish potatoes, cabbage are 
also the subjects of projects destined to furnish more productive or disease resistant 
varieties and also to yield information about the laws of heredity. Finally, the 
station is doing genetic research with one kind of material which has been very 
little worked—namely, the castor bean (Ricinus communts), where the variation 
and heredity of individuals propagated from different branches and different flowers 
is being investigated. The production of ornamental plants, a work usually left 
to commercial nurserymen, has been undertaken to the extent of breeding improved 
strains of dahlia and Black Eyed Susan. 


Plant Breeding in Michigan 


A number of superior varieties of wheat—produced by the isolation of pure lines— 
have been put in the trade by the Michigan Experiment Station, as have two lines 
of oats. A study of the inheritance of earliness in oats has been running since 
1911. Investigations of a more technical genetic nature are making in corn and 
wheat. A line of navy beans has been selected which is resisting blight to the 
extent of 8 or 10 bushels more to the acre than ordinary commercial strains. Alfalfa 
breeding has been carried through five generations, the object being to produce 
strains that will not only be hardy and productive in Michigan, with its severe 
climate, but will bear seed under such conditions. A considerable degree of success 
has already been attained. 


WAR'S AFTERMATH 


Survey of Parts of the South Yields Evidence of Biological Injury to Nation through 
Civil War, with No Evidence of Any 
Countervailing Effects 
Review of a Book by 
DaviD STARR JORDAN AND HaRveY ERNEST JORDAN 


T IS fairly obvious to any thinking 

person that war is a tremendous 

factor in cacogenics, because it 

destroys men who are superior— 
physically, at least— and leaves the 
relatively inferior to perpetuate the 
race. Biologists have been calling at- 
tention to this fact for many years, but 
until recently no effort has been made to 
particularize the indictment of militar- 
ism. An attempt has recently been 
made in this direction, by David Starr 
Jordan and Harvey Ernest Jordan, 
working under auspices of the World 
Peace Foundation. Their results have 
been published in a little book! called 
“War’s Aftermath.” This is the first 
attempt in history to put the postulate 
that war reverses the action of natural 
selection to the test of actual investiga- 
tion. 

At the very start of the research, 
there were certain facts available whose 
meaning could be hardly misinter- 
preted. It was known that nearly a 
million young men, largely of superior 
fitness, had perished in the Civil War, 
and it was inconceivable that their loss 
should not have affected the racial 
stock of the nation. The loss was 
not unequally divided between ae 
and South; but it represented 2% of 


the white population of the North, 
and 10% of the white population of 
the South. ‘The Southern loss of 
human wealth was therefore five times 
as heavy as in the North, and the 
results of this loss should be corre- 
spondingly more evident. This is in 


1 War’s Aftermath: 
of the United States 
Stanford University, 
University of Vi irginiz L. 
Mifflin Company, 1914. 


404 


and the late wars in the 


fact the case, although in certain 
Northern States, as Vermont; Connect- 
icut, Massachusetts, the loss was almost 
as great relatively to the population as 
in Virginia or Georgia. 

“This loss fell on the men of that part 
of the community racially most valuable, 
the young men between the ages 
of 18. and 35... At least, 40% a%ar 
these in the South died without issue. 
Even among the Southern States this 
loss was unequally distributed, Virginia 
and North Carolina apparently suffering 
most. Both Virginia and North Caro- 
lina were settled mainly by the same 
British stock, many Scotch being re- 
presented and in certain localities the 


Pennsylvania Germans. The racial 
quality throughout was high, and it 


may be assumed to have been about 
equally high and as good as the best 
in the United States or in the world, 
at the time of the outbreak of the war.”’ 


EXACT MEASUREMENTS WANTED 


Such broad facts were known, but it 
seemed desirable to make a more 
intensive study of some smali portion 
of the area most affected, in order to 
determine the exact nature of the war’s 
aftermath. The investigators knew 
that some racial hurt has been caused; 
they wanted to find out how much. 
After a careful survey of the field, 
Rockbridge and Spottsylvania counties, 
in Virginia, and Cobb county, in 
Georgia, were chosen as likely to yield 
the most satisfactory results. 


a preliminary study of the Eugenics of War, as illustrated by the Civil War 
Balkans; by 
and Harvey Ernest Jord an, professor of histology 

Pp. xxxi+104, price 75 cents net. 


David Starr Jordan, Chancellor of 
and embryology in the 


Boston and New York, Houghton 


Jordan: War’s Aftermath 


If the investigators ever imagined 
that they could get even a rough 
measurement of the biological effects 
of the war, they were soon undeceived. 
The problem was found to be very 
complicated, even in the favorable 
localities chosen, and they had to 
content themselves with getting “‘ap- 
proximate results by less direct 
methods.” The data on which their 
conclusions are based are opinions, 
almost as much as facts, and were 
thus secured: 

“We took advantage of every oppor- 
tunity to interview representative men, 
and especially veterans of the war, on 
the question at issue. From hundreds 
of these, valuable information was 
gleaned. These conversations were 
crystallized into a set of thirty proposi- 
tions which were one after another to 
be tested. These propositions, usually 
in the words of some thinking veteran, 
were put into the form of a questionnaire 
and sent broadcast over the South to the 
surviving Confederate officers and other 
men of intelligence, for comment and 
criticism.” 

It will be possible in this review only 
to touch on the propositions of the 
greatest importance, from a eugenic 
point of view. It was found that the 
leading young men of the South, from a 
social point of view, were mostly 
members of select companies of militia, 
at the outbreak of the war; and these 
were the first to enlist. The loss of 
life among them was naturally greater 
than among those who entered the 
war near its conclusion. “The flower 
of the people went into the war at the 
beginning, and of these a large part 
died before the end.’’ Those who did 
not fight until conscripted, late in the 
struggle, were on the average inferior 
to the volunteers, both in physical and 
moral qualities. But as the mortality 
was lower among them than among the 
superior volunteers, who entered the 
war earlier, the deterioration in the 
average quality of the race was in- 
creased to the same extent. The de- 
serters, and those who took to the hills 
to avoid conscription, also survived to 
multiply. ‘‘The result of this was that 
the men of the highest character and 


405 


quality bore the brunt of the war and 
lost more heavily than men of inferior 
quality. This produced a change in 
the balance of society by reducing the 
percentage of the better types without a 
corresponding reduction of the less 
desirable types; a condition which was 
projected into the next generation 
because the inferiors lived to have 
progeny and the others did not.”’ 


HALF OF BEST BLOOD LOST 


It is admitted that the above con- 
clusion may be a little too general and 
sweeping, but there is reason to believe 
that a half, perhaps considerably more, 
of the ‘‘best blood” of the South was 
lost in the war. As to just how good 
this blood was that was lost, there is no 
accurate means of judging. 

In addition to the loss of men, the 
birth-rate was likewise affected through 
changes in the condition of the women. 
‘““Widows of soldiers suffered great 
hardships and most of them never 
remarried; the death-rate among them 
was unusually high for the first ten or 
fifteen years after the war. The sweet- 
hearts of many a victim of the war never 
married; with the elevation of the middle 
class and the lack of men of their own 
class many girls of the aristocracy 
married men beneath them in station.” 
The result stated in the last clause, the 
authors admit, ‘‘is far from a racially 
unmitigated evil, regarded in a broad 
and democratic sense,”’ but on the whole 
the effect of the facts outlined in this 
paragraph was still further to decrease 
the production of superior children, 
in the years following 1865. 

When they tried to decide how far, 
if at all, the present population of the 
South is inferior to that of antebellum 
days, the investigators naturally found 
their way paved with difficulties. There 
is some reason to believe, it appears, 
that the farming class is as good as 
ever. Perhaps “‘the class of men at- 
tending courts does not measure up in 
intelligence or ideals with those before 
the: war. - leas. thousht. that: .. the 
public men of the South do not measure 
up to those of old times,” but this 
condition to a certain extent prevails 
through the nation. It is admitted that 


406 The Journal 


“after the war the best of the middle 
class—farm managers and commercial 
men—rose to equality with the remnants 
of the old aristocracy,’ but the state- 
ment that ‘‘the Civil War destroyed 
the cream and stirred up the dregs”’ met 
with much disapproval, and leads the 
investigators to say, ‘‘ There is probably 
more than a srain of -triuthyan the 
assertion that the ‘poor whites’ of the 
South have never had justice done 
them. They are much better raw 
material than is generally supposed.”’ 

On the whole, however, and making 
due allowances for many qualifying and 
compensating factors, ‘““The men who 
got themselves killed were the better 
men.”’ 

The authors made an attempt to find 
whether environmental factors could be 
charged with part of the blame for the 
South’s present condition. If the lack 
of great men, or the lowering of ideals, 
were due to faulty education, or the 
influx of ‘“‘carpet-baggers’’ from the 
North after the war, or emigration, 
whisky, or cousin-marriages, then war 
could to that extent be acquitted of 
reversing selection and _ deteriorating 
the race. It was admitted that some 
or all of these factors might play a part, 
but emigration was the only one which 
seemed to deserve much consideration, 
and that appears to have affected only 
limited regions. 

Again, it was suggested that although 
the strong fell first in battle, the weak 
fell first in camp; so that the balance 
remained about the same. Even if 
considerable weight be granted this 
circumstance, the loss of strong men, 
who could ill be spared, remains. 


SOME BENEFITS SEEN 


Some social and economic benefits 
from the war are suggested. ‘‘The 
South is the better by far for the spread 
of education, for the willingness to work, 
for the loss of slavery, for the main- 
tenance of the Union, and for the 
development of business. But for the 


2 The words of a Confederate officer. 


of Heredity 


war, as war, there was no redeeming 
feature, no benefit to any one, not one 
word to be said,’’? was the last of the 
propositions submitted to the survivors; 
and it seems to have won the assent of 
a large number of them. 

“In conclusion,” the authors say, 
‘““we are impressed that with respect 
to the eugenic aspect of the Civil War 
we are dealing with matters insuscept- 
ible of precise determination. Many 
factors united to work an apparently 
racial effect; these factors are so intri- 
cately and reciprocally interrelated as 
to preclude definite isolation and tracing 
of the complete effects of any one. 
The patent results are thus more or 
less matters of environment as well as of 
differences in germ-plasm, of euthenics as 
well as eugenics. A just weigh- 
ing of all this evidence, however, leaves a 
decided balance in favor of grave racial 
hurt in consequence of war, and this 
certainty is cumulative, becoming more 
definite with the consideration of each 
new area. Each of the other baneful 
influences associated with the problem, 
social, cultural and economic devasta- 
tion, emigration, pensions, etc., is never- 
theless the direct consequence of war 
and should be debited to it. Moreover, 
even granting that the South and the 
country as a whole are, relative to ante- 
bellum days, no poorer racially in 
consequence of the war—an assumption 
no one can maintain in the face of the 
enormous waste of one million splendid 
souls—it is further certain that, could 
we have had the inspiring presence and 
wise counsel of these martyrs and their 
potential offspring, the country would 
now be immeasurably better off in a yet 
higher average of physical, mental and 
moral stamina. In brief, the theoretical 
argument for reversed selection seems 
beyond question. The actual facts 
concerning our Civil War and the events 
which followed yield no direct counter- 
vailing evidence. We must, therefore, 
decide that the war has seriously im- 
poverished this country of its best 
human values.”’ 


~ PHOTOGRAPHS OF LARGE TREES 


Sycamore in Indiana is Biggest Recorded in Prize Contest of Association— 
California Oak Tops List Among Nut-Bearers—Many New Records 
Established and Much Valuable Data Put on File by Competitors 


ARRING conifers, the largest 
iS tree which the American Genetic 

Association has been able to 

discover in the United States is 
a sycamore at Worthington, Ind., 42 
feet, 3 inches in circumference.! This 
is the result of offers of two prizes of $100 
each for photographs of large trees, 
made in the JoURNAL OF HEREDITY 
for October, 1914, by Mr. Charles 
Deering, of Chicago, and Mr. W. A. 
Wadsworth, of Geneseo, N. Y. 

The offer terminated on July 1, 1915, 
and brought to the office of the associa- 
tion photographs of 337 trees in all 
parts of the United States. Most of 
them were accompanied by data as to 
surroundings and history, which make 
a distinct contribution to our knowledge 
of native trees. To go over all this 
data and get out all that it has of 
interest to science will be the work of 
some months; in this issue of the 
JourNAL little more can be done than 
to announce the most evident results. 

Photographs of the Indiana sycamore 
were sent in by Herman L. Hayden, 
Worthington; Herbert H. Sloane, Wor- 
thington; and Dr. William B. Clarke, 
Indianapolis. After considering both 
the excellence of the photographs and 
the fulness of the information submitted, 
it was decided to award the prize of $100, 
offered for the photograph of the 
largest non-nut-bearing tree to Dr. 
Clarke. 

The second prize was offered for the 
largest nut-bearing tree, and went 
without doubt to Charles Libhart, of 
Stockton, Cal., who submitted the 
photograph shown in Fig. 8 of a valley 
oak 37 feet 6 inches in circumference, 
standing on the ranch of B. F. Gruver in 
Priest Valley, San Benito County, Cat: 


It is impossible even to mention all 
the valuable records sent to the associa- 
tion. Many persons, entering into the 
spirit of the contest, sent photographs 
with the remark that they knew the 
trees they submitted were not prize 
winners, but wanted them put on 
record for the benefit of science. Others 
sent particularly large specimens of 
species that ordinarily reach only a 
small size, realizing that the prize 
would go to some larger species, but 
desiring to aid the association in getting 
a record of the maximum attained by 
all species. Thus excellent specimens 
of such trees as the persimmon, holly, 
sassafras, chinquapin, catalpa and white 
birch were submitted, and make highly 
valued additions to the available infor- 
mation on large trees in the United 
States. 

To return to the Indiana sycamore 


(Fig. 7a and frontispiece) detailed 
measurements of circumference follow: 
1 ft. above the ground ........... ZA S ih es ob 
Siftheabovethercround! 252 a sae 42 ft. 3 in 
Wastibranchess en saws ee eee Diletta oui 
NWestubranchaese. see D3 hime inl 


The height is said to have been re- 
duced considerably in recent years by 
wind and lightning; it is now estimated 
at 150 feet, while the spread is about 
100 feet. As far as is known, these are 
the largest authentic measurements of 
a sycamore now living. 

The American sycamore (Platanus 
occidentalis) is more correctly called the 
plane tree; it is not related to the 
Biblical sycamore (ficus sycamorus, a 
species of fig), mentioned particularly in 
connection with Zaccheus who, as the 
old Primer put it, ‘did climb a tree, 
his Lord to see.” The American syca- 
more is also known in some parts of the 


1 Unless otherwise specified, all circumferences given in this article refer to a measurement 


made 5 feet from the ground. 
the general practice of foresters and botanists. 


This was the stipulation in the contest, and is in accordance with 


407 


THIS IS PROBABLY THE LARGEST SHADE TE 


Residents of the ‘‘corn belt”’ ] 


ave long boasted of the fertility of their river bottoms; the existence | 
The sycamore here shown stands near the bank of the White River, in a field belonging to Solom: 
is at the right. The tr subject to frequent inundation, when the White River overflows its Hl 
the tree. It is entirely possible that this periodical inundation, like that of the Nile, is partly rea 
has attained unusual size; old settlers tell of a sycamore, long since gone, which measured 67 feet 
foresters declare that not to be the case; its unusual form is due to the fact that at an early age iff 


NOW STANDING IN THE UNITED STATES 


1aspecimen as this proves that the rich, black loam can produce to perfection bigger plants than maize 


Dixson, of Worthington, who stands at the left; the competitor, Dr. 
md deposits a new layer of silt on the fields; once, at le 
ile for the fertility of the region and the growth of the trees, more than one of which in that region 


umference. It has often been suggested that this specimen is in reality two trees grown together, but 
ched and grew up in two directions instead of one. (Fig. 7a.) 


William B. Clarke, of Indianapolis, 
ast, the water has reached as high as the fork of 


Photographs of Large Trees 


country as the buttonwood or button- 
ball, in allusion to its large seed-balls, 
which hang on the tree all winter. 

The tree here illustrated is located 
in the rich alluvial loam of the White 
River bottom. As this stream fre- 
quently overflows its banks, it period- 
ically deposits a layer of silt around the 
tree; but the floods appear to have done 
no damage to it, although on one occa- 
sion it is said the water reached as high 
as the fork, 15 feet from the ground. 
It may be believed that this frequent 
deposit of alluvium is one of the factors 
which has caused the great growth of 
the tree. Many other large sycamores, 
beech and walnut trees have been pro- 
duced in the same locality, but most 
of them have been long since felled for 
lumber. One of the sycamores which 
met this fate was so large that it could 
not be hauled to the mill, but was 
floated down the river; another, cut in 
the last few years within 500 yards of 
“the big tree,’ as the prize winner has 
been known in the region since the 
first settlers arrived, made five 10-foot 
logs, the largest of them 60 inches in 
diameter and measuring 1,960 board 
feet. The tap log was about 43 inches 
in diameter. These figures give some 
idea of the amount of lumber that a 
single one of these giants will yield. 

As is most large sycamores, the base 
of this tree is hollow, the opening being 
on the opposite side from that shown 
in the photograph. Fire has recently 
damaged it. 

That Indiana can produce even larger 
trees than this may be inferred from 
the following letter which appeared in 
the Indianapolis News of July 5, 1915, 
after a reference to the Worthington 
specimen: 


LARGER ONE NOW GONE 


“T can tell of a much larger one, but, 
unfortunately, the tree is gone, and 
nearly all who have seen it. I have 
twice written of it. The first time to 


411 


the Cincinnati Weekly Enquirer, about 
the year 1867, the second time for the 
Museum, a monthly scientific journal, 
published at Albion, N. Y., by Professor 
Webb. I then made the claim that it 
was the largest tree ever grown in the 
United States this side of the Yosemite 
Valley. The article in question can be 
found in the December number, 1896, 
and embodies the following facts: 

“The tree grew within a distance of 
100 feet of the bank of Driftwood, on 
the east fork of White River, about 
3 miles southeast of Brownstown, Jack- 
son County, Indiana. My father bought 
the land on which it stood as school land, 
sixteenth section. I have often heard 
him tell about the tree. I never saw 
the tree standing, but the stump was 
still to be seen up to as late as 1864. 
I have on several occasions seen a pole 
18 feet long turned completely around 
within the stump, which was hollow. 
It was measured by the surveyors of 
original survey, and was over 6/7 feet in 
circumference. The trunk of the tree 
was about 15 or 20 feet high when it 
made three branches. The smallest 
one of the three was more than 714 feet 
in diameter, or, as father said, as high 
as a man’s head when on horseback. 

‘This tree in part resembles the Worth- 
ington sycamore, in having branches 
near the ground. Of course, this tree 
was P. occidentalis. 

““M. CRABB.” 


If Mr. Crabb’s tree was measured at 
the ground line, 67 feet is not an 
impossible measurement, although it is 
doubtful if there is a tree of the species 
now living which reaches any such size. 
F. André Michaux, one of the earlier 
authorities on North American trees, 
and a naturalist whose accuracy is well 
attested, wrote? on the subject as follows: 

“On a little island in the Ohio, 15 
miles above the mouth of the Musk- 
ingum, my father measured a button- 
wood which, at 5 feet from the ground, 


2“The elder Michaux,” under auspices of the French Government, explored North America 


from 1785 to 1796, studying the trees. 
travels. 


His son, F. André Michaux, accompanied him in his later 
The father published part of his work, but met with an untimely death in Madagascar; 


the son returned to America in 1801 and 1807 to complete the material for the ‘‘North American 


Sylva,” which was published in Paris 1810-13. 


The quotation above and others in this article 


are from the translation published in Philadelphia, 1865, by J. J. Smith, with a supplement by 


Nuttall; Vol. II, pp. 50, 51. 


FROM NORTH CAROLINA 


TREE 


CHESTNUT 


Photographs of Large Trees 


was 40 feet and 4 inches in circumfer- 
ence, and consequently more than 
13 “feet in diameter. Twenty years 
before, General Washington had meas- 
ured the same tree, and found it to be 
of nearly the same size. 

“In 1802 in a journey through the 
western States, I found on the right 
bank of the Ohio, 36 miles from Mari- 
etta, a buttonwood whose base was 
swollen in an extraordinary manner. 
My traveling companion and myself 
measured it, and at 4 feet from the 
ground we found it to be 47 feet in 
circumference. This tree, which still 
exhibited the appearance of vigorous 
vegetation, ramified at 20 feet from the 
ground. A buttonwood of equal size 
is mentioned as existing in Genesee. 
The astonishing dimensions of these 
trees recall the famous Plane Tree of 
Lycia, spoken of by Pliny, whose trunk, 
hollowed by time, afforded a retreat 
for the night to the Roman Consul 
Licinius Mutianius with eighteen per- 
sons of his retinue. The interior of 
this grotto was 75 feet in circumference, 
and the summit of the tree resembled a 
small forest.”’ 


THE BIGGEST ON RECORD 


But the biggest record is that left 
by Robert Ridgway, who found the 
prostrate and largely decayed trunk of a 
sycamore near Mount Carmel, in I]linois, 
the crumbling base of which measured 
Hoeteer in iciteumference.* At 20 feet 
from this, where the trunk divided 
into three large limbs, its circumference 
was apparently 62 feet. ‘There is 
certainly no other broad-leaved tree on 
record in North America which equals 
these dimensions. 

Mention was made, in the quotation 
from Michaux, of the oriental plane 
tree (Platanus orientalis), which has 
been introduced to America and is 
found in many parts of the United 
States. It may be interesting to digress 
long enough to see the size this historic 
tree reaches. Elwes and Henry,’ who 
have made a particular study of the 
records of individual trees, write: 


3 Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, 1882, p. 288. 


413 


“One of the most remarkable was a 
tree growing in the village of Vostiza, 
on the Gulf of Lepanto, in Greece, 
which measured, in 1842, 37 feet 4 inches 
in girth at 5 feet from the ground, and 
was estimated to be 130 to 140 feet in 
height. This tree is supposed to be 
the one referred to by Pausanias, who 
wrote in the second century A. D., yet 
in 1842 the trunk appeared to be per- 
fectly sound, though many of the 
larger branches have succumbed to 
age and storm. 

“The famous plane of Bujukdere 
on the Bosporus is not a single trunk, 
but is formed of nine stems fused 
together. According to Ch. Martins, 
in September, 1856, the height was 
200 feet—evidently an exaggeration— 
with a spread of branches 373 feet in 
circumference. One trunk girthed 18 
feet; two trunks united together for 
some distance girthed 36 feet, the 
remaining six trunks being in an ellipse 
of 76 feet. One of the stems was 
hollow and afforded stable room for 
two horses. 

“The tree of the Janissaries, the 
ancient plane which stands in the Court 
of the Janissaries in the Old Seraglio at 
Constantinople, was 39 feet in girth at 
3 feet from the ground in 1890. 

“In the British Medical Journal of 
June 21, 1902, there is an excellent 
account, with illustrations, of a plane 
tree in the island of Cos, which from 
its appearance must be one of the 
oldest trees in the Mediterranean, if 
not so old as its somewhat mythical 
history alleges. Local tradition says 
that under this tree Hippocrates, the 
celebrated Greek physician, taught the 
art of healing no less than 2,300 years 
ago. Mr. Von Holbach, who 
measured it, gives the girth of its hollow 
trunk as 18 meters. 

“Bonvalet, on his way from Samar- 
cand to Amu, states that he halted at 
Sarifui, near the residence of the chief, 
under a plane tree, which was about 
37 feet in diameter at 6 feet above the 


4H. J. Elwes and A. Henry, ‘‘The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland,” Vol. III, p. 623; Edin- 


burgh, 1908. 


414 The Journal of Heredity 


' 


CONNECTICUT’S FAMOUS ELM AT WETHERSFIELD 
‘The Great Elm”’ has always been claimed by people in Connecticut to be the largest in the 
United States, and it seems quite likely that this claim is well founded. The American 
Genetic Association has not been able to get authentic record of any larger living specimen. 
The smallest diameter of the trunk (4 feet from ground) is 28 feet, while the basal girth, 
swelled by buttresses, is 55 feet 6 inches. Its height is approximately 100 feet. Estimated 
to be 250 years old, the tree seems to be in full vigor at the present time, and as the residents 


of the town have enough civic pride to care for it, the tree should live for several genera- 
tions more. Photograph contributed by F. W. Tuttle, Hartford, Conn. (Fig. 10.) 


ground. In his book, a picture of the 
tree is given, and a great limb comes 
off low down, which evidently was 
included in the above measurement. 
The tree appears to be about 50 feet in 
girth at the base below where the limb 
comes off. Another enormous tree, 
49 feet in girth, stands in the grounds of 
the mosque of Tajrish, a village in the 
Elburz mountains, north of Teheran 
in Persia.’’ 


Although a number of other fine 
sycamores were sent to this asst ciation, 
none of them could compete with the 
Indiana specimen, and it seems ex- 
tremely probable that this is the largest 
tree in the eastern United States at 
the present time. When one gets to 
the Pacific Coast, he enters the region 
of the Sequoias, whose giant bulk puts 
them in a class by themselves. Indeed, 
specimens of the Big Tree (Sequora 


Photographs of Large Trees 


gigantea) can be found which are almost 
as large in diameter as the Worthington 
sycamore is in circumference. 

As was expected, all the nut-bearing 
trees proved to be considerably smaller 
than this sycamore. The California 
oak was easily first, but a close second 
was the big chestnut near Crestmont, 
Na C., sentin by E.O. Abernethy. At 
7 feet from the ground this specimen 
measured 33 feet 4 inches in circumfer- 
ence, and owing to the peculiar forma- 
tion of the trunk, it would have yielded 
much larger figures, if measured at a 
lower point. It is fair to assume that 
the chestnut represents the largest 
nut-bearing tree in the eastern United 
States, and is only surpassed by the 
huge oaks of the Pacific coast. 

On this subject, Michaux wrote 
(I, p. 12): The chestnut “prefers 
the sides of the mountains or their 
immediate vicinity, where the soil in 
general is gravelly, though deep enough 
to sustain its perfect development. The 
Chestnut of the Old World attains its 
greatest expansion in similar situations: 
an example is said to exist on Mount 
Etna of a Chestnut 160 feet in circumfer- 
ence, or about 53 feet in diameter, and 
large enough to shelter 100 men on 
horseback beneath its branches; but 
its trunk is hollowed by time almost to 
its bark; near it stand several others 
more than 75 feet in circumference. At 
Sancerre, in the Department of the 
Cher, 120 miles from Paris, there is a 
chestnut which at 6 feet from the 
ground, is 30 feet in circumference; 
600 years ago it was called the Great 
Chestnut and, although it is supposed 
to be more than 1,000 years old, its 
trunk is still perfectly sound and its 
branches annually laden with fruit. 
I have never met with instances of such 
extraordinary growth in the United 
States; but the American species is 
probably susceptible of an equal devel- 
opment, since in the forests of North 
Carolina, it is commonly as large and 
as tall as the corresponding species in 
those of Europe. I have measured 
several stocks which at 6 feet from the 
ground, were 15 or 16 feet in circumfer- 
ence, and which equalled the loftiest 
trees in stature.”’ 


415 


Compared with this North Carolina 
specimen, the big chestnuts Michaux 
saw in the United ‘States seem decidedly 
small. The one figured here (Fig. 9) 
appears to have been OV erlooked by 
all the botanists of the United States, 
none of whom mentions a specimen so 
large; but the figures in this case are 
given by professional lumbermen, who 
have had enough experience to know 
how trees are measured. In spite of 
Michaux’s prediction, it appears that 
even at its maximum, the American 
species (Castanea dentata) does not 
attain such a large size as the European 
species (Castanea sativa); Elwes and 
Henry say (IV, p. 847) in regard to the 
English record: 

“There is no doubt that the most 
celebrated, and perhaps the oldest 
planted tree in England, is the Tort- 
worth chestnut. Strutt says that 
in 1766 it measured 50 feet in circum- 
ference at 5 feet from the ground. : 
It was said by Sir R. Atkyns, in his 
‘History of Gloucestershire,’ p. 413, 
to have been growing in King John’s 
reign, and to have been | 197 yards in 
compass.’ At present it is by no means 
a beautiful tree, and so much of its 
original trunk is decayed that no 
measurement is of much value.” 


MAGNIFICENT ELMS 


The elms of the eastern United States 
are among the largest shade trees, and 
the finest living specimen of this 
species (Ulmus americana) is probably 
the historic one at Wethersfield, Conn., 
reproduced in Fig. 10. Its history is 
described interestingly in a letter 
from Jared B. Standish, president of 
the Village Improvement Association. 
Wethersfield, it will be remembered, 
was settled in 1634, and is considered 
the first civil settlement in Connecticut. 
There seems to have been a wave of 
enthusiasm for civic beautification, 
twenty-five or fifty years after the 
founding, and it is believed that the 
Great Elm was planted at that time. 
In many of the pretty villages of the 
Connecticut River Valley, a row of 
elms through the middle of the entire 
village, with a road on each side, was 
established at that time. 


Photographs of Large Trees 


In the early days of Wethersfield, 
open-air meetings were held under the 
Great Elm, and Charles Wesley deliv- 
ered a sermon there in his tour through 
the Colonies in 1750. 

In recent years the tree has been 
threatened, both by decay and by 
insects, but the Village Improvement 
Society has acted promptly in both 
cases, and the tree gives promise of 
ornamenting the village for many years 
to come. It is commonly believed by 
the inhabitants to be the largest elm in 
the country, and this appears to be 
correct. The association is in receipt 
of a photograph of a much larger elm 
of the same species from Morgantown, 
W. Va., but the latter specimen is now 
nothing more than a 50 foot stump, 
thanks to the indiscreet precaution 
taken eight years ago, of trimming it 
far more severely than it could endure. 

Next to this, the finest elm reported 
is the ““Rathbone Elm,” a beautiful 
specimen located in Rathbone addition 
to Marietta, Ohio, which was photo- 
graphed by H. P. Fischer of Marietta. 
It is 27 feet in circumference, 85 feet 
high, and in symmetry is quite the equal 
of the Connecticut specimen. 

Both these specimens are larger than 
those which the literature cites. Elwes 
and Henry, for example, discussing the 
elm in New England, where it is par- 
ticularly at home and particularly dear 
to the inhabitants, remark (VII, p. 
1856): 

“Though some of the historic trees 
mentioned by Emerson and other writers 
are now dead and decayed, there are 
still many splendid survivors of the 
original forest. Among these none is 
larger and more symmetrical than the 
Lancaster Elm in Massachusetts, which 
Professor Sargent showed me in May, 
1904. It grows on deep sandy soil in 
the rich valley of the Nashua River, 
and measured 105 feet by 24 feet at 
5 feet from the ground.” 

One of the interesting features of the 
contest has been the revelation of the 
number of trees in different localities 
which are locally reputed to be the 
biggest of the kind in the country. An 
elm at Somersworth, N. H.., for instance, 
which is said to be considered by people 


417 


in that section as the largest in the 
United States, proved to be only 14 feet 
2 inches in circumference. By the 
side of such a specimen as the one lately 
killed at Morgantown, W. Va. (Fig. 11), 
this New Hampshire tree looks like a 
sapling, although in a grove of ordinary 
elms it would be most imposing in 
appearance. 


THE SASSAFRAS RECORD 


In many cases, the trees in which 
local pride expends itself are relatively 
insignificant specimens. An amusing 
instance of this is the sassafras, a tree 
which most people think of rather as a 
shrub, to be grubbed out of fields with 
much labor. Not long ago a town in 
Georgia made the modest announcement 
that it has the largest sassafras tree in 
the world—something over 7 feet in 
circumference. Jackson County, Ohio, 
immediately took up the challenge and 
ostentatiously produced a _ specimen 
of 7 feet in circumference at 3 feet from 
ground; whereupon *Madison County, 
Ohio, jumped into the fray with a loud 
noise and a sassafras tree 9 feet 2 inches 
in circumference at that height, 8 feet 
7 inches in girth at 5 feet from the 
ground. 

This association has received from 
J. B. Corbin, of Juniata, Blair County, 
Pa., photographs of a beautiful sassafras 
9 feet 7 inches in circumference at 7 feet 
from the ground; but all of these 
specimens are dwarfed by one at Hor- 
sham, Pa., 16 miles north of Philadel- 
phia. This specimen was brought to 
light by W. H. Lamb, of the Forest 
Service, who secured photographs and 
description of it from Isaac Parry, of 
Horsham; its smallest girth, at 4 feet 
from the ground, is 15 feet 10 inches. 

Some of these trees which are the 
particular objects of local pride have 
special points that are noteworthy, but 
do not bring them under the rules of 
this contest. Thus, many trees make 
up in height or spread what they lack 
in girth; but as girth is the only measure- 
ment which the ordinary person can 
take with accuracy, it seemed necessary 
to depend largely on this, in determining 
the merits of the trees submitted in 
this contest. 


f Cane River (Bermuda P. O.), Natcl an (Hicorta pecan) is located 


lany people think of Catalpa speciosa only 


RECORD-BREAKING CATALPA 

as a quick-growing tree, planted in immense groves 
Michaux declared, “‘In these 
ds 50 feet in height, with a diameter from 18 to 24 
im height of 120 feet and a maximum diameter 
has a girth of 16 feet. 
nt in by S. E. Simonson. (Fig. 13.) 


for the speedy production of fence posts and railroad ties. 
southern regions it frequently excee 
inches.’ Later authorities allow it a maximt 
of 41% feet. Here is a specimen which, although only 75 feet high, 
It is standing near Luxora, Ark., and was sent 1 : 


420 


This told against such trees as the 
famous Hooker Oak of Chico, Cal., 
photographs of which were submitted by 
half a dozen persons who will probably 
be quite surprised to learn that it is 
not the largest oak in North America. 
Its smallest circumference (3 feet above 
ground) is only 21 feet 8 inches. This 
is almost insignificant in comparison 
with the tree of the same species, 
illustrated in Fig. 8. The Hooker Oak, 
however, has a height of 105 feet and 
it is probably on this account that the 
famous English botanist, Sir Joseph 
Hooker, who measured it in 1872, 
pronounced it the largest oak in the 
world, as far as his encyclopedic knowl- 
edge extended. Dr. Charles Sprague 
Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum, 
Boston, who is perhaps the greatest 
authority on North American trees, is 
quoted as having said that he knows 
of no other tree in the United States 
which equals it in spread of branches. 
The outer circumference of the head 
is about 450 feet, and it has been cal- 
culated that, allowing 2 square feet of 
shade to each person, 7,885 people 
might find shelter from the sun under 
its branches. 

Among smaller species of trees, one 
of the fine specimens sent in is the white 
birch (Betula populifolia) on Switzer Hill 
in the township of Athol, Worcester 
County, Mass., the smallest circumfer- 
ence of which is 12 feet 2 inches. This 
is considerably larger than the maximum 
ordinarily calculated for the white 
birch. The photograph was sent in 
by Philip R. Thayer, of Athol. 


VIGOROUS HYBRIDS 


As hybrid trees are notably rapid and 
vigorous growers, it is not surprising 
to find some of them in any list of big 
trees. Readers of the JouRNAL OF 
Herepity will remember the great 


The Journal of Heredity 


James River Walnut described by 
Peter Bisset last year (Vol. V, p. 98). 
That supposed cross between the butter- 
nut (/uglans cinerea) and the Persian, 
improperly called English, walnut (J. 
regia) is 31 feet 3 inches in circumference 
at 4 feet from the ground, and is prob- 
ably not much less than 200 years old. 
Some of the hybrid walnuts produced 
for commercial purposes in California — 
during recent years have been reputed 
to be the fastest growing hard wood 
trees in the world, and notable among 
them is the Paradox Walnut, a cross 
between /. regia, the Persian (English) 
walnut, and a black walnut. One 
planted only about forty years ago at 
Yuba City, Cal., has now attained a 
circumference of 18 feet 7 inches at 
4 feet from the ground, and a height of 
100 feet. Photographs of it were sub- 
mitted by H. H. Jacobs, of Santa 
Barbara, Cal. It is likely that this 
tree, which appears to be a natural, not 
an artificial, hybrid, is a cross between 
the Persian walnut and the black 
walnut of northern California, Juglans 
californica, var. hindst. 

It is perhaps worth noting that the 
name ‘‘Paradox’’ is the invention of 
the California plant breeder Luther 
Burbank, who applied it particularly 
to his own crosses. By common usage, 
however, it has now come to designate 
any cross between the Persian walnut 
and a black walnut, whether the latter 
be the California species (J. californica) 
or the common black walnut of the 
eastern forests, J. nigra. Such crosses 
are made very freely under naturai 
conditions, and in nurseries sometimes 
take place to such an extent as to be 
really troublesome to the horticulturist. 
The California black walnuts also cross 
readily with the eastern black walnut, 
the resultant hybrid being designated, 
after Burbank, as “ Royal.”’ 


A TREE FAVORED BY LUMBERMEN (See opposite page) 


The yellow poplar or tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is a favorite with lumbermen in the 
Southern States, because of the large amount of timber which can be cut from its trunk. 
As shown above, its growth habit is such as to allow the production of the maximum 


number of board feet. 


This specimen, which is considerably larger than the limit for 


the species set in the manuals of forest trees, grows on Reems Creek, N. C., and was 


photographed by John R. Hess, of Providence, R. I. 
and the circumference, 4 feet above the ground, as 34 feet 6 inches. 
vf the finest tulip poplars in the United States. 


one ¢ 


He gives the height as 198 feet 
It is indisputably 
(Fig. 14.) 


Fig. 14—Legend on opposite page. 


422 


Like many hybrids, these walnuts 
show a tendency to partial sterility, 
and are valuable for shade or timber 
rather than for nuts. In a few cases 
good nuts have been produced, but in 
general they are characterized by very 
light production, and the nuts are so 
hard-shelled and inferior as to have 
little commercial value. 

Another magnificent nut tree, in its 
own species, is the pecan of Louisiana 


(Fig. 12), contributed by Mayo S. 
Keator, of East St: Louis. It. stands 


near the east bank of a stream known as 
Cane River, Natchitoches Parish, -La., 
and measures 19 feet 6 inches in cir- 
cumference, with a spread of limbs of 
about 100 feet. It is far above the 
ordinary maximum of this species, and 
is exceeded, so far as this association 
has been able to learn, by only one 
specimen in the United States—an 
Oklahoma tree, which is credibly said 
to have a girth, breast high, of 23 feet. 
Some of these huge nut-bearing trees are 
decidedly valuable possessions: R. H. 
Kersey, of San Antonio, Texas, sends in 
the account of a pecan more than 5 feet 
in diameter, owned by Felix Heerman 
on the Medina River 13 miles from 
San Antonio, which produces as much 
as 2,000 pounds of nuts in a single 
season, and rarely fails to yield a good 
crop. 


TALLEST TREE REPORTED 


The magnificent’ yellow or tulip 
poplar of the Southern States (Lirioden- 
dron tulipifera), is, by reason of its habit 
of growth, so suitable for lumbering 
that it is difficult to save fine speimens. 
It is interesting, therefore, to know that 
the best one reported to this association 
(Fig. 14) is on private property where 
it is likely to be protected. This tree, 
contributed by John R. Hess, of Provi- 
dence, R. I., stands in a ‘‘cove”’ near 
the bank of Reems Creek, not far from 
Craggy Mountain and about 17 miles 
from Asheville, N. C. It is stated to 
be 198 feet high and at 4 feet above 
ground has a circumference of 34 feet 
6 inches. By the neighbors it is said 
to be the largest tree east of the Rocky 
Mountains, according to Mr. Hess. 


* Op..cit.,. Vol. Il, p, 36. 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


It may well be the largest tulip poplar, 
but cannot compete with some of the 
sycamores. 

The soil where it stands is very rich, 
leaf mould being constantly washed 
down from the hillsides on its roots, as 
into a pocket, and this continuous 
fertilization may be partly responsible 
for the magnificent growth of the tree. 
It would be a matter of great difficulty, 
although of much interest and import- 
ance, to determine the relative share of 
heredity and environment in producing 
huge trees such as this contest has 
brought out. A long series of experi- 
ments might tell the story, and it 
would be well worth while for some one 
to get seeds from the best trees enumer- 
ated in this article, and grow them 
under a variety of conditions. Until 
this has been done, one can only proceed 
on the assumption, based on general 
considerations and experiments with 
smaller plants, that heredity is the 
fundamental factor but that proper 
environment is necessary to give hered- 
ity a chance to express itself. 

Although the Michaux admired the 
tulip poplar, they seem to have seen no 
very fine specimens. André remarks? 
that his father found the best ones in 
Kentucky. 

“He observed many of them in 
passing which appeared to be 15 or 16 
feet in circumference and 31% miles 
from Louisville, he measured one which, 
at 5 feet from the ground, was 22 feet 
6 inches in circumference, and whose 
elevation he judged to be from 120 to 
140 feet: the correctness of this estimate 
I have since had the opportunity of 
proving. Of all the trees of North 
America, with deciduous leaves, the 
Tulip Tree, next to the Buttonwood, 
attains the amplest dimensions; while 
the perfect straightness and uniform 
diameter of its trunk for upwards of 
40 feet, the more regular disposition of 
its branches, and the greater richness of 
its foliage, give it a decided superiority 
over the buttonwood, and entitle it to 
be considered as one of the most mag- 
nificent vegetables of the temperate 
zone.’ 

Elwes and Henry mention some larger 


Experimental Plant Breeding in Nebraska 


specimens, but like the recent American 
writers on trees, they appear to have 
heard of none as large as the one here 
illustrated. They say'°: 

“The largest trees of this species, 
however, have been recorded by Pro- 
fessor R. Ridgway from southern Indi- 
ana and Illinois, near Mount Carmel, 
Il... . Though the largest trees 
recorded by him have now been cut, 
reliable measurements were taken of a 
tulip tree which reached the astonishing 
height of 190 feet, exceeding that of any 
non-coniferous tree recorded in the 
temperate regions of the northern 
hemisphere. Another tree cut ‘8 miles 
east of Vincennes, was 8 feet across the 
top of the stump, which was solid to 
the center; the last cut was 63 feet from 
the first, and the trunk made 80,000 
shingles.’ The soil here is an exceed- 
ingly rich, deep alluvium, and the clim- 
ate in summer very hot and moist. 

“It is stated in Garden and Forest, 
1897, p. 458, that at the Nashville 
exhibition a log of this tree was shown 
by the Nashville, Chattanooga and 
St. Louis R. R. Co., which measured 
42 feet long, 10 feet 4 inches in diameter 
at the butt and 7 feet at the smaller end, 
containing 1,260 cubic feet of timber, 
and about 600 years old.” 

It is evident that the specimen 
illustrated in Fig. 14 outranks anything 
that has hitherto been reported. Ac- 
cording to Mr. Hess, it has never 


Opn citi Vole Maps 68. 


423 


before been photographed, and _ its 
publication herewith appears to estab- 
lish a new record for this important 
species. 


DATA FORMERLY INADEQUATE 


It is evident from the above records 
that the data on large trees in the 
United States, heretofore in the hands 
of men of science, was wholly inade- 
quate. This was the principal reason 
why the association undertook to collect 
photographs, and it is a satisfaction to 
think that its purpose has been so well 
carried out, and that, thanks to the 
cooperation of hundreds of papers in 
giving publicity to the offer, and to the 
activity of 300 photographers who 
enlisted, the amount of available in- 
formation on the subject has been 
notably increased. Although the prize 
offer is now terminated, it is the hope 
of the association that the expenditure 
of energy in this direction will not stop, 
but that tree lovers will be stimulated 
to more activity, in searching out 
specimens that can surpass those here 
recorded; and that they will also be 
spurred to take whatever steps are 
necessary to ensure the preservation of 
these magnificent members of the vege- 
table kingdom, some of which are certain 
to succumb to time, disease or greed each 
year, unless public sentiment interferes 
and demands their preservation. 


Experimental Plant Breeding in Nebraska 


Work in plant genetics at the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station has 
been largely concerned with maize and beans. The results obtained throw par- 
ticularly bright light on the inheritance of quantitative characters such as size, 
which are, obviously, much less easily studied than qualitative characters such as 
color and pattern. The researches with maize, confirming those with a great deal 
of other materiai, indicate that a large number of separate factors are concerned 
in the production of any apparently simple quantitative character. In the single 
character of width of a grain of corn, for instance, it was decided that ‘‘ Missouri 
dent and Tom Thumb pop probably differed by not over five factors and Missouri 
dent and California pop by perhaps as many as six factors influencing breadth of 
seeds.’ When it is remembered that each of these factors behaves independently 
in transmission, it will easily be understood how the progeny of crosses shows 
‘‘almost every possible degree of width, thus giving rise to the condition known as 
blended inheritance,’ as distinguished from segregation, where the breadth of 
seed which characterized one or other of the parents would appear in full. 


VALUE OF “HE CONTE Si. 


Photographs Received by American Genetic Association Throw Light on Many 
Interesting Problems—Awakening of Public Interest in Large Trees 
Will Be of Great Benefit to Science 


W. H. Lams 
U.S. Forest Service, Washington, D. C. 


HE interest of the forester and 
dendrologist centers upon sev- 
eral features in the contest of 
size among forest trees. _What- 

ever may be the interests of the inves- 
tigators in other departments of biology 
we are inclined to direct our attention 
to the ascertainment of what species 
reach the greatest size and of the max- 
imum dimensions attained by every 
species. It is also of importance to 
consider the geographical location of 
these individuals with respect to the 
natural range of the tree. 

The location and identity of the larg- 
est hardwood tree in the United States 
is a matter of considerable scientific 
and popular interest. Among conifer- 
ous trees the first place in size has been 
accorded the giant redwood of California. 
The size and age of these trees have long 
been a subject of great interest and 
have offered many opportunities for 
the free play of the imagination in 
correlating different stages of the devel- 
opment of one of these mammoth 
plants to different periods of ancient, 
medieval and modern history. Among 
broad-leaf trees, however, no one species 
stands forth as the colossus. The oaks, 
the chestnut, the sycamore, the yellow 
poplar, and a number of other broad- 
leaf trees all reach magnificent propor- 
tions. It is rather difficult to compare 
these trees in size. This is not only 
true because of the necessity of com- 
paring different species but also on 
account of the variation in form among 
individuals of a single species. 

Every tree has a form which it assumes 
under normal conditions. In some 
trees, especially among conifers, this 
form, deeply impressed for innumerable 

424 


generations, has become fixed and 
hereditary to the extent that éven when 
grown in abnormal conditions, it will 
assume the typical form. Very often, 
however, the special type of growth is 
not retained in a modified environment. 
It is true, especially among broad-leaf 
trees, that an immediate response to 
the advantage of more space results in a 
broad-headed and lateral growth which 
is not characteristic of the tree in the 
original forest where in dense stands a 
long, clear trunk is developed, and where 
lateral branches are suppressed. 


IN THE PRIMEVAL FOREST 


In the original hardwood forest of 
eastern United States the yellow poplar 
(Liriodendron tulipifera) and the syca- 
more (Platanus occidentalis) probably 
reached the greatest proportions. The 
yellow poplar developed a clear trunk 
and had a more uniform habit of branch- 
ing than the sycamore; exceeded it in 
height and from the lumberman’s stand- 
point was most desirable, since it would 
saw out more lumber; but the sycamore, 
although more irregular in habit, held 
first place in size on account of the 
massiveness of the branches, the primary 
limbs of a very large sycamore fully 
equaling an average forest tree in bulk. 

The Pacific coast forest is made 
principally of coniferous trees, with 


broad-leaf trees occurring as under- 
growth or as_ scattered individuals, 


and conspicuous only in valleys. The 
forest of eastern United States, contain- 
ing about half as many coniferous tree 
species, has over four times as many 
broad-leaf species as are found in the 
western forest. It would be expected, 
therefore, that competition in size 


Lamb: Value 


among hardwood trees would be con- 
fined to eastern United States. But 
the original forest condition no longer 
prevails here. Clear lands and culti- 
vated fields have largely supplanted the 
original forest growth. The giant trees 
which still remain are not the product 
of this new condition, however, but are 
the survivors of the original forest. 
Through accident, neglect and occa- 
sionally through early recognition of 
their value, they now occupy a position 
which has only been made permanent 
by the destruction of the surrounding 
forest. Soil and moisture conditions 
may now be considerably modified 
and may even be unfavorable for the 
growth of that species, but, notwith- 
standing, these patriarchs, vigorous even 
in age,may not have begun to exhibit 
the slightest deterioration. Standing 
alone these survivors occupy sites not 
unlike those of the isolated specimens 
of oak which are found growing naturally 
in the valleys of California. The age 
of some of these western oaks may be 
over 300 years. The isolated eastern 
trees may not have been in this condition 
forsolongatime. As isolation appears 
to favor diameter growth the oaks of Cali- 
fornia are at no disadvantage in the con- 
test for size among the hardwood trees. 


OLD AGE IN TREES 


The largest individual of any tree 
species is generally taken by the forester 
as an index as to the maximum size 
attained by that species. In some 
instances fallen trees have been observed 
which have exceeded living specimens in 
size. Even in the present contest the 
largest specimen of elm submitted con- 
sists of only a dead trunk which, how- 
ever, is still in an upright position. It is 
known that the life of this magnificent 
elm, having a circumference of 33 feet at 
5 feet from the ground, was terminated 
by an outside factor, and that had it 
been protected, and if necessary assisted 
in the support of its massive branches, 
undoubtedly it would have grown on, 
reaching still greater proportions. 

Exponents of the doctrine of indefinite 
longevity in trees maintain that they 
never die from old age or from causes 
analogous to those which determine the 


of the Contest 42 


on 


natural limit of animal life, but that 
they are destroyed by injury, disease, 
or other accidental influence. The the- 
ory is based upon the fact that a tree 


annually renews its growing parts. 
Each year the sapwood cylinder is 


increased on the outer side and on the 
inner side it is gradually being trans- 
formed into inactive heartwood. It is 
indeed evident that each species has an 
habitual period of death. The oak 
is notoriously long-lived. Willows and 
poplars have a brief existence. How- 
ever, the early termination of the life 
of a tree may not be due to a natural 
death by old age, but to the fact that 
by the rapid growth, soft and fragile 
wood is produced which renders the 
species especially susceptible to decay 
or breakage. Moreover, it is likely that 
different species are susceptible to 
certain kinds of accidents. Plant dis- 
ease, for example, favors some trees, and 
not others. A careful consideration 
of the causes of death in trees does not 
at all indicate that finally they must of 
necessity succumb to internal causes 
of destruction. 


VALUE OF LARGE TREES 


However, an appeal for the preserva- 
tion of large trees is not based upon the 
scientific value which they may have in 
proving or disproving the doctrine of 
indefinite longevity. It would indeed 
be of greater value to such an investiga- 
tion to experiment on woody plants of 
short life in order that results might be 
obtained within the period of observa- 
tion of one investigator. The preserva- 
tion of large trees yields scientific data 
of greater value in furnishing informa- 
tion as to the size attained by different 
species before they succumb to exterior 
or interior influences as the case may be. 
Unfortunately the same science which 
desires preservation of large trees also 
would dictate the felling of gigantic 
specimens in order to facilitate the 
inspection and study of the annual 
growth rings. Such arboricide would 
be most unfortunate. In the absence 
of superstition or peculiar beliefs which 
encourage the protection of vegetable 
matter we are apt to classify plants 
along with other natural objects. A 


WHITE OAK 


WHITE ELM <J 3 
sa (Ul) mus americana) (Quercus alba) 


BLACK WALNUT 


CHESTNUT 
(Juglans nigra) 


(Castanea dentata) 


YELLOW POPLAR 


es SYCAMORE 
(Liriodendron tulipifera 


\ (Platanus occidentalis) 


DISTRIBUTION OF THE LARGE TREES 
Maps showing the range of six of the important timber trees represented in the contest, 
shaded. Dots represent location of the best specimens submitted, while dot sur- 
rounded by a circle indicates the point where the largest of them is situated. (Fig. 15.) 


Lamb: Value 


treeisaliving thing. It enjoysfreedom, 
suffers under confinement, reacts to 
poison, and according to late researches 
even exhibits phenomena in death not 
unlike that of the animal, although this 
is only evident by measurement 
with the most delicate and ingenious 
instruments. Trees live through many 
centuries and therefore become the 
oldest inhabitants of the earth. Their 
tremendous vitality, gigantic size and 
remarkable antiquity should inspire 
awe in the heart of the man who, with 
his feeble strength, small stature and 
short life does not hesitate to destroy 
the life of a patriarch which may have 
existed before the very dawn of botanical 
science. Only too often man is even 
willing to sacrifice a solitary monarch 
of the bygone forest in order to facilitate 
mer cultivation © of a_ field) or. to 
straighten a line of fence. 


SENTIMENT ABOUT TREES 


An appeal for the preservation of 
gigantic trees is not therefore made 
solely in the name of science. Preserva- 
tion of these remarkable specimens 
will make possible valuable additions 
to our scientific knowledge, but the 
trees themselves in their beauty, utility 
and grandeur present an appeal not 
equalled by the interests of any scientific 
investigation. The possession of the 
largest individual of any species should 
be counted as a priceless treasure and 
should be cherished and_ protected 
beyond all other appurtenances of the 
estate on which it grows. These giants 
Should be protected in every possible 
manner by their present owners whom 
they are destined to outlive, and legal 
provisions should be made to prevent 
their destruction by future owners of 
the land. A unique case is on record in 
Georgia where a tree was given legal 
possession of the ground upon which it 
grew. This tree is perhaps the only 
one in the world which holds a deed to 
itself and the surrounding ground. 


Common Name Scientific Name 


White elm Ulmus americana 
White oak Quercus alba 
Sycamore Platanus occidentalis 
Chestnut Castanea dentata 


Juglans nigra 
Liriodendron tulipifera 


Black walnut 
Yellow popiar 


of the Contest 


427 


Nearly a century ago Col. W. H. Jackson, 
son of Governor Jackson and father of 
Chief Justice Jackson of the Georgia 
Supreme Court, placed the deed on 
record, in which he gave the tree entire 
possession of itself, together with 8 feet 
of ground on all sides. 

This contest of the American Genetic 
Association confirms the fact that the 
sycamore is our largest hardwood tree. 
Data of scientific value are also presented 
in the case of many other species. Two 
introduced trees, Lombardy poplar and 
English walnut, are of special interest. 
The former was submitted from a 
region that was one time included in the 
treeless desert of the Middle West. 
Growing at Arapahoe, Neb., this Euro- 
pean poplar has reached a circumference 
of 9 feet 10 inches and a height of about 
100 feet within a period of thirty-two 
years. A specimen of white elm from 
Milford, Neb., reached a circumference 
of 10 feet, a height of 32 feet and a 
spread of 67 feet in about sixty-two 
years. An interesting competitor also 
is a specimen of hardy catalpa from 
Arkansas having a circumference of 
20 feet at 3 feet from the ground and a 
height of 75 feet. A number of speci- 
mens exceeded the dimensions generally 
regarded as a maximum for that species. 


PROBLEMS OF DISTRIBUTION 


The student of forest geography will 
be interested in the location of the trees 
submitted with reference to the geo- 
graphical distribution of the species. 
In the discussion of the scientific value 
of the prize contest it is not possible to 
go into great detail. However, it has 
been possible, even in the brief time 
available, to present maps of six species 
which have been selected on account of 
their importance as forest trees, as well 
as the large number of contestants 
among these species which are included. 
The location of the largest individual, 
whose size is given in the following 
table, is indicated by a small circle: 


Location Circumference 
Morgantown, W. Va. SSi tes 
Atwood, Ind. DN att: 
Worthington, Ind. 4214 ft. 
Crestmont, N. C. 331% ft. 
Hanover Neck, N. J. 24 ft. 


Asheville, N. C. 341% ft. 


428 The Journal 


In the case of white oak the tree 
selected was merely identified by the 
contestant as ‘“‘oak,”’ but undoubtedly 
should be referred to Quercus alba. 
A white oak larger than this has been cut 
forlumber near Wilmington, Ohio. This 
tree measured 23 feet in circumference 
and was found to be 500 years of age. 
Before drawing scientific conclusions 
from these data, account must be taken 
of the fact that the specimens are not 
necessarily the largest individuals of 
their kind, also it may be that the 
territory included by the different 
localities may be influenced by the 
channels through which the contest 
was brought to public notice. However, 
the absence of large trees from the 
western limit of the range of the species 
may be regarded as significant and, of 
course, should be viewed in the light of 
our knowledge of the fact that eastern 
hardwoods are migrating into the tree- 
less prairie region. The occurrence of 
large specimens at the very limit of 
growth would tend to indicate either 
that the range was receding or else that 
there occurs at that place a sudden 
modification of conditions favorable to 
the growth of the species, or that the 
species is confronted by some physical 
or other barriers to its range extension. 

The location of the largest elm in 
West Virginia is of interest. The New 
England States have long been regarded 
as producing the most remarkable exam- 
ples of this species. It is not improbable 
that a specimen may be discovered 
which will restore the prestige of the 
New England elm. The location of 
the largest chestnut and yellow poplar 
in North Carolina is not unexpected, as 
some of the most magnificent stands of 
hardwood trees are found in the Southern 
Appalachians. The forests here are in 


of Heredity 


virgin condition and this operates to the 
advantage of big trees in that they have 
been spared from the woodman’s axe 
and to their disadvantage in that if left 
standing, unsurrounded by the crowding 
forest, they will attain greater lateral 
dimensions. The location of the large 
black walnut in New Jersey is of interest. 
The nearness of the eastern limit of its 
range, however, is not significant on 
account of the physical barrier of the 
Atlantic Ocean. 

It must be understood that this arti- 
cle, to the preparation of which only a 
few hours could be given, can do no 
more than merely hint at the results of 
scientific value which will flow from the 
American Genetic Association’s contest. 
In connection with the work of this 
office on the geographical distribution of 
trees many local problems will arise 
which can be more readily solved by 
reference to the photographs and letters 
which have been very kindly made 
available for reference through the 
courtesy of the association, than by any 
other way. The ultimate scientific 
value of these data, however, depends 
upon whether or not public interest in 
big trees ceases with the conclusion of 
this contest. As a basis for the actual 
determination of the largest individual 
among hardwood trees, and of the 
largest representative of every tree 
species, the data secured will prove of 
immense value. If readers will be 
good enough to continue to call the 
American Genetic Association’s atten- 
tion to the occurrence of notable trees, 
giving all available information on their 
history, condition and size, they will 
be rendering valuable assistance in our 
pursuance of these scientific investiga- 
tions. 


1 An interesting account of this tree with data on its life history and the variation in the number 
of annual rings to the inch from the center to the outer surface is to be found in the National 


Coopers Journal, Philadelphia, July, 1909, pp. 1 


) 


Plant Breeding in South Carolina 


Practical work is the rule at the South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, 
including breeding new varieties of cotton resistant to cotton wilt, breeding cotton 
for prolificness and a longer, stronger staple, breeding new types of rotundifolia 


grapes and apples. 


ROSA HUGONIS 


A New Hardy, Yellow Rose from China 


Davip FAIRCHILD 


picture hanging in a friend’s house 

your first question 1s, ‘* Who painted 

it?’, yet how few of the people 
who visit a rose garden and admire the 
beauties of color and form ever realize 
that practically all of our cultivated 
double roses are almost as much the 
result of man’s work as a picture 
is. These living forms have arisen from 
the greatest artificial mixing of species 
which man has been able to bring about 
by the process of hybridization. 

Wild roses from all over the world 
have entered into their ancestry and 
made them what they are, so that to a 
rosarian the history of a rose’s ancestry 
is quite as fascinating as is a family 
tree to a student of genealogy. 

To create a rose which will delight 
thousands of people must be as keen and 
wonderful a pleasure as - intellectual 
man can enjoy; long after he has crum- 
bled to dust generations of beautiful 
women, happy children, old men and 
young lovers will bury their faces in 
its petals and forget for the moment 
all else but its beauty. 

Next to this pleasure, perhaps, is the 
enjoyment that comes from finding a 
wild rose in some far off land where it 
blooms unseen by cultivated eyes, and 
knowing that it will become the admired 
and loved garden treasure of a whole 
great civilized country. 

I do not know if Father Hugo Scallan 
still lives or not, nor whether his life 
was a happy one, but if he is alive 
it would surely give him the keenest 
kind of pleasure to watch the career 
of a yellow rose which he found in 
China. 

In 1899 he sent seeds of this rose to 
the British Museum, the authorities 
there sent it to the Royal Botanic 
Gardens at Kew—that great institution 


le YOU see a particularly beautiful 


from which so many things of value 
have come into cultivation; and from 
Kew we obtained seeds for the United 
states. Very early each spring it 
blooms and it is yearly attracting the 
attention and arousing the enthusiasm 
of more and more flower-loving Amer- 
icans. 

Rosa hugonis is the name that has 
been given to this beautiful yellow rose 
that deserves a place in every dooryard 
in America. It is the earliest blooming 
of almost all the roses and earlier than 
any other yellow rose. It is of a lovely 
shade of yellow, is delicately perfumed 
and produces its single flowers in such 
profusion, as almost to conceal the 
plant. It is perfectly hardy, not being 
injured by -—22° F., which cannot be 
said of most of the other yellow roses. 

At th2 Arnold Aboretum near 
Boston Professor Sargent says it is 
perfectly hardy and free flowering and 
‘is certainly one of the most valuable 
single roses which has lately been intro- 
duced into gardens.” ! 

It seems entirely fitting that to 
Dr. W. H. Van Fleet, the originator of 
the Silver Moon and the Van Fleet 
roses, those masterpieces of rose hybrid- 
ization, should be given the credit for 
insisting, as long ago as 1907, that 
Rosa hugonts be introduced into America 
for the dooryards of American homes 
and for the use of American rose 
hybridizers. It was his insistence that 
led the Department of Agriculture to 
import it from Kew Gardens. 

In the photograph Rosa hugonis is 
shown as espaliered against the wall 
of the writer’s house at North Chevy 
Chase, Md. Every spring, before any- 
thing but the Japanese flowering apri- 
cots (Prunus mume) and the single 
flowering Japanese cherries are in 
bloom, it has delighted all who have 


1 Arnold Aboretum, Harvard University Bulletin of Information, New Series, Vol. I, No. 5, p. 20. 


429 


ROSA HUGONIS, FATHER HUGO SCALLAN’S ROSE 


llow the Persian yellow rose, but 


tt of so deep a shade of yellow as Harrison's yellow or 
he bush seer to be perfectly hardy and it blooms with an abandon quite toreign to 
] f tl the Photograph of at h espaliered against the house, In the Woods, 


A NEW YELLOW ROSE FOR THE PLANT BREEDER. 


Rosa hugonis trained on a wall trellis at In The Woods, North Chevy Chase, Md. One of 
the earliest of all the roses and earlier than any ocher yellow rose. (Fig. 17.) 


ie) 


A 
es a) 


seen it, but even in winter it is orna- 
mental because of its red-brown stems, 
red thorns and its picturesque growth. 
When not trained against a wall it 
grows toa height of about 5 feet and its 
stems are clothed with numerous slender 
spines which are bright red on the 
straight young shoots. Its leaves are 
thin and delicate and so far as the 
writer’s observations go it 1s not subject 
to the rose spot disease which turns briar 
rose bushes, such as Lord and Lady 


2 The Journal of Heredity 


This lovely yellow rose has one small 
drawback. It does not seem to grow 
easily from cuttings or slips. It seeds 
freely , however, and can be raised in 
this way even should a quicker way not 
be discovered. 

To those who are interested in roses 
it may be a matter of satisfaction to 
know, that the breeding of this rose 
with others is now going on here in 
America, and the appearance of some 
new descendant of Father Hugo Scallan’s 


Penzance, into long unsightly masses 


rose is probably merely a matter of 
of naked stems before the summer is over. 1 ‘ 


time. 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


THE MUTATION FACTOR IN EVOLUTION, with Particular Reference to Oenothera. 
R. Ruggles Gates, Ph. D., F. L. S. Pp. xiv+353, 114 figs., map and bibliography. London, 
Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1915. Price 10s. net. 


There is little left unsaid on the subject of Evening Primrose mutations, after 
Dr. Gates has finished with the subject. It has attracted an immense amount of 
attention in the last score of years—Dr. Gates’ bibliography contains more than 
450 entries—and the author has performed a real service by digesting the literature, 
to which his own contributions have been notable, and publishing it in this form. 
A considerable part of the book is, naturally, devoted to proving that there really 
is such a thing as a mutation. To those who have contended that the supposed 
mutations were merely the effects of hybridity, Dr. Gates answers that the cyto- 
logical evidence disproves this; and the finding of a specimen of Oenothera lamarck- 
zana which was collected by Michaux in America late in the eighteenth century 
shows that this chief of the mutating species is a real one, and not merely the 
hybrid product of some European garden. Dr. Gates discusses mutants in other 
plants, and animals, and concludes with a general theory of mutation, and a 
discussion of the significance of mutation in evolution. 


SOCIETAL EVOLUTION, by Albert Galloway Keller. 
the Macmillan Co., 66 Fifth Avenue, 1915. 


Pp. ix+338, price $1.50. New York, 


It is still a disputed point among sociologists, whether the mechanism of biological 
evolution—variation, heredity, selection, adaptation—is also the mechanism of 
the evolution of society. The distinguished professor of the science of society at 
Yale believes that it is, and has written this very readable, interesting and sugges- 
tive book to prove it, basing himself solidly on Darwinian foundations. As the 
evolution of society depends on changes in popular customs or mores, and the 
success of the eugenics program equally depends on a change in the mores, Professor 
Keller’s extended and sympathetic discussion of eugenics must be of great interest 
to every genetist. He points out that the maintenance mores, those which are 
principally economic in character, are much more easily changed than any others, 
and holds that the easiest route for eugenic propaganda is along this line. ‘‘ Nega- 
tive eugenics”’ is therefore most likely to be successfully put into practice, because 
it touches closely upon the struggle for a living. As to the immediate practicability 
of positive eugenics he does not show great enthusiasm, and it is likely that most 
eugenists will find their dreams a little less rosy, after reading his able review of 
the case. 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine 
M g 


Vol. VI, No. 10 October, 1915 


CONTENTS 


Washington Navel Orange, by A. D. Shamel!........................ 135 
Berkeleya Veet of AnsG Avie, he gs ree isis. dite be al eae em 145 
New Light on Eugenics, by Samuel C. Kohs........................ 446 
Variation in Pure Lines, by C. V. Williams.......................... 152 
Apple Breeding in Idaho, by C. C. Vincent.......................... 453 
Double Seeding Petunias, by Mrs. Myrtle Shepherd Francis......... 156 
Heredity in-the Soy Beane 2 7) .5..5 55 02a eed ons ee deen dee des 161 
Hy bridvhistolowye-n scot Aloge eee soto saeiodu-2 ae Maty aation 4.24 
iVMorerbrotitstromi Grains: 249255490906 oe ear oe Fe ee Sea een dake 161 
Oriental Immigration, by W. C. Billings............................ 162 
Plant Breeding Problems, by C. L. Lewis........................... .468 
Crane wsneedin gr aa. eee te et er nah a bia Sas Suen, GS sins DAE 470 
Protecting Pollinated Blossoms, by Dr. William S. Chapin.......... 471 
Piantibreeding in Miunmesota. i622. snccs suas kc gees wow me aes AT2 
Wihy Do Apples: Bloom: Late?. .. 2.2. 5b see. cee eee nee oe nhneee 172 
Unit; Characters, by iS. J Holmes. *. 505.66. 35% 55 esse oe atte Dede: 173 
How to Make a Eugenical Family Study............................ 176 
Illustration of Inbreeding, by D. F. Jones........................... ATT 
EroductionotiNewiGereals ee Ge: ahs oi 49.4 teen oe a oe Sines oh ae A479 
Blant breedime imiAlabamar 2)...055 004 400 aoc asi nt ees ee oa we oe AT 

iReversion' im Sheep, by ho: Heller. i) ¢ 25.22 oon eek eee es ne dae 480 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Subscription price to non-members, $2.00 a year, foreign postage extra; 
price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter February 24, 1915, at the postoffice at Washing- 
ton, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, September 27, 1915. 


(‘aoardsiyuo1g) 97e4S RY} Ul UMOIS st [PABN UOZSUTYSe MA 94} MOY Jo vapl poos & saad ‘e1usJosITed ‘apIsIoAny Jvau dAoi3 sty} pue 
‘p]IOM 9} Ul soliysnput [einyynorz1oy poeziuvsio pur poyojiod Ayysry ysour oy Jo auo squasoidel erusoyyeg ul Aysnput asuRlo dU], 


SAONVUO THAVN NOLONTHSVA AO FTAOHD VINHOATTIVO 


WASHINGTON NAVEL ORANGE 


Important California Citrus Fruit Originated in Brazil Nearly a Century Ago, 
Brought to United States in 1869—Comparison of Culture in Cali- 
fornia and Brazil—Importance of Bud Mutations! 


A. D. SHAMEL 
Physiologist, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Riverside, Cal. 


HE Washington Navel Orange 

is one of the most interesting 

and important horticultural 

varieties in existence. The facts 
concerning its origin and introduction 
into the citrus districts of the United 
States and other countries are well estab- 
lished. The development of the culture 
of this variety on an extensive com- 
mercial basis has occurred well within the 
history of men now living. The recol- 
lections of these men concerning its 
early propagation, methods of planting 
and culture, are clear and well defined. 
While many of the men and women who 
were directly concerned in the intro- 
duction of this variety into the United 
States have passed away, they have, 
fortunately for posterity, left permanent 
records of some of their experiences in 
this connection. 

The following paper is an attempt by 
the writer to bring together the avail- 
able information concerning the origin 
and development of this variety. A 
study of the facts should be of intense 
interest to all plant breeders and others 
who are concerned in the development 
and improvement of our horticultural 
varieties. The historical data presented 
in this paper relating to the origin and 
development of the Washington Navel 
Orange in Brazil were collected by an 
expedition sent to that country by the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 
fall of 1913, consisting of P. H. Dorsett, 
Wilson Popenoe, and the writer. The 
facts mentioned in the discussion of 
the introduction and development of 
the navel orange in the United States 
have been secured from papers and 


a) 


reports in the possession of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, and from 
first-hand interviews with some of the 
men and women in southern California 


who took part 1n this work. 


ORIGIN 


The Washington Navel orange orig- 
inated at Bahia, Brazil, as a bud sport 
from the Portuguese variety of orange, 
laranja selecta, or the “select orange.” 
This variety was undoubtedly intro- 
duced by the Portuguese into Brazil 
very soon after the colonization of that 
country. According to V. A. Argollo- 
Ferrao,” the navel orange appeared as a 
bud sport of the laranja selecta variety 
and was discovered and first propagated 
by a Portuguese gardener at Bahia in 
1822. This account of the origin of the 
Bahian navel orange was confirmed by 
all other available information. The 
fathers or grandfathers of some of the 
orange growers at Bahia were personally 
acquainted with the circumstances con- 
nected with the origin and propagation 
of this variety and this knowledge was 
handed down to their sons and grand- 
sons. 

From the first, the seedless fruits of 
the navel orange trees were highly 
prized by the Bahians. The superior 
qualities of these fruits attracted general 
attention. The growers of the parent 
laranja selecta variety, recognizing the 
importance of the seedless navel fruits, 
planted that variety exclusively, as 
soon as trees were available for this 
purpose. At the present time the 
Bahian navel orange has _ practically 
supplanted all other varieties of oranges 


1 Read before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association on August 3, 


1915, at Berkeley, Cal. 


2Inspectoria Agricola do 11° Districta, Bahia, Brazil. 


435 


436 The Journal 


grown in Bahia, with the exception of a 
sour or bitter variety, called laranja 
de terra (Citrus vulgaris Risso), which is 
grown for the production of seeds used 
for raising stocks. At Rio de Janeiro, 
commercial orchards of the Jlaranja 
selecta variety are still cultivated by 
some of the farmers in agricultural 
districts near the capital. In the first 
orchard of this variety visited by the 
writer, a tree was found having a limb 
sport bearing typical navel orange 
fruits, while the remainder of the tree 
bore the regular seeded laranja selecta 
orange. Other similar cases were ob- 
served, tending to confirm the history 
of the origin of this variety as related 
by the Bahian orange growers and 
others. The navel orange variety in 
Brazil is called laranja selecta de umbigo, 
or the “select orange with the navel.” 
This name in itself tends to confirm the 
established history of the origin of this 
variety. 


NAVEL ORANGES IN BRAZIL 


The Brazilian expedition found that 
the principal navel orange district in 
Brazil is that of Bahia. A few trees of 
this variety were found growing in the 
orange groves near Rio de Janeiro. 
We were informed on good authority 
that limited plantings have been made 
in some interior districts of Brazil, but 
in no case has the development of the 
industry reached such extent or im- 
portance as in the Bahian district. We 
found growing at Bahia about 50,000 
bearing navel orange trees and about 
an equal number of trees which had not 
as yet reached the bearing age. A 
typical tree is shown in Fig. 1.  Inas- 
much as the trees are usually planted at 
the rate of about 100 per acre, there 
were about 1,000 acres of bearing and 
non-bearing navel orange trees in the 
Bahian district. 

The development of this industry has 


been encouraged by the Brazilian 
Government, and particularly by the 
city of Bahia. We were told that 


§ Mandioca is the Brazilian name for the manioc or cassava (Manihot utilissima Pohl., 
biaceae), one of the important food plants which is native of South America. 
vated for its roots, which sometimes weigh as much as 30 pounds and are 3 feet long. 


of Heredity 


within this municipality there are about 
35,000 acres of land suitable for plant- 
ing oranges. The city has established 
an experimental farm for the purpose of 
investigating methods of propagation, 
culture, and handling oranges for the 
benefit of citrus growers. Liberal in- 
ducements are given to prospective 
planters in the way of long time, low 
rentals and facilities for transporting 
and selling the crops. <A strong effort 
is being made by the municipality of 
Bahia to encourage an export trade, 
particularly to the larger cities of South 
America, so that the existing demand 
for this fruit can be supplied. 

Under present conditions the culture 
of the navel orange at Bahia is a profit- 
able undertaking for the growers, the 
fruits retailing in the city of Bahia for 
an average of about 3 cents each. A 
typical Bahian navel orange is shown 


in Fig. 2. The expense of “Gleam 
the land, planting the orchards, and 


bringing them into bearing is frequently 
made up by the profits from the culture 
of mandioca* between the rows of 
orange trees. The bearing orchards 
are cultivated by scraping off the weeds 
from one to three times a year with a 
heavy hoe, or ‘‘enchada.’” About the 
only fertilizer used is barnyard manure. 
All of the growers of the larger orchards 
maintain dairies in connection with their 
farms, mainly for the purpose of secur- 
ing manure for use in their orange 
groves. This manure is carefully con- 
served and is usually applied by burying 
it in heaps between the trees; on hill- 
sides it is buried some distance above 
the trees, usually under the drip of the 
branches. It was the unanimous testi- 
mony of Bahian orange growers that 
mottle leaf and chlorosis of citrus trees 
could be cured by the liberal use of 


manure. Insect enemies and fungus 
diseases are not controlled artificially 
except in the case of ants. The ant 


colonies in the orchards are destroyed 
by digging them out or more recently 
by fumigation. 

Euphor- 
It is widely culti- 
They are 


ord up, and the bitter, poisonous juice which they contain is expelled by drying on heated 
plates; the resulting product is known to almost every one in the United States under the name 


of tapioca, 


Shamel: Washington Navel Orange 


437 


NAVEL ORANGE TREE AT HOME 


Typical specimen in the grove of Col. Frederico da Costa, Matatu, Bahia, Brazil. 


The navel 


orange of California was brought from Bahia, where it is believed: to have originated as 


a bud sport about 1826. (Fig. 1.) 


The oranges are usually picked by 
men climbing the trees, breaking off 
the spurs to which the fruits are at- 
tached, and dropping them to the 
ground. They are then collected into 
heaps; assorted into two grades, one 
consisting of the large, and the other of 
the small, fruits. The fruits are then 
loaded into boxes or packs and carried 
on horse or mule-back to the markets; 
or in some cases the buyers come to the 
orchards from the city and carry baskets 
of the fruits on their heads to the city. 
The steamships that call at Bahia take 
a considerable portion of the crop for 
use on their tables. A small quantity 
of navel oranges is now exported to Rio 
de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and other 
South American cities, but not enough, 


we were informed, to supply the demand 
in those cities for this variety. 

The navel orange orchards at Bahia 
are located on the higher lands and are 
given no irrigation—the annual rain- 
fall at Bahia is about 50 inches a year, 
so that under normal conditions irriga- 
tion is not needed. We were told that 
in dry seasons the crops were compara- 
tively light, while the best crops are 
produced during the wet seasons. The 
principal crop ripens in May, June and 
July, a period corresponding to our 
winter or the California rainy season. 
Another crop ripens in December, 
January and February, while on some 
of the trees ripe fruits are found the 
entire year. Our observations in this 
connection led us to the conclusion that 


NAVEL ORANGE OF BATILA 


This fruit is a good sample of the navel orange as it still grows at the plate of its origin. The 
skin is relatively thin and the navel rudimentary. Its quality is very good, although 
ivestigators differ on the question of whether the navel orange at Bahia is a fruit superior 


he navel orange of California. Fig. 2. 


Shamel: Washington Navel Orange 


this habit of fruiting was characteristic 
of certain types of the navel orange, one 
type having the habit of ripening its 
fruit in the winter, another type bearing 
ripe fruits in the summer, while a third 
type bears ripe fruits throughout the 
year, similar to the habit of the Eureka 
variety of lemon in California. 


INTRODUCTION TO UNITED STATES 


The Bahian navel orange was intro- 
duced into the United States through 
the efforts of the late William Saunders, 
Horticulturist and Landscape Gardener 
for that division of the Patent Office 
corresponding to the present United 
States Department of Agriculture. In 
his reports on this project, he mentions 
the fact that he learned from a woman 
correspondent of the existence of a 
seedless variety of orange at Bahia, 
about 1868. Through correspondence 
with the American consul at Bahia, 
Mr. Saunders secured a shipment of 
the seedless orange trees, but during the 
long voyage from Bahia to New York 
the trees died. Mr. Saunders again 
wrote the American consul and asked 
for another shipment of these trees, 
giving minute directions for the packing 
of them and their care in transit. 
Preparatory to the arrival of this 
second shipment, Mr. Saunders secured 
some seed from oranges in the Washing- 
ton market and grew seedlings in the 
Government greenhouses. When the 
second shipment of trees arrived, they 
were in poor condition, but some buds 
were found.to be alive: these were 
transferred to the seedlings in the green- 
house and a number of orange trees 
were successfully grown in this manner. 

A former neighbor of Mr. Saunders 
in Washington, residing in Riverside, 
Cal., Mrs. L. C. Tibbetts, learning of 
the success of this introduction, wrote 
to Mr. Saunders asking for some of the 
trees. When the trees were ready for 
distribution in 1873, two were sent to 
Mrs. Tibbetts and most of the remainder 
to Florida, which was thought to possess 
more nearly ideal conditions for the 
growth of this variety. The two trees 
received by Mrs. Tibbetts were planted 
in her dooryard and were carefully 
tended by her personally until they 


439 


came into fruiting. When the first 
fruits ripened on these trees, Mrs. 
Tibbetts invited her neighbors to assist 
her in testing them. These neighbors 
and Mrs. Tibbetts decided that this 
orange was superior in many respects 
to any then grown in Southern Cali- 
fornia and made every preparation 
to propagate this variety as rapidly 
as possible. Further experience con- 
firmed the judgment of these pioneers, 
and as a result, the navel orange soon 
achieved a wide reputation on account 
of its superior quality, seedlessness, 
and other valuable characteristics. The 
trees sent to Florida proved to be some- 
what unsatisfactory, particularly on 
account of low production in comparison 
with other varieties then grown there. 
While a small acreage of navel oranges is 
cultivated in Florida, this variety has 
never achieved any great commercial 
success or importance in that State. 


ORIGIN OF THE NAME 


Mr. Saunders distributed the navel 
orange trees under the name of the 
Bahian Navel orange, marking the 
origin of this variety in Bahia. The 
first important commercial orchards 
planted in California were grown near 
Riverside, and: for a time the variety 
was known locally as the Riverside 
Navel orange. Later the successful 
introduction of this variety into other 
districts in California led to a general 
discussion of an appropriate name for 
the variety and at a public meeting 
called for this purpose, the growers 
united upon the name of the Washing- 
ton Navel orange for the variety. This 
name was adopted in recognition of the 
fact that the variety was introduced 
and the first trees in this country were 
propagated by the Agricultural Depart- 
ment at Washington, D. C. 


DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDUSTRY 


The general introduction and develop- 
ment of the navel orange industry in 
California has occurred within the last 
forty years. From the two original 
trees planted by Mrs. Tibbetts in 1873, 
which are still living and producing 
fruits at Riverside, the industry has 
grown in California until at the present 


OF CALIFORNIA 


NAVEL ORANGE 


Shamel: Washington Navel Orange 


time there are about 100,000 acres of 
this variety cultivated in the State. A 
typical Washington navel: orange is 
shown in Fig. 3; a typical productive 
form Washington navel tree is shown in 
Fig. 4; and a typical Washington 
navel orange grove near Riverside, 
Cal., is shown in the frontispiece. The 
crop of navel oranges is about 25,000 
carloads of fruit each year, containing 
about 10,000,000 boxes of oranges. 
From California, trees of this variety 
have been sent to Japan, Australia, 
South Africa, and other foreign citrus 
districts. In those regions the variety 
has become commercially important 
and its culture is being rapidly extended, 
so that it is becoming one of the leading 
citrus varieties of the world. The 
Washington navel orange in California 
has been the foundation upon which 
the citrus industry as a whole has been 
developed. 


METHODS OF PROPAGATION 


The methods of propagation of the 
Washington navel orange in California 
are similar in many respects to those 
practiced at Bahia. In California the 
variety 1s usually budded upon stocks 
from the Mission Sweet Seedling orange. 
In some districts it has been propagated 
upon stocks grown from grapefruit, the 
Florida sour orange, and the Florida 
rough lemon seeds. 


TYPES FROM BUD MUTATIONS 


In 1909 the writer began a series of 
observations on the behavior of this 
variety under different soil and climatic 
conditions in California. In the study 
of these trees, it was found that numer- 
ous diverse types of trees and fruits 
existed. Some of the striking types of 
trees were distinguished by their habits 
of growth, density of foliage, and other 
easily discernible characteristics. <A 
close study of some of the trees dis- 
closed the fact that they bore character- 
istic fruits. The variation in these 
types of the Washington navel orange, 
both as regards trees and fruits, was so 
marked that it was thought for a time 
to be due to a mixture of varieties. 
Later it was discovered that frequently 


441 


trees grown from a single navel orange 
bud produced several characteristic 
types of fruits. In some cases this 
variation was found to occur as limb 
sports, in which case both the fruits 
and foliage on these sporting limbs were 
characteristic of the types to which they 
belong. In other cases these variations 
were found as single fruits. 


IMPORTANCE OF TYPES 


Systematic investigation of this sub- 
ject was begun about this time for the 
purpose of discovering the extent and 
importance of the diversity of types 
arising from bud mutations. Plots of 
about 100 trees each were selected in 
representative orchards and careful per- 
formance records secured from each 
tree in these plots. After six years’ 
systematic study, conclusions can be 
safely drawn as to the significance of 
bud mutations and the importance of 
the types of the navel orange originat- 
ing from these mutations. It has been 
proven that the diverse types of the 
navel orange existing in the California 
orchards have originated from bud 
sports. The trees of these types have 
characteristic habits of growth and the 
fruits borne by these trees are of very 
widely differing commercial value. 


FREQUENCY OF BUD MUTATIONS 


The occurrence of these diverse types 
is very much more frequent than has 
heretofore been supposed to be the case. 
They are of great and vital importance 
to the growers from a commercial 
standpoint. One of the characteristics of 
some of the unproductive and undesir- 
able types of trees is unusual vigor of 
growth. Frequently these trees stand 
out in orchards several feet in height 
above the neighboring trees and have a 
spread several feet in excess of that of 
the standard tree. These inferior trees 
also frequently produce an unusual 
number of so-called suckers, or very 
vigorous vegetative growth, which has 
heretofore been highly prized for pro- 
pagation. Asa result of this condition, 
there is little doubt but that in the 
successive propagations of the past 
years, an increasingly large proportion 


AAD The Journal of Heredity 


Ree 


Ps 


~ 


CALIFORNIA NAVEL ORANGE TREE 


The culture of the crop in southern California is in most respects very markedly different from 
‘ Srazil The trees usually get better re. more fertilizer and abund ¢ Jenign tai 
raz. he trees usually get better care, more tertilizer and abundant irrigation, 
-efore are likely to produce a larger yield than those in Brazil. (Fig. 4.) 


of the trees have been propagated from Performance records of typical trees 
the more vigorous growing, and as a_ of the eleven common types of the 
matter of fact, least desirable type of Washington navel orange under com- 
tree for fruit production, both a parative conditions for six years have 
regards quantity and commercial quality established fairly well the behavior 
of the crop. In other words, there ha and the value of the trees of these 


been a steady deterioration in the types. The undesirable types, without 
characteristics of production of the exception, have been successfully top- 


variety from the propagation of thes« worked, using budwood from select 
inferior and undesirable fruiting type trees of the best types. The select 


Shamel: Washington Navel Orange 


443 


“AUSTRALIAN”? NAVEL ORANGE 


This peculiar form of the Bahia Navel seems to be the product of a bud sport or mutation 


similar to the one that produced the original seedless navel. 


The branch here shown is 


from a standard Bahia Navel orange tree in the grove of Col. Frederico da Costa, Matatu, 
Bahia, Brazil; similar specimens can be found in almost any part of the world where the 


variety is grown. 


On the whole, this ‘‘Australian’’ mutation is inferior to the standard 


type which produces it, and wise growers therefore do not propagate from buds of limbs 


bearing this sort of fruit. (Fig. 5.) 

trees of the best types have also been 
topworked with budwood from the 
undesirable types, successfully demon- 
strating without any possibility of 
doubt that it is possible to transfer type 
characteristics from one tree to another 
by the use of buds selected on the basis 
of performance records. Propagations 
have been made from all of the common 
budsports and these propagations have 
been so successful as to prove the fact 
of the origin and development of these 
diverse types from bud mutations. 

At the present time there are exten- 
sive commercial individual tree per- 
formance records being kept by navel 
orange growers in California for the 


purpose of locating the drone trees of 
the undesirable types. These inferior 
trees are being rapidly topworked, using 
budwood from trees selected on the 
basis of performance records. Some of 
the leading nurserymen have adopted 
the principle of propagation from select 
trees, propagating only from those trees 
producing large, regular, and valuable 
crops of the standard or best type of 
fruit as shown by actual performance 
records, It has been commercially dem- 
onstrated in this way that a valuable 
type of the navel orange can be isolated 
through bud selection based on _per- 
formance records. 

It is also believed as a result of the 


444 The Journal 


evidence accumulated in the course of 
these observations, that the variation 
in this type can be controlled by bud 
selection, so that by this means the 
variety can be conserved, maintained, 
and improved. 

In the consideration of the practical 
problem of maintaining the navel orange 
variety by bud selection, it has been 
found necessary not only to select trees 
from definite individual tree perform- 
ance records, but also to make limb 
selections as well. This is done by 
cutting the budwood from the select 
trees with the ripe fruits attached and 
using only budwood from the limbs 
which produce the typical or standard 
Washington navel orange fruits. This 
budwood is of the preceding year’s 
growth and while it is of small size, has 
been successfully used commercially. 
The buds from this source have been 
found to produce equally good if not 
better trees than those propagated 
from the larger and more rapidly 
growing wood. 


TREE RENEWAL 


Of the observations made in the 
navel and other orange districts of 
Brazil, one of the most interesting to 
the writer was the method of tree 
renewal practiced by the orange growers. 
We found existing a general belief that 
after fifteen or twenty years orange 
trees became unproductive and un- 
profitable. In such cases the tree tops 
are cut off and new tops grown from the 
old trunks. In the case of badly 
diseased and dying trees, they are cut 
back severely, sometimes to a point 
just above the bud union. Where the 
trees were in fair condition of vitality 
but decadent, only the smaller limbs 
are cut off, leaving the main limbs as a 
framework for the growth of a new top. 
The amount of tree top cut off is 
governed by the condition of the trees. 
The renewed trees were found to be 
surprisingly healthy, vigorous-growing, 
and productive. Many of the orange 
growers claimed that the fruits borne by 
these renewed trees were of better 
quality than those borne by original 
trees. 

In consequence of this practice of 


of Heredity 


tree renewal, no very old navel orange 
trees were found; the oldest was said 
to be about 40 years of age. However, 
in some cases, evidence was discovered 
where such trees had been renewed as 
many as four times, indicating that the 
trunks were from 60 to 80 years of age. 

The method of tree renewal practiced 
by the Brazilian navel orange growers 
is chiefly of interest in that it tends to 
confirm the soundness of the principle 
of pruning based on the systematic 
renewal of the fruit-bearing wood in 
citrus trees. ; 


BUDDING 


Another interesting practice observed 
in the Bahian navel orange districts 
was the budding of stocks set in per- 
manent orchard places. While the 
general method of propagation followed 
in the past at Bahia has been that of the 
ordinary nursery, the majority of the 
newer orchards were found to be prop- 
agated by budding the stocks in place. 
Certain advantages for this method of 
propagation are claimed by the Brazilian 
orange growers: ¢.g., a more rapid 
growth of the budded tree, earlier 
fruiting, and greater resistance to dis- 
eases, as compared with the ordinary 
transplanted nursery trees. The stocks 
are budded higher than is the usual 
practice in this country—15 or 20 
inches above the ground, and are usu- 
ally about two years old when budded. 
The budding is done at all times of the 
year, but is said to be most successful 
during November, December, and Janu- 
ary, the spring and summer seasons in 
Bahia. A shield bud is used as a rule, 
the budsticks being about the same 
size as the stocks to be budded. 


BUD VARIATIONS 


Bud variations were found in the 
Bahian navel orange, but apparently 
are not so frequent as in the California 
Washington navel orange trees. Dis- 
tinct types of trees, as shown by habit 
of growth and other characteristics, 
were observed in all the orchards ex- 
amined. On individual branches, leaf 
variations were very frequent. For 
instance, the variation of the petiole 
was particularly noticeable. The petiole 


Shamel: Washington Navel Orange 


of neighboring leaves varied from 
broadly winged to wingless, winged on 
one side and wingless on the opposite 
side, very small to very large, and from 
one to three sets of wings. On one of 
the standard type Bahian navel trees, a 
sporting branch was found bearing 
typical flattened and wrinkled so-called 
Australian navel fruits, as shown in 
Fig. 5. One entire orchard of several 
thousand trees was observed planted 
to the Australian type of navel orange. 

In one orchard we found well-estab- 
lished instances of reversions of the 
navel to the selecta variety of orange. 
In this orchard the owner, Col. Luiz de 
Suze Demetrio, one of the leading navel 
orange propagators of Bahia, told us 
that three typical fruiting laranja selecta 
trees in his orchard were grown from 
buds cut from a navel orange tree and 
propagated on sour orange stocks by 
himself. 

Variability in time of ripening fruits, 
size, shape, navel characters, color, 
thickness of rind, amount of juice, 
character of rag, quality, and other 
characters, were particularly marked. 
To the writer, the most interesting 
observation in this connection was the 
variation in time of ripening the fruits, 
indicating the possibility of controlling 
this character in some measure through 
bud selection. 

Most of the types of navel oranges 
found in California were observed in the 
orchards at Bahia. 


445 


It may be of some interest to note 
that the writer has found several of 
these typical budsports in the fruits 
produced by the two parent Washington 
navel trees at Riverside. 

In a consideration of the factors in- 
volved in the successful development of 
the navel orange industry in California, 
the work of the pioneer orange planters 
must not be overlooked. These men 
and women settled in a desert. All of 
the problems incidental to bringing 
under cultivation this arid land were 
met with sublime courage, intelligence, 
and resourcefulness. Most of the set- 
tlers were fresh from plentifully watered, 
fertile lands and established conditions 
of eastern agricultural sections. The 
taming of the sagebrush lands, the 
development of water for irrigation, 
the discovery of new methods of culture 
to meet new conditions, needed iron 
determination and strong faith. How 
well these pioneers succeeded is shown 
by the wonderful orchards, perhaps the 
most perfect of all time, the beautiful 
homes nestling in the orange groves, 
and the highly cultured people who are 
enjoying the results of the efforts of the 
pioneers. It has been said that the 
man who causes two blades of grass to 
grow where one grew before is a public 
benefactor. What can we say of these 
pioneer orange growers who caused 
beautiful and useful orchards to grow 
where nothing grew before? 


Berkeley Meeting of A. G. A. 


More then 300 persons attended various sessions of the twelfth annual meeting 
of the American Genetic Association at Berkeley, Cal., August 2-6. 

Two general sessions were held, while those interested in plant breeding met 1n 
three sessions and eugenics had one session. The program of every session was 


crowded. 


As many of the papers as possible will be printed in the JouRNAL OF HEREDITY; 
the rest will appear in various other publications to which they seem most adapted. 
It was decided to continue meeting in connection with the American Association 


for the Advancement of Science. 


A Committee on Nomenclature was appointed by the presiding officer, [Dingded 
B. Babcock, consisting of Herbert J. Webber, Chairman; R. Ruggles Gates, George 
H. Shull, W. E. Castle, Raymond Pearl, H. 5. Jennings and Paul Popenoe. 


NEW LIGHT ON EUGENICS 


Psychologists’ Study of Unconscious Phenomena Convinces Them That Many 
Traits of Adult Are Due to Impressions on Early Life, and Not to 
Heredity—Weakness of Some Eugenic Research! 


SAMUEL C. Konus 
- Psychologist, House of Correction, Chicago, IIl. 


HE purpose of this brief paper 
is not to present a new, fan- 
tastic theory, but rather to 
sound a reasonable note of 

warning to some of our over-confident 
friends who are advocating a eugenic 
program based on slippery and insecure 
foundations. In this age of hyper- 
enthusiasm some of our fellow-workers 
are inclined to permit their theories and 
ideals to loosen their hold on the facts. 
Both eugenists and psychologists must 
be extremely careful not to forget that 
in both fields we are still dealing with 
“elementa.’’ The amount of data which 
“an be made of practical service is in 
some fields very meager. We must not 
permit our hopes to run riot with our 
facts. 

The recent developments of genetic 
science have again brought to the fore, 
after a more or less prolonged period of 
exile, the view of the inheritance of 
acquired characters. This rejuvena- 
tion is receiving a great deal of accelera- 
tion, especially among psychologists, 
by the wider and wider acceptance of 
Semon’s mnemic theory. The followers 
of Semon claim that ontogeny is a 
mnemic phenomenon, evolution depend- 
ing on a change in ontogenetic rhythm 
(8, p. 387). According to this view 
nerve cell and germ cell both possess the 
property of being impressionable, the 
latter, of course, to a much lesser 
degree. The engram is the unit of 
impression, many of these being as- 
sociated into various different groups, 
the whole completed system being 
called the ‘“‘mneme,’’ a Greek term 
equivalent to ‘‘memory.”’ It is claimed 


that experiences, habits, will leave their 
traces upon the organism, the germ 
plasm only being fundamentally affected. 
after a vast number of reinforced 
repetitions. The ‘imprint’ having 
been made, later generations will show 
changes either in structure or function. 

In this connection it is of interest to 
note the following remarks of Jennings 
(18): “As a material, potentially visible 
organism, I, like the infusorian, have 
been in existence ever since the race 
that developed into human kind began. 
And this, for each of us, is not a figure 
of speech, but the plain literal truth. 
An unlimited microscopist could have 
followed with his eyes my course, and 
your course, down through countless 
ages, never losing sight of the material. 
organism for an instant. . . . I was in 
actual material existence as a living 
organism, and indeed thousands or 
millions of years old, when the pyramids: 
were built, and my unlimited micro- 
scopist could give my history from that 
time to this without a break. What 
marks has that long history left on my 
personality and character?’’ (903~904.) 
It is this phylogenetic aspect we must. 
keep in mind in studying the heredity of 
character and personality. 


UNIVERSAL ANCESTRY 


“Scientists have calculated that each 
of us of course has thousands of ances- 
and that frequent crossing of 
ancestral lines has occurred, so that 
practically every individual living today 
has among his ancestors every individual 
of the race who lived 5,000 years ago. 
So the ancestry of the race is practically 


tors, 


1Read before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association at Berkeley, 


California, August 3, 1915. 


446 


Kohs: New Light on Eugenics 


common to all, hence the uniformity of 
the more elementary feelings and ten- 
dencies of the race. Each and every 
individual is heir to all the experiences 
of past generations’ (Atkinson (2), p. 
98-99). 

With this feeble attempt at re- 
orienting ourselves to the truly wide 
aspect of inheritance, we come to a 
weak spot in many a positive eugenic 
program. There is a tendency on the 
part of some to include in the list of 
hereditary characters certain mental, 
emotional and moral traits which seem 
to be the peculiar possession of partic- 
ular families. The hereditahbility of the 
following have been maintained by 
various authors: tact, power of expres- 
sion, lying, nomadism, endurance, stub- 
bornness, bad temper, sentimentality, 
good judgment, morality, character, 
industry, criminality, affability, left- 
handedness, antipathy for physicians, 
fear of water, disgust for certain articles 
of food—e.g., cheese. Heymans and 
Wiersma observed that parents and 
offspring resembled each other, among 
other things, in ardor, impulsiveness, 
resolution, persistence, generosity, tem- 
perance, wit, patience and industry. 
Davenport enumerates talents in music, 
art, literature. mechanics, invention, 
mathematics; the degree of sensitivity, 
quick or dull, keen or poor; the type of 
disposition, cheerful or melancholic; self- 
ish or altruistic; conscientiousness or lia- 
bility to shirk. ‘‘These characteristics,” 
he says (10), ‘“‘are inheritable; they are 
independent of each other, and they 
may be combined in any desirable 
mosaic (pp: 6). -Crzellitzer’s list of 
heritable traits includes ability in music, 
sculpture, painting and mathematics; 
thriftiness, temperament, liberality and 
military ability. He quotes the work 
of Furst and Jung and their observa- 
tions of family resemblances by means 
of the association-reaction method. But 
what they proved was not that certain 
common ideas or attitudes are inherited, 
but rather that developed family ‘‘com- 
plexes’’ exist. This question will be 
further elucidated later. Besides those 
characteristics already mentioned, Jose- 
fovici adds diplomacy and ability in 
science. 


447 


Pearson found such qualities as viva- 
city, conscientiousness, popularity, tem- 
per, introspection or self-consciousness, 
and assertiveness, to run in families. 
This may be coupled with the following 
interesting statement made by Daven- 


port (9): The “boldness, swiftness, 
certainty of manipulation and that 


precis: knowledge which belong to the 
great surgeon are not due to himself, 
but were, in their elements, antecedent 
to him. He could not help his valuable 
innate qualities, his knowledge is largely 
a heritage of the past, his education has 
been possible because of his educability 
and because of preexisting knowledge’”’ 
(p. 38). One wonders how close Daven- 
port came to saying that information 
and dexterity acquired in one genera- 
tion are transmitted in the next. 


WEAK POINTS IN RESULTS 


Most of the above studies are of 
doubtful value because of any one or 
more of these reasons: 

(1) Inaccurate tools with which to 
measure the ability or capacity. 

(2) Amateur field-workers. 

(3) The use of the questionnaire 
method. 

(4) Where more than one  field- 
worker was necessary to obtain the 
data, differences in the individual stand- 
ards of the field-workers vitiated the 
results. 

(5) Being told for what to look, and 
possessing the popular conceptions re- 
garding the inheritability of all sorts of 
traits, itis only just to assume that many 
of the assistants very easily found what 
was not there. 

(6) The study of character and per- 
sonality is still in its infancy. To 
assume that certain peculiarities are 
due to the presence or absence of specific 
determiners can, in our present state 
of knowledge, hardly be substantiated 
by actual facts. 

(7) Some students approach the prob- 
lem of the inheritance of mental traits 
fresh from the biological laboratory. 
Without hesitation they will assume, 
for example, that the overzealous care 
of one’s dress is a unit character, 
recessive to all appearances, acting in 


448 The Journal 


“Mendelian ratio, similar to hair color in 
certain animals. 

Thorndike aptly remarks (36): ‘One 
fears that Professor Pearson may next 
produce coefficients of correlation to 
show that the political party a man joins, 
the place where he lives, and the dialect 
he speaks, are matters of pure inherit- 
ance uninfluenced by family training”’ 
(p. 242). It is due to these conceptions 
that it is so difficult to eradicate such 
false terms as “born criminal,” ‘‘royal 
blood,” etc. 

One great weakness of all these 
studies has been that all have remained 
satisfied, it seems, in their belief that 
conscious phenomena presented to them 
the complete picture of the psyche. 
Psychologists generally are beginning 
to recognize more and more that con- 
sciousness is by far the less important, 
and that the great storehouse for 
motives to action is the unconscious. 

‘There is much of the cave-man even 
in the most cultured individual, which 
comes to the surface when opportunity 
presents itself and environment supplies 
the stimulus. Civilization is only skin- 
deep,—culture is only superficial. Be- 
neath the thin veneer of our civiliza- 
tion lies the great mass of the race 
experience with all its primitive emo- 
tions, tendencies and impulses” (27, 
pp. 96, 97). 

UNCONSCIOUS ACTIVITY 

It might be well to cite some opinions 
on the unconscious at this point. Ina 
recent book by Holt (17) we find the 
following: ‘‘Experimental psychology, 
then, should relinquish its fetish of 
introspection, at least until a great deal 
has been learned about the simpler 
conscious processes which introspection 
wots not of.... But the greater 
region lies unexplored by psychologists: 
it is those lower responses of the nervous 
system which psychology has hitherto 
been pleased to call ‘unconscious’ reflexes 
and automatisms, that a sound scien- 
tific instinct should select as being the 
simplest and hence the elementary 
processes of consciousness, out of which 
the more complicated processes are 
compounded,—even at last the self 
reflective’’ (p. 200). 


of Heredity 


Atkinson (27) quotes Sir Wm. Hamil- 
ton, who states: “‘I do not hesitate to 
affirm that what we are conscious of is 
constructed out of what we are not 
conscious of—that our whole knowledge 
in fact is made up of the unknown and 
incognizable. The sphere of our con- 
sciousness is only a small circle in the 
center of a far wider sphere of action 
and passion, of which we are only con- 
scious through its effects. . .. The 
fact of such latent mental modifications 
is now established beyond a rational 
doubt; and on the supposition of their 
reality, we are able to solve various 
psychological phenomena otherwise in- 
explicable”’ (pp. 13, 14). This is in line 
with Stanley Hall’s frequent remark that 
the psychic life may be compared to a 
floating iceberg: that which is visible 
is the conscious; and easily, nine-tenths 
of the whole mass remains submerged, 
unconscious. And it is being daily 
verified that by far the major portion of 
our mental life never enters the realm 
of consciousness. We would all be sad 
wrecks in but a very short space of 
time were all the mental activity of 
each successive moment to project 
itself into our conscious field. 

In our studies of mental heredity we 
have placed consciousness and con- 
scious phenomena on too high a pedestal. 
Ladd and Woodworth in their “‘ Physio- 
logical Psychology’’ emphasize time 
and again the enormous handicaps 
which beset one in attempting to 
inquire into the elemental factors which 
go to make up our complex mental 
states, when either introspection or 
objective experimentation is used as 
the analytical instrument. 

How dangerously simple then do 
some of our confreres make mental 
traits! 


DIFFICULTY OF INVESTIGATION 


Leibniz (21) was near stating the 
problem accurately when he said that 
“petites perceptions’’ determine our 
will fiats. Of course, interpreting his 
statement in modern terms we would 
say that unconscious ideas, constella- 
tions and complexes are some of the 
chief motivating factors of conduct. 

Regarding the nature of the uncon- 


Kohs: New Light on Eugenics 


scious it was Richard Herbetz (16) who 
made the remark that “we do not 
know what it 1s, but only what it does, 
and we do not know how it does what it 
does”’ (p. 217). But despite our lack 
of knowledge as to its exact nature, we 
do know quite definitely and certainly 
that the unconscious exists and that 
it is a potent force in directing behavior. 

The Freudians and those closely 
allied to them have uncovered a large 
number of mental mechanisms whose 
roots lie in the subconscious. Data 
first obtained in gross form from those 
mentally disturbed were found to 
apply quite as well to people whose 
psyche was in normal activity. And the 
great contribution of the Ztrich school 
to the psychology of today has been the 
discovery of the existence of the com- 
plex and the explanation of how it 
functions. Previous to this time all we 
could do was just to make disconnected 
observations such as that of Le Bon 
in his “Psychology of the Crowd:” 
“Behind the avowed causes of our acts 
there undoubtedly lie secret causes that 
we do not avow, but behind these 
secret causes there are many others 
more secret still, which we ourselves 
ignore. The greater part of our actions 
are the result of hidden motives which 
escape our observations.” But now 
we know that the complex, once it is 
formed, becomes a potent, dynamic unit, 
and that some of these ‘blind impulses 
to action’’ are merely the inevitable 
result of its existence. 

A complex, simply defined, is an 
associative arrangement of specific men- 
tal data, strongly tinged emotionally. 
Complexes may exist in the realm of 
the conscious, but are of as great, if not 
of greater, significance, when they sink 
below the limen of consciousness. Edu- 
cation, environment, home influences, 
exceptional experiences, age, sex, race, 
religion, certain hereditary predisposi- 
tions, are among the most important 
factors determining the type, number 
and trend of one’s complexes. (See 20, 
p. 548-554.) The recent research of 
psychoanalysts, whose testimony and 
data ought not to be ignored, has 
indicated the close and intimate rela- 
tionship between such phenomena as 


449 


forgetting, moods, character, likes and 
dislikes, ambitions, mental and physical 
ability, habits, the development of 
special aptitudes,—and the complex. 
The analyses of insane persons and 
criminals on the one hand, and those of 
geniuses, artists, poets, on the other, 
have shown that the type of complex in 
both groups is very much alike. These 
dynamic units, by the way, find their 
counterpart in the engrams of Semon’s 
mneme, but it does not necessarily 
follow from that, that all complexes are 
inherited; some are, a large number 
are not. 


INSTINCT AND REASON 


In this connection, it might be well to 
mention that instinct, for example, is 
merely a mass of inherited complexes, 
and in terms of the mnemic theory, 
merely a group of engrams. The effect 
of one impulse acts as a stimulus to the 
second, the effect of the second acts as 
a stimulus to the third, and so on until 
the chain of action is complete. It is 
Hall (15) who indicates the superiority 
of instinct over reason, and his state- 
ment is of significance for us, since we 
are so liable to overemphasize the 
importance of conscious, superficial, 
intellectual factors over those which are 
unconscious, innate and organic. ‘‘The 
superiority of instinct over reason is 
that it regulates conduct in the interest 
of the species at every point, while 
consciousness is selfish and is exactly 
measured by the degree to which the 
individual has broken away from the 
dominance of the race and set up for 
himself against it’’ (p. 211). 

The Freudian and Adlerian schools 
have already contributed a mass of 
material which is of enormous impor- 
tance for the study, of character and 
personality. One main achievement 
of the Zurich school has been the 
discovery that theprincipal roots of 
personality and character lie in the 
unconscious. Another valuable contri- 
bution was their proof that the early 
impressions of childhood were of enor- 
mous significance in the later develop- 
ment of the individual. Waldstein 
ably summarizes these two aspects in 
his article on the unconscious ego and 


450 


its relation to health and education (38): 
““What is often called heredity is merely 
the expression of the subconscious ego, 
whose origin can often be traced back 
to early childhood, to the time when the 
acts of the parents and their example 
left their impress in the unconscious”’ 
(p.8,9). Idiosyncracies of action, pecu- 
liarities, sympathies, antipathies, likes 
and dislikes, prejudices, preformed judg- 
ments, aggressiveness, passivity, marked 
artistic ability and tendencies, tempera- 
ment, these and many more traits of 
character have been explained on the 
basis of acquired complexes. And as 
far as the evidence and explanations are 
concerned, they both seem quite valid. 
The significance of the powerful mass 
of ‘‘Triebe’”’ and impulses in the un- 
conscious must not be neglected by the 
careful student of heredity. 


THE WORK OF ADLER 


Disagreeing with Freud in certain 
essential details, Adler broke away 
entirely and, aided by his followers, 
continued his studies on normal and 
neurotic children. In its essentials his 
‘““minderwertigkeit’’ theory, to explain 
certain motives of conduct, is as fol- 
lows: None of us is born with a system 
all of whose organs are perfect in 
structure or function. There is a weak 
spot somewhere. This will be mani- 
fested very early in life in defective 
reactions to the environment. An at- 
tempt, conscious or unconscious, will 
then be made to compensate for that 
defect, either by a symmetrical organ 
undertaking the extra labor; or by an 
entirely different organ adapting itself 
to care for the extra burden, the 
defective organ in both cases becoming 
hypertrophied: or, finally, by a hyper- 
functioning of the inferior organ. This 
compensation activity may also be 
manifest in cases where organ-defect is 
not necessarily the basis. For example, 
a child lies about the occupation of its 
father, saying that he drives the king’s 
carriage, when in reality he is a coal 
dispenser in very poor circumstances. 
The defect here is, of course, one of 
social position, and the extra activity of 
the imagination is induced to compen- 
sate for this defect. There is hardly 
time to go into his explanation of the 


The Journal of Heredity 


“manly protest”? and the “ Aggressions- 
triebe,’’ but on the basis of these com- 
pensating factors, Adler explains musi- 
cal and artistic ability, the development 
of great orators and singers, miserliness, 
humility, the tendency to enter some 
particular profession, etc. 

I regret being unable to make more 
than mere mention of the work of 
Swoboda and Fliess on the effect of 
periodicity in human behavior, and of 
the research of such men as B. Berliner, 
W. Schmidt, Lehmann and Pedersen, on 
the effect of weather conditions: changes 
in barometric pressures, winds, tem- 
peratures, atmospheric ionizations, solar 
radiations, etc., on the actions of man- 
kind. Climatopsychology has already 
developed a fair-sized literature. 


RESEARCH CAUSES OPTIMISM 


Of course, all these fields are virgin. 
A great deal of further research is 
necessary. But as far as they have 
already developed, one gains much 
optimism from the growing belief that 
after all, those people who possess a 
peculiar trait which tends to make 
them more or less unsocial, e.g., bad- 
temper, or the tendency to lie, are not 
necessarily doomed to suffer this defect 
all through their lives, to be avoided in 
marriage by those who make eugenics 
their religion, but that rather by means of 
a proper therapeusis, by a proper hand- 
ling of the environmental, unconscious, 
as well as hereditary factors, these 
harmful expressions can be harnessed, 
‘“‘sublimated,’” and the energy driven 
into a different, more socially-advan- 
tageous channel. 

In closing this paper I wish to bring to 
your attention, in view of the above-men- 
tioned facts, a typical study of a so-called 
mental trait, namely musical ability. 
To begin with, no psychological analysis 
was made to determine what constituted 
musical ability. The conclusions as to 
its heritability were based upon the 
returns of questionnaires filled out by 
professional men, farmers and business 
men,—people hardly qualified to make 
an accurate judgment of the matter. 
Personally, I wonder what standard 
was used. Was a person considered 
possessed of musical ability if he were 
able to sit through a musical comedy or 


Kohs: New Light on Eugenics 


a burlesque show, and on his return 
home whistle half the tunes over to you, 
or was only he regarded as being musical 
who could perform that feat after attend- 
ing a symphony concert or a Wagnerian 
Gperar -oo, much- for “the receptive 
type. Or perhaps none of the receptive 
type was classified as musical, those 
only who were creative being qualified 
to be designated as such. Well, then, 
if that were the case, was he considered 
musically artistic who could, in half an 
hour or so, compose a catchy piece of 
“rag-time,”’ or was it only he who after 
labored efforts produced a_ classical 
masterpiece? Were there among our 
judges any who considered Wagner’s 
music an abomination of discord, and 
regarded an idolizer of that German’s 


451 


the following were the conclusions: 
“When both parents are exceptionally 
good in music (whether vocal or in- 
strumental), all the children are medium 
to exceptionally good.” Htirst’s. ex- 
planation that musical ability acts as a 
recessive was accepted. ‘‘When both 
parents are poor in musical ability and 
come of ancestry that lacks on one or 
both sides such ability the children will 
all be non-musical.’”’ ‘When one 
parent has high musical ability and the 
other has little the children will vary 
very much in this respect.”’ 

If we really have been as careless in 
our methods as it seems, ought we 
resent the criticism of our English 
confreres, or ought we not better mend 


genius, an ignorant boor? Yet, what- our ways and be a bit more cautious in 
ever the conditions and _ standards, the future: 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
1. Aldrich, M. A.; Carruth, W.A.; Davenport, 12. Frost, E. P. 
Ge5., cic. Cannot pyschology dispense with 
Eugenics. consciousness? 
N. Y.—Dodd, Mead and Co. 1914, Psychol. Rev. 1914, 21:204-211. 
348 p. 13. Galton, F. 
2. Atkinson, W. W. Hereditary genius. 
Subconscious and — superconscious London,—Macmillan. 1892, 379 p. 
_ planes of mind. 14. Griggs, L. 
Chicago-Progress Co. 1909, 200 p. The inheritance of acquired char- 
3. Bentley, I. M. acters. 
Mental inheritance. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1913, 82:46-52. 
Pop. Sci. Mo. 1909, 75: 458-468. (Se HallaGsS: 
4. Burrow, T. A glance at the phyletic background of 


Character and the neuroses. 
Psychoanalytic Rev. 1914, 1:121-128. 
5. Butler, S. 
Unconscious memory. 
London-Fifield. 1910, 186 p. 
6. Chase, H. W. 
Freud’s theories of the unconscious. 
Pop. Sci. Mo. 1911, 78:355-363. 
7. Crzellitzer. 
Zur Methodik der Untersuchung auf 
Vererbung geistiger Eigenschaften. 
Zsch. f. angew. Psychol. 1909, 3:216-229. 
8. Darwin, Francis. 
Address of the President of the 
British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science. 


Science. 1908, 28:352-362, 385-296. 
9. Davenport, C. B. 
Heredity, culpability, praiseworthi- 


ness, punishment and reward. 
Pop. Sci. Mo. 1913, 83:33-—39. 
10. 
Heredity in relation to eugenics. 
N. Y.—Holt. 1911, 298 p. 
11. Donkin, H. B.; Reid, G. A.; Lawrence, E.; 
Walker, C. 
The inheritance of mental characters. 
Nature. 1911, 88:110-142, 175-176, 
210-211, 278. 


genetic psychology. 
Amer. J. Psych. 1908, 19:149-212. 
16. Herbertz, R. 
Bewusstsein und Unbewusstes. 
K6éln,—Du Mont-Schauberg. (No date, 
but recent, 239 p.) 
17. Holt, E. B. : 
The concept of consciousness. 
N. Y.—Macmillan. 1914, 343 p. 
18. Jennings, H. S. 
Heredity and personality. 
Science. 1911, 34:902-910. 
19. Josefovici, U. 
Die psychische Vererbung. Se 
Arch. f. d. ges. Psychol. 1912, 23:1-155. 
KY, IKGUSS So (Ex ba 
The association method in its relation 
to the complex and complex in- 


dicators. 
Amer. J. Psychol. 1914, 25:544-594. 


21. Leibniz. : 
Philosophische Schriften. 
Berlin: Gerhardt. 1875, Vol. 5, p. 48. 
22. Loewenfeld, L. 
Bewusstsein und psychisches Geschehen. 
Grenzfr. des Nerven u. Sellenl. 1913, 


94 fp. 


452 The Journal of Heredity 


23. Marshall, H. R. (English translation.) Heredity. 
Consciousness. N. Y.—Appleton. 1895, 393 p. 
London—Macmillan. 1909, 685 p. 33. Saleeby, C. W. 
24. Miller, H. A. The progress of eugenics. 
The psychological limit of eugenics. N. Y.—Funk and Wagnalls. 1914, 
Pop. Sci. Mo. 1914, 84:390-396. 259 p. 
25. Minot, C. S. 34. Semon, R. 
The problem of consciousness in its Die Mneme als erhaltendes Prinzip im 
biological aspects. Wechsel des organischen Gesche- 
Proc. Amer. Ass. Adv. of Sc. 1902, hens. 
51:265-283. Leipzig—Engelmann. 1911, 3 Aufl. 
26. Morgan, C. L. 420 p. 
Introduction to comparative psychol- 35. Tanner, A. E. 
ogy. Chaps. 1, 2, 3, 18. Adler’s theory of ‘‘minderwertigkeit.”’ 
London—Scott: N. Y.—Scribner. 1898, Ped. Sem. 1915, 22:204—217. 
382 p. 36. Thorndike, E. L. 
27. Miuinsterberg, H.; Ribot, T.; Janet, P.; Educational psychology. Vol. 3, p. 
Jastrow, J.; Hart, B.; and Prince, M. 142-388. ; 
Subconscious phenomena. N. Y.—Teachers College. Columbia 
Boston—Badger. 1910, 141 p. University. 1914. 
28. Myers, F. W. H. 37. 
Human personality. Eugenics, with special reference to 
London—Longmans, Green & Co. 1903, intellect and character. 
2 vols. Pop. Sci. Mo, 1913, 83:125-138. 
29, ——___—___——_. 38. Waldstein, Louts. 
Subliminal consciousness. Das unterbewusste Ich und sein Ver- 
Proc. of the Soc. of Psych. Res. 1891-2, haltnis zu Gesundheit und Erzie- 
7:298-355. hung. 
30. Patten, S. N. Grenzfr. des Nerven u. Seelenl. 1908, 
The genesis of personal traits. Band 9, Heft 62, 71 p. 
Pop. Sci. Mo. 1913, 83:149-157. 39. White, W. A. 
31. Prince, Morton. The unconscious. 
The unconscious. Psychoanalytic Rev. 1915, 2:12-28. 
N. Y.—Macmillan. 1914, 549 p. 40. Wirth, Wilhelm. 
32. Ribot, T. Die experimentelle analyse der Be- 
L’hérédité psychologique. wusstseinsphanomene. p. 1-18. 
Paris—Alcan. 1897, 5 ed., 419 p. Braunschweig—Viewig. 1908, 449 p. 


Variation in Pure Lines 


The Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station has been studying variation in pure 
lines of wheat since 1907, the characters under observation being size of kernel, 
length of head, tillering and protein content. Each year 1,000 heads of wheat and 
oats are selected and perpetuated as pure lines, in order to find more desirable 
varieties of these cereals, if any such exist. Similar work is being done with soy 
beans, but not on such a large scale. Hybridization of corn and tobacco is also 
under way. 

The search for variation in a pure line has not yet been productive of any impor- 
tant result. C. V. Williams sends the following note: 

The fifth crop of wheat harvested in our high and low protein work gives the 
following results: 


Percent. 
j protein 
714, as. | SAIS POUR RELOUULON ove vcs bse: ck ces toh vam tpn ae 13.02 
Fultz pure line \Low protein sélection: cj./.:c.-4.+. sols, cvasiels'sca ete cela 2 ce ee 12.46 
wet i st.) EUgh proteim SlebhON. 4. i vse .sunles sk beaker chee ae a 14.10 
Poole pure line Low proteigy SQle@iiOnt. is v.a'e's <5.< isl aus's 014s wopre ve ae ne ee 13.52 
The average protein content of the seed used for the five seasons is: 
Fultz Poole 
BLIGH SProvens «50s kad ais.~ Fis Se eee eee a ciate, Eee 17.43% 17.94% 
LOW PLOtem Niwas) 2 Vo dhonsie head eA aN RY aaltaticgs & lew Aiea tees eat 12.01 12.02 


This will have to be continued some years longer before we shall know whether 
this apparent variation is heritable or not. Three years of the work are reported 
in A. B. A., Vol. 8, p. 409.” 


APPLE BREEDING IN IDAHO 


Needs of State Lead Experiment Station to Undertake Production of New Varieties 
on Large Scale—Preliminary Report on Crosses Made—Burbank’s 
Method of Selecting Seedlings! 


C. C. VINCENT 


Agricultural Experiment Station, Moscow, I daho 


Y the Adams Act, approved 
B March 6, 1906, funds were 
made available for research 

work along agricultural lines in 

the state experiment stations. This 
fund made it possible for a number of 
stations to undertake plant breeding 
projects. Horticulturists realized that 
if there was to be progress in fruit 
growing, new and better varieties must 
be developed. The discovery in 1900 
of Mendel’s Law establishing some 
elementary formulas of heredity had 
given impetus to this work. Hence, 
during the past ten years, rapid advances 
have been made in many states; and 
one of the fruits to which especial 
attention has been devoted is the apple. 
The need of such work is apparent. 
Previous to this time, but very little 
careful apple breeding work had been 
done. In a recent bulletin from the 
Geneva Experiment Station, Professor 
bi P. Hedrick says: “Of the 698 
varieties described in the apples of 
New York, both male and female 
parent are certainly known for only one 
variety; one parent is known and the 
other guessed, for two other kinds; 
four are held to be sports from known 
varieties; and the female, or seed 
producing parent is given for thirty- 
nine kinds. Of the 650 varieties, 
seventy-one are said to be seedlings (of 
unknown parentage); but for the great 
majority of the kinds, nothing is 
positively known as to the origin. 
This poor showing for scientific, com- 
mercial or careful amateur apple breed- 
ing is due to several causes: Breeding 
tree fruits of any kind is time-consum- 
ing and space-demanding; the pecuniary 


rewards for individuals are inconsider- 
able or altogether wanting; institutions 
organized to do plant breeding have 
felt obliged to work.in other fields where 
results could be more quickly secured 
and would mean more when obtained; 
and lastly, plant breeding, especially 
breeding of tree fruits, has until recently 
seemed largely a matter of guess work 
and chance—a process most of whose 
fundamental laws were unknown.”’ 

Of recent years, a number of stations, 
especially New York (Geneva), Iowa, 
Minnesota, South Dakota and Idaho, 
have trees from hand-crossed flowers of 
which both parents are known. The 
work at the Idaho Experiment Station 
has progressed along definite lines. 
The object of the work has been the 
improvement of existing varieties of 
apples by breeding. 


NEW VARIETIES NEEDED 


The need of winter varieties of apples, 
superior to existing types, has been 
keenly felt by those interested in the 
culture of this fruit. There are many 
varieties already grown that have many 
desirable characters, but no one of them 
combines all of these good features. 

The Jonathan, for instance, has the 
color and quality to make it a prized 
dessert apple, but its keeping quality is 
not the best and it is especially bothered 
with storage scald and “water core.” 
It is also very susceptible to blight. 
Likewise, the Ben Davis has its desirable 
and undesirable features. It is a great 
producer, the apples are good keepers, 
the trees late in blooming, remarkably 
thrifty and free from disease. The 
fruit is thick-skinned and is not easily 


1 Read before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association, August a LOLS, 


at Berkeley, Cal. 


453 


454 


bruised in shipping. On the other 
hand, the fruit lacks in crispness, 
juiciness, flavor and texture, required 
to make it greatly prized either for 
home or market use. A great draw- 
back in northern latitudes to the Ben 
Davis is that it is so late maturing that 
proper coloring is not secured except in 
exceptional cases. 

The good and bad points of many 
other varieties might be mentioned, 
but what has already been said will 
serve to show the need of combining 
the desirable qualities of different varie- 
ties so that one variety may stand 
preéminently in the lead. In this con- 
nection, it should be mentioned that 
varieties of apples display many dif- 
ferent types. Some trees are hardier, 
resist disease better, have better colored 
fruit, are later blooming and produce 
fruit of much better quality than do 
other trees of the same variety under 
the same cultural conditions. Thus in 
our work, we have taken these factors 
into consideration, with a hope that 
these desired characters may be intensi- 
fied to their maximum extent. 

For this improvement, the Ben Davis 
variety has been taken as a _ basis, 
using it as male and female. Crosses 
have been made with other varieties 
and from the resulting hybrids those 
will be selected that give promise of 
being adapted to conditions here. 


METHOD OF OPERATION 


The methods of securing cross pol- 
linated fruits are much the same as 
those followed by plant breeders in 
general. The unopened blossoms are 
emasculated and pollen from other 
varieties applied when the pistils are 
receptive. Usually two emasculated 
blossoms are left to the cluster. In the 
fall the pollinated apples are harvested 
and kept in common storage until 
Christmas. They are then brought to 
the laboratory and the seed removed. 

The seeds from each cross are separ- 
ated from the fruit, given a serial 
number and tied in muslin bags. These 
bags are put in 2-inch pots, placed in 
flats and buried where they are exposed 
to freezing weather. As a precaution 
against destruction by mice, the flats 


The Journal of Heredity 


have always been covered with screen 
wire. Late in February the flats are 
brought to the greenhouse and the seed 
germinated. By subjecting the seed to 
the above conditions, we have been able 
to get approxiamtely 95% germination. 
By the middle of May, the seedlings 
are from 10 to 12 inches in height; they 
are then transplanted to the nursery, 
in rows 3 feet apart, trees 6 inches apart | 
in the row. The second season, the 
seedling trees are transplanted to their 
permanent places in the orchard, 6 feet 
apart each way. The results obtained 
thus far are as follows: 

1910. During the spring of 1910, a 
total of 1,175 crosses was made. The 
seed taken from the fruit of these 
crosses produced 146 seedling trees. 
The parentage of these crosses follow: 


Cross Number 

Female Male of Trees 

Ben Davis x Jonathant.. 2eeee 64+ 
Ben Davis -x Spitzenberg.......... 59 
Ben Davis x “Ben: Davist... eee 2 
Ben Davis x Wagener.) 4: oes 3 
Jonathan «x. Ben. Davis: 5.5) 14 
Winesap x. Ben: Davis: 52 ee 1 
Jonathan x. Jonathan... 1 
Wagener x Ben Davis: 3-5. ee 4 
Delicious x Jonatham..J.. eee 2 
1911. A total of 3,000 crosses were 


made in the spring of 1911. From the 
seed of fruits crossed this year, a total 
of 1,920 healthy seedlings trees were 


secured. The crosses made and the 
number of trees secured from each 
cross follow: 
Cross Number 
Female Male of Trees 
Jonathan x . Ben-Davisy. 222 7aeee 916 
Wagener x Ben Davis... i950 280 
Ben Davis x. Jonathan... eae 301 
Spitzenberg x Ben Davis... eee 
Ben Davis x Spitzenberg., 22ers. 62 
Jonathan x Jonathan. vy .ee ewes 1 
Rome Beauty x _ Ben Davis.. athe 2 
Ben Davis x Wagener. . ete 6 


1912. Due to unfavorable climatic 
conditions, only 1,703 crosses were 
made. We were very successful in 


germinating the seed taken from these 
fruits and the results were that 3,065 
seedling trees grew. The number of 
trees from each cross is as follows: 


Vincent: Apple Breeding in Idaho 455 
Cross Number Cross Number 
Female Male of Trees Female Male of Trees 
Ben Davis x) jonathanes...5-.. 508 Ben Davis x Jonathan......... 1,187 
Jonathan Xo BenDavisas. <8. 20 1,042 Ben Davis a BpitZeabers pie a 224 
Ben Davis m | Wareners 2550 181 Ben De = W GEOR a eee ae 
Wagener Seen Oavise. o. 551 ee Rn ae ge ei 
Jonathan * Wagener... .-<=.. 175 pe Bere x Sak ek Nee We a 
Wagener a eJOmathane 20. ao: 485 ; ¥ TS ANAS oo aie ie ty it eee 
Jonathan x Poplezenberon-- aos: 57 J ence = Ben Davis........ 2,575 
Spitzenberg Re Poneabhat. |) ngs +: 66 1 aban : eee oS ie Sat ats Lee 
X|- WPlUZEN ELE aD 
1913. In the spring of this year, aes x ee pe eae 3 
2,823 crosses were made. One thou- Tee ttie, é emi eae ee 
sand four hundred and seventy healthy Jonathan x WRome.. te 42 
trees grew from these crosses. The  Spitzenberg x Ben Wayis oe 274 
following table shows the number of 5pPitzenberg x Rome............ 28 
ae act h a Spitzenberg x Newtown..... 66 
seedlings secured Irom eacn Cross: Spitzenberg x Wagener. sas. oe: 238 
Gross Waimtier Spitzenberg x Jonathan........-. 146 
Bemale Male Gt itack agener x a Davis. Ae Ooo 
Vagener Xo) (Oplbzenberen. 6: 41 
Jonathan xf Seine vis. oath as. 603 Wagener GRE ete ete 818 
Jonathan x Wagener. a0 4.2% 500 Wagener x Jonathan......... 485 
Ben Davis x jonathan. 0. 314 Rome x » Ben 'Davisct ...-- 243 
Ben Davis xP Wiasener. i. ard: 53 Rome x Spitzenberg....... 337 
. ; i‘ Rome x Wagenens Gon 326 
1914. During this year, 2,527 crosses Rome x Newtown 3.0) ) © 5688 
were made. From this number 4,544 ess Black x ieee Coes tae : 
: Newtown EO PLZen DEE ee se 
healthy seedlings were grown. Newtown | x Wagener......... 6 
Grace Namber Gravenstein x Newtown: ...-.:..- 22 
Bemale Male OF Branc Gravenstein Xin el (Oneaic ham eastern ee 20 
= Delicious ne Jlenveilnegia, 2.25 cee 2 
Gravenstein x Newtown... .4......- 22 Winesap Ks ‘Bene Davis. ees « 1 
Gravenstein x jonathan. 2c... 20 : ; ee : 
Spitzenberg 3a Bene ayas 4 on oe 153 This material will give us a splendid 
puuenbere eae Briss 8 1 A opportunity to study fundamental prin- 
pitzenberg x (OU TEH Ti ates 0 URE ee ee oe is s 2 
Siizeabers eae iveee a aa 66 ciples, useful in plant breeding. We 
Spitzenberg x Wagener........... 238 are trying to find correlations and are 
Ben Davis x Spitzenberg......... 107 working along the lines recommended 
ee ie x Lea Feet eee a by Luther Burbank. In a recent com- 
Ben Davis x Newtown........... 57 munication from Mr. Burbank, he says: 
Jonathan x .Spitzenbers-. =... 20.542 In selecting apple seedlings, my prac- 
a x Wsgete: ee Seas 391 tice has been first of all to select those 
onathan MI INGWLOWMo +e ae) 508 Aue ; mene 
Jonathan Mier ROMeCa 4 1h See 42 4 ee : eras 7 ae a eg 
Jonathan x Arkansas Black..... 147 Casily” Gone « wiille ey are young. 
Wagener x Spitzenberg.......... 41 This eliminates one of the worst quali- 
Wagener Ria) OME A 2 $5. Ay se: 818 ties in apple seedlings. Next, I thin 
Rome x Ben Davis.......... 241 out all the very slender growers with 
Rome x Spitzenberg...... 337 7 u peers 
ee ie 326 small deeply cut leay es. These always 
Rome x Newtown 22 631. ~tend back to, the wild: state. -In ‘the 
Arkansas Black x Jonathan........... 5 next selection, I give preference always 
Newtown x Spitzenberg......... 8 + those having large fat round buds, 
Newtown x AWA SENGE* ae Hor ree 6 


Summary: To date, there are 10,915 
hybrid seedlings growing in our orchard 
and station nursery. The total number 
of trees secured from each cross is as 
follows: 


large thick leaves and a stocky growth.”’ 

Such a procedure will enable the 
plant breeder to discard undesirable 
seedlings without having to grow each 
plant through to maturity in order to 
determine its characters. 


DOUBLE SEEDING PETUNIAS 


Crossing and Selection Result in Production from Single and Imperfect Double 
Types of Four Strains That Are Double and Produce Seed—Methods of 
Operation—Curious Variations Observed! 


Mrs. MyrrLeE SHEPHERD FRANcIs, Ventura, Cal. 


EFORE presenting the subject 
of my double petunia that 
reproduces itself, I want to 
state that I claim no scientific 

attainments, that while the scientific 
aspect of the work has been of deep 
interest to me my chief aim has been to 
produce the finest strains of double 
petunias to be had in the market and to 
make those strains reproduce them- 
selves. Competent authority assures 
me that my work has been successful. 

Data regarding the crossing of both 
single and double petunias is exceed- 
ingly difficult to obtain as most of it is 
scattered about in horticultural reports 
and magazines. 

The first single petunia was found by 
Commerson in Argentina, on the banks 
of La Plata River, and sent by him to 
Jussieu, who named it Petunia nycta- 
ginaflora, introducing it into France in 
1823. This plant had an upright habit 
with thick sticky leaves and _ long- 
tubed fragrant white flowers. The 
second species was sent by Tweedie 
from Buenos Ayres to the Glasgow 
Botanical Gardens in 1831. This plant 
had a decumbent habit, small violet 
purple flowers and short tube and was 
named Petunia violacea. From these 
two species all varieties of petunias have 
been bred. They have been freely 
crossed with each other; hence the 
garden varieties now go under the 
general name of Petunia hybrida Hort. 

While the nyctaginaflora type is 
quite common, the true violacea form 
is seldom seen, proving that the nycta- 
ginflora species was the dominant factor 
in the early crosses. Even today most 
varieties revert to that form when left 
to themselves. 


For convenience sake I shall loosely 
divide the single varieties now under 
various names into two classes: those 
with upright habit, long-tubed flowers 
with small reproductive organs, slender 
style and filament adherent low down 
in the corolla tube and wide range of 
colors with satiny texture, as hybridas, 
representing P. nyctaginaflora; and the 
varieties with the decumbent habit, 
large leaves, flowers with short tube, 
large reproductive organs, thick style 
and filament adherent high up in the 
corolla tube and limited range of colors, 
as representing P. volacea. 

The first double petunia appeared in a 
private garden in France in 1855 and 
from this, so far as I have been able to 
learn, have all other doubles been 
obtained by artificial fecundation. 


METHOD OF OPERATION 


For the benefit of those in this 
audience who may be unfamiliar with 
the method by which double petunias 
are obtained I will explain, that the 
double is an imperfect flower and the 
single is a perfect flower. The un- 
broken anthers (the pollen-bearing 
organs) of a single flower are removed, 
the flower is then covered with gauze 
or paper until the stigma is ready, the 
pollen is then applied from a double 
flower by means of a camel’s hair brush 
and the covering replaced, to prevent 
the possibility of insect fertilization. 

Such a procedure, however, is entirely 
too laborious for commercial work. 
I have never used the coverings but 
remove the anthers and pollenize at 
once from a nearby flower, double and 
single plants being grown in adjoining 
plots. 


1 Read before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association, at Berkeley, 


California, August 6, 1915. 
456 


See 


FEMALE PARENT OF THE CROSS 


Petunia grandiflora, shown above, natural size, is single and has perfect reproductive organs, 
producing several hundred seeds from each flower. So far as she can learn it had not 
been used in commercial production of double-flowering petunias until Mrs. Francis 
began to work with it, all breeding have previously been done with various forms of 
Petunia hybrida. (Fig. 6.) 


458 The Journal 


From the size of anthers and stigma, 
colors and habit of growth it would 
seem that the hybrida had been univer- 
sally used for both male and female 
parents, until recent years. 

Though advised otherwise, in my 
early work I chose the form known as 
grandiflora as the female parent for my 
doubles, probably because the flowers 
were easier to work with. Later when 
an ideal had formed itself in my mind 
the grandiflora seemed more lhkely to 
give the desired results. 

Many doubles have rudimentary or- 
gans of reproduction, but in my first 
work in 1901 I noticed this and formed 
the habit of examining each bloom care- 
fully before picking it to pollenize with. 

The first perfect double bloom was 
found on ahybrida plant in 1910. This 
plant had delicately fluted flowers with 
cream colored pollen and, when pollen- 
ized with another flower from the same 
plant, matured a capsule of seed. The 
stamens of this flower were many, 
rising directly through the center, the 
filaments being bound together by a 
band or collar, while the ovary sat 
upon a torus. The ovary of the single 
form sits directly upon the calyx. 

From this capsule of seed thirty- 
seven plants were raised. No records 
were kept until 1911, but as near as I 
can remember about 75% were double, 
both single and double being of the 
hybrida type. None of these plants 
gave many perfect flowers though all 
were examined for reproductive organs 
and some seven or eight matured seed. 


That season among our regular 
doubles appeared a_semi-double of 
steel blue and white which bore all 


perfect flowers, and on an inferior 
double red was found a capsule of 
seed which had matured without hand 
pollenizing. 

From these three distinct types 660 


plants resulted in 1912, 85% double 
and 22% seeding slightly. 
GREAT VARIABILITY 
The petunia is perhaps the most 


variable flower under cultivation but 
its fluctuations have a certain regularity. 
In this generation, the three types 
being planted together, the wildest con- 


of Heredity 


fusion prevailed. In it appeared for 
the first time the true grandiflora, 
represented by three plants of deep 
magenta color with steel-blue pollen. 
Their doubling was of an entirely 
different nature,—all extra petals were 
adherent to the corolla tube instead of 
the usual mass of petals and stamens 
which generally fill the center of the 
flowers. Nearly all blooms on these 
plants were perfect, though they did 
not all mature seed. 

In this planting were also some very 
small inferior doubles of dingy purple 
flowers, which were perfect with the 
same manner of doubling and which 
matured several capsules of seed without 
pollenizing. Both extremes have the 
same form and both are fertile. 

From the grandiflora crossed by the 
hybrida double and some seed of the 
hybridas also we raised in 1912, 510 
plants, 73% in double, 25% seeding. 
Many of the flowers showed great 
variety of color, beauty and size. 

In 1913 we got 187 plants with 73% 
double but 33% seeding. This year 
marked a decided change, the grandi- 
flora heretofore recessive became the 
dominant type with blooms of extraor- 
dinary size, while its seeding capacity 
had increased 8%. Both beauty and 
reproductiveness had developed to such 
an extent that for our stock seed I 
crossed a perfect double with a perfect 
double for the first time, but disaster 
overtook me for our seed beds with our 
entire stock of seedlings were washed 
out by the floods of 1914. 

Replanting from our selling stock 
yielded 918 plants, 85% double, 42% 


seeding. 1915 produced 567 plants, 
90% double, 40% seeding. While the 
increase of doubles has been quite 


steady the seeding precentage has not 
increased so rapidly due to the use of a 
plant that carried singleness in its 
pollen but with other qualities which I 
wished to preserve. 

I have not yet made the reciprocal 
cross again but expect to do so this 
season, as many of the fine large flowers 
are perfect, seeding as freely as singles 
when pollenized. 

Doubtless my work would have been 
done on entirely different lines had my 


Francis: Double Seeding Petunias 


DOUBLE FORM OF HYBRID PETUNIA 


This was used as male parent in Mrs. Francis’ crosses. The first double 


petunia appeared in 1855, and since then they have been steadily 
produced, but as the doubles produced pollen but could not set 
seed, it was necessary to create them by a new cross each year, 
since they could not reproduce themselves. Doubles had to be 
crossed on singles, the latter then bearing seed which produced a 
small proportion of double flowers. Mrs. Francis undertook to 
produce a strain of doubles that would not have to be crossed on 
singles this way each year, but would be capable of bearing seed. 
For this purpose she crossed the above hybrid form with the giant- 
flowering form shown in Figure 6. The result has been successful: 
not all the double flowers produce seeds, but enough of them do to 


459 


make the culture commercially profitable. (Fig. 7.) 


knowledge been greater in the beginning. 
During the last five years I have bred 
four distinct strains of double seeding 
petunias, steadily increasing doubleness, 
lengthing the stems, and giving greater 
delicacy to the texture and colors. In 
all my work those qualities have had 
precedence over reproductiveness. 
Many interesting and curious varia- 
tions have been observed, in one of 
which the whole flower becomes petal- 
ous. Some of the finest flowers are 
pistillate, reversing the old form, others 
have anthers containing no _ pollen, 
while some almost single blooms have 
malformed reproductive organs, still 
others are perfect but infertile, etc. 
Lavender and steel blue seem to be 
the best seed producers and I am quite 
sure that blue pollen is more productive 


of fertility in doubles than yellow, which 
continues to give about 25% seeding 
plants. This may be due to the con- 
tracted throat which seems to accom- 
pany this pollen. 

Of volunteers which appear each 
season the doubles predominate. I 
have never found one with other than 
blue pollen. 

The small pointed capsule of the 
hybrida containing about 250 seeds 
has developed with the flower, one 
capsule often producing as many as 
450 seeds. The dehiscence in singles is 
in twos but in these doubles it is often 
in threes and fours. 

In conclusion I quote from De Vries 
Species and Varieties: ‘“‘Hays has re- 
peatedly insisted upon the principle 
the choice of the most favorable vari 


ONE RESULT OF FIVE YEARS OF BREEDING 


sy crossing the two forms shown in the precedin; 


' { r h 
g photograph ind 
producing seed, the other double and producing no seed, is was 
able to get forms like this, which are not only double but produce seed as well 
The ire, therefore, at improvement over the previously known double 
forms, from the ga point of view. In spite of this, reproductivity has 
een onlv a sé lar rie f the b ling, most attention having been 
: 1. to impr g t pt color ng lines that y to 
peal to the lover of t] r triable ember of the pot . 8.) 


Francis: Double Seeding Petunias 


for the experiments in improving races. 
He asserts that half the battle is won in 
choosing the variety which 1s to serve as 
a foundation stock, while the other 
half depends upon the selection of 
parent plants within that variety.” I 
blindly striving to realize my ideal 
unconsciously chose the most favorable 


461 


variety for what I desired to produce, 
and if the entire stock of these strains 
should be lost, with my present knowl- 
edge I could consciously choose the 
right variety and the right seed parents 
in that variety and other strains of 
seed producing double petunias could 
be developed. 


variety and the right parents in that 


Heredity in the Soy Bean 


Inheritance of chemical characters of the soy bean is under investigation at the 
Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, while the experiment is also being 
used to bring to light the mode of inheritance of morphological characters. A 
similar investigation relates to Datura, the primary object of which is to learn how 
the alkaloidal content of the plants 1s influenced by heredity. The usual practical 
lines of breeding of old or new varieties are also carried on. 


Hybrid Histology 


Histological study of hybrids, a subject too much neglected by genetists, is 
reported from the Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station, particularly with 
reference to interspecific crosses of tobacco, and a cross between the radish and 
kohlrabi. A study of the cells of hybrids shows that in many cases the supposed 
dominance visible in external characters is more or less of an illusion. Of 121 
characters of hybrid plants studied in this investigation, it was found that 100 were 
intermediate between those of the two parents. “A hybrid character that appears 
to show pure dominance may upon close examination be found to be intermediate 
if its structural basis be examined.”’ This was one of the early discoveries of the 
pioneer genetists who submitted Mendel’s laws to such critical tests, following 
their rediscovery in 1900; but since then most plant breeders have followed the 
evidence of the unaided eye, and failed to look below the surface when pronouncing 
on the dominance or lack of dominance of any character. ‘‘The xylem of the root 
of the radish by kohlrabi hybrid illustrates this; the central part of this root when 
examined wiacroscopically appears to be dense wood, as dense as the wood of the 
central part of the root of the kohlrabi parent, but if this xylem is examined muicro- 
scopically it is found to have a considerably larger per cent. of thin-walled, unligni- 
fied cells, thus presenting a structure intermediate between the two parents.’ It 
may be added that this work, reported in Technical Bulletin No. 3 of the Miss- 
issippi station, was actually performed in the laboratories of Cornell University by 
Harry B. Brown. 


More Profit from Grains 


Tests of wheat and oat varieties are an important part of the Indiana Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station’s work. The latter study has been carried on for 
ten years, and the average yield of the ten highest varieties has been computed as 
12.3 bushels more per acre than the average of the ten lowest varieties. This 
difference, as the station is busy pointing out to the farmers, is sufficient to pay 
for nearly one-half the cost of producing the crop. 


ORIENTAL IMMIGRATION 


Problem of Immigration on Pacific Coast of Much Less Importance to Eugenics 
Than That on Atlantic Coast, Because Intermarriage is Rare—How 
the Immigration Laws Work! 


W.*C: BIenines 


Surgeon, U. S. 


Public Health Service; Chief Medical Officer, Immigration Service, 


Angel Island (San Francisco), Cal. 


ROM the viewpoint of eugenics 

alone the administration of the 

immigration law (including the 

Chinese Exclusion Law) is not 
so important, because not so far reach- 
ing, on the Pacific coast as the execution 
of the same laws at ports situated upon 
our eastern boundary. It may be of as 
great, or possibly even greater, impor- 
tance upon the Pacific coast if viewed 
from other standpoints,—for instance 
that of economics, standards of living, 
and possibly, in the opinion of a con- 
siderable number of people, that of 
simple fairness. The reason for the 
lesser degree of living interest, in so far 
as the application of the laws mentioned 
bear upon the subject of eugenics, is 
simple, and is tersely put by the man 
who has the ability, in such a pre- 
eminent degree, of sensing the feelings 
and attitudes of all sorts of peoples, 
when he says “and never the twain 
shall meet.”’ 

The application of this expression to 
the problem of eugenics and the admin- 
istration of the Immigration Law upon 
our west coast, which really amounts to 
saying the problem of eugenics in its 
relation to the citizens of our country 
and the Oriental, is not in the slightest 
degree a reflection upon the peoples of 
any of the countries concerned,—it is 
simply an expression used in an explana- 
tory way to accent the point that, as a 
purely eugenic consideration, the execu- 
tion of the immigration law upon the 
Pacific coast is not of very great 
moment for the very simple reason that, 
upon both sides, there seems to be, 


speaking broadly, absolutely no dis- 
position to inter-marry. 

In the opinion of the Rev. B. C. 
Howorth, who spent nineteen years in 
Japan as a missionary, and who for the 
last eight years has been employed by 
the United States Immigration Service 
as Japanese interpreter, there are on 
our whole Pacific coast not more than 
twenty instances of intermarriage be- 
tween Americans and Japanese, and in 
the opinion of John Endicott Gardiner, 
for sixteen years resident in China and 
for thirty years Chinese Inspector in 
the United States Immigration Service, 
one might count on the fingers of both 
hands the number of American-Chinese 
marriages between San Diego and 
Seattle. Both of these men are in 
close touch, respectively, with Japanese 
and Chinese matters and conditions 
and are able to give an approximately 
accurate estimate of the extent of 
intermarriage. 


CONTRAST ON TWO COASTS 


The immigration received at our 
Atlantic ports, while certainly racially 
heterogeneous enough to satisfy the 
most extreme longing for variety, still 
admits, and as time goes on will admit 
more and more, of an opportunity to 
study from a eugenic standpoint the 
ultimate product of the ‘‘melting pot.” 
The explanation of this opportunity is 
as simple as is the explanation for the 
lack of opportunity previously spoken 
of,—it is simply that, given propin- 
quity, Occidental races will intermarry 
to almost any extent, but under such 


1 Read before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association, August 3, 


1915, at Berkeley, California. 
462 


Billings: Oriental Immigration 


conditions as have so far existed 1n the 
United States the Occidental exhibits 
no tendency to intermarry with the 
Oriental and that lack of inclination 
seems to be entirely mutual. 

The administration of the immigra- 
tion laws at California ports is sup- 
posedly the same as at all ports of 
entry located wherever they may be, 
with the addition of the Chinese 
exclusion law. Naturally the last 
named law applies at certain other 
places, but it is at those ports situated 
upon the Pacific coast that the oppor- 


tunity, or necessity, for its greater 
scope exists. 
The expression “‘ports of entry” 


used in an immigration sense must not 
necessarily be connected in one’s mind 
with seaboard cities alone,—it means 
any place where the Immigration Service 
has its officers regularly located, and 
may be a thousand miles from the coast. 
There are, for instance, sixty-five places 
stretched along the Canadian border 
through any of which aliens may law- 
fully enter the United States provided 
they present clearly their eligibility 
to do so, and twenty-five of these 
places have what are called “boards of 
special inquiry’’ for the consideration 
of those cases in which the right to 
land, under the immigration laws, is 
not clearly established. On the Mexi- 
can border thirteen ports of entry are 
located. 

All ports of entry consider the 
application for entry to our country of 
all aliens, from any country whatever, 
with the one exception of Chinese, 
while certain cities are designated as 
Chinese ports of entry and any Chinese 
not entering through one of them is 
surreptitiously in the United States; 
these places are San Francisco and San 
Diego, Cal.; Portland, Ore.; Boston, 
Mass.; New York, N. Y.; New Orleans, 
La.; Port Townsend and Seattle, Wash. ; 
Tampa, Fla.; Honolulu, Hawaii and 
San Juan and Ponce, P. R. 

In considering the administration 
of the Immigration Laws at California 
ports we have then to consider San 
Francisco, San Diego, Andrane, Campo, 
Calexico and Tia Juana, and to bear in 
mind that while there are two laws, one 


463 


called the Immigration Law and the 
other the Chinese Exclusion Law, they 
both, from any but an official stand- 
point, are alike in their aim and result, 
namely, the keeping of undesirable 
aliens out of the United States. 

The immigration to California ports 
is, broadly speaking, entirely Oriental, 
consisting of Japanese, Chinese, Koreans 
and Hindus, the number of arriving 
aliens of Occidental lineage being so 
small that for the purposes of this paper 
they may be disregarded. 

All aliens, including of course Ori- 
entals, have to comply with the general 
requirements of the immigration laws, 
but in a certain sense the arrivals at 
California ports have to go somewhat 
farther in that the Chinese have to meet 
the restrictions of the Chinese Exclusion 
Law, while our Government has an 
agreement with the Japanese governmet 
regarding a certain type of Japanese 
Immigrant. 


EVOLUTION OF THE LAWS 


The immigration laws of our country 
have evolved gradually and changes 
have been made from time to time in 
order that they may meet conditions 
not existing, or not realized, at the 
time of their framing. To the organic 
laws must be added such interpretations 
and constructions of them as have been 
made by various departmental officials 
and the resulting total presents at 
times a rather difficult and intricate 
executive problem, especially if it be 
borne in mind that the humanitarian 
aspect is a factor that cannot, and 
should not, be overlooked, because in 
the application of these laws we are 
not deciding something concerning in- 
animate chattels but are dealing with 
human beings who have done no wrong 
and whose hopes and fears and aspira- 
tions are the same as ours. 

The first immigration act was ap- 
proved March 3, 1875, and the last 
March 4, 1913. Between the two there 
have been eighteen acts amending, 
either by elimination or addition, some 
portion of acts previously passed. The 
law as it stands today consists, we may 
say for the sake of clearness, of two 
portions—namely, the portion bearing 


464 


directly upon the moral, social and 
financial condition of the alien and 
his past history in regard to these 
conditions, or in other words, to coin 
an expression, his ‘“‘immigration status;”’ 
and the medical portion, which concerns 
itself entirely with the mental and 
physical condition of the immigrant. 


Quoting from Section 2 of the Act of 
February 20, 1907, as amended by the Acts of 
March 26, 1910, and March 4, 1913, ‘the fol- 
lowing classes of aliens shall be excluded from 
admission into the United States: Pau- 
pers; persons likely to become a public charge; 
professional beggars, persons who have 
been convicted of or admit having committed 
a felony or other crime or misdemeanor involv- 
ing moral turpitude; polygamists, or persons 
who admit their belief in the practice of 
polygamy; anarchists, or persons who believe 
in or advocate the overthrow by force or 
violence of the Government of the United 
States, or of all government, or of all forms of 
law, or the assassination of public officials; 
prostitutes, or women or girls coming into the 
United States for the purpose of prostitution 
or for any other immoral purpose; persons 
who are supported by, or receive in whole or 
in part the proceeds of prostitution; persons 
who procure or attempt to bring in prostitutes 
or women or girls for the purpose of prostitu- 
tion or for any other immoral purpose; persons 
hereinafter called contract laborers who have 
been induced or solicited to migrate to this 
country by offers or promises of employment 
or in consequence of agreements, oral, written 
or printed, expressed or implied, to perform 
labor in this country of any kind, skilled or 
unskilled; those who have been, within one 
year from the date of application for admission 
to the United States, deported as having been 
induced or solicited to migrate as above 
described; any person whose ticket or passage 
is paid for with the money of another, or who 
is assisted by others to come, unless it is 
affirmatively and satisfactorily shown that 
such person does not belong to one of the fore- 
going excluded classes and that said ticket or 
passage was not paid for by any corporation, 
association, society, municipality, or foreign 
gov ernment, either directly or indirectly: all 
children under 16 years of age unaccompanied 
by one or both of their parents, at the discre- 
tion of the Secretary of Labor or under such 
regulations as he may from time to time pre- 
scribe: Provided, That nothing in this Act 
shall exclude, if otherwise admissible, persons 
convicted of an offense purely political, not 
involving moral turpitude: Provided further, 
That the provisions of this section relating to 
the payments for tickets or passage by any 
corporation, association, society, municipality, 
or foreign government shall not apply to the 
tickets or passage of aliens in immediate and 
continuous transit through the United States 
to foreign contiguous territory; and provided 
further, That skilled labor may be imported if 
labor of like kind unemployed cannot be found 


The Journal of Heredity 


in the country: And provided further, That 
the provisions of this law applicable to con- 
tract labor shall not be held to exclude pro- 
fessional actors, artists, lecturers, singers, 
ministers of any religious denomination, pro- 
fessors for colleges or seminaries, persons 
belonging to any recognized learned profession, 
or persons employed strictly | as personal or 
domestic servants.’ 


It will be seen that the portion of the 
law which has just been quoted relates. 
to what I have called the ‘‘immigration 
status”’ of the alien. The medical por- 
tion of the same paragraph of the law 
reads as follows, ‘The following classes 
of aliens shall be excluded from admis- 
sion into the United States: All idiots, 
imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, epilep- 
tics, insane persons, and persons who 
have been insane within five years 
previously, persons who have had two 
or more attacks of insanity at any time 
previously; persons likely to become 
a public charge, persons afflicted with 
tuberculosis or with a loathsome or 
dangerous contagious disease; persons 
not comprehended within any of the 
foregoing excluded classes who are 
found to be and are certified by the 
examining surgeon as being mentally or 
physically defective, such mental or 
physical defect being of a nature which 
may affect the ability of such alien to 
earn a living 

In the general application of these 
provisions of the law at San Francisco, 
at which port over 90% of the work of 
California ports is done, the arriving 
aliens are examined as to what I have 
called their immigration status by 
Inspectors of the Immigration Service, 
who are appointed to that position after 
civil service examination, and physically 
by Medical Officers of the United 
States Public Health Service who are 
assigned to temporary duty as medical 
advisers to the Commissioner of Immi- 
gration. 

These men board all incoming pas- 
senger ships from foreign ports im- 
mediately after the vessel is given 
pratique by the quarantine officer and 
while the immigration officers are busy 
determining whether or not there are 
any persons among the passengers who 
are exempt from immigration examina- 
tion, such as United States citizens, 


Billings: Oriental Immigration 


foreign government officials and their 
suites, and in selecting such persons as 
unquestionably conform to all the 
requirements of the law, so that they 
may release such persons immediately 
from the ship, the medical officers are 
closely scrutinizing the first cabin pas- 
sengers with a view to determining 
whether or not they present symptoms 
of any of the diseases which are manda- 
torily excludabie. If no such symptoms 
are observed, and the immigration 
officers have found nothing undesirable 
or questionable, permission to land 
directly from the ship is given. The 
medical officers then conduct an ex- 
amination of the crew to determine 
whether or not any of them present 
symptoms of a loathsome or dangerous 
contagious disease. In the event that 
they do they are not allowed to land 
while in port and are taken back to the 
country from whence they came on the 
return voyage of the vessel. At the 
‘present time all second cabin and 
steerage alien passengers from all ports 
in the orient are taken from the ship 
to the immigration station on Angel 
Island, where a much more thorough 
physical examination is made than is 
possible on shipboard. 


VOLUME OF IMMIGRATION 


Fiscal 
year Photo 
ending Males Females Total brides 
1905 598 209 807 133 
1906 594 218 812 121 
1907 1,063 329 1,392 238 
1908 432 188 620 112 
1909 267 222 489 146 
1910 376 348 124. 266 
1911 842 1,028 1,870 845 
1912 1,165 1,436 2,601 1,230 
1913 1,863 1,529 3,392 1,317 
1914 2,018 1,856 3,874 1,595 
Grand 
totals 9,218 7,363 16,581 6,003 


Because our Government and the 
Government of Japan have an agree- 
ment whereby Japan will not issue 
passports to laborers, and if a Japanese 
arrives without a passport the burden 
of proof that he is not a laborer rests 
upon him, and we have the Chinese 
Exclusion Law, it very naturally seems 
to many people not familiar with the 


465 


conditions that Oriental immigration 
would not be in sufficient numbers to be 
of much interest. Such, however, is not 
an actuality as there are so many 
exceptions. 

All Japanese, except laborers, may 
come to the United States, and the 
result in numbers arriving at the port of 
San Francisco alone, for the last ten 
years is shown in the preceding table. 
During the corresponding ten years 
the total number of aliens of all nation- 
alities admitted at San Francisco was 


76,240. 
The column headed ‘photograph 
brides”” represents one of the most 


interesting classes of Japanese immigra- 
tion although the term is, strictly 
speaking, a misnomer inasmuch as a 
photograph although, very naturally, 
often exchanged, is in no way a necessary 
or indispensable part of the arrange- 
ment. The term “proxy brides”? which 
is frequently applied to the same class 
is, in so far as it implies the presence of a 
third party, also a misnomer, as, 
properly speaking, there are no proxy 
marriages in Japan. 

The agreement referred to between 
the American and Japanese Govern- 
ments to stop the emigration of laborers 
was made in 1908 and at that time a 
very considerable number of Japanese 
laborers were domiciled in this country, 
particularly upon the Pacific coast. 
Section 37 of the law already quoted 
allows domiciled aliens to bring their 
wives to join them and these men very 
naturally take advantage of the privi- 
lege. Marriage in Japan is arranged 
by the parents of the contracting 
parties and consists of removing from 
the register of her own family the name 
of the bride and adding it, in the official 
register of the administrative district in 
which he lives, to the names of the 
family of the groom. There is no civil 
or religious ceremony unless the con- 
tracting parties happen to be Christians. 
The ceremony of removing the name is 
followed by a social gathering of friends 
and assumes a congratuatory character. 

This custom, which constitutes the 
legal marriage of Japan, can be followed 
even through the contracting parties 
are not both present and the woman 


466 


becomes the legal wife of the man, 
leaves Japan with her passport made 
out as Mrs., and arrives here the wife of 
a domiciled alien. Six thousand and 
three have so arrived at San Francisco 
in the last ten years. 


CHINESE ADMITTED 


The word “exclusion”’ used in con- 
cention with the Chinese law doubtless 
leads many people into the belief that 
now there are no Chinese admitted to 
the United States for the first time. 
Such is not the case, as the following 
are exempt classes under the Chinese 
Exclusion Act, coming to the United 
States for the first time on passports or 
other means of identification: 

1. Officials (including Presidents of 
any of the ‘Six Companies,’’ made ex- 
officio members of the Consulate in 
order to be admitted.) Wives, children 
(natural or adopted) and servants of 
officials, born in any foreign country 
whatsoever. There are no restrictions 
on the official class other than the 
passport requirement. 

2. Merchants, their wives and _ their 
children, whether natural or adopted. 
(Merchants may return to the United 
States without a new passport after 
spending a year in the United States as 
merchants on testimony of two credible 
witnesses other than Chinese.) 

3. Travelers and their families. (After 
completing their travels they may 
remain in the United States by becoming 
merchants or teachers.) 

4. Teachers and their 
Teachers may return to the 
States on same conditions as 
chants. 

5. Students. These may return to 
the United States on the same conditions 
as merchants or teachers. 

6. While no Chinese laborers have 
been allowed to come to the United 
States for the first time since November, 
1882, nevertheless those who were in 
this country on that date, or who had 
been here and came back within ninety 
days of that date, were allowed to go to 
China and return at will up to the time 
of passage of the Geary Act in 1893, 
and since then have been allowed to go 
and return provided they fulfilled the 


families. 
United 
mer- 


The Journal of Heredity 


requirements of registration according 
to law, had property worth $1,000 in 
the United States, or debts owed to 
them aggregating that amount, or hada 
family, and provided they returned 
within one year, generally speaking, or 
within two years if circumstances en- 
tirely beyond their control had arisen 
and thereby legitimately detained them. 

It will be readily appreciated that. - 
with these six classes of Chinese allowed. 
to enter the United States, the total 
annual Chinese immigration is of con- 
siderable volume. ; 

Chinese immigration to this country 
began in 1848 when the brig “Eagle”’ 
brought two men and one woman from 
Hongkong—it increased rapidly but 
irregularly; and in a speech delivered 
before the United States Senate on 
March 7, 1878, the Hon. A. A. Sargeant 
estimated that, up to October, 1876, 
233,136 Chinese had come to the United 
States and that 93,273 had departed 
therefrom, leaving a total of 139,863 in 
the country on that date. 

The restrictions of the exclusion law, 
the departure for China and other places 
and the natural mortality have very 
greatly reduced the number of domiciled 
Chinese until at the present date there 
are probably not more than 100,000 in 
our country. 

The exclusion law does not exclude 
with such inflexibility that at the present 
time there is no Chinese immigration as 
a glance at the following table showing 
the arrivals for the last ten years will 


prove. 
CHINESE, including alleged citizens, landed 
at San Francisco alone, during the years 
specified. (Fiscal year ending June 30, 1915.) 
Year Male Female Total 
1905 1,701 67 1,768 
1906 1,741 102 1,843 
1907 2,047 99 2,146 
1908 2,889 165 3,054 
1909 4,294 278 4,572 
1910 3,700 252 3,952 
1911 2,787 189 2976 
1912 3,130 172 3,302 
1913 3,145 239 3,384 
1914 3,404 206 3,610 
1915 3,094 242 3,936 
S2,002 2,011 34,543 
JAPANESE: 
1915 2,788 2,143 4,901 


Billings: Oriental Immigration 


It was previously stated that second 
and third cabin aliens from Oriental 
ports were brought from the ships upon 
which they arrive to Angel Island where 
in conjunction with the immigration 
examination, the medical examination 
is proceeded with. The aliens are 
taken to the hospital and, the sexes 
being separated, lined up under charge 
of a male or female nurse as the case 
may be and the eyelids of every one 
turned by the Medical Officer conduct- 
ing the examination and the conjunctiva 
thoroughly inspected to determine the 
possible presence of trachoma, which is 
one of the mandatorily excludable 
diseases. In the case of the women the 
medical officer makes, coupled with the 
eye examination, a minute inspection of 
the face, hands and general appearance. 
The slightest suspicion of any untoward 
condition, such as a lung or heart 
involvement, a skin eruption, evidence 
of temperature, etc., etc., is followed by 
a sufficiently extensive examination 
appropriate to the condition to deter- 
mine the diagnosis; but in the absence 
of any suspicious signs this concludes 
the physical examination. The men 
are all stripped to the waist, the eyelids 
are turned and the heart and lungs 
tested; at the same time notice is being 
taken of- any skin eruption, scars, 
deformities, or any departure from the 
normal, including pronounced poor 
physique. If any of these conditions 
are observed the alien is held in the 
hospital a sufficient length of time to 
obtain a proper clinical history and to 
arrive at some conclusion as to the 
underlying cause of the condition. At 
the conclusion of these procedures each 
man is taken individually behind a 
ward screen and completely stripped, 
in order that any existing abnormality 
below the waist may be observed. 
During these examinations the possible 
presence of tropical disease of any kind 
is particularly borne in mind, and it is 
at this time that we detect such of those 
tropical conditions as obtain and which 
do not require the use of the microscope 


467 


to establish a diagnosis, or hold for 
later laboratory investigation persons 
presenting symptoms of any disease in 
which the specific organism is known, 
this latter step being necessitated be- 
cause Officially the attitude is assumed. 
that it is unjustifiable to certify as 
present a disease of specific origin until 
the specific organism has been isolated. 
These examinations having been com- 
pleted and all conditions necessitating 
certification to the immigration officials 
having been noted, each alien, both 
male and female, is required to furnish 
a specimen of feces for hookworm 
examination. When these specimens 
are properly prepared they are sent to 
the laboratory for microscopical ex- 
amination. 

By pursuing the system outlined the 
medical officers have, during the last 
three years, detected and certified to 
the Commissioner of Immigration over 
100 different diseases, certain ones 
running into numbers of considerable 
degree, as for instance approximately 
3,000 cases of hookworm disease de- 
tected and cured before being allowed 
to land. The list includes, besides the 
conditions that we in this country are 
accustomed to meet, such diseases as 
beri-beri, morphinism,  wncinariasis, 
smallpox, trachoma, clonorchiosis, bal- 
antidic dysentery, liver abscess, sprue, 
elephantiasis, leprosy and_ tropical 
dysentery. 

It may be possible with the progress 
of time and the accompanying extension 
of travel with its broadening effect, and 
the probable partial obliteration of 
strict geographical lines, that inter- 
marriage between Oriental and Occi- 
dental will be very much more frequent 
than at present. If that be the case it 
is reassuring to know that aliens 
arriving at our California ports suffer- 
ing from mental, moral, or physical 
defects, or loathsome or dangerous 
contagious disease will, through the 
operation of the Immigration Law, and 
in so far as they come within that law, 
be denied admission to our country. 


PLANT BREEDING PROBLEMS 


Many Opportunities on Pacific Coast—New Varieties with Definite Characters 
Needed—Fundamental Work with Old Varieties Must Be Done 
—What Has Already Been Accomplished: 


C. L. Lewis 
Chief, Division of Horticulture, Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Ore. 


HE Pacific coast has become 

world-famous because of the 

excellence of its fruits and fruit 

products. Most varieties and 
types of fruits that have been tried on 
this coast have succeeded remarkably. 
In fact, in most cases they do better 
here than they do in their native homes, 
growing to unusual size, developing a 
high degree of color, and attaining 
superior quality. 

Now, while this fact of the success of 
deciduous fruits on the Pacific coast is 
a source of pride and satisfaction, as 
well of material profit, to us, I believe 
that it is, on the other hand, likely to 
lead us to the comfortable but dangerous 
assumption that our fruits are good 
enough; that, having apples, pears, 
plums, etc., which meet every market 
requirement, we have lost sight to a 
very large extent of the great contribu- 
tions which we might make to the field 
of horticulture by producing new and 
still better varieties. 

Not only should we be thus desirous 
of originating fruits of ever surpassing 
excellence, but we should be very eager 
to contribute to the knowledge of 
genetics, that we may be of service to 
our co-workers in this field. Do not 
understand me to imply that nothing has 
been done in this line on the Pacific 
coast. Consider the many contribu- 
tions of Luther Burbank; the Logan- 
berry of Judge Logan; the famous 
cherries of Lewelling (such as the 
Republican and the Bing); the intro- 
ductions of other practical breeders 
(the Lambert, Centennial, Deacon, 
Lake, Hoskins, and Vesta cherries); or 
the superior strawberries of the Pacific 


August 6, 1915. 
468 


Northwest; and many other improved 
fruits which I will not stop to enumer- 
ate—but the man who says that we 
have plenty of good enough varieties 
of fruits and nuts at the present time, 
and therefore need not try for new 
varieties, has failed to analyze the 
situation carefully. 


SOME IMPORTANT NEEDS 


We need a walnut, for example, that 
is immune to the ravages of the walnut 
blight. We need pears which can 
survive the attack of the fire blight. 
We need cherries that are never attacked 
by gummosis. We need prunes, es- 
pecially in the Northwest, that mature 
earlier, are sweeter, and, if possible, 


larger. We need a red apple in the 
spring. While it is true that we have 


the Winesap, it is nevertheless a fact 
that the Winesap is very exacting in 
its requirements and is restricted to a 
rather limited area. We need an apple 
of wide adaptability, such as the Ben 
Davis, but having at the same time 
the qualities of the Esopus (Spitzen- 
berg) or the Winesap, and this apple to 
be in its prime for the late winter or 
‘arly spring market. We need cherries 
which escape the rainy season. Es- 
pecially do we need a flesh-colored 
cherry of better shipping quality than is 
possessed by any variety we have at the 
present time. These are only a few of 
the suggestions that could be made for 
the practical plant breeder. 

The men who are working in the 
field of genetics on the Pacific coast at 
the present time can be divided into 
two great classes. The first class may 
be called that of the plant-lover, or so- 


' Read before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association, Berkeley Cal., 


Lewis: Plant Breeding Problems 


called practical professional breeder. 
The aim of these men is to produce some 
new ‘plant by chance or otherwise. 
Most of the fruits or horticultural 
products that have been obtained so 
far have come very largely by accident. 
I refer to the work of the Lewelling 
brothers, Hoskins, Logan, Burbank, 
Father Schoener, and many others who 
might be mentioned. I would in no 
way belittle the work of these pioneers 
in our field. They have contributed 
some of the world’s choicest fruits. To 
Burbank we owe much; he has shown 
us the possibility of obtaining great 
variation in plants by change of environ- 
ment, has taught us the value of work- 
ing with large numbers and has demon- 
strated a wonderful aptitude and ability 
in segregating the valuable plants from 
the hosts of worthless. 

One cannot help feeling, however, 
how much better it would be if, in 
connection with the origin of such 
cherries as the Lambert and Bing, 
something could be known in regard to 
their parentage, and the tendency of 
these parents to produce such fruit. 
Such facts would make a contribution 
to plant breeding well worth while, as 
we would have laid down fundamental 
foundation stones for future investiga- 
tors to build on. 


WORK OF SCIENTISTS 


The second class of workers are our 
experiment station workers, research 
men, so to speak, who fall naturally 
into several divisions. First, there are 
those men who devote their time largely 
to testing certain theories of evolution; 
to working out certain laws of heredity; 
men who are attacking the fundamental 
problems of genetics, those which deal 
with the very principles of the science. 
A goodly number of such men will be 
found on the Pacific coast who will be 
willing to devote their lives to this 
work. 

Second, there are those men who are 
dealing with problems of a somewhat 
indirect nature, but having a close 
relation to the fundamental problems of 
genetics. I mention the pollination 
studies, such as have been conducted at 
Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station. 


469 


Some of these studies have already been 
published in four bulletins. 

The work on the cherry has been of 
special interest to plant breeders, since 
it has shown that in the Northwest, 
at least, the possibility of using the 
Napoleon (Royal Ann), the Lambert, 
and the Bing is somewhat restricted, as 
they are sterile, and are also inter- 
sterile, so that wherever cherry seed- 
lings are produced, they will not come 
as the result of crosses of these three 
varieties, but may come from the cross- 
ing of these varieties with others of 
perhaps not as great commercial value. 
Then there is a splendid work that 
Shamel is doing in southern California 
on the bud variation studies of citrus. 

A third class consists of those workers 
who are forced to take up some problem 
having for its aim a definite commercial 
need, but coupled with foundation 
studies in genetics. I refer to the 
work that Webber has done with the 
citrus fruits, cotton, etc., to the work 
with the pear that is being done at the 
Southern Oregon Experiment Station 
where over twenty species of Pyrus 
have been collected, and where over 
1,000 varieties of pears are being tested, 
to note first, their resistance to the fire 
blight, and secondly, to work out their 
value as parents in producing immune 
or resistant varieties of pears. 

Other work is being done at the 
Oregon Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion with apples, cherries, prunes, etc., 
much along the same line as that which 
is being done with the pears, but of 
course with different aims. 

I have mentioned more the work of 
the Oregon station, since I am more 
familiar with the work of that station, 
and not so familiar with the work under 
way at the other stations on the Pacific 
coast. Undoubtedly, however, they are 
also taking up this work very exten- 
sively. 


PROGRESS HITHERTO SLOW 


Our progress in the past has been 
very slow; perhaps we can almost say 
we have done little or nothing, prac- 
tically no fundamental work in genetics 
as far as plant breeding is concerned. 
We have only touched the surface. 


A70 


However, progress must be slow in a 
problem of this nature, and we must 
all be “patient. “The spromisesis: very. 
great for the future. We feel that we 
are on the doorstep of a dawning of 
great things. The workers in plant 
breeding are holding their breath, so to 
speak, for they realize that the time 
is close at hand when very definite, 
startling progress will undoubtedly be 
made. 

Let us encourage our young inves- 
tigators in every way that we can. 
Encourage those in the field of * pure 
science. Encourage those who are 
working with the problems of morphol- 
ogy, cytology, physiology, and __bio- 
chemistry, because many of these must 
be worked out before very definite 
progress can be made on other phases 
of our investigations. Let us con- 
tinue our many pollination studies, for 
they are bound to contribute much to 
our knowledge of genetics. We must 
know more of the fundamental laws of 
genetics, and their adaptation to the 


plant kingdom, and their ultimate 
relation to our commercial progress. 


In a relatively short time we should 
know the value for breeding purposes of 
our leading varieties of fruits on the 
Pacific coast; we should trace back their 
pedigree as far as possible, and know 
the value of any one given variety as a 
parent for future work. 

Some of the most promising com- 
mercial varieties may prove useless as 
parents, and some very unpromising 
commercial varieties may prove very 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


valuable as parents. I have seen one 
illustration of this in apples, for ex- 
ample. Take the seedlings of the Ben 
Davis. We have found in our work 
that, no matter whether the Ben Davis 
was a male or a female parent, the seed- 
lings from this variety tend to be weak, 
that they are lacking in vigor and 
vitality. Yet the Ben Davis apple is 
often spoken of as a tree of wonderful 
vitality. My observation of this vari-- 
ety, however, in the Pacific Northwest, 
would lead me to conclude that it 
is not one of great vitality. It becomes 
decrepit at an early age, and its seed- 
lings are certainly very unpromising. 
On the other hand, we have a variety 
which is very seldom heard of, the 
White Winter Pearmain, for example. 
This variety when used as a parent 
produces vigor. It gives vegetative 
strength, and strong sturdy seedlings 
result whenever this variety is used as a 
parent. I simply cite these two cases 
to show that the field is large, that we 
have more work than all of us put 
together can do in many generations to 
come. 

The field is measureless, the oppor- 
tunity unlimited. Optimism should be 
the watchword of our young workers. 
Let the Pacific coast not only contrib- 
ute to horticulture by growing to 
unexcelled excellence the well-known 
varieties of fruits, but let us contribute 
just as generously with new gifts of 
flower, fruit and vegetable, and at the 
same time do our share in contributing 
to the world’s knowledge of genetics. — 


Grape Breeding 


The first plant-breeding work in the horticultural department of the New York 


Agricultural Experiment Station (Geneva) was done with grapes. 


“The main 


problems with this fruit are as follows: Inheritance of color—a special effort is 
being made to find varieties which are pure for the various colors; inheritance of 
size and shape of bunch and berry; high quality; season of ripening; stamen type 
and its corrolary problem of self-sterility and inheritance of sex. A large number of 
European grapes, Vitis vinifera, are being grown in an attempt to find varieties 
adapted to this region and to use in crossing with our native species. The grape 
material now on the grounds comprises two vineyards of about 350 named native 
varieties, about fifty varieties of Vitis vinifera, some 800 crosses now in bearing, 
about 1,600 self seedlings of known varieties now in bearing and about 3,500 crosses 
still to fruit.”’ 


EROheecrinGc POELINATED BLOSSOMS 


Dr. WILLIAM S. CHAFIN, Vanderbilt, Mich. 


N cross-pollinating flowers, it is often 
necessary for the plant breeder to 
visit a blossom twice: the first time 
to remove the pollen from the 

flower, so it will have no opportunity to 
pollinate itself, and a second time when 
the stigmas are in a receptive condition, 
to apply the pollen from some other 
plant which he has selected as the male 
parent of the hybrid. 

Between these two visits, it is of the 
utmost importance that foreign pollen, 
which might be carried by the wind or 
insects, be excluded—otherwise the re- 
sults of the experiment will be thrown 
into confusion. It is also necessary, in 
most cases, to protect the pollinated 


> = 
EET: ae 
| ‘ton: 


flower for some time after the cross has 
been effected, for the same reason. 
Both these objects are usually accom- 
plished by enclosing the flower in a cloth 
or paper sac, which of course must be 
removed when the flower is pollinated. 

Removing these sacs and replacing 
them without injuring delicate flowers 
is sometimes a little difficult. A device 
which I have found very convenient 
because of the ease with which it may 
be opened or closed for this purpose and 
held in the fingers without danger of 
injuring the flower 1s seen in Fig. 9. 

A strip of fine muslin of the proper 
width (a tag end of which is shown at 
A) is folded lengthwise, stitched along 


CONVENIENT BAG FOR PROTECTING POLLINATED FLOWERS 


It is distended by a frame of wire netting, which allows it to be put on or taken off the flower 


with little danger of injury to even the most delicate blossom. 


The use of a test-tube, 


as described in the text and shown at E above, allows the cloth to be slipped over the 


screen without any trouble from catching ends of the wire. 


(Fig. 9.) 
471 


472 


the edges and cut into pieces long 
enough to fasten easily over the ends of 
a wire frame (E). This is formed, as 
seen at (B), by bending a strip of wire 
netting around a test tube and turning 
back the ends of the long wires to hold 
the frame together. The frame is now 
cut off and inserted in the muslin tube 
by means of a somewhat larger test 
tube (C). A piece of fine copper wire 
at each end completes the whole. (D). 

To use, one end of the cloth is turned 
back over the frame like a cuff (F). It 
is then slipped over the flower and the 
cloth fastened about the stem with a 


The Journal of Heredity 


frame may then be readily opened to 
inspect or pollinate the flower by simply 
untwisting the upper wire and turning 
back the cloth. 

Light cardboard may be substituted 
for the wire netting, but is not as good 
in case of rain. The size of the frame 
should be varied, of course, to suit the 
case. Where the flowers are small and 
gathered at the end of a stem it is 
better to use a large sac and enclose the 
whole cluster. 

No positive claim is made for origi- 
nality as the device is one which might 
occur to anybody and doubtless has 


few twists of wire as at (G). The been used by others. 


Plant Breeding in Minnesota 


More than 300,000 plants a year are handled by the breeders of the Minnesota 
Agricultural Experiment Station, mostly with the object of increasing yield or 
hardiness. In alfalfa, the object is to produce better seed-bearing strains. Sugar 
beets are crossed with mangels to produce a good stock beet. Commercial varieties 
of grape have been carefully studied, some being found to be self-sterile and some 
self-fertile. In the self-sterile forms, the generative nucleus becomes degenerated, 
which prevents the further functioning of the pollen grain. This is believed to be 
the first time that the actual cause of self-sterility in grapes has been determined; 
obviously no cultural expedients can possibly overcome such a trouble, and the 
only remedy is the use of proper varieties. It will be recalled that the native Amer- 
ican grapes, as a class, seem to be practically monoecious in nature. Although 
bearing vines produce male as well as female flowers, their female flowers are 
usually incapable of pollination from male flowers on the same vine, and depend on 
cross-pollination from vines that bear exclusively male flowers and—of course—no 
fruit. Such is the condition among the wild vines; but in the commercial varieties 
which have been created from them this habit has been modified, until in many 
cases a bearing vine produces good pollen for its own female flowers, and the planting 
of distinct male vines is unnecessary. Evidently, however, this habit is not well 
enough fixed to be wholly dependable, and is better fixed in some varieties than 
others. The scientific grape grower, then, will ascertain before planting just how 
the varieties he has picked out will behave when self-pollinated, and if they do not 
take kindly to this artificial means of fecundation, he will plant out enough male 
vines to insure a crop. Similar work has been done with the plum and strawberry. 
Statistical studies of the characters of many fruits are being made. 


Why Do Apples Bloom Late? 


The main breeding problem at the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station is 
with apples, and the investigators are making a determined effort to find whether 
the late blooming attribute isa hereditary quality transmitted by definite discover- 
able laws. In addition there are genetic studies of color inheritance in lupins, 
phlox and other ornamentals, and a study of the possible inheritance of disease in 
the tomato. 


UNIT CHARACTERS 


Reality of Their Existence is Fundamental to Study of Evolution, But Has Never 
Been Proved—Independent Variability of Parts and Independent 
Transmissibility of Variations Open to Question! 


5S. J. Hotmes 


Associate Professor of Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, Cal. 


HE doctrine of unit characters 
is one that has figured largely 
in speculations on heredity and 
evolution from the time of 

Darwin to the present. According to 
this doctrine an organism is a sort of 
mosaic of parts each of which is depend- 
ent for its development upon some kind 
Giedisenete entity in the germ. cell. 

The germ cell is therefore considered a 
complex of organic units more or less 
independent of one another in their 
activities and transmission. 

The unit character hypothesis is 
founded on (1) the assumed independent 
variability of the parts of an organism, 
and (2) the assumption that characters 
are capable of independent transmission. 
Independent variability was appealed 
to by Darwin in support of his hypo- 
thetical gemmules, by De Vries in his 
Intracellular Pangenesis, and especially 
by Weismann who has adduced a 
formidable array of facts in support 
of this doctrine upon which he founds 
much of his argument for the complex 
organization of the germ plasm. 

“There are human families,” says 
Weismann, “in which individuals occur 
repeatedly, and through several genera- 
tions, who have a white lock of hair, in 
a particular spot, on an otherwise dark- 
haired head. This cannot be referred 
to external influences, it must depend on 
a difference in the germ, on one, too, 
which does not affect the whole body, 
not even all the hairs of the body, but 


only those of a particular spot on the 
surface of the head. It is a matter of 
indifference whether the white coloring 
of the hait-tuft, is produced by an 
abnormal constitution of the matrix of 
the hair, or by other histological ele- 
ments of the skin, as of the blood- 
vessels or nerves. It can only depend 
ultimately on a divergently constituted 
part of the germplasm, which can only 
affect this one spot on the head, and 
alter it, if it is itself different from what 
is usual. On this account I call zt the 
determinant of the relevant skin-spot 
and hair-group.”’ 

“There must be as many of these 
(determinants) as there are regions in 
the fully-formed organism capable of 
independent and transmissible varia- 
tion, including all the stages of develop- 
ment.” 

Weismann has no quarrel with epige- 
nesis? as a theoretic possibility. The 
complexity of the germ plasm is to be 
measured by the amount of independent 
variability occuring in the parts of the 
organism. How great this amount is, 
how many parts are capable of under- 
going heritable changes independently 
of the others is a question to be answered 
only through extensive observation, 
but one nevertheless capable, at least 
theoretically, of being answered. 


WEISMANN’S ARGUMENT 


Weismann argues with great plausi- 
bility that the number of independently 


1 Read before a joint meeting of the zoological section, American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, and the American Genetic Association, at Stanford University, August 4, 1915. 
2 Older naturalists imagined that a minute but complete embryo must be preformed and in- 


cased in either the egg or the sperm. 


In 1759 C. F. Wolff enunciated the doctrine of epigenesis 
which, modified by later discoveries, is still accepted by the world of science. As 


at present 


understood, it declares that there is no pre-existence ofan organism as such, but that the embryo 
is a new thing created as the result of the union of egg and sperm cells —THE EDITOR. 


473 


474 


heritable variations presented by organ- 
isms must be great, because 1t would be 
impossible to have complex organs 
evolving simultaneously, as they ob- 
viously have done, unless the improve- 
ments in the one did not modify or 
interfere with improvements in the 
others. If every variation making to- 
ward the perfection of the eye were tied 
up with a variation in the ear, the 
organs of digestion, and the structure 
of the limbs, it seems inevitable that 
there would be so much interference 
with one another’s progress that any 
progressive evolution of a number of 
complex organ systems would be prac- 
tically impossible. Variations accumu- 
lating toward the perfection of any one 
organ, argues Weismann, would in all 
probability, work toward the undoing 
of various other organs. Independent 
variability of parts must, therefore be 
assumed in order to make the evolution 
of a complex organization possible 
through variation and natural selection. 

There is much apparent force in this 
argument for the conception of the 
organism as a mosaic product. Its 
real weight is difficult to estimate, 
plausible as it may appear, because we 
know so little of the possibilities of 
organismal variability. However the 
assumption of any particular kind of 
variability may increase or lighten the 
task of explaining how evolution takes 
place, it is obviously our first duty to 
inquire whether or not organisms ac- 
tually vary in the way alleged. Since 
so much has been built upon the doctrine 
of independent variability of parts, the 
the burden of proof may fairly be held 
to rest with those who espouse this 
theory. 

Let us therefore consider some of the 
alleged instances of independent varia- 
tion. Take the classical case cited by 
Weismann, of the small pit in the ear 
which ran through several successive 
generations. As this is an inherited 
character, the germ plasm of the 
person transmitting it must be slightly 
different from that of a person without 
this defect. But does it follow that 
“it can only depend ultimately on a 
divergently constituted part of the 
germplasm, which can only affect this 


The Journal of Heredity 


one spot on the head, and alter it, if it 
is itself different from what is usual?” 

If variations such as this could come 
and go, leaving the rest of the organism 
unmodified, we should be logically led, 
I believe, to adopt Weismann’s con- 
clusion that these variations depend on 
independent carriers of some sort in the 
germplasm. Weismann’s reasoning is 
good, so far as his doctrine of deter- 
minants goes, if we grant his funda- ~ 
mental assumption. If a small pit in 
the ear were absolutely the sole heredi- 
tary difference between two human 
beings we might be forced to consider it 
as a unit character depending on a 
special determinant, determiner, or other 
germinal unit or entity. But do we 
know that the facts are as Weismann 
assumes? 


STUDIES NOT DEEP ENOUGH 


I am quite sure that these people 
with a pit in the ear have never been 
very critically studied to find whether 
or not this small character may not be a 
mere expression of more general dif- 
ferences in constitution. It might very 
well be that this pit is simply a relatively 
obvious manifestation of a very slight 
difference which affects the organism as 
a whole. The same may be true of the 
white lock of hair and numerous other 
characters which appear to vary in- 
dependently of the rest of the body. 

The now neglected study of correlated 

variability has revealed numerous cases 
in which what appear as single varia- 
tions have far-reaching connections. 
Supernumerary horns in sheep are said 
by Youatt to go along with great 
“length and coarseness of the fleece.”’ 
In mammals in general there is a strong 
tendency for variation to affect simul- 
taneously hair, teeth and hoofs or 
claws. Darwin points out that the 
white star in the forehead of horses is 
generally correlated with white feet, 
and that in ‘‘white rabbits and cattle, 
dark marks often co-exist on the tips of 
the ears and on the feet.’ Poly- 
dactylism, as is well known, tends to 
affect both hands and feet. How are 
we to interpret these correlations? 
If hands and feet vary together do the 
intervening parts of the skeleton re- 


Holmes: Unit Characters 


main unaffected? If tip of ears and 
hind feet show parallel variations in 
color does it not suggest that we are 
here dealing with a sort of outcropping 
of a color variation which is really 
present, but less conspicuously expressed 
in other parts of the skin? That bodily 
changes of a general nature may 
manifest themselves to ordinary ob- 
servation in one or at least a very few 
characteristics is clearly shown in the 
effects of many diseases. Infectious 
diseases may have their characteristic 
symptoms in certain form-changes while 
leaving the rest of the body apparently 
unaffected. Hutchinson’s teeth? in 
children for instance are the index of a 
general bodily disease which may have 
no other very obvious sign. 

Introduce some toxin of disease into 
the body and you produce certain 
specific characters. Introduce a change 
affecting all the cells and certain parts 
only will reveal the fact by noticeable 
modifications. The appearance of in- 
dependent variability of parts may thus 
result from variations that are in reality 
organismal in their extent. Not only 
have so-called particular variations not 
been studied sufficiently to establish the 
fact that they are really independent, 
but numerous cases are known in which 
variations which to casual observations 
would seem to affect but a single part, 
are nevertheless correlated with minor 
changes of wide extent. We contend 
therefore that the alleged independent 
variability of parts upon which Darwin, 
De Vries, Weismann and others have 
based so much of their argument for the 
existence of discrete germinal units 
rests upon an insecure foundation. 


INDEPENDENT TRANSMISSION 


The question of the independent 
transmission of characters may be dealt 
with more briefly. Owing to the inde- 
pendent way in which so-called char- 
acters such as tallness and dwarfness, 
flower color, characters of seed coat and 
various other parts of peas may be 
separated and combined almost at will 
according to the fancy of the breeder it 


475 


has become customary to look upon 
these characters as discrete entities 
borne by discrete elements in the germ 
cells, and to consider the organism as a 
mosaic of independently heritable parts. 
From this viewpoint organisms may be 
likened to brick buildings in which the 
bricks may be taken out and replaced 
by others without materially affecting, 
except secondarily, the bricks which 
make up the rest of the structure. But 
although the facts of Mendelian in- 
heritance are usually interpreted ac- 
cording to the mosaic conception, they 
do not I believe necessitate the adoption 
of this standpoint. When the Anlaget 
of a green pea is separated from that of a 
yellow one we are not compelled to 
assume that something in the germ cell 
that stands for just greenness is separ- 
ated from something that is the repre- 
sentative of mere yellowness. We need 
assume only that what are separated 
are the Anlagen of organisms as wholes 
possessing the characteristics in ques- 
tion. In other words green and yellow 
represent organismal variations; ex- 
pressed in Weismannian terms, green 
and yellow depend not on determinants, 
but upon ids, the hereditary bases of 
whole organisms. 

The logical consequence of this stand- 
point we have presented is that all 
Mendelian characters are really general 
and constitutional, however they may 
appear to be limited to a particular 
feature of the organism. Many Men- 
delian characters are quite patently 
constitutional while others are ap- 
parently very limited in their extent 
like pea and rose comb in poultry. 
Attention has been so taken up with 
characters per se that I doubt if much 
careful scrutiny has been given to the 
possible correlations of characters in 
other parts of the body. Has anyone 
for instance very carefully looked for 
any more general attributes which may 
be associated with pea or rose comb, or 
with the smooth and wrinkled coats of 
peas? Correlations may be difficult to 
detect, not only for the reasons pre- 
viously mentioned, but because the 


* Hutchinson’s teeth are a form of incisor teeth indicative of hereditary syphilis. ihre 
* Anlage is a German term much used by genetists to denote the hypothetical something in 
the germ-cells which determines the nature of a given part of the adult organism.—THE EpITor. 


476 The Journal 
associated characters may not im- 

probably have different relations of 
dominance or recessiveness from that of 

their more obvious correlates. The 

question which we have raised can, at 

least theoretically, be decided by obser- 

vation and experiment. However it is 

decided will make little practical dif- 

ference with most of the problems that 

confront the investigator in genetics. 

But there are. certain problems of 

genetics, I suspect, in regard to which 

it will be found to have an important 

bearing, although its chief importance 

is in the way it influences our views on 

certain fundamental problems of onto- 

geny andevolution. I can here indicate 

but a few cases 1n point: 


BEARING ON EVOLUTION 


Since I have come to see more clearly 
the implications of the question I have 
discussed, I have been surprised to find 
how many of the difficulties urged 
against the theory of natural selection 
disappear when we consider variations 
as organismal instead of limited pri- 
marily to particular parts. Most discus- 
sions, I find, consider evolutionary 
problems from the standpoint of the 
doctrine of unit characters. How com- 
mon it is to find speculations as to how 
this or the other character could have 
been developed through natural selec- 
tion, as if each part were somehow 
separately improved by a series of 
fortunate survivals. If each character 
is considered as the summation of 
series of variations which primarily 
concern that character alone, and if the 
nature of the variations that are 
integrated is determined by natural 
selection, we should expect most attri- 
butes of an organism to be of a useful 
kind. If, on the other hand, variations 


of Heredity 


of any one part involve variations 
throughout the organism, then the 
preservation of favorable variations in 
any one organ would of necessity entail 
changes in other organs which for the 
most part would probably have no 
telation to utility. On this view a 
considerable ingredient of non-adoptive 
characters would naturally be expected, 
and it is probable that, through correla- 
tion, parts might be evolved to a con- 
siderable degree of complexity without 
having any important use in the life 
of the organism, provided they did not 
become positively dangerous to their 
possessors. Much of the evidence ad- 
duced for orthogenesis is what we should 
expect to find if evolution occurred 
through the selection of organismal 
variations. Much of the difficulty about 
the beginnings of structures and their 
development up to the point where they 
acquire selective value would, I believe, 
also be removed. The wonder is not so 
much that selection should produce a 
large amount of what+Haeckel would 
call dysteleological structures, but that 
it is able to produce (if we grant that it 
does produce) so much that is so nicely 
coadapted, and especially that it is 
able to carry on the simultaneous 
elaboration and perfection of numerous 
separate systems of organs. 

In these days of attack upon evolu- 
tionary problems through direct obser- 
vation and experiment, I hope I may be 
pardoned for presenting anything so 
atavistic as an academic discussion of 
the method of evolution. But even 
with our pres2nt accumulation of facts 
bearing on this much discussed problem 
there is still something to be gained by 
reflection, and if our reflection suggests 
new things to look for it will assuredly 
not be in vain. 


How to Make a Eugenical Family Study. 


Detailed suggestions to genealogists and others who want to study their ancestry, 


are contained in Bulletin No. 13 of the Eugenics Record Office, 
which has just been issued under the title, ““ How to Make a 
‘and which will be sent to serious inquirers, upon request. 


Long Island, N. Y., 


Eugenical Family Study,’ 


Cold Spring Harbor, 


It explains and fully illustrates the proper procedure, and also points out at some 


length the 


value of a knowledge of the eugenic quality of one’s 
people have been deterred from studying their family trees biologically, 


Many 
because 


> ancestry. 


they did not know how to begin; this bulletin will prove of great help to them. 


ILLUSTRATION OF INBREEDING 


Maize Self-Pollinated for Three Generations Produces One-fourth Albino Plants 
—Abnormality Isolated and Bred Out of Part of the Stock 


D. F. Jones 
Plant Breeder, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment, Station, New Haven, Conn. 


HE noticeable results attending 
systematic inbreeding of a cross- 
bred race of: plants are the 
reduction of vegetative vigor 

and the isolation of abnormalities. The 
prejudice against inbreeding is largely 
due to this latter effect. Inbreeding, 
however, is the quickest way to make 
abnormal tendencies visible so that they 
can be eliminated. 

The way in which an abnormality is 
brought to light by inbreeding is illus- 


trated by a race of Leaming corn which 
had been self-pollinated for three genera- 
tions. Two rows of this race in our 
corn plot this spring produced so many 
albino seedlings that it was impossible 
to secure a good stand of plants although 
an excess of seed was planted. 

Albino seedlings in corn are common. 
Few fields are without a small number 
of them, but the percentage is so low 
as to be of no practical effect. Since 
chlorophyll reduction or albinism in 


ALBINO AND NORMAL MAIZE PLANTS 


Most fields of Indian corn contain a few albino plants, which lack altogether the chlorophyll 


or green coloring matter that every plant normally possesses. 
is inbred, one effect is to accentuate any abnormalities present. 


When a race of plants 
Consequently when a 


race of corn was inbred for three generations, it was natural to expect that the proportion 
of albinism would be much increased. This photograph shows a hill of Leaming corn 
grown from seed which had been inbred three generations: it contains three albinos and 


two normal green plants. (Fig. 10.) 


477 


4 : , 
. 


THE PROPORTION OF ALBINOS 


vere on hand nine ears representing as many different plants of the inbred maize, and 


. 
i 
1 

ls from each ear were planted in a row in a flat, as shown above. Mathematical 


based on the laws of heredity showed that one-third of these ears should lack 

albinism, and produce nothing but green plants; the other two-thirds of the 

uce one albino plant for every three green plants. The photograph shows 

flat with the oreen plant ill cut out: 1 IS ¢ | ervable that ome -third of the rows Nos. 

1. 5, 9). as was expected, produced no albinos whatever, while the percentage of albinos 


W mformed as closely to expectation as is usual when such small numbers 


Jones: Illustration of Inbreeding 


corn and other plants has been shown 
to be a simple recessive character,! 
then in an inbred race one-fourth of the 
plants must be albinos if they occur at 
all. This large percentage of white 
plants is quite noticeable in the field. 

The numbers secured in this case 
agree with other published results. 
The two rows in the field representing 


Number. Ear Number. 
2 (14-10) 4-6-3 
3 (14-10) 4-6-4 
4 (14-10) 4-6-16 
6 (14-10) 4-6-13 
7 (14-10) 4-6-2 
8 (14-10) 4-6-11 
Ao ail see ee Pe ee 
(theoreticaltese se Genoese 


two ears from the same inbred race 
gave 72 white and 232 normal green 
plants. 

There were on hand nine ears, repre- 
senting nine different plants of this 
inbred lot which were grown in 1914 
from a hand-pollinated, selfed plant in 
1913. Two-thirds of these ears should 
be heterozygous for the abnormality 
and give albino plants in a three to one 
ratio. One-third of the ears should 
give only green plants. About thirty 
seeds from each ear were planted in a 
flat. Eight of these nine ears were hand 


1 Emerson, R. A. 
Leaves.” 


January, 1915. 
2 See Emerson and Miles, /oc. cit. 


Nebr. Agr. Expt. Station, Twenty-fifth Annual Report, 1912. 
““A Genetic and Cytological Study of Certain Types of Albirism in Maize.” 


479 


pollinated and selfed. Ear No. 1 was 
not selfed, but pollinated with a brother 
plant. The chances that it would show 
albinos were four out of nine instead of 
two out of three. It produced only 
green plants. Of the other eight ears, 
numbers 5 and 9 gave only green plants 
as shown in Fig. 11. The remaining 


six ears gave albino plants as follows: 
White Plants. Green Plants. 
5 19 
13 
21 
US: 
15 
25 
108 
105 


| H= CO H= H= OU 


WW 
On = 


Seed from the original ear of the 
parent plant, (14-10) 4-6, grown in 
1913 which produced the above ears in 
1914 gave five albinos out of thirty- 
five plants grown. 

No seed is available of previous 
generations and no record was made of 
albino plants occurring in this strain 
but it is probable that they have 
occurred each year. It seems safe to 
say that two of these strains, numbers 
five and nine, are now free from this 
abnormality. 


“The Inheritance of Certain Forms of Chlorophyll Reduction in Corn 


See also Miles, F. C., 
Journal of Genetics, 


Production of New Cereals 


Grains are systematically bred at the Washington State Experiment Station. 
With wind and insect pollinated plants, such as maize, rye and the grain sorghums, 
straight selection is much employed, but with self-pollinated grains such as wheat, 
oats and barley, hybridization is more used. No selection is made until the second 
generation, at which time all apparently desirable plants are picked out and planted 
in triplicate for further tests. The basis for such tests with small grains is the rod 
row, 150 seeds per row and the rows 18 inches apart. Maize is planted in duplicate 
rows thirty-six hills long and three stalks per hill. After such a test, the value of 
any new sort can be determined with a good deal of accuracy. 


Plant Breeding in Alabama 


Hybridization in cotton and oats has been the principal plant-breeding work of 
the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station. Studies of correlation in cotton, 
conducted under the Adams’ Fund, have been in progress for nine years. Studies 
in correlation are also being made in maize. 


REVERSION IN SHEEP 


als -Bevver 


Animal Husbandman in Sheep and Goat Investigations, Bureau of Animal Industry, 
Washington, D. C. 


HOSE familiar with sheep know 

that the Rambouillet breed, a 

French improvement on_ the 

Spanish Merino, is one of the 

most highly improved of all sheep. Its 
color is pure white. 

On April 4, 1915, there were dropped 
in the United States Department of 
Agriculture experiment flock at Lara- 
mie, Wyo., twin ewe Rambouillet lambs. 
The one was an ordinary lamb in all 
respects; the other was marked as the 
accompanying photograph shows—the 
ventral part of the body, the legs, the 
lower part of the neck, the face with the 
exception of a bar between the eyes, 
and the inside of the ears being black. 

The fine-wools have been improved 
as long and probably breed as true 
as any of the existing breeds of sheep. 
Yet this is not the first appearance 
among them of the pattern here noted. 
Markings very similar to these have 
also been seen in black sheep of other 
breeds. If this color pattern had oc- 
curred but once it would have no 
special significance and could be con- 
sidered a mutation or sport, but occur- 
ring a number of times as it has it sug- 
gests the possibility of reversion to the 
markings of some original forebear, who 
existed perhaps thousands of years ago. 

The markings of the Barbados or 
woolless sheep are sometimes after this 
same pattern, and it has been noted in 


crosses of the Southdown and Barbados ao — 

too. The Barbados being an unim- d 

proved sheep having coarse brown and — 

black hair with a small amount of wool _ 

beneath, makes the question pertinent 

as to whether our improved breeds WHITE LAMB'S TWIN 
could have come from a similar type, The occasional appearance of this color 
and whether this character has for the pattern in highly improved breeds 


indicates that it may represent the 
markings of the ancestor of modern 
domesticated sheep. (Fig. 12.) 


most part been latent during the 
past several centuries and cropped out 
only at intervals. 

480 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


Mok Vie Non LL November, 1915 


CONTENTS 


Avent ihatiGroweds(hrontisplece)in...5. 56 00 osee0 Sols too oe oe: 182 
Poultry Breeding, by Rob. Rs Slocum... .2. 72... ... .8e s 183 
KRedhieldis(Offer StilliOpen 2. o.oo auss ae hiss ee Eh sie aes ... 487 
Profitable and Unprofitable Hens............................... 488, 489 
Lowschesbarkslsneanness rewrite nore. eiiiga sie hoes es Ce fy athe ete 190 


New Publications: Microbes and Men, by Robert T. Morris; John 
and Elizabeth, by Jay Gee; Eugenics and Marriage, by Lee 


PM Exar Ors S LOTTE sare Pe AE Ser ee EE A ee SR te gen 193 
Effect of the Popular Sire, by Williams Haynes................. ... 494 
Natural’selectior irri 25 95 eg, ee oe te ee eck Shy ev niente 197 
Seeks to Find Best Nut-Bearing Trees.............................. 198 
Garden Gladioli, by Alfred C. Hottes............................... 199 
New: Publcaton Planned ance ic 6% eee ts a ewes dens DOE 
Propagation of Wild Birds, Review of a Book by Herbert K. Job... .505 
Bucenicspimubne-Collesesss) seers? sis iid.» Aon ann ols ene ease DLL 
Maternal Impressions, by the Editor................... | ae aes Pa 2 
International Congress of Genealogy................... Pe ee en 518 
Ancestny.Ote Lhe Goalies ss... ace non oo el eee nal ae Nae Se Se 519 
Amps al ReLSiMIMOMMUTEG: 295: cert fe 2 re ed One ee DOD 
The Tree That Owns Itself, by T. H. McHatton.....................526 
iNvesbittecrs.olt SeleGhones. - occ. vases he oe ee we ns his aa ne eho Se nayAl 
SomesApple Statistics. 04.0. ka een eae ee ns S ..928 
Inheritance of Bad Temper... .-.0 22 7024. os. ose ee bk fi) oc SOLO 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magazine; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Subscription price to non-members, $2.00 a year, foreign postage extra; 
price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter February 24, 1915, at the postoffice at Washing- 
ton, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, October 25, 1915. 


A HEN THAT CROWED 


This Buff Orpington hen, hatched at the Bureau of Animal Industry experimental farm, Belts- 
ville, Md., began to lay on November 16 of that year and was trap-nested until November, 
1914. . In that period she laid 110 eggs, the last one on August 3, 1914, at which time she 
began to moult. Following the moult she began to develop the secondary sexual char- 
acters of the male; the tail feathers changed in appearance, the comb increased in size, the 
head came to look more like that of a cock, and the legs took on the redness characteristic 
of the male Buff Orpington. She was observed to crow several times; she occasionally 
visited the nest but never laid an egg. The above photograph from the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture was taken not long before she was killed, August 26, 1915, as the result of a 
general break-down of her health. Dissection showed no evidence of any development of 
male reproductive organs, but disclosed a large tumor on the ovary. It is a good hypothe- 
sis that this growth, by inhibiting the secretions connected with femaleness, had allowed 
the male characters to become apparent; for there is reason to believe that every fowl has 
the potential ability to develop the characters of either sex. (Frontispiece.) 


Rowley BREEDING 


Experimental Work of Genetists During Last Fifteen Years Has Shown Mode of 
Inheritance of Many Characters, but Has Not Materially Modified 
Practical Methods of Commercial Breeders ! 


Ros R. Stocum 


Scientific Assistant in Poultry Investigations, U. 


S. Department of Agriculture, 


Washington, D.C. 


enter into a detailed discussion of 

the experimental work which has 

been carried on in breeding poultry 
in the last twenty-five years or to discuss 
the methods used, but simply to sum- 
marize briefly the results obtained and 
to comment on the possible or probable 
value of these results in practical poultry 
breeding. While the behavior of the 
characters of domestic poultry in inher- 
itance, no matter what their nature, 
is undoubtedly a study of great scientific 
value and of general biological interest, 
it is nevertheless true that only so far 
as it has a bearing or a possible bearing 
on the practical problems of poultry 
breeding is it of interest to the great 
mass of poultry keepers and others 
vitally concerned with the vast poultry 
industry. It is this latter phase 
which is of paramount interest to the 
writer. 

Domestic poultry as a subject for 
experimental breeding has much to 
commend it and has in consequence 
been one of the most popular classes of 
animals for this purpose. Not only 
are chickens widely diversified as to 
form and color, but in respect to many 
other characteristics, such as comb, 
number of toes, shank color, shank 
feathering, etc., the difference is great 
and the contrast sharp. Their com- 
paratively small size with the resulting 
feasibility of keeping a large number 
at a relatively small cost is also a factor 
greatly in their favor. But perhaps the 
considerations which make chickens 
especially desirable for this class of 


| T IS not the intention in this paper to 


work are the short time necessary to 
bring them to maturity, making it 
possible to secure a new generation 
each year, the relatively high fecundity, 
making it possible to secure a large 
number of offspring from a_ single 
mating, and the readiness of the fowls 
to breed at any season of the year. 


BATESON’S PIONEER WORK 


Following the rediscovery of Mendel’s 
Law in 1900, there was begun and has 
since been carried on a considerable 
amount of experimental breeding of 
poultry. The first work along this line 
was that of William Bateson and 
others as detailed in the reports to the 
Evolution Committee of the Royal 
Society of London. Since then many 
others have taken up work of a similar 
nature. In this country, the Carnegie 
Institution’s Department of Experi- 
mental Evolution at Cold Spring Har- 
bor, Long Island, N. Y., under the 
direction of C. B. Davenport, has been 
especially active along these lines. 
Practically all of the breeding has 
been cross-breeding with the object of 
testing the behavior of characters of 
the individuals crossed to see whether 
they behaved in accordance with Men- 
del’s Law. Theory and results have on 
the whole been in fairly close accord. 
As a result of these experiments a 
considerable mass of data has been 
secured, most of which has to do with 
the dominance or recessiveness of unit 
characters of poultry and with the 
limited inheritance of certain characters 


* Address before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association, at Berkeley, 


Calif., August 3, 1915. 


483 


484 


or the repulsion between two factors 
resulting in what is known as sex- 
limited inheritance. 

An explanation of what constitutes 
dominance or recessiveness is unneces- 
sary and is not offered in this paper. It 
is only desired to show in tabular form 
the dominance and _ recessiveness of 
many of the common characters of 
poultry as they have been worked out. 
For this purpose it 1s impossible to do 
better than to use intact the table 
given by Dr. P. B. Hadley in the 1915 
American Poultry Year Book. 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


blues when bred together give blacks, 
splashed whites and blues in the usual 
mendelian proportion. Here the black 
color and the splashed white seem to be 
the mendelian characters, neither of 
which proves to be dominant but the two 
exist side by side in the hybrid in a 
minute mosaic which causes the blue 
color. The blue individual is therefore. 
always heterozygous or “‘mongrel.”’ 

In addition to the characters tab- 
ulated, recent studies with the ‘“‘bare- 
neck’’ breed of poultry support the 
view that the nature of the factor which 


TABLE SHOWING THE MODE OF INHERITANCE OF SOME OF THE COMMON CHARACTERS OF POULTRY 


Dominant Recessivz Remarks 
Dominant white (Leghorn)...... Black, red, buff. ......Almost complete dominance 
Blacks red) sities) eee Recessive white (Minorca). Bore eee Almost complete dominance 
Black (Hamburg, Minorca)...... Red, buff (Wyandotte)........../ Almost complete dominance 
Barred plumage-pattern......... Recessive white, black self-color. . Sex-limited inheritance 
Game pattern (Leghorn)........Recessive white (Minorca)....... Sex-limited inheritance 
Black -self-color (Minorca)....... Hackle-lacing (Brahma).......... Imperfect dominance 
Piamfeathering 95 seems Silky feathering. . ......-Complete dominance 
Prigziedeathering st pin. sees Normal repent feathering. pe ee ee Complete dominance 
RaserompeaicOmlDp rn» ayer iets Singlelcomibic< of a. eye ee Complete dominance 
SPO NC OIA eek heetak he oan oreo Comblessness (Breda)............Complete dominance 
Gresta(Sillkay)h x aoe. erro een: No crest. ........Imperfect dominance 
Nonmmalheadinsas scoot ere Cerebral hernia ( Polish) . Be Sh Ae Imperfect dominance 
Rum pleSsMescuee cect ta ae ie gae Normal uropygium . .......-Imperfect dominance 
BXUraWOCSin Sect easton cate Normal tootrinectas tore seers Imperfect dominance 
JiGinuante7 Of tOeSi ea emer ee: Normialtioopie epee ok eee Imperfect dominance 
Silky pigmentation... .-. 4.) +: Normal mesoderm color......... Imperfect dominance* 
Vellow-skinecoloth. arin eee Wihiterskinvcolomen ceri on ee Complete dominance 
Mellow snaniacolorew = yee one eiginitnshanike COlOTe.. seit a see ine: Complete dominance 
Wark shank colons. 4. aetna eee asht shank coronec.. serie eaten Complete dominance 
BlacCkinisicolotarnt covet ee Brown, red, pearliris........... Complete dominance 
Red: Gar-loberrgtt chon tones ms tee Wiitevear-lobe sae ae oem roel Imperfect dominance 


Reatheredshanks . oie. sem sseec es Gleanshamles ree ste.ahcee aa Imperfect dominance 
Plaine ese aii e erred eraeee Vulture hock (Silky).............Imperfect dominance 
Boomng (Silay) ns <' cneeeeantann No booting.....................Imperfect dominance 
Beareie(Elomdaim) 4.1. <cne crore oes tN OR GAL Cle tere orien nary Acs = uaa Almost complete dominance 
Long tail (Japanese). ........... INornaailtanllo ot. . fctevoc ew aces ae Imperfect dominance 
Rapid feathering 22 try ew as cee Se Slow feathering................Almost complete dominance 
Broodmess. (Sillgy)). nn yak es ae INGHEDEOOGINESS | oo s.05 +n. ot aoc a oe \lmost complete dominance 


* Sex-limited in Brown Leghorn and Silky crosses. 


It will be noted from this table that 
in only a few cases is dominance listed 
as complete. There is a variation all 
the way from complete dominance to a 
very weak dominance and to explain 
this variation it has been necessary to 
fall back upon the idea of prepotency. 
It might also be well to call attention 
here to the case of the blue color of the 
Andalusian where neither of a pair of 
characters shows dominance over the 
other. The Black Andalusian and the 
Splashed White Andalusian bred to- 
gether give all blue offspring. These 


prevents feather growth on the neck is 
dominant. 


SEX-LIMITED INHERITANCE 


Certain of the characters of domestic 
poultry are inherited in a manner 
known as sex-limited. We are accus- 
tomed to observing the usual limitation 
of certain secondary sexual characters to 
their respective sexes, such as the spur 
and long sickle feathers of the cock, 
but it has remained for experimental 
breeding to point out that certain other 
characters are also sex-limited. Per- 


Slocum: Poultry Breeding 


haps the best known example of sex 
limited inheritance is the barred color 
pattern of the Barred Plymouth Rock, 
which seems to occur in accordance with 
a mendelian hypothesis developed along 
lines first suggested by Spillman. 

The female, by this hypothesis, is 
considered to be heterozygous both for 
sex and for barring while a repulsion is 
assumed between the determiners for 
these two characters which prohibits 
their occurrence in the same gamete. 
The male is considered to be homozygous 
in respect to sex and either homozygous 
or heterozygous in respect to barring. 
The females, therefore, inherit barring 
from their sire alone. A number of 
different crosses have been made and 
reported which support this hypothesis, 
e.g., Black Langshan and _ Barred 
Plymouth Rocks, Cornish Indian Game 
and Barred Rock, White Cochin and 
Tosa, and Barred Plymouth Rocks 
with Campines, with Golden Pencilled 
Wyandottes, with Black Hamburg, with 
White Wvyandottes and with White 
Plymouth Rocks. 

Sex-linkage has been reported in a 
number of other instances, such as an 
inhibiting factor influencing the meso- 
dermal pigmentation of the Silky, 
Brown Leghorn color pattern, an inhibi- 
tion for red in the plumage carried by the 
Columbian Wyandotte, the gray of the 
White Wyandotte and the factor on 
which high fecundity depends. 


INHERITANCE OF EGG PRODUCTION 


For about nine years, from 1898 to 
1907, at the Maine Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station, a systematic breeding 
experiment was carried on in an effort to 
increase the average egg production of 
the Station’s poultry stock. The plan 
of the experiment was to select breeders 
upon the basis of their performance 
alone as shown by the trap nest. It was 
expected that the high production would 
be handed down from mother to 
daughter and that the selection prac- 


485 


ticed would be cumulative in its effect. 
Indeed it was generally supposed that a 
substantial increase in the average egg 
yield had been obtained but a complete 
and searching analysis not only failed 
to reveal such an increase but actually 
showed a slight decrease since the 
beginning of the experiment. 

In 1907 the plan of procedure was 
changed and one of the steps taken was 
to cross the original stock of the station, 
the Barred Plymouth Rock, a breed of 
relatively good laying ability, with the 
Cornish Fowl, a breed of relatively 
poor laying ability. A study of the 
inheritance of fecundity in these cross- 
bred individuals and in other matings 
resulted in the hypothesis advanced by 
Dr. Raymond Pearl, that the factor 
responsible for high egg production 
behaved as a_ sex-limited character. 
According to this hypothesis, the female 
is heterozygous for sex and also for the 
factor for high fecundity and these two 
factors cannot be present in the same 
gamete. It follows therefore that a 
daughter cannot inherit high fecundity 
directly from her dam but must always 
inherit it, if present, from her sire. 
She may, however, inherit low fecundity 
from either dam or sire or from both.’ 


PRACTICAL RESULTS 


The application of Mendelism to 
poultry breeding holds out not the 
slightest hope of creating new characters. 
It does, however, point out the way to 
secure new combinations of desired 
characters by crossing varieties or 
breeds possessing them and by careful 
breeding to fix this combination in one 
breed or variety. In so far as a pair of 
characters behave as a strictly repre- 
sentative Mendelian pair, one of which 
shows complete dominance over the 
other, the application of Mendelism to 
poultry breeding will prove an advantage 
in poultry work as it will often provide a 
short cut to the desired end by providing 
a quicker means of testing out the purity 


2 The conclusions of the Maine station are based on the belief that high egg production is a unit 


character. 


But the results of eight years work at the Utah station, presented by E. D. Ball and 


Byron Alder at the last meeting of the American Genetic Association, but not yet published, fail 


to confirm this conclusion. 


The twenty-seventh annual report of the Massachusetts Agricultural 


Station, summing up the studies on egg-production there, also indicates a belief that high egg pro- 


duction is a compound, nota simple, trait. 
one for the present. 


The question probably must be considered an open 


486 The Journal 


of a bird with respect to the particular 
character or characters. It will also 
often serve as a means to prevent the 
beginner in poultry breeding from 
making mistakes. 

Unfortunately, however, the domi- 
nance of one of a pair of characters over 
another is in most cases not complete. 
As a consequence, results are not 
sufficiently exact and clean-cut to allow 
the application of the principles of 
Mendelism with assurance and reason- 
able certainty. Because the character 
or characters do not segregate in a pure 
state, it becomes necessary for the 
breeder to adopt a _ system largely 
empirical, with the object of using in 
his matings those individuals or lines 
which show the greatest purity in this 
respect. In other words, he must 
depend very largely as a basis of selec- 
tion of breeders upon the results 
obtained in the offspring. He is unable 
to predict with sufficient certainty just 
what the results will be. Now this is 
exactly the position which the practical 
breeder has always occupied. He must 
select his breeders upon the basis of 
their appearance, upon his knowledge 
of their ancestry and principally upon 
the results obtained from breeding 
them. Therefore, while the Mendelist 
uses as his guide in breeding, the 
principles of Mendel’s Law and the 
practical breeder uses the knowledge 
accumulated through experience, the 
methods used by each to secure a 
desired result in actual practice are 


identical or nearly identical. There is 
little in the data so far obtained as 
the result of experimental breeding 


which will enable the practical breeder 
to breed with a much greater degree of 
certainty or which would enable him 
to change his operations for simpler 
procedure. 


BREEDING 


Dr. Pearl in connection with his 
hypothesis of the method of inheritance 
of high fecundity, advances for the 
benefit of the practical poultry breeder 
a plan for improving the average egg 
production of his flock. This consists 
of the following steps: 

(a) Selection of all breeding birds on 


FOR EGGS 


of Heredity 


the basis of constitutional vigor and 
vitality ; 

(b) The use as ‘breeders of such 
females only as have shown themselves, 
by trap nest records, to be high pro- 
ducers; 

(c) The use as breeders of such males 
only as are known to be the sons of high 
producing dams; 

(d) The use of a pedigree system by 
which it is possible to tell the sire of 
any particular bird; 

(e) The making of a large number of 
matings so as to use as many different 
male birds as possible and; 

(f) The continued but not narrow 
inbreeding of those lines 1n which there 
is a preponderance of daughters which 
are high producers. 

In connection with this plan it only 
remains to point out again that such a 
plan is identical or very nearly so with 
the steps which any intelligent breeder 
of experience would take if he attempted 
to make any systematic effort to better 
the egg production of his stock. The 
only point where it might differ would 
be in the matter of testing out the 
various males and breeding those lines 
showing the greatest promise. How- 
ever, any poultryman who is sufficiently 
interested in his breeding to make an 
attempt to keep a pedigree record of 
his birds, or at least a pen record— 
and many of them do—would certainly 
fail in intelligent effort if he did not 
concentrate his breeding on those lines 
which showed most favorable results. 

The experimental breeding of poultry 
has undoubtedly been of benefit to the 
poultry industry generally. Not only 
has it given us a considerable amount 
of information as to the manner in 
which characters are inherited but by 
arousing interest in the subject, it has 
caused poultrymen to give more careful 
thought to the problems by which they 
are confronted. It has also called 
attention to the necessity of keeping 
more exact pedigree records and by so 
doing will undoubtedly bring about 
much more systematic efforts which 
will in turn lead to greater progress. 

The work which has already been 
reported and the interest aroused has 
brought about the inauguration of 


Slocum: Poultry Breeding 


work of a similar nature at many of 
the State Experiment Stations in the 
United States. The various stations 
have been asked to supply a brief 
statement of any work in poultry 
breeding which they may be carrying 
on and the replies of those stations which 
sent in a report and are carrying on anv 
work of this nature are briefly sum- 
marized below: 


Purdue University Experiment Sta- 
tion, Lafayette, Indiana. 


A study of the influence of inheritance on 
egg production. 


Kansas Experiment Station, Man- 
hattan, Kansas. 


A study of the value of standard bred males 
from high producing lines in grading mongrel 
flocks. 


Maine Experiment Station, Orono, 
Maine. 


1. Inheritance of fecundity and breeding 
for egg production. 

2. Mendelian inheritance of various plumage 
and other bodily characters. 

3. Inheritance of body size, egg size and color. 

4. Inbreeding. 

5. The effect of various external agents on 
the germ plasm. 

6. The inheritance and determination of sex. 


Massachusetts Experiment Station, 
Amherst, Massachusetts. 

1. Breeding for egg production. 

2. A study of the hatching quality of eggs 
from the genetic standpoint. 

3. Inheritance of various external characters 
of poultry. 


Missouri Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion, Columbia, Missouri. 


A study of sex-limited inheritance of the 
spangled pattern of the Hamburg and the 


487 


“hen-feathering’’ of Bantam 


the Sebright 
cocks. 

' New Jersey Experiment Station, New 
Brunswick, New Jersey. 


1. Inheritance of fecundity. 
_ 2. Inheritance of various plumage character- 
istics and other body characters. 

3. The barred factor in Single Comb White 
Leghorns. 

4. Inheritance of shell color. 


North Carolina Experiment Station, 
West Raleigh, North Carolina. 


1. Inheritance of high egg production. 
2. Inheritance of shell color of eggs. 


Oregon Experiment Station, Corvallis, 
Oregon. 


1. Inheritance of high egg laying. 

2. Correlation between type and high egg 
laying. 

3. Cross breeding. 

4. The development of a special variety of 
chickens with high egg production and also 
good meat quality. 


Utah Experiment Station, 
Utah. 


1. A study of the possibility of improving 
egg production by continued selection. 

2. A study of egg production with special 
reference to (a) average winter egg production 
as compared with the average yearly produc- 
tion covering a period of the first, second and 
third years of production, and (6) limits of 
seasonal variation in the average flock produc- 
tion. 


Logan, 


Wisconsin Experiment Station, Mad- 
ison, Wisconsin. 


1. Experiments on inbreeding. 

2. Study of the effects of lead poison of the 
male upon his offspring. 

3. Inheritance of plumage color and some 
other characters in pigeons. 


Redfield’s Offer Still Open 


Attention is called to the fact that C. L. Redfield’s offer of a reward for data 
regarding early marriages closes at the end of the present year, and up to date has 
not been productive of results. He proposes to donate $100 to this association 
“if it can be shown that any superior individual ever was produced by breeding 
human beings as rapidly as four generation in a century,” or “‘if there can be found 
more than three cases in which the intellectually superior person has as many as 
four generations in a century in the tail-male alone.’’ By ‘“‘superior individuals’’ 
he understands “‘‘any one of the 2,000 or 3,000 intellectually eminent men known to 
history.’’ Again, raising the standard to the two or three hundred great geniuses 
of history, he proposes to donate another $100 if a single one of them can be found 
in the three-generations-to-a-century class. The association will be glad to hear 
from genealogists who can throw light on these matters. 


THESE HENS ARE PROFITABLE 


THESE. HENS SHOULD GO TO THE POT 


In the Hawkesbury Agricultural College competition the hen shown above laid only 
between April 1, 1913, and March 31, 1914. The hen below laid only twenty-thre 
the same period. Hens of this type should not be kept in a pen intended for eg; 
tion. It is likely that their fatness shows they have kept all their nutrition for tl] 
while the lean hens on the opposite page have devoted much of their nutrition to pr 

i 


eggs. Photos from Agricultural Gazette. (Fig. 2 


s: 


) 


HOW THE BARK BREATHES 


IKE all other living things, plants 
must breathe or they will not 
continue to live: Phe “anore 
highly specialized among them 

are therefore provided with claborate 
respiratory systems, consisting of pas- 
sages which conduct air to all parts of 
the plant, and openings on the surface, 
through which oxygen can be taken in 
and carbon dioxide given out, substan- 
tially as is the case with animals. 

The external openings of this ventil- 
ating system are of three general types: 
stomata or valves on the surfaces of 
leaves and young shoots;! ventilating 
pores, which occur in certain aerial 
roots; and lenticels, pores in the older 
wood, whose presence can be noted by 
the unaided eye in almost any plant, 
and which are photographed, enlarged, 
in Figs. 3 and 4. 

The earlier naturalists were quite in 
the dark as to the function cf these 
pores. Guettard, who described them 
in 1745, designated them merely es 
glands; De Candolle (1826) thought 
they were a kind of bud, from which 
roots later put forth; Unger (1838) 
believed they had something to do 
with reproduction; but as early as 1809, 
Dupetit-Thouars declared their purpose 
was ventilation, and the work of several 
students during the next half century 
demonstrated that this opinion was 
well founded. 

Although he misunderstood their 
purpose, De Candolle gave them the 
name which they now bear, because of 
the resemblance of one of these pores to 
a minute, bi-convex lens, in general 
shape. 

They are usually found on both stem 
and root of a plant, but may also appear 
on leaf-stems, and sometimes on fruits 


the walnut and _ horse-chestnut, for 
instance. 

Yet, in spite of their widespread 
distribution, they have been sought in 


JOURNAL OF HEReEpITY, Vol. VI, No 
490 


vain on some plants. They appear 
not to exist on the European grape 
(Vitis vinifera), although they can 
easily be seen on its close relative, the 
Scuppernong grape of the southern 
United States (Vztrs rotundifolia); they 
have been not discovered on the Italian 
honeysuckle, the trumpet Crpepes Te- 
coma radicans, some species of Clematis, 
the Philadelphus or mock-orange, Deut- 
zia, Rubus odoratus, etc. 

It has been explained that these plants 
are provided with a regularly repeated 
annular formation of the bark, and 
therefore do not stand in such need of 
lenticels for the purpose of ventilation. 
But this hypothesis carries little weight, 
when one finds that other plants with 
similar bark have lenticels. Why, for 
instance, should the climbing honey- 
suckles lack these organs, while thcs2 
which do not climb possess them? And 
why are they present in the bittersweet 
(Solanum dulcamara), the Boston Ivy 
(Ampelopsis), the Wistaria, and other 
plants which have habits of growth and 
formation of bark similar to those 
ehove referred to, which lack lenticels? 

Another difficulty in the way of 
believing the idea once held, that they 
are indispensable to the respiration of the 
plant, is the fact that during a consider- 
able part of the year they are partly or 
wholly closed by the formation of 
layer of cork underneath them. This is 
particularly the case in winter, the 
plant’s resting period, when little venti- 
lation is necessary; but observers have 
found that this closing of the ventilators 
often begins in early summer, so that 
spring is the only season when the 
lenticels are functioning. 

Further, it has been discovered that 
the lenticels are in some cases per- 
manently closed: they look normal from 
the outside, but are in reality of no 
value whatever to the plant for breath- 
Ing. 


' For an excellent photograph of stomata on a wheat leaf, enlarged about 300 diameters, see the 
. 3, p. 125, March, 1915. 


THE VENTILATORS OF A ROSE TWIG 


The irregular openings or “‘eruptive craters’ in the bark, photographed under high magnifica- 
tion, are known as lenticels, and serve as pores through which air is admitted to the inside 
of the plant. By channels and passages of various kinds between the interior cells of the 
plant, the air passes to even the most distant parts. The plant is thus enabled to renew 
its supply of oxygen, and at the same time it discharges carbon dioxid2 through the lenticels. 
(Fig. 3.) 


The Journal of Heredity 


ON A MOIST DAY 


Twig of a C 
magnified. 


which fill 
‘hei 


ip 
rit Dark 


from the: 


of the fun 
regulate 
ture betwe 
and the ot 


hinese magnolia, 


The dry, 


the breathing 
have absorbed 


itside air. 


warts. 


. 


highly 
powdery cells 
pores of 
moisture 
ur, until they have swelled 
out and protrude lke 
tions of the lenticels is to 
the transpiration of mois- 
en the interior of the tree 
(Fig. 


One 


These facts have led many plant 
physiologists to think that, although 
the lenticels undoubtedly do fulfil in 
many cases the function of breathing 
pores for the bark, that is not really 
their purpose. Such a solution of the 
problem aceords well with the interpreta- 
tion of nature of certain scientists, who 
hold on philosophical grounds that 
nothing should be said really to have . 
a purpose. a 


EXPERIMENTAL TESTS 


But whether breathing is the purpose 
of the lenticel or not, one can very 
easily demonstrate that it actually does 
act in most cases as an outlet for the 
plant’s ventilating system. <A favorite 
laboratory experiment is to seal up one 
end of a stick, seal a tube around the 
other end, and then force air under 
pressure through the stick, submerged 
in water. A. string of fine bubbles 
will issue from every lenticel. The 
fact can be demonstrated even more 

sasily, merely by sealing both ends of a 
short stick and then submerging it in 
warm water; the warmth will in most 
cases be sufficient to expel the cooler air 
within the stick, and bubbles will appear 
at the lenticels. 

Sometimes these openings reach a 
length as great as a third of an inch; 
in other cases, as in the bark of the 
sycamore (Platanus), they are so small 
as to be almost microscopic. In twigs 
they are commonest on the under side, 
and the number increases somewhat 
regularly with the age of the wood. 
On a piece of elm branch 20 centimeters 
long, Haberlandt found the number of 
lenticels as follows: 


Third to Tenth to 


First fifth fifteenth 

year years years 
Upper side.... 55 66 95 
Under side.. 70 78 06 


The lenticels usually begin formation 
under the surface, frequently beneath 
one of the stomata, in which case, as 
the epidermis is gradu: uly replé ced by 
cork (i. e., bark), the lenticels take the 
place of the stomata as ventilating pores. 

Structurally, the lenticel may be 
described in simplest terms as an open- 
ing through the bark, which is filled, 


How the Bark Breathes 493 


in most cases, with a mass of powdery function which the lenticels share with 
packing-cells, so loosely arranged that the stomata—to aid in regulating the 
air can easily pass between them. In transpiration of the plant. Indeed, 
wet weather these cells usually expand Devaux,? one of the latest botanists to 
and protrude from the opening, so give the subject careful study, concludes 
that the lenticel comes to resemble a that it is more correct to say they 
wart. regulate the amount of moisture in the 

This response to the humidity of the plant than to ascribe ventilation as 
outside air gives the clue to another their chief function. 


> Recherches sur les Lenticelles, by H. Devaux, professor at the University of Bordeaux. 
Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 8iéme série, Botanique; t. XII, 1900. 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


MICROBES AND MEN, by Robert T. Morris, M. D. Pp. 539, price $2 net. New York, 
Doubleday Page & Co., 1915. 

It is rather difficult to think of any social question on which this book by a 
distinguished New York surgeon does not touch. His aim is to show the influence 
of the microbe in all evolution; to demonstrate that ‘the microbe limits cultivation 
of any organism because under conditions of higher cultivation organisms become 
more and more susceptible to microbe influence. The logical end of culture is 
elimination of the race among plants and animals.”” But the book itself is far more 
readable than one would suspect from this synopsis: one can dip into it anywhere 
and find something to stimulate thought. Dr. Morris intimates that one of his 
hopes is to cause readers to disagree with him, and he will doubtless attain this 
end in many cases. But at least, the reader will be interested. The layman, 
however, should bear in mind that the author does not always make it clear whether 
his statements are based on fact or speculation. 


JOHN AND ELIZABETH, a Romance in Real Life, by Jay Gee. Pp. 162, price 50 cents. 
Washington, D. C., the Volta Bureau, 1601 Thirty-fifth Street NW. 

Mr. Gee frankly declares that he has written a novel with a purpose—‘‘to show 
the great dangers of hereditary disease.’’ Congenital deafness furnishes the 
background of a simple love story, or rather, the love story serves as a vehicle to 
carry a rather full discussion of congenital deafness. Novels with purposes are not 
new, but Mr. Gee has performed a really extraordinary feat in writing one, the 
scientific basis of which is perfectly sound. The book can be recommended without 
hesitation to anyone who wants a sugar-coated statement of modern views as to the 
inheritance of congenital defects. 


EUGENICS AND MARRIAGE, by Lee Alexander Stone, M.D. A Primer of Social Hygiene. 
Reprinted from the Journal of the Tennessee State Medical A ssociation, September, 1915. Pp. 64; 
price 25 cents; by the author, Memphis, Tenn. 


EFFECT “OF - THE (POPUEAR- sik 


A Statistical Study of Three Varieties of Terriers—Over Forty Per Cent. of the 
Puppies Sired by Approximately Twenty Per Cent. of the Stud Dogs— 
Popularity and Prepotency—A Cause of Variation 


WILLIAMS HAYNES 


Author of “Practical Dog Breeding,” 


HEN the cattle breeder says 

“the bull is half the herd”’ 

he expresses. one of the 
fundamental differences be- 

tween natural selection and the artificial 
selection practiced by animal breeders. 
Even with sheep, cattle, horses and 
other gregarious animals, among which, 
in a wild state, the stronger and more 
vigorous males certainly beget more 
oftspring than their weaker rivals, 
artificial selection undoubtedly gives 
increased opportunities to the selected 
sires. No wild male, however superior 
physically to his rivals, ever sired so 
large a proportion of the succeeding 
generation as does the popular sire 
chosen by breeders. In the case of 
animals which, in a natural state, mate 
in pairs or in small groups, obviously 
this effect is very much more marked. 
In order to arrive at a definite expres- 
sion of this important factor in artificial 
selection, I have made a statistical 
study of three breeds of terriers, dogs 
offering a peculiarly good field for a 
study ‘of this kind. That the results 
might be as typical as possible, I have 
selected three breeds of the same 
general family: all well established as to 
type and all generally popular all over 
the country. Registrations of different 
individuals of the same litter have been 
discarded, so that each unit represents 
an entire litter. Obviously all thorough- 
bred litters are not represented in the 
Stud Book, but I have chosen breeds 
in which a great number of the breeders 


etc. 


litter numbers about 5.25 puppies, 
a considerable number of. the entire 
population for the year must be included 
in these figures. The results, which are 
from the American Kennel Club Stud 
Book, Vol. X XIX (1912), can, I believe, 
be taken as thoroughly representative. 
(See table at bottom of page.) 

In other words, 15.5% of the Irish 
terrier sires whose get was registered 
during 1912 sired 33.96% of the puppies; 


22.47% of the Scottish terriers got 
45.00% of the pups; and 24% of the 


fox terriers got 46.73°%. For the three 
breeds, 19. 40% Z of the sires got 43.20% 

of the puppies, or to express the totals i a 
figures (assuming 5.25 pups to the litter) 
we have 818 individuals out of 1,874 
sired by but 54 out of the 277 stud dogs. 

Since to sire two litters can hardly be 
considered a mark of any particular 
popularity, we probably get a truer 
expression of the factor of popularity 
as such, by omitting the two litter dogs. 
This gives 7.94% of the stud dogs 
(twenty-one individuals) sireing 22.91% 
of the puppies (451 individuals). 

The practice of dog breeders is liberal 
in the choice of a stud dog to which to 
mate their hitches. The majority do 
not keep a stud dog, and even those 
who do so, though subjected to the 
usual temptation to breed to their 
own dog (convenience, expense, and 
increasing his reputation as a sire), are 
able to enjoy wide latitude in choice. 
Stud fees are quite uniform and com- 
paratively low, ranging from $15 to $25. 


register, and, as the average terrier Transportation charges on so small an 
1 tae 2 Litters 3 Litters 4 Litters 5 Litters 7 Litters Breed Total 
Each Each Each Each Each Each 
Sires Litters Sires Litters Sires Litters Sires Litters Sires Litters Sires Litters Sires Litters 
Irish terriers 70 70 9 18 1 3 2 8 ne gh 1 7 83 106 
Scottish terriers...... 78 78 13 26 5 15 2 & 2 10 1 7 101 144 
Fox terriers 75 75 11 22 3 9 3 12 1 7 93 125 
Total...... 223 223° «4334 66—C<“<«‘St‘<«i«i 7 2 2 10 3 ot 2970 aon 


494 


MOST POPULAR LIVING SCOTTISH TERRIER SIRE 


Champion Bapton Norman is considered by Mr. 
phenomenal sires of any breed of dogs that has ever appe sared;’ 


‘one of the most 
” when only three 


Haynes to be 


years old he had already sired three chamy ions and nine winners of championship 


points or certificates. 
St. Mary, Wilts., 


He is owned by J. ete Willis of Bapton Manor, Codford 
England, and many American owners have imported bitches 


bred to this famous dog, in order to get as much of his blood as possible in this 


country. (Fig. 5.) 


animal are light (a terrier bitch can be 
sent from New York to Chicago and 
back for $15) and there is little incon- 
venience and slight risk in sending her 
on a considerable journey to be bred. 
For these reasons, dog breeders are but 
little restricted in selecting whatever 
sire their judgment dictates as the best 
mate for their bitches. Popularity has 
very free play. 

But popularity at stud is, so all 
breeders have been often warned, a 
very poor indicator of breeding ability. 
It is therefore interesting to see whether 
these dog breeders, who are so notorious 
for following fads and fancies, have 
selected really important sires, or are 


1 Field and Fancy, 


Vole xexXoeVvill, No: 3, spy 12: 


merely attracted by show points. In 
each breed one dog, as the sire of seven 
litters, stands out markedly as the most 
popular stud dog of the year. 

The Irish terrier is Champion Thorn- 
croft Sportsman. That capital author- 
ity—especially strong in this his favorite 
breed—the late James Watson says of 
him in a posthumous article on dog 
breeding published recently,’ “the 
French bulldog Nellcote Gamin and 
the Irish terrier Thorncroft Sportsman, 

have no such heritage of special 
selection? but control simply by individ- 
ual dominance and it behooves 
the Irish terrier fanciers and _ the 
French bulldog breeders to conserve 


2 That is, they are not dogs inbred to a special strain.—W. H. 


495 


496 The Journal 
the prepotency demonstrated in the 
dogs to which attention has been 
drawn.” Three years ago Irish terrier 


breeders had already discovered this 
prepotency, and as early as 1912 this 
dog was the most popular sire. 


AN ENGLISH WINNER 


The case of the most popular Scottish 
terrier is even more remarkable. The 
dog Champion Bapton Norman was at 
the time only three years old, but he 
had already sired three champions and 
nine winners of championship points or 
certificates. Since then he has proved 
himself to be one of the most phenom- 
enal sires of any breed of dogs that has 
ever appeared, but his English breeder 
has refused all offers for the dog and he 
is still in England. That a dog in 
England should be represented in the 
American stud book by more litters 
than any dog in this country is unex- 
pected. That he should be so young a 
dog and that he should since then 
demonstrate that he is one of the great 
sires of all time shows that a prepotent 
individual is sometimes discovered early 
and that a number of dog breeders, 
certainly Scottish terrier breeders, are 
importing for blood as well as points. 

The case of the fox terrier, Sabine 
Reserve, is not so clear cut. As a stud 
dog he is hardly so prepotent an individ- 
ual as either Thorncroft Sportsman or 
Bapton Norman, yet he is bred from 
that eminent producing strain founded 
by Champion Sabine Result, and of 
his get registered during 1912 one 
became a champion and four others 
were winners at the shows. Clearly, if 
not a phenomenal sire, he is much 
above the average in his heredity 
and in his capabilities. 

When in three breeds, picked as rep- 
resentative, the most popular sires prove 
to be also important sires—two of them 


of levetita: 


truly great sires—it makes one wonder 
if the consensus of breeders’ opinions 
does not come closer to the mark in 
selecting as the popular the truly 
prepotent individuals, than we are 
prone to believe. Prepotency runs in 
certain families in dogs as in other 
animals*® and this, being recognized by 
dog breeders, undoubtedly influences 
selection, but only indirectly. The 
reputation of the individual dog, both as 
a show winner and a sire of winners, is 
almost always the determining factor 
in a breeder’s selection, but it ean hardly 
be a coincidence that in these three 
breeds popularity and prepotency should 
have been combined. 

Superficially it might appear that if 
approximately 40% of the puppies 
each year are sired by but 20% of the 
stud dogs this would eventually result 
in the greatest uniformity of type. The 
selected sires are all to a greater or 
lesser degree exceptional individuals, 
but they are not selected by any uniform 
system. Most of them excel in some 
particular physical point, but they do 
not excel in the same points or in the 
same degree, nor even, in some cases, 
in the same direction. Here the per- 
sonal equation, the ideals of different 
breeders, is at work, and the result is 
that since a few males not themselves 
of uniform type sire a greater-than- 
average number of offspring they disturb 
the race average of the following genera- 
tion and introduce abnormal amounts 
of variation. The fact therefore, that 
artificial selection gives to certain 
selected, but not uniform, males an 
undue preponderance of influence must 
always keep the type of domestic animals 
in an unstable state. This seems to me 
an important factor in the great varia- 
bility always noted among domesticated 
breeds. 


’ Becker, The Great Dane (1905), p. 41; Packwood, Show Collies (1906), pp. 18, 103; Davies, 


The Scottish Terrier (London n.d.), Chap. IV; Graham, The Sporting Dog (1904), Chaps. II, III, 
IV; Haynes, Practical Dog Breeding (1915), Chap. VI. 


NATURAL SELECTION IN MAN 


EW people show any hesitancy in 
KK accepting the idea that Natural 
Selection is constantly at work 
among plants and the lower 
animals, weeding out the weak and 
unfit, and allowing only those to survive 
who are by heredity adapted to survive 
in their own particular environment. 

But when the same doctrine is applied 
to man, a great many persons have 
hesitated. It was something of a shock 
to them to admit that the death of a 
friend or relative might be due to 
unfitness to survive. 

The biologist could accept the applica- 
tion of natural selection to man without 
hesitation, but many others felt that 
they required proof, before they could 
open their minds so far. 

It has therefore been a _ chosen 
task of Professor Karl Pearson, of the 
University of London, and his school of 
biometricians, to bring together mathe- 
matical proof of the operation of natural 
selection in man. 

Pearson’s first contribution to the 
subject, some twenty years ago, was 
in the form of a study of the inheritance 
of longevity. He found, to put the 
case very briefly, that there was a close 
connection between length of life in 
parent and length of life in child; and 
from this fact, demonstrated in various 
strata of the population, he was able 
to draw the conclusion that about two- 
thirds of all the deaths that occur 
nowadays, are due to natural selection: 
they are the deaths of those who, 
through heredity, were not able to 
survive in their environment. 

The rest of the deaths must be set 
down to random causes. If a man is 
struck by a moving train, for instance, 
it is evident that his hereditary make-up 
will have little to do with his chances of 
survival. 

It should be noted that we can not 
blame environment too much for deaths 
which we credit to natural selection. 
It is not wholly that the environment 


was bad. Dr. Alfred Ploetz, of Munich, 
investigated the royal families of Europe, 
where the environment may be fairly 
supposed to be as good as possible for 
every child, and found that even there 
60% of all the deaths were due to 
heredity. 

It should further be noted that when 
we ascribe a death to heredity, we do not 
necessarily mean a congenital defect 
in the ordinary sense of the term. A 
congenital lack of resistance to some 
specific disease is equally a matter 
of heredity, and is often a cause of 
death. 


INFANT MORTALITY 
In 1911 Dr. E. C. Snow published the 


results of an investigation on the 
infant mortality of parts of England 
and Prussia, in which he showed that a 
high death rate during infancy was 
followed by a low death rate during 
childhood, in the same group; and vice 
versa. Here was another evidence of 
the work of natural selection: Nature 
was weeding out the weakest, and in 
proportion to the stringency with which 
she weeded them out at the start, there 
were fewer weaklings left to die in the 
succeeding years. 

Evidence from another source was 
published by Pearson in 1912. He 
dealt with material analogous to that of 
Snow, and showed “‘that when allowance 
was made for change of environment in 
the course of fifty years, a very high 
association existed between the deaths 
in the first year of life and the deaths in 
childhood (1 to 5 years). This associa- 
tion was such that if the infantile 
death rate increased by 10% the child 
death rate decreased by 5.3% in males, 
while in females the fall in the child 
deathrate was almost 1% for every rise 
of 1% in the infantile death rate.” 

To put the matter in the form of a 
truism, part of the children born in any 
district in a given year are doomed by 
heredity to premature death; and if 

497 


498 The Journal 


they die in one year they will not be 
alive to die in some succeeding year. 
These researches involved some very 
difficult mathematical problems, to 
which nothing more than an allusion 
can be made here. They were based 
on a statistical method known as partial 
correlations. The object of the present 
note is to call attention to a new study! 
of the subject of natural selection, based 
on a new statistical method, which 
Pearson says is the most important 
contribution to the apparatus of statis- 
tical research that has been made for a 
number of years past. It-is termed the 
Variate Difference Correlation method. 
Its exact nature is of interest only to 
mathematicians, but every genetist will 
be interested in the fact that it gives, 
according to Pearson, a more accurate 
result in the study of natural selection 
than any method heretofore known. 


RESULTS OF NEW STUDY 


Applying it to the registered births in 
England and Wales between 1850 and 
1912, and the births during the first 
five years of life in the same period, 
Miss Elderton and Professor Pearson 
have found that the previous observa- 
tions of a selective death rate are con- 
firmed with increased accuracy. ‘For 
both sexes a heavv death rate in one 
year of life means a markedly lower 


1 Further Evidence of Natural Selection in Man. 
London, May, 1915. 


Biometrika, Vol. X, Part IV, pp. 488-506. 


of Heredity 


death rate in the same group in the 
following year of life.”” This lessened 
death rate extends in a lessened degree 
to the year following that, but is not 
by the present method easy to trace 
further. 

“Tt is difficult,’’ as they conclude, “to 
believe that this important fact can 
be due to any other source than the 
influence of natural selection, 7.e., ° 
a heavy mortality leaves behind it a 
stronger population.”’ 

To avoid misunderstandings, it may 
be well to close this review with the 
closing words of the Elderton-Pearson 
paper. “‘Nature is not concerned with 
the moral or the immoral, which are 
standards of human conduct, and the 
duty of the naturalist is to point out 
what goes on in Nature. There can 
now be scarcely a doubt that even in 
highly organized human communities 
the death rate is selective, and physical 
fitness is the criterion for survival. 
To assert the existence of this selection 
and measure its intensity must be 
distinguished from an advocacy of high 
infant mortality as a factor of racial 
efficiency. This reminder is the more 
needful as there are not wanting those 
who assert that demonstrating the 
existence of natural selection in man 
is identical with decrying all efforts to 
reduce the infantile death rate.” 


By Ethel M. Elderton and Karl Pearson. 


Seeks to Find Best Nut-Bearing Trees 


Endeavoring to enlist members of the American Genetic Association in a search 


for the undeveloped nut-producing resources of the United States, 


Professor 


J. Russell Smith, of uhe University of Pennsylvania, writes: ‘‘We now know how to 
graft them, so that the finding of them amounts to something. We have most 
surprising resources in the shape of rare nut trees, if we just knew where they 
were. As an example of these unknown resources, I will cite the recent discovery 
in Indiana of three or four of the finest pecan trees in the world. It took looking to 
find these trees from among the thousands of wild ones, but it is true that some- 
body, some boy, some hunter, some observant farmer, has his eye on nearly all of 
the extra fine nut trees in his neighborhood. He should tell the world about them, 
that’s all. The way is easy—simply send samples of the nuts, with an account of 
the tree, to the secretary of the Northern Nut Growers’ Association, Dr. W. C. 
Deming, Georgetown, Conn. This Association wants your help so badly that it is 
offering money for it—$50 for a hazel tree of American origin that can compete 
with the imported filberts; $10 for a Northern pecan better than we now have, and 
$20 for other nuts that are found by judges to be sufficiently valuable.’’ 


GARDEN GLADIOLI 


Most Common Varieties Are Complex Hybrids Representing a Number of Distinct 
Species—Success Suggests That More Species Should Be Used in the 
Production of New Horticultural Forms of Other Flowers’ 


ALFRED C. HorTres 
Department of Floriculture, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 


LADIOLUS offers an excellent 

example of a genus of plants 

which has been improved for 

garden purposes by the incor- 
poration of a number of species into 
more complex multiple hybrids than 
most of the flowers of the garden. The 
China aster (Callistephus chinensis), 
sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) peony 
(Paeonia albiflora) and Boston fern 
(Nephrolepis exaltata var. bostontensis) 
have been improved solely by the selec- 
tion of variations and mutations within 
a single species. Phlox, German iris, 
larkspur (Delphinium), dahlia, colum- 
bine (Aquilegia), begonia and chrysan- 
themum varieties have arisen from the 
hybridization of several species. The 
rose, orchid, pelargonium and gladiolus, 
however, often have in the make-up of 
their best varieties three to seven species, 
each contributing characteristics to the 
modern degree of perfection. 

The genus Gladiolus consists of ap- 
proximately 130 species, most of which 
are natives of South Africa, though 
several are of European origin. Previ- 
ous to 1840, only a few forms com- 
manded any attention horticulturally. 
One was the hybrid species G. colvzllet, 
a rather dwarf plant with flowers 
characterized by a white area or lozenge 
in the throat, bordered by a deep color; 
a feature inherited directly from its 
parent, G. cardinalis. G. tristis var. 
concolor was used as the other parent 
of G. colvillet. 

Another form was known as G. ramo- 
sus, a branchy plant which resulted 
from crossing G. oppositiflorus with 
various hybrids (now unknown) of 
G. cardinalis. G. oppositiflorus is a 


native of Madagascar and Natal, and 
bears a stem 3 to 6 feet tall which 
produces large white flowers with char- 
acteristic amethyst stripes in the throat. 
Twenty-four or even forty blooms are 
borne upon the stem, twelve of which 
are often open at one time. This tall, 
white, many-flowered species was crossed 
with G. cardinalis, a bright scarlet 
and rather dwarf species. The result of 
this crossing was G. ramosus, at that 
time thought to be quite admirable. 

In 1837 Beddinghaus, gardener to 
the Duke of Aremberg, had growing on 
the estate in Engheim the G. ramosus 
hybrids, and besides these the Parrot 
Gladiolus, G. psitiacinus. In this the 
upper segment is scarlet, with deep 
yellow medial line, and is also spotted 
with yellow at the base; the lower 1s 
rich yellow and scarlet. The plant 
grows to a height of three feet and is 
clothed for the most part by the sheath- 
ing bases of the leaves. 


MYSTERY OF GHENT VARIETY 


The species G. ramosus, G. oppositi- 
florus, G. cardinalis and G. psittacinus 
were crossed rather promiscuously. In 
1841 a form appeared which was thought 
to be superb. In ‘Flore des Serres”’ 
was published an account of this new 
type, and it was said to be a hybrid 
between G. cardinalis and G. psittacinus. 
However, Dean Herbert and others, 
after attempts to cross these latter 
species, failed and declared that the new 
hybrid was G. psittacinus and G. 
oppositiflorus instead. A controversy 
over the parentage has raged since then, 
but to the writer the explanation is 
simple in saying that the new hybrid 


1 Address before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association, at Berkeley, 


Calif., on August 5, 1915. 


499 


SAUNDERS’ GLADIOLUS 


throat is marked 


open blooms and ¢ 


Fig, 


6. 


has been used in t} 


species (G. saundersi 


a 


} 


been particular 
of 


n amber white 


many modern gar 


1roats. Adapte: 


finely dotted. The 
-d by hybridizers for 
en varieties of gladiolus, 
Hottes from the Bot- 


Hottes: Garden Gladioli 


was G. ramosus (G. oppositifiorus by 
G. cardinalis) crossed with G. psitiacinus. 
This is substantiated by the fact that 
the new form contained features from 
each. Louis Van Houtte obtained the 
stock and advertised it as G. gandavensts, 
naming it from Ghent, Belgium, and 
describing it in glowing terms as bearing 
majestic flowers, numbering eighteen 
to twenty, of the most charming 
vermilion, the inferior petals adorned 
with chrome, amaranth and _ brown. 
He writes: ‘All Ghent comes to admire 
it. In stateliness and color it exceeds 
all others we have among Gladioli.”’ 

Napoleon III was much interested 
in the amelioration and introduction 
of new plants, and so it was that 
G. gandavensis came into the possession 
of Souchet, gardener of the Emperor. 
Souchet worked with it, developed by 
hybridization and selection its form, 
color, size and arrangement of flowers 
until it became a valuable addition to 
our garden plants. G. gandavensis can 
be characterized as having many flowers 
open at the same time, being of great 
size and of good substance, having rich 
colors, handsome and somewhat angular 
form, often having light areas or 
penciling in the throat. The flowers 
are arranged in two tows on a tall spike 
in such a way that each flower appears 
attractive. The spikes are very erect 
and quite stiff. 

Some few years previous to 1878 
the species G. purpureo-auratus came 
to the attention of that master French 
horticulturist, Victor Lemoine, who 
began to use it with improved forms 
of G. gandavensis. By this time, the 
group had been materially improved 
by Souchet, Brunelet and Souillard. 
Lemoine immediately realized the possi- 
bilities of this species, which was 
introduced into France in 1872. G. 
purpureo-auratus is pale yellowish-green 
and bears upon the lower segments of 
the flower admirable diamond-shaped 
blotches of maroon. The flowers are 
bell-shaped, rather hooded, pendant, 
far apart and face one direction. The 
foliage 1s somewhat glaucous, narrow 
and stiff. The stems are slender, wiry 
and inclined to be curved. The corms 
bear many short underground stems 


501 


PRINCEPS 


This amaryllis-like gladiolus is one of 
2,000 produced by Dr. W. Van 
Fleet; its interesting pedigree can 
be seen at the end of the text. In 
color it is rich crimson with a 
magnificent, large, white throat. 
From the “Modern Gladiolus 
Grower.” (Fig. 7.) 


tipped by clusters of cormels. The 
flower was not beautiful, but Lemoine 
realized that combinations of the G. 
gandavensis varieties with this new 
species would result in something unique. 
LEMOINE’S HYBRIDS 

In 1878 Lemoine exhibited at the 
International Exhibition at Paris a 
number of these hybrids and called 
them G. lemoinet. The stems are wiry, 


502 The Journal of Heredity 


slender, graceful, inclined to be curved, 
but the spikes have the ability to open 
only a few blooms at one time. Many 
of the varieties have too strong a 
tendency. toward being _ bell-shaped, 
to the extent that the interior of the 
flower is not readily seen. . The flowers 
are rather smaller than G. gandavensts. 
The colors are exceedingly rich and the 
lower petals of the blooms are usually 
blotched, a feature gained from G. 
purpureo-auratus. The blotches are 
deep, velvety and very striking. 
Enthusiasts have ventured to say that 
some of the richest colorings in the 
plant kingdom are found in the lemoinet. 
G. purpureo-auratus is about the hardiest 
of the African species and has con- 
tributed this quality to the hybrids. 
Many of them are hardy, even in the 
region of New York City. A moment’s 
consideration will show that the rich 
petal coloring has been derived from 
the species G. psittacinus; the blotch, 
hardiness and graceful stem from G. 
purpureo-auratus; and the vigor, erect- 
ness, and perhaps the great number of 
flowers, from G. oppositiflorus. 
Lemoine’s next work was to influence 
the form and colorations of the G. 
lemoinei by using the species G. saunderst 
which is truly a beautifully colored 
species, even in its unimproved form. 
The flowers are brilliant scarlet with a 
pure white center, finely dotted scarlet. 
They are very open, ‘being faulty in 
this respect. The plants are dwarf 
and weak-stemmed; six to eight large 
hooded flowers are borne upon a stem 


usually less than 2 feet tall. The 
leaves are short and glaucous. 
Using G. saunderst with the _ best 


varieties of G. lemoine1, a new group was 
introduced in 1886 named G. nanceranus 
from Lemoine’s home, Nancy, France. 
G. lemoinet was used as the pollen 
parent. Reciprocal crosses did not 
appear to be identical. The G. nanceta- 
nus varieties are characterized by being 
very large (larger than G. gandavensts 
or G. lemoinet), very well open as con- 
trasted with lemoinei. The open flower 
looks one in the face, as the side seg- 
ments are spreading. The throat is 
marked with peculiar mottlings of fine, 
short strokes of contrasting color. The 


varieties vary much in vigor, some being 
exceptionally strong, others very weak. 
They are quite hardy: The colors are 
excellent, brilliant or subdued according 
to the variety. 

Max Leichtlin, of Baden Baden, 
Germany, admiring the species G. 
saunderst, but realizing its faults, made 
a series of crosses with the G. gandavensts 
varieties and obtained a few rather 
pretty seedlings which he sold in 1882 
to V. H. Hallock who, after ten years of 
hybridization and improvement, sold 
his stock to John Lewis Childs. In 1892, 
Childs placed these seedlings upon the 
market under the name of G. childst. 
The G. childst constitute a group of 
large, showy-flowered varieties which 
possess gigantic growth, rich colors, 
and pretty mottled throats. At first 
these were somewhat lacking in sub- 
stance. Many of the varieties resemble 
G. gandavensis except that they are 
more open; others are quite like G. 
nancetanus except for the fact that the 
throats of the latter are richer and more 
often thickly marked. 

G. turicensis has the same jatonuae 
as childsi, and was originated by 
M. Froebel of Zurich, Switzerland; 
but because it has not been widely 
developed nor advertized, it is not of 
great importance. 

Dr. W. Van Fleet produced a form 
which is much like an amaryllis in its 
clear, deep red. It is a cross hetween a 
childsi variety, Mrs. H. Beecher, and 
G. cruentus, and is called variety 
Princeps. 

THE MAID OF 


THE MIST 


Recently there has come to the atten- 
tion of the gladiolus breeder a species 
from the Rain Forest near Victoria 
‘alls on the Zambesi River, which is 
pale golden-yellow, primula-scented, and 
known as the Maid of the Mist or 
. primulinus. This species is rather 
straggling in form, often three to four 
feet tall, and bears four to five narrow, 
hooded, rather small flowers. With 
this species many of the finest varieties 
of the other groups are being hybridized. 
Several seedlings of unusual merit 
have resulted from a cross between this 
species and the ruffled gladiolus, the 


MRS. FRANK PENDELTON 


In the large flowers of this variety, salmon-pink with deep blood-red 
blotches in the throat, can be traced the influence of a number 


of distinct species of gladiolus. 


The form of bloom is that of 


G. lemoinet, the markings are from G. purpureo-auratus, while 


the stem comes from G. gandavensis. 


lus Grower.”’ (Fig. 8.) 

latter a development by A. E. Kunderd, 
of Goshen, Ind., who produced these 
charming varieties by selecting blooms 
showing aruffled tendency. The ruffled- 
primulinus hybrids are exceedingly vig- 
orous and of excellent colors. G. prim- 
ulinus, according to Dr. Van Fleet, 
who has produced over 2,000 hybrids, 
is dominant over the deepest reds, 
subduing them to pure, soft, pleasing 
shades of orange, salmon and terra 
cotta, with deep and light vellow throats. 


From the “‘Modern Gladio- 


Hybridized with the whites and light 
colors, the resulting progeny is cream, 


buff, ecru, lemon and canary, often 
without markings. Deep yellows, in 
which the blotches are eliminated 


result from crosses with yellows of the 
other groups. Most of the hybrids 
inherit the hooded character. 

It is interesting to note that it 
mainly one species which has contrib- 
uted the blue color to the hybrid 
This species is G. papileo, a purple « 


504 


Lemoine used his G. lemoimez and the 
result was a series of more or less blue 
hybrids very much resembling 
G. lemoinet. 

The foregoing discussion has con- 
cerned only a few of the species used, 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


sents certain desirable characteristics 
to be incorporated into a hybrid. Too 
often there are many unfavorable fea- 
tures, the consideration of which is 
entirely neglected. 

It must be admitted that greater 


progress can often be made with the 
interbreeding of established varieties, 
but when new features are to be added, 
the employment of new species is quite 
advisable or imperative. These should | 
be the basis of hybridization. As 
years pass, the inferior seedlings may be 
discarded, and the ideal form may be 
far removed from the wild species; but 
the ancestor is necessary. 


but it is hoped that the historical facts 
presented will show that the garden 
gladiolus is a multiple hybrid, resulting 
from a series of species each valuable 
for one or more dominant character- 
istics. Does not this bring out strongly 
the advisability of using a larger range 
of species in other plants? Each species 
in the practical hybridist’s mind repre- 


PEDIGREE OF SOME IMPORTANT GARDEN GLADIOLI 


G. tristis x G. cardinalis x ? 
| 


ee | 


G. colvillei G.cardinalis mules x G. oppositiflorus 
| 


G. ramosus 


G. hybr. cardinali-oppositiflorus x G. a as 


G. saundersii x G,. gandavensis x G. purpureo-auratus 
| | ! 


G. turicensis 
G. cruentus x G. childsi 
; : 


variety Princeps 
G. papileo x G. lemoinei x G. saundersii 
| | 


Blue Gladiolus G. nanceianus 


New Publication Planned 


In order to furnish greater opportunity for the publication of the results of 
research in genetics, the Princeton University Press is making plans to launch a 
new periodical to be called Genetics. It is hoped that the first number can 
appear in January, 1916. It will be under the control of a board of editors, chief 
of whom will be Dr. George Harrison Shull, of the Carnegie Institution, Cold 
Spring Harbor, Long Island, N. Y., who has recently resigned his position there to 
become associated with Princeton University. Genetics, it is announced, will 
accept only technical papers, the results of original research, and will therefore not 
conflict with the JouRNAL OF HEREDITY, whose function is rather to interpret the 
results of research to those who would profit by them, but are not in a position to 
follow the technical literature. 


~ PROPAGATION OF WILD BIRDS 


Waterfowl Very Easy to Breed in Captivity—Gallinaceous Species Offer no Great 
Difficulties—Benefits and Profits from Breeding—Bird Refuges 


Review of a Book by 


HERBERT K. Jos 


Economic Ornithologist in Charge of the Department of Applied Ornithology of the 
National Association of Audubon Societies. 


HERE seems to be among stu- 

dents of nature, nowadays, a 

widespread desire to assist na- 

ture in ‘“‘running things.’’ The 
plant lover is no longer content with 
inspecting the flowers of the field: he 
wants to grow them in his own garden, 
often under rigorously controlled condi- 
tions. The student of animal life is 
unlikely to spend all his time in the 
woods or meadows, as he often did a 
quarter century ago. If he wants to 
be in the fashion, zodlogically, he 1s too 
likely to spend all his time in a labora- 
tory, and he will give preference to 
animals that can be kept in cages or 
tanks, for with them he will come as 
near as possible to seeing everything 
he wants to see. 

For a long time the bird lovers stood 
out against this passion for breeding, 
which had taken hold of the botanists 
and zodlogists. Ornithologists con- 
tinued to pursue their studies in the 
field, and there was little demand even 
for commercial breeding. 

But in the last ten years, the students 
of birds, too, have succumbed to the 
desire to get nearer to nature than a 
stroll in the woods makes possible. All 
over the country they are using devices 
to attract the birds to their own door- 
yards; and those who possess means 
are in many cases undertaking breeding 
experiments on a large scale, sometimes 
as a commercial, sometimes as a sporting 
proposition. 

So long as it does not lead to a neglect 
of wild life in its natural environment, 
the modern naturalist’s desire to take 
up breeding deserves every encourage- 


1 Propagation of Wild Birds, a Manual of Applied Ornithology, by Herbert K. Job. 


ment. Plant and animal breeders have 
long been able to get abundant advice 
in printed form, and bird lovers are 
now to be congratulated on having a 
book,! ‘‘The Propagation of Wild 
Birds,’ which seems likely to meet 
their needs. 

Herbert K. Job, its author, was 
formerly State Ornithologist of Connec- 
ticut, and is now in charge of the 
Department of Applied Ornithology of 
the National Association of Audubon 
Societies. Much of the success in 
rearing wild birds in captivity nowadays 
is based on Mr. Job’s own experiments, 
and he describes them and others in a 
business-like way, so simply that no 
one can misunderstand. 

The rearing of gallinaceous birds 
such as the quail, pheasant and turkey, 
is probably the most important, and 
for these, Mr. Job warns his readers, 
a good deal of room is necessary. 
“Experiment has shown conclusively 
that all kinds of wild gallinaceous birds 
can be kept in health in confinement. 
Most kinds cannot, however, with 
safety, be closely confined in small 
quarters, like domestic fowl. Under 
such conditions they are very susceptible 
to various diseases, especially of the 
digestive tract, which are likely to be- 
come epidemic. To these the domesti- 
cated species have become considerably 
immune. Some species require more 
room and range than any others and 
cannot stand any crowding. Another 
matter of importance is that the same 
ground surface must not be used for 
too long a period continuously.” 


Pp. 276, 


illustrated. New York, Doubleday Page & Co., 1915. 


505 


CALIFORNIA OR VALLEY QUAILS 


The birds which have made a friend of Ruth, daughter of Superin- 


tendent Dirks of the State Game Farm of California, belong 
to a different species from the “‘bob white’’ of the East; 
their plumed heads lend them an air of particular 


The California species gathers in large flock 


confiding di ition which makes it well suited to breeding 


Job, ‘Propagation of Wild Birds.” 


‘When one has decided to raise ITE ding-stock for sale. The high prices 
birds, the question is how to secure for live birds will for some time to come 
breeding stock. In the case of various make it more profitable to sell them for 
foreign species, notably pheasants and reeding than for food purposes, except 


the gray or Hungarian partridge, these with such common species as the ring- 


are readily purchased. With native necked pheasant and the mallard.” 
ecies, however, the case is different. A start could often be made with 
Most States have forbidden the ship- birds taken in the hunting season 
id sale of native gam«¢ There is slightly wounded in the wing. Some- 
occasional game commissioner or times permission has been given to take 
varden who grants special per- a few eggs, which can then be hatched 


to secure a few birds for under a bantam. It is also possible 
tion only. to secure some birds, particularly quail, 
Though there is a real difficulty at from Mexico, and contrary to expecta- 


the problem will undoubted! tion these have proved quite hardy in 


tive quail OT bob- 
‘oper supervision and regulation, thi white on a large scale is decidedly to be 
propagation of game as an industry recommended, the author says, in view 
Many people are now making small of the value of the bird to agriculturists 


‘ 4 " “44 ‘ 1 Sine ‘4 hh . . 
beginnings, and before long will hav as well as to sportsmen The problems 


Job: Propagation of Wild Birds 507 


in connection with it have been pretty 
thoroughly worked out; “the main 
thing has been to learn what precautions 
are necessary to avoid the outbreak of 
epidemic diseases.”’ 

Privacy is of primary importance with 
this bird. ‘‘ They are exceedingly secre- 
tive in habits, particularly in mating 
and breeding, and skulk nearly all the 
time under cover, unless convinced 
that no observer is near.” 


AVOID OVERCROWDING 


jin a Sor OG, acre enclosure at the 
Clove Valley Club I saw 2,000 young 
phesants raised without danger. But 
quails would certainly not stand any- 
thing like that amount of herding. We 
do not yet know how far we can go 
with numbers and crowding, and this 
is to be worked out. Tull this is done, 
it is well to be cautious with the rearing- 
field system, using, preferably, fields of 
moderate size and more of them. For 
the present, I should not try to keep 
more than half a dozen broods in a field 
of half an acre. For other broods it 
will be safer to scatter the coops in the 
open about the estate, preserve or 
Paria. 

Summarizing, Mr. Job advises that 
quail can be successfully bred as follows 

‘““1. Secure breeding stock in the late 
fall or early winter either by purchase 
or by capture of a small stock by per- 
mission of the authorities. 

“2. Keep these through the winter in 
a wire enclosure with simple shelter 
from storms and cold winds. 

“3. In April separate the pairs, 
having each pair in a small pen by itself. 
Some can remain in the larger pen 
together, if there are not enough small 
pens. 

“4. Hatch out the eggs and raise the 
young with bantams. Do not attempt 
iacubators and brooders. 

Put the breeders back into the 
large pen together by the latter part of 
July, unless they wish to incubate. 

“6. In late fall or early winter catch 
up what young are desired. The rest 
can be left wild to breed naturally next 
summer. Feed regularly under shelters 
throughout the winter, to hold them on 
the land, as also by planted areas of 


grain left standing for them. In severe 
winter weather coveys might be shut 
up and cared for, and let go again.” 


The grouse family, including the 
‘partridge’? and ptarmigan of the 


North, the “prairie chicken,” the heath- 
hen, etc., offers another attractive field. 
These birds become very tame in domes- 
tication—in fact, the tameness of voung 


YOUNG QUAIL WATCHING 


Quails are usually reared in captivity from 


A FLY 


eggs incubated by bantam hens. 
Except for the possibility of certain 
contagious diseases, quail breeding 
offers no great difficulties, and is of 
great benefit from an agricultural as 
well as a sporting or commercial stand- 


point. From ‘Propagation of Wild 
Birds,” by Job. (Fig. 10.) 


which are hatched and bred in captivity 
is so great as to render them almost 
helpless under natural conditions, until 
they have had a chance to learn the 
ways of the wild. 


THE WILD TURKEY 


For many reasons, the wild turkey 
has attracted a number of breeders. 
It is not so near extinction, in a state of 
nature, as most people think, but it 


YOUNG REDHEAD DUCKS IN MANITOBA 


In order to learn, under the most favorable conditions, how to rear wild 
ducks in captivity, Mr. Job made two expeditions to Northern 


Canada. This photograph 


shows some of the young redheads, 


hatched in incubator from eggs found in nests in the woods, and 


then brought to maturity in brooder. 


Among the American wild 


ducks, he has found the redhead one of the easiest to raise, owing 


to its hardiness and docility. 


Birds (his 1s) 


deserves to be increased. Mr. Job 
declares that many of the birds now 
killed in the woods are hybrids with the 
domestic turkey, and that much of the 


breeding stock sold under the name of 


wild turkey is really of mongrel origin. 
The differences between the two forms 
are, of course, slight. The birds are 
easily domesticated, and when not 
crowded they appear to be little more 
difficult to rear than is the ordinary 
barn-yard turkey. 

But the pheasant family, in Mr. Job’s 
opinion, is preéminently the species 
for would-be propagators to begin with. 
It is more easily raised than any other 
game bird of the gallinaceous group, it 
is wonderfully hardy, and it has much 
commercial value. ‘‘At present indi- 
cations it seems likely to become one 
of the principal game birds of America. 

Methods are ‘much the same as for 
quail. The birds will stand a 
deal of crowding, though not so much 
as poultry. The large and_ brilliant 
birds are an attraction to any estate; 

508 


pee IOC 1 


From Job, 


“ Propagation of Wild 


furthermore they are distinctly profit- 
able. 

“Tt isa pleasant way for young people 
to make a little money on the side by 
raising a few game birds or waterfowl. 
With hardly any expense, on the aver- 
age farm, a boy could have a few broods 
of pheasants roaming around and grow- 
ing up. What little work there is will 
seem more like sport, and the watchful- 
ness required is good training. After 
buying the original breeding stock, the 
expense is very light. Little apparatus 
is required, and the birds are small 
eaters. Ring-neck stock will probably 
cost $5 to $6 per pair in the late fall, 
A cock and four hens, say, might cost 
from $10 to $15. These should lay 
at the very least 120 eggs, which are 
worth usually 25 cents each, or more 
than double the the original 
stock. If even a moderate number of 
voung are reared and sold, the under- 
taking would considerably more than 
pay. 


cost. of 


AN EXHIBIT **TO ENCOURAGE THE OTHERS” 


Crows are often a pest to game breeders, because of their 
fondness for birds’ eggs,and their tendency to destroy 


young birds. 


Although they do some good, the game 


breeder usually regards them as more of liability than an 


asset. 


A Connecticut farmer has killed a number of them 


and hung them on a tree as a warning to their brethren. 


From Job, “‘ Propagation of Wild Birds.” 


“The demand for live pheasants from 
the many that are beginning to breed 
them is so great that there is an almost 
unlimited market at present for them 
alive. When this demand is finally 
met, there is still an enormous field 
for sale for food purposes as wild game.”’ 

One of the difficulties which every 
breeder has to face is the activity of 
small animals which, however valuable 
they may be from some other point of 
view, are to the bird breeder merely 
“vermin.”’ 


WAR ON VERMIN 


“A popular fallacy,” Mr. Job re- 
marks, ‘‘is that all it is necessary to do 
to increase bird life is to set apart a 
tract of wild land as a refuge, and 
prohibit trespass and shooting. At the 
start there are probably few birds, and 
after ten years there might not be any 
more. One reason is that the average 


(Fig. 12.) 


wild land abounds with destructive 
vermin. Hawks and owls, which are 
the principal natural check upon the 
smaller mammals, have been so reduced 
in numbers that rats and other vermin 
abound. True they kill some birds, 
but they eat more of the enemies of the 
birds. Because we have upset the 
balance of nature, we have to help 
restore it by checking the abnormal 
increase of vermin.’’ Practical sugges- 
tions for destroying these pests are given. 

But if the breeding of gallinaceous 
birds offers no unsurmountable prob- 
lems, waterfowl are still easier to rear, 
according to the author. 

“The simplicity of the keeping of 
wildfowl is one of the delightful sur- 
prises in store, though it must be borne 
in mind that there will be failure unless 
certain fundamental principles are car- 
ried out. About all that is needed is a 
little pond or brook, especially in a 

509 


ROYAL TERNS FLOURISH UNDER PROTECTION 


Breton Island, off the coast of Louisiana, has been set aside as a refuge 
for wild fowl, and is patrolled by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, who take care that nothing shall interfere with 


the natural breeding of the birds. 
terns during the breeding season. 


This photograph shows royal 
Many such reservations have 


been established in all parts of the United States during recent 


years. 


quiet, sheltered place and with some 
marshy ground, perhaps a_ simple, 
open-front poultry shed, and a cheap 
wire fence. The food also is simple and 
easy to provide. It is easy to maintain 
the birds in health, when properly 
handled, for they are hardy, and seldom 
have epidemics comparable to those of 
the gallinaceous birds, though similar 
disasters may occur if the water is 
allowed to become foul and stagnant 
and reasonable sanitation is not 
observed. The young also are com- 
paratively easy to rear.”’ 

‘“Anyone who has even the facilities 
of a city back yard, with a cement 
basin and a little shrubbery, could have 
a few pairs of pinioned wild ducks 
which would breed in happy content- 
ment. F. N. Manross, of Forestville, 
Conn., has a little artificial basin under 
the windows of his factory, surrounded 
by some thick, low shrubbery and a 
wire fence. There a pair of beautifui 
wood ducks, regardless of noise or 
human presence, each year raise a brood 
of young, and furnish their owner 

510 


From Job, ‘‘ Propagation of Wild Birds.” 


(Fig. 13.) 


delightful distraction from business 
cares. A steam pipe keeps the water 
partly open in winter, and there they 
live the year round, with no shelter 
other than shrubbery and a small box. 
In another part of the yard he has a 
couple of pairs of Canada geese, origin- 
ally wild, which live there in perfect 
contentment.” 


WILD GEESE EASILY TAMED 


“It is a surprise to many who consider 
wild geese the type of inherent wildness 
that in reality they are tamed more 
readily than almost any other wild 
bird, even than ducks, submitting even 
in shorter time and becoming more 
absolutely familiar. This is notably 
true of the common wild goose or 
Canada goose. Wing-tipped geese which 
are captured will in a short time 
become so tame that they will hardly 
get out of the way. 

“Tt is a curious anomaly, however, 


that while the Canada goose, as a 
species, breeds readily in captivity, 


all the other species of native wild geese 


Job: Propagation of Wild Birds 


are very hard to breed, notwithstanding 
the fact that they all become perfectly 
tame.” 

Most of the wading birds are hard to 
breed, for various reasons, one of which 
is the amount they eat. Mr. Job 
describes his experience with a woodcock 
which weighed 6 ounces and consumed 
daily from 8 to 12 ounces of earth- 
worms. Several boys spent their spare 
time digging worms for the bird, but 
after a month Mr. Job became disgusted 
and liberated him. As he says, the 
idea of feeding a whole flock of wood- 
cocks staggers the imagination. 

The same objection prevents the 
breeding of herons or egrets for their 
plumes. ‘‘The enormous appetite of 
herons for fish would make the thing 
commercially unprofitable even if herons 
were induced to breed in captivity. 
KE. A. McIlhenny, of Avery Island, La., 
is experimenting now with herons in a 
large flying cage, to see if they will breed 
in captivity. He says that each bird 
eats 114 pounds of fish a day, on the 
average, and it has cost $12 per year to 
feed each bird.” 

Cranes are readily kept in confine- 
ment, and it is becoming fashionable 
to have them on country estates. They 
are expensive, however, and do not 


breed. 


BIRD REFUGES 


One aspect of breeding which deserves 
note is the establishment of refuges and 
protected colonies. ‘“‘A splendid move- 
ment, which has gathered momentum 
in the past few years, is the establish- 
ment of reservations on tracts of marsh 
and swamp land, unsuited to human 
occupancy, where wildfowl can gather 
and feed in winter and be safe from 
molestation. Well known already are 
the Ward-Mcllhenny tract in Louisiana 
and that of Marsh Island, donated by 


S11 


Mrs. Russell Sage. Latterly comes the 
vast tract under the Rockefeller Founda- 
tion adjoining the above in this great 
marsh region. Together these comprise 
some 500 square miles, and extend for 
75 miles along the coast. Already 
ducks have begun to breed there in 
considerable numbers, according to Mr. 
Mclihenny—the blue-winged teal, gad- 
wall, black duck, and mallard, and 
probably others in time will join them. 
Similar measures should be taken, even 
if on a smaller scale, in every state of 
the Union. The wildfowl should also 
be protected on their breeding grounds, 
wherever these are located. Some breed 
in the United States, but most of them 
in the northwest provinces of Canada, 
and it is ardently to be hoped that 
through treaties with our neighbors, 
both on the north and south, a compre- 
hensive continental protection and con- 
servation of this important and valuable 
asset may be made possible.”’ 

There are already, Mr. Job notes, 
nearly sixty protected areas set aside in 
various parts of the country by the 
Federal Government, as water-bird 
breeding colonies. The National Audu- 
bon Society undertakes the work of 
policing them, and also guards various 
other rookeries which are not national 
reservations. Thousands of individuals 
are doing similar work on their own land. 

The concluding portion of Mr. Job’s 
book is given over to a description of 
means by which the smaller wild birds 
can be attracted and induced to remain 
around houses and on farms. To many 
readers, this is likely to be the most 
valuable and interesting part of the 
book. In this, as well as in the preced- 
ing sections, the author wastes little time 
on generalities, but gives detailed and 
specific directions for meeting each 
individual problem that is likely to 
arise. 


Eugenics in the Colleges 


Perhaps Kalamazoo College, in Michigan, can claim to have taught eugenics as 
long as any college in the United States. Professor W. E. Praeger, of the Department 
of Biology, writes that it has been a part of the curriculum for nine years. There 
has been a special course in genetics for the past three years; before that the subject 


was part of the course entitled Theoretical Biology. 


Lectures in eugenics are 


also given in the course on hygiene, required of all freshmen. 


MATERNAL IMPRESSIONS 


Belief in Their Existence Is Due to Unscientific Method of Thought—Nc Evidence 
Whatever That Justifies Faith in Them—How the Superstition Originated 


THE EDITOR 


THERE a short cut to eugenics? 
This association stands committed to 
the belief that eugenics is a phase of 
genetics; that it is, therefore, an 

applied science. Anything which calls 
itself eugenics, but which is not scien- 
tific, should expect only hostility from us. 

To be scientific, nothing more is 
necessary than that a doctrine should 
be based on accurate observation of 
facts, and correct inferences from those 
facts. 

As the experience of most of us is 
limited, and as our beliefs and reasoning 
are unconsciously influenced by our 
hopes and fears, and by prejudices which 
we absorb during childhood, it is no 
cause for astonishment that some ideas 
should be widely current and accepted 
almost without protest which, when 
examined by a really scientific method 
of thought, seem absurd. I wish to 
apply this process to a very widespread 
popular belief, which is being urged by 
many sincere and often influential 
persons as a “‘short cut’’ method of 
race betterment. 

I refer to what is commonly called 
maternal impression, pre-natal culture, 
“marking,” andsoon. Itisno novelty, 
but goes back beyond history. In the 
book of Genesis! we find Jacob making 
use of it to get the best of his tricky 
father-in-law. Some animal breeders 
still profess faith in it as a part of their 
methods of breeding: if they want a 
black calf, for instance, they will keep a 
white cow in a black stall, and express 
perfect confidence that her offspring 
will resemble midnight darkness. 


a he ipter XXX, verses 31-43. 


A knowledge 
doubtedly explain where the stripes came from. 


It is easy to see that this method, if 
it ‘““works,’’ would be a potent instru- 
ment for eugenics. And it is being 
recommended for that reason. Says a 
recent writer, who professes on the 
cover of her book to give a ‘complete 
and intelligent summary of all the 
principles of eugenics:”’ 

“Too much emphasis cannot be 
placed upon the necessity of young 
people making the proper choice of 
mates in marriage; yet if the production 
of superior children were dependent 
upon that one factor, the outlook would 
be most discouraging to prospective 
fathers and mothers, for weak traits of 
character are to be found in all. But 
when young people learn that by 
conscious endeavor to train themselves, 
they are thereby training their unborn 
children, they can feel that there is 
some hope and joy in parentage; that 
it is something to which they can look 
forward with delight and even rapture; 
then they will be inspired to work 
hard to attain the best and highest 
that there is in them, leading the lives 
that will not only be a blessing to 
themselves but to their succeeding 
generation.” 


MANY ADHERENTS 


The author of this quotation has no 
difficulty in finding supporters. Many 
physicians and surgeons, who are sup- 
posed to be trained in scientific methods 
of thought, will indorse what she says. 
The author of one of the most recent 
and in many vay cts admirable books 
on the care of babies, a woman who 


of the pedigree of Laban’s cattle would un- 
It is interesting to note how this idea persists: 


I had just completed the present paper when I received from a correspondent the account of 


seven striped lambs born after their mothers had seen a striped skunk. 
is doubtless that suggested by Heller in the JOURNAL OF 


The actual explanation 


Herepity, VI, 480 (October, 1915), 


that a stripe is part of the ancestral coat pattern of the sheep, and appears from time to time 


because of reversion. 
512 


The Editor: Maternal Impressions 


occupies a position of national import- 
ance in the “ Better Babies’’ movement, 
is almost contemptuous in her disdain 
for those who think otherwise: 

“Science wrangles over the rival 
importance of heredity and environ- 
ment, but we women know what effects 
prenatal influence works in children.” 
“The woman who frets brings forth a 
nervous child. The woman who rebels 
generally bears a morbid child.” “‘Self- 
control, cheerfulness and love for the 
little life breathing in unison with your 
own will practically insure you a child 
of normal physique and nerves.” 

Such statements, backed up by a great 
array of writers and speakers whom the 
layman supposes to be scientific, and 
who think themselves scientific, cannot 
fail to influence strongly an immense 
number of mothers and fathers. If they 
are truly scientific statements, their 
general acceptance must be a great 
good. 

But think of the disillusionment if 
these widespread statements are false! 

Have we, or have we not. a short cut 
to race betterment? Everyone inter- 
ested in the welfare of the race must feel 
the necessity of getting at the truth in 
the case; and the truth can be found 
only by rigorously scientific thought. 

Let us turn to the observed facts. 
I find this sample in the health depart- 
ment of a popular magazine, quite 
recently issued: 

“Since birth my body has been cov- 
ered with scales strikingly resembling 
the surface of a fish. My parents and I 
have expended considerable money on 
remedies and specialists without deriv- 
ing any permanent benefit. I bathe 
my entire body with hot water daily, 
using the best quality of soap. The 
scales fall off continually. My brother, 
who is younger than myself, is afflicted 


2 Such a skin affection is usually due to heredity. 


DAS 


with the same trouble, but in a lesser 
degree. My sister, the third member 
of the family, has been troubled only 
on the knees and abdomen. My mother 
has always been quite nervous and 
susceptible to any unusual mental 
impression. She believes that she 
marked me by craving fish, and pre- 
ferring to clean them herself. During 
the prenatal life of my brother, she 
worried much lest she might mark 
him in the same way. In the case of 
my sister she tried to control her mind. 
Could we transmit this condition? to 
our children?”’ 


THE MARK OF THE MEAT MARKET 


Another I[ find in a little publication 
which is devoted to eugenics. As a 
“horrible example’? we are given the 
case of Jesse Pomeroy, a murderer 
whom older readers will well remember. 
His father, it appears, worked in a meat 
market. Before the birth of Jesse, his 
mother went daily to the shop to carry a 
luncheon to her husband, and her eyes 
naturally fell upon the bloody carcases 
hung about the walls. Inevitably, the 
sight of such things would produce 
bloody thoughts in the mind of the 
child! 

These are extreme cases; let me quote 
from a medieval medical writer another 
case that carries the principle to its 
logical conclusion: A woman saw a 
negro—at that time a rarity in Europe. 
She immediately had a sickening sus- 
picion that her child would be “‘marked,”’ 
that he would be born with a black skin. 
To obviate the danger, she had a happy 
inspiration—she hastened home and 
washed her body all over with warm 
water. When the child appeared, his 
skin was found to be normally white— 
except between the fingers and _ toes, 
where it was black. His mother had 


Davenport says it ‘‘is especially apt to be 


found in families in which consanguineous marriages occur and this fact, together with the pedi- 
grees [which he studied], suggests that it is due to the absence of some factor that controls the 
process of cornification of the skin. On this hypothesis a normal person who belongs to an 
affected family may marry into a normal family with impunity, but cousin marriages are to be 
avoided.” Technically the disease is known as icthyosis, xerosis or xerodoma. See Davenport, 
C. B., Heredity in Relation to Eugenics, p. 134. New York, 1911. 

3 Of course, their eugenics is to be effected through the mental exertion of mothers. And 
I am now in correspondence with a western attorney who is endeavoring to form an association 
of persons who will agree to be the parents of ‘‘willed’’ children. By this means, he has calculated 
(and sends me a chart to prove it) that it will require only four generations to produce the Super- 
man. 


514 The Journal 


failed to wash herself thoroughly in 
those places! 

Of course, few of the cases now 
credited are as gross as this; but the 
principle involved remains, so far as I 
can see, the same. 

We will take a hypothetical case of 
a common sort for the sake of clearness: 
the mother receives a wound on the 
arm; when her child is delivered it is 
found to have a scar of some sort on 
the corresponding arm, and at about the 
same place. Few mothers would fail 
to see the result of a maternal impres- 
sion here. But how could this mark 
have been transmitted? We are not 
here concerned with the transmission 
of acquired characters through the 
germ-plasm, or anything of that sort, 
for the child was already formed when 
the mother was injured. Weare driven, 
therefore, to believe that the injury 
was in some way transmitted through 
the placenta, the only connection be- 
tween the mother and the unborn 
child; and that it was then reproduced 
in some way on the child, at a place 
corresponding to that where it appeared 
in the mother. 


NO MEANS OF TRANSMISSION 


Here we have a situation which, 
examined in the cold light of reason, 
puts a heavy enough strain on the 
credulity. But what most mothers 
may forget is that there is not a single 
nerve or blood-vessel passing through 
the placenta, from mother to child. 
Not a drop of the mother’s blood passes 
to her unborn offspring. The child 
does indeed derive all its nourishment 
from the mother, but it is by soakage 
from her blood to its own; there is no 
direct connection. No one has ever 
traced a single nerve or blood vessel 
passing through. Is it conceivable to 
any rational human being, that a scar, 
or what not, on the mother’s body (or 
mind), can be dissolved in her blood, 
soak through the placenta into the 
child’s circulation, and then gather 
itself together into a definite scar on 
the infant’s arm? 

There is just as much reason to expect 
the child to grow to resemble the 
cow on whose milk it is fed after birth, 


of Heredity 


as to expect it to grow to resemble its 
mother, because of pre-natal influence, 
as the term is customarily used—for 
once development has begun, the child 
draws nothing more than nourishment 
from its mother. 

Of course we are accustomed to the 
pious rejoinder that man must not 
expect to understand all the mysteries 
of life; we are accustomed to hearing 
vague talk about the wonder of wireless — 
telegraphy. But in wireless telegraphy 
we have something very definite and 
tangible—there is little mystery about 
it. We have waves of a given frequency 
sent off, and caught by an instrument 
attuned to the same frequency. How 
any rational person can support a 
belief in maternal impressions by such 
an analogy, if he knows anything about 
anatomy and physiology, passes com- 
prehension. 

Now I am far from declaring that we 
can find a reason for everything that 
happens. Science will not refuse belief 
in an observed fact merely because it is 
unexplainable. But let us examine this 
case of maternal impressions a little 
farther. What can we learn of the 
time element? 


THE TIME ELEMENT 


Immediately we are confronted with 
the significant fact that most of the 
marks, deformities and other effects 
which are credited to pre-natal influence 
must on this hypothesis take place at a 
comparatively late period in the ante- 
natal life of the child. The mother is 
frightened by a dog; the child is born 
with a dog-face. If we ask when her 
fright occurred, we usually find it not 
earlier than the third month, more 
likely somewhere near the sixth. 

But it ought to be well known that 
the development of all main parts of 
the body has been completed at the 
end of the second month. At that 
time, the mother rarely does more than 
suspect the coming of a child. Her 
anxiety about the child, and events 
which she believes to “mark” that 
child, usually occur.after the fourth or 
fifth month, when ‘the child is fully 
formed, and it is impossible that many 
of the effects supposed to occur could 


The Editor: Maternal Impressions 


actually occur. Indeed, we now believe 
that most errors of development, such 
as lead to the production of great 
physical defects, are due to some cause 
within the embryo itself, and that most 
of them take place in the first two or 
thrce weeks, when the mother is by no 
means likely to influence the course of 
embryological development by her men- 
tal attitude toward it, for the very good 
reason that she knows nothing about it. 

Unless she be immured or isolated 
from the world, nearly every expectant 
mother sees many sights of the kind 
that, according to popular tradition, 
cause ‘‘marks.’’ Why is it that results 
are so few? Why is it that women 
doctors and nurses, who are constantly 
exposed to unpleasant sights, have 
children that do not differ from those 
of other mothers? 

Darwin, who knew how to think 
scientifically, saw that this is the logical 
line of proof or disproof. When Sir 
Joseph Hooker, the botanist and geol- 
ogist who was his closest friend, wrote of 
a supposed case of maternal impression, 
one of his kinswomen having insisted 
that a mole which appeared on her child 
was the effect of fright upon herself for 
having, before the birth of the child, 
blotted with sepia a copy of Turner’s 
“Liber Studiorum”’ that had been lent 
her with special injunctions to be care- 
ful, Darwin‘ replied: “I should be very 
much obliged, if at any future or leisure 
time you could tell me on what you 
ground your doubtful belief in imagina- 
tion of a mother affecting her offspring. 
I have attended to the several state- 
ments scattered about, but do not 
believe in more than accidental coinci- 
dences. W. Hunter told my father, 
then in a lying-in hospital, that in many 
thousand cases he had asked the 
mother, before er confinement, whether 
anything had affected her imagination, 
and recorded the answers; and absolutely 
not one case came right, though, when 
the child was anything remarkable, 
they afterwards made the cap to fit.” 

Any doctor who has handled many 
maternity cases can call to mind 
instances where every condition was 
present, to perfection, for the produc- 


4 Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. I, p. 302, New York, 1897. 


515 


tion of a maternal impression, on the 
time honored lines. None occurred. 
Most mothers can, if they give the 
matter careful consideration, duplicate 
this experience from their own. Why is 
it that results are so rare? 


THE SEARCH FOR COINCIDENCE 


That Darwin gave the true explana- 
tion of a great many of the alleged 
cases is perfectly clear tous. When the 
child is born with any peculiar character- 
istic, the mother hunts for some experi- 
ence in the preceding months that 
might explain it. If she succeeds in 
finding any experience of her own at 
all resembling in its effects the effect 
which the infant shows, she considers 
she has proved-causation, has established 
a good case of pre-natal influence. 

It is not causation; it is coincidence. 

If the prospective mother plays or 
sings a great deal, with the idea of 
giving her child a musical endowment, 
and the child actually turns out to have 
musical talent, the mother at once 
recalls her yearning that such might 
be the case; her assiduous practice 
which she hoped would be of benefit 
to her child. She immediately decides 
that it did benefit him, and she becomes 
a convinced witness to the belief in 
pre-natal culture. Has she not herself 
demonstrated it? 

She has not. But if she would exam- 
ine the child’s heredity, she would 
probably find a taste for music running 
in the germ-plasm. Her study and 
practice had not the slightest effect on 
this hereditary disposition; it is equaliy 
certain that the child would have been 
born with a taste for music if 1ts mother 
had devoted eight hours a day for nine 
months to cultivating thoughts of 
hatred for the musical profession and 
repugnance for everything that possesses 
rhythm or harmony. 

It necessarily follows, then, that 
attempts to influence the development 
of the child, physically or mentally, 
through “pre-natal culture,’ are doomed 
to disappointment. The child develops 
along the lines of the potentialities 
which existed in the two germ cells 
that united to become its origin. The 


The letter is dated 1844. 


516 


course of its development cannot be 
changed in any definite way by any 
act or attitude of his mother. 

It must also necessarily follow that 
attempts to improve the race on a 
large scale, by the general adoption of 
pre-natal culture as an instrument of 
eugenics, are useless. 

Indeed, the logical implication of the 
teaching is the reverse of eugenic. It 
would give a woman reason to think 
she might marry a man whose heredity 
was rotten, and yet, by pre-natal culture 
save her children from paying the 
inevitable penalty of this weak heritage. 
We have long shuddered over the future 
of the girl who marries a man to reform 
him; but think what it means to the 
future of the race if a-superior girl, 
armed with correspondence school les- 
sons in pre-natal culture, marries a 
man to reform his children! 


MISSPENT ENERGY 


Those who practice this doctrine are 
doomed to absolute disillusion. The 
time they spend on pre-natal culture is 
not cultivating the child; it is merely 
cultivating a superstition. Not only 
is their time thus spent wasted, but 
worse, for they might have employed 
it in ways that really would have 
benefited the child—in open-air exercise, 
for instance. 

For those who preach this doctrine, 
with the belief that they are aiding the 
prospective mother or furthering the 
improvement of the race, we must feel 
sympathy and pity, as for all mis- 
guided efforts at well-doing. 

Their only excuse for this divorce 
from science is failure either to recognize 
the facts involved, or to make correct 
inferences from these facts. That the 
latter explanation applies in most cases, 
we know because we find many persons 
holding a belief in the reality of maternal 
impressions, who are perfectly well 
aware of the facts in the case. And 
these facts, which they well know, 
seem to me wholly to preclude any 
deductions which will support the 
belief that pre-natal culture is anything 
better than.a superstition. To recapit- 
ulate, the facts are: 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


(1) That there is, before birth, no 
connection between mother and child, 
by which impressions on the mother’s 
mind or body could be transmitted to 
the child’s mind or body. 

(2) That in most cases the marks or 
defects whose origin is attributed to 
maternal impression, must necessarily 
have been complete long before the 
incident occurred which the mother, 
after the child’s birth, ascribes as the 
cause. 

(3) That these phenomena usually 
do not occur when they are, and by 
hypothesis ought to be, expected. The 
explanations are found after the event, 
and that is regarded as causation, which 
is really coincidence. 

These facts, accompanied by the 
application of rigorous logic, seem to me 
to prevent anyone from accepting as 
true the current belief in maternal 
impressions. 

And yet, because it is logically im- 
possible to prove a universal negative, 
we cannot absolutely prove that such 
a thing as a maternal impression never 
happened and never can happen. We 
can only appeal to each individual to 
exercise his capacity for scientific 
thought, with an open mind, and decide 
for himself whether it is absurd to 
believe that the strawberry mark on 
the child’s arm is due to his mother’s 
appetite for strawberries. 

But is it conceivable, we are often 
asked, that such an idea would have 
survived, widespread in the human 
race, for so many thousands of years, 
unless there were some basis of truth 
under it? 


HOW THE IDEA AROSE 


Certainly there is a basis of truth 
under it. The embryo derives its 
entire nourishment from the mother; 
and its development depends wholly on 
its supply of nourishment. Anything 
which affects the supply of nourishment 
will affect the embryo 7n a general, not a 
particular way. 

Now if the mother’s mental and 
physical condition be good, the supply 
of nourishment to the embryo is likely 
to be good, and development will be 
normal. 


The Editor: Maternal Impressions 


If, on the other hand, the mother is 
constantly harassed by fear or hatred, 
her physical health will suffer, she will 
be unable properly to nourish her 
developing offspring, and it, when born, 
may by its poor physical condition 
indicate this. 

Further, if the mother experiences a 
great mental or physical shock, 1t may 
so upset her health that her child is not 
properly nourished, its development is 
arrested, mentally as well as physically, 
and it is born feebleminded. Goddard, 
for example, tells> of a high-grade 
imbecile in the Training School at 
Vineland, N. J. “Nancy belongs to a 
thoroughly normal, respectable family. 
There is nothing to account for the 
condition unless one accepts the mother’s 
theory. While it sounds somewhat like 
the discarded theory of maternal im- 
pression, yet it is not impossible that the 
fright and shock which the mother 
received may have interfered with the 
nutrition of the unborn child and 
resulted in the mental defect. The 
story in brief is as follows: Shortly 
before this child was born, the mother 
was compelled to take care of a sister- 
in-law who was in a similar condition 
and very ill with convulsions. Our 
child’s mother was many times fright- 
ened severely as her sister-in-law was 
quite out of her mind. She says that 
this child’s ways often recall to her the 
sister-in-law’s actions at that time.” 

We can easily understand that any 
event which makes such an impression 
on the mother as to affect her health, 
might so disturb the normal functioning 
of her body that her child would be 
badly nourished, or even poisoned. 
Such facts are not antagonistic to 
scientific thought ; and they undoubtedly 
form the basis on which the airy fabric 
of pre-natal culture was reared by the 
hands of those who lived before the 
days of scientific biology. 


ALLEGED CASES EXPLAINED 


Thus, it is easy enough to see the 
real explanation of such cases as those 
mentioned by the ‘Better Babies”’ 
expert, near the beginning of this paper. 
The mothers who fret and rebel over 


5 Goddard, H. H. Feeblemindedness, p. 359. 


517 


their maternity, she found, are likely 
to bear neurotic children. It is obvious 
(1) that mothers who fret and rebel are 
quite likely themselves to be neurotic in 
constitution, and the child naturally 
gets his heredity from them; (2) that 
constant fretting and rebellion would so 
affect the mother’s health that her 
child would not be properly nourished. 

When, however, she goes on to draw 
the inference that “self-control, cheer- 
fulness and love will practically 
insure you a child normal in physique 
and nerves,’ we are obliged to stop. 
We know that what she says is not true. 
If the child’s heredity is bad, neither 
self-control, cheerfulness, love, nor any- 
thing else known to science, can make 
that heredity good. 

At first thought, we may wish it were 
otherwise. There is something inspiring 
in the idea of a mother overcoming the 
effect of heredity by the sheer force of 
her own will-power. But the idea is 
merely a hallucination, and perhaps in 
the long run it is as well: for there are 
advantages on the other side. It should 
be a satisfaction to mothers to know 
that their children will not be marked 
or injured by untoward events in the 
ante-natal days; that if the child’s 
heredity cannot be changed for the 
better, neither can it be changed for the 
worse. 

The pre-natal culturists and maternal- 
impressionists are trying to place on 
her a responsibility which she need 
not bear. 

Obviously, it is the mother who is 
most nearly concerned with the bogie 
of maternal impressions, and it should 
make for her peace of mind to know 
that it is nothing more than a bogie. 

It is important for the expectant 
mother to keep herself in as nearly per- 
fect condition as possible, both physically 
and mentally. Her bodily mechan- 
ism will then run smoothly, and the 
child will get from her blood the 
nourishment needed for development, 
in proper quantity and proper quality. 
Beyond that, there is nothing the 
mother can do to influence the develop- 
ment of her child. There is not a shred 
of evidence to support the idea that 


New York, the Macmillan Company, 1914. 


518 


a child’s mental or physical character 
can be influenced in the slightest degree 
for better or for worse in any definite 
way, by the mental attitude of the 
mother before its birth. 

Maternal impressions and pre-natal 
culture are not facts, but superstitions. 
They owe their continued existence to a 
lack of scientific thought. To realize 
their falsity, no deep researches are 
necessary: nothing more is needed than 


The Journal of Heredity 


and scientific thought about those 
facts. 

Scientific thought, Clifford® told us, 
“is not an accompaniment or condition 
of human progress, but it is human 
progress itself.’’ 

No one, I venture to declare, has 
human progress more at heart than has 
the eugenist. It must, therefore, be 
to the interest of every eugenist to 
see that the superstition of maternal 
impression is driven out of existence. 


a knowledge of some elementary facts, 


6 Clifford, W. K. The Aim and Instruments of Scientific Thought. Address before the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science, at Brighton, August LOST 2: 


International Congress of Genealogy 


The International Congress of Genealogy which met in connection with the 
Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco from July 27 to 30, 
represented sixty-five genealogical, historical, patriotic, heraldic and family asso- 
ciations and had accredited to it about 275 delegates elected by these organizations. 
In addition, there were many others interested in genealogy, but not officially 
accredited, who attended the congress. The Utah Genealogical Society sent to 
the meeting a special train carrying 269 persons from Utah. 

The program provided that the congress should meet the week following the 
national convention of the American Historical Association and the week preceding 
the annual meeting of the American Genetic Association and the Second Inter- 
national’ Conference of Race Betterment. It also provided for meetings in 
San Francisco of family associations during or as near as possible to the time of the 
genealogical congress. Some cf the latter were held. 

This plan and the genealogical congress, first of its kind ever held, were proposed 
by the Hon. Boutwell Dunlap, of San Francisco, recording secretary of the Cali- 
fornia Genealogical Society. He first proposed an International Congress of 
Genealogy and Eugenics. Not desiring to conflict with other eugenic organiza- 
tions, the name of the congress was later restricted to the International Congress of 
Genealogy. The invitations to the congress and family associations were issued 
jointly in the names of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the Cali- 
fornia Genealogical Society. 

Some of the organizations that elected delegates to the congress were the National 
Society of Americans of Royal Descent, Society for the Preservation of New Eng- 
land Antiquities, College of Arms and Seigneural Court of Canada, American 
Society of Colonial Families, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Huguenot 
Society of America, Louisiana Historical Society, Maine Genealogical Society, 
Historical Society of New Mexico, Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 
Society of Genealogists of London, National Genealogical Society, National 
Society of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, National Society of Sons of the 
Revolution. 

An International Genealogical Federation was formed and a resolution affecting 
eugenics, introduced by Mr. Dunlap and unanimously adopted by the congress, 
Was as follows: 

“Resolved, that one of the objects of the International Genealogical Federation 
shall be the collection and preservation of genealogical data for eugenic purposes 
and that the committee of organization of said International Genealogical Federa- 
tion is hereby instructed to provide for the said collection and preservation of 
genealogical data for eugenic purposes.”’ 


ANGERS LRY OF THE GOAT 


Modern Breeds All Descendants of a Single Species—-Great Success Attained in 
Breeding This €pecies in Two Distinct Directions, for Milk and Hair 


F ALL important domesticated 

animals, the goat is distin- 

guished by the simplicity of his 

ancestry. The modern horse, 

or ox, or dog, or sheep, is the product of 

the combination of a number of distinct 

species, but the European goat can trace 

his pedigree directly back to a single 
form. 

It is, then, a matter of particular 
interest to breeders, to see what wide 
variations have been produced within 
the iimits of one species, under domesti- 
cation. 

Geologically speaking, both the goats 
and their near relatives the sheep, were 
late in appearing on the earth. There 
must be a form somewhat intermediate 
between sheep, goats and antilopes, 
which we do not now know, but the 
first goat fossils, according to R. 
Lydekker, are of species allied to those 
now living in the Himalayas, and are 
found in Pliocene or late Tertiary 
deposits in the Panjab and the Siwalik 
hills of India. In the succeeding or 
Pleistocene epoch, remains of an ibex, 
one of the best-known wild goats, are 
found in the plains of Central Europe. 

The distinction between sheep and 
goats was thus made at a comparatively 
late time in the history of the earth: 
even now it is not a broad one, for 
although the typical domesticated goat 
is distinguished without difficulty from 
the typical domesticated sheep, there 
are wild forms which stand almost 
half way between the two. . The blend- 
ing of the two species has always been 
the despair of zodlogists, who sought 
for some well-marked characters to 
distinguish them. The great French 
naturalist, Sanson, after discarding one 
by one all the characters which he 
studied, finally reached the desperate 


conclusion that the tail was the only 
feature by which a goat could be told 
from a sheep, that member, as every 
one knows, being short and erect in the 
goats, moderately long and carried in 
the normal position by sheep. 


A GENETIC TEST 


Proposals to lump the sheep and goats 
as a single genus have been frequently 
put forward, but always rejected by the 
body of zodlogists, largely, it may be 
believed, on the ground of convenience. 
Toa genetist, the question would depend 
partly on whether the two forms breed 
together and result in fertile offspring. 
This is one of the moot points of animal 
husbandry—a somewhat astonishing 
fact, considering how many opportuni- 
ties there should be for getting informa- 
tion. 

On the one hand, there are those who 
claim that a real hybrid between the 
two forms is unknown; on the other 
we have stories of districts in Russia 
and Chile (or other parts of South 
America) where it is alleged that a 
hybrid form makes up the bulk of the 
flocks. Examinations of some of these 
flocks by zodtechnists have led to 
conflicting opinions as to whether they 
were really hybrids or not. 

In the American Breeders’ Magazine 
for 1913;\(Vole TV;.No: 1;-p:..69), W- J. 
Spillman, of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, described and figured an 
animal raised by E. Arnaud, of Monet, 
Mo., which he believed to be a true 
sheep-goat hybrid; it was one of a pair, 
and its twin was distinctly an ordinary 
sheep. Similar cases have often been 
reported, but even if they are accepted, 
they must be regarded as isolated, and 
it seems fair to say that interbreeding 
of the sheep and goat is at least very 
rare; whereas the different species of 

o19 


ANCESTOR OF THE GOAT 


Pasang or Grecian Ibex, a wild goat found in Asia Minor, Persia and adjoining countries. 


It is 


the belief of naturalists that this form, which is easily tamed, was domesticated at some 
time before the dawn of history and has given rise to all the numerous breeds of goat now 


found in Europe and America. 


in two directions—to increase the yield of milk and to increase the yield of hair. 


Lydekker. (Fig. 14.) 


wild and tame goats interbreed freely 
and yield perfectly fertile progeny.’ 

To the genetist, then, the evidence 
that sheep and goats should be separated 
is fairly good. Zodlogists have found a 
few other characters that serve them 
more or less constantly: for example, 
the face of the goat has no crumen or 
tear-bag, which is usually, though not 
invariably, present on that of the sheep. 
And whereas all sheep have pores or 
glands between the hoofs of each foct, 


Its improvement appears to have been by simple selection 


From 


in the goats such glands are found only 
in the forefeet, and even there may be 
wanting. 

The beard of the male, and the char- 
acteristic odor, are signs of great con- 
venience to the layman in distinguishing 
goats from sheep. 

The goat genus (Capra) is generally 
credited with a dozen species, and among 
these it is almost the consensus of 
opinion that a single one may be con- 
sidered the ancestor of European (and 


1L, L. Heller, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, informs me 


1 
bureau 


that the 


me years ago tried crossing goats with sheep, both males and females of each 


species being used. The breed of sheep chosen was the Barbados, as primitive in type as any in 


the United States 
if any would. 
hybrids that have b 


520 


There were no offspring from any of the matings. 
‘en produced from time to time are merely reversions.—THE Epitor. 


, and it was thought that this breed should prove fertile in crosses with goats, 


Mr. Heller believes the so-called 


MALE, IMPROVED TYPE OF MILK GOAT 


The greatest development of goats for milk has taken place in Switzerland, where the two 


famous breeds, Toggenburg and Saanen, were produced. The photograph of Toggenburg 
Bill No. 442 shows a typical buck of the former breed. Good does of this breed will 
produce several quarts of rich milk daily, while one owned in California has set a world 
record with a daily production of six quarts—a record which thousands of cows in the 
United States fail to attain. Photograph from the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
(Fig. 15.) 


thence. American) domesticated goats. 
This is variously known as the Bezoar,? 
Pasang* or Grecian Ibex, while the 
zoOlogists have an even greater range of 
synonyms, Capra hircus aegagrus being 
now the most widely accepted technical 
name. 


THE PASANG AT HOME 


Once common throughout Greece and 
Asia Minor, as is shown by its mention 
in Homer, the Pasang has now been 


crowded back, although it still lives on 
a few of the Mediterranean islands, 
notably on the slopes of Mount Ida in 
Crete. Its habitat today may be said 
to be Persia, Afghanistan and Baluchi- 
stan, although it is by no means 
extinct in the mountains of Asia Minor. 

The slender, graceful animal, whose 
height at the shoulder is approximately 
three feet, is well shown in the accom- 
panying drawing (Fig. 14). The general 
ground color of the upper parts is 


* Bezoar is properly the name of a product in high repute among medieval medical men; it is a 
compound of bile and rosin, which forms a concretion in the stomach of the goat, and thence gave 


its name to the species from which it was most often obtained. 


The name is properly pa-za 


from pao, to purify, and zahr, poison, and these ‘‘stones’’ were believed to have the power to draw 


poison from the bite of a snake, the sting of a sc: pion, ete. 
Needless to say, they are valueless for medicinal purp: 


in India and other parts of the orient. 


There is still some commerce in them 


and they are so easily counterfeited by a compound of pipe-clay and ox-gall that the market 


them is in a bad state. 


* Pasang means “‘rock-footed” and is supposed to be the Persian designation of this specie 
as a fact 1t appears nowadays to be called merely boz-i-kohi, ‘‘mountain goat.’’ 


571 


522 The Journal 


brownish-gray in winter, reddish-brown 
in summer, becoming paler in old males; 
the under parts are whitish. 

It ranges solitary or in parties of 
from ten to twenty up to a hundred. 
“During summer,” says Lydekker,’ 
“the old bucks keep to the higher 
mountains, being frequently found in 
snow, while the does and kids frequent 
lower elevations. In winter both sexes 
keep more together, living at elevations 
of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, on rocky 
ground among bushes or scattered 
pines. In certain districts they may 
descend almost to sea level. 

“Although at other times shy and 
wary, during the pairing season they 
may be approached with ease and may 
be attracted within range by a concealed 
hunter rolling a few stones down the 
hillside. If surprised they utter a short 
snort and immediately make off in a 
canter. Their agility among rocks is 
little short of marvelous, but if driven 
down to the lowlands they can be easily 
caught with dogs, as is done in Afghan- 
istan. When danger threatens, the 
oldest male takes command of the herd, 
and carefully surveys the line of advance 
or retreat before permitting the others 
to follow. Grass, the young shoots of 
dwarf oaks and cedars, and _ berries 
constitute their staple food in these 
districts. The kids, which are usually 
either one or two in number, are born 
in May.” 

The Pasang is easily domesticated, 
and the first domestication must have 
been thousands of years ago. This 
probably took place in Western Asia; 
from thence, Lydekker thinks, it was 
carried over into Africa, where it has 
departed very widely from the original 
type. 


ARRIVAL IN EUROPE 


Presumably the animal was brought 
into Europe by some of the earliest 
immigrants, but whether from Africa 
from Asia, no one can say with 
confidence. Its remains are abundant 
in the early period of the Swiss lake 
dwellings, which go back perhaps as far 


Or 


*R. Lydekker, Wild Oxen, Sheep and Goats. 
5C. Keller, Naturgeschichte der Haustiere. 
6 Keller, p. 181. 


of Heredity 


as 4,000 B.C., but in the later part of 
this period they become rarer, indicating 
that the goat industry suffered a decline 
in those times. This, it is suggested, 
was due to the increasing prosperity of 
the population; for the goat has always 
been ‘“‘the poor man’s cow,” and even 
today it is noticed that among African 
natives, goats are kept by the poorer 
tribes, but as they increase in prosperity 
they tend to give up goats and take to 
sheep instead: 

The goat of the Swiss lake dwelling, 
according to C. Keller,’ was somewhat 
smaller than the modern animal, and 
had horns. But there is some evidence 
that the goat of the Bronze Age was 
larger than that of the Stone Age, 
undoubtedly due to the selection of 
prehistoric breeders. 

In the Roman period, a distinctly 
new form appears, an improvement of 
the old one, which nevertheless had not 
disappeared. This new form, as far as 
can be judged from the remains, was a 
sort of “thoroughbred; it was, says 
Keller, unquestionably a product of 
conscious breeding and artificial selec- 
tion, and seems to have come up from 
the Mediterranean lands. It is little 
different, he declares, from some of 
the types still to be found in Switzerland. 

In the early days of Greece, goats 
were widely kept, as is proved by 
evidence of many kinds, but by the 
advent of the classical period, the 
industry had shrunk and been largely 
supplanted by sheep. 

‘In the kingdom of the Pharaohs the 
goat breeding was of great importance, 
for we learn from extant documents that 
a landlord received from his superin- 
tendent 5,023 head of live stock, of 
which 924 were sheep and 2,234 goats; 
the goat industry was therefore of 
considerable size. Lumbermen felling 
sycamores, whose trunks furnished wood 
for coffins and other purposes, took 
goats with them and fed the latter on 
the leaves of the cut trees.’”® 

Since those days the breeding of 
goats has gone on in many regions, and 
all sorts of changes have been produced 


London, Rowland Ward, Ltd., 1898. 


Berlin, Paul Parey, 1905. 


. 5" ; 


a fines | 


vs > 


{ 


GOATS IMPROVED FOR HAIR PRODUCTION 


~2 Th ® 
nO YP 
Fe ta zie 
fe ape ie 
~ 
=_ 
~ ac OL 
oa al = 
Tyee pa te: 
fee oe 
Aas 
Su AS 
- > ed 
ASO e 
esa 
Smee 
i T) 2) 
OW 
Sh a 42 
RAE 
= 


z > 
O = 5 
= = 
Seat 
> 


shown in the 


fleeces 


the 


Angora breed originated in Asia Minor, but is now found in large 


~ — 
= ‘eo 
me = 
S ®D 0 
roo 3 
a 8 A's 
53 A et: 
OESoC 


524 


in its appearance; due, we must suppose, 
to the preservation of fortuitous varia- 
tions. One of the most significant was 
the disappearance of the horns, a muta- 
tion of which any breeder must recog- 
nize the advantage, and which it was 
therefore worth while to preserve. The 
famous modern milk-breeds of Switzer- 
land are hornless, but from time to time 
a pair of horns appears—a reversion to 
the ancestral habit. 

Another peculiar trait which appeared 
at some time in domestication is the 
beard on the female. In most, if not 
all, the domesticated breeds both sexes 
have beards, while in the wild races this 
mark is confined to the males. 

It has been often suggested that wild 
species have been crossed into the 
domesticated goat, and help to account 
for some of the diverse forms. But 
when the alleged cases are examined, 
it is usually found that the supposed 
wild blood is really that of tame goats 
who haverun wild. Although it can not 
be denied that wild blood may have come 
in from time to time, it seems unlikely 
that any wild species except the Pasang 
really has an appreciable share in the 
ancestry of the goats known to Europe 
and America. This cannot be said 
with such confidence of the Malayan 
and Kashmir goats, where other wild 
species very likely have had a share in 
the production of the modern forms. 

While the goat has in all times been 
of value as a meat producing animal, 
it is obvious that the effort of his 
breeders, during many centuries, has 
been in two general directions: to im- 
prove the yield of milk and to improve 
the yield of hair. 

INCREASED MILK YIELD 

Credit for the first achievement goes 
principally to the peasants of the Swiss 
valleys, who have produced a number of 
races that are now known all over the 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


world. Foremost among these are the 
Saanen, from the Obersimmental, and 
the Toggenburg, from the canton of 
St. Gall. Starting with an animal whose 
milk yield was little more than that of 
most wild animals, they have produced 
does that, at their best, surpass the milk 
yield of a good many cows. As far as is 
known, this result has been achieved 
through simple selection of the best in 
each generation, as breeding stock. 

Breeding for hair was accomplished 
principally in Asia Minor, where the 
town of Angora gave its name to the 
best known breed. The way in which 
the short hair of the Pasang has devel- 
oped into the extraordinarily long hair 
of the Angora is not wholly clear, but 
it seems again to be due to simple 
selection of variations in the direction 
that the breeder sought. 

There is nothing to indicate that the 
goat is particularly variable in its wild 
state, or that its breeders have had the 
advantage of any unusual variations, 
which do not occur in most animals. 
Probably easy domesticability has 
tended, as much as anything, to give 
the Pasang this important place in 
modern animal husbandry—an import- 
ance partly measured by the calculation 
that there are at least 80,000,000 goats 
under domestication in the world, of 
which only about 20,000,000 are in 
Europe and far less than that in the 
United States. It must be remembered 
too, that most of these are in possession 
of persons who have only a few animals 
each—it is not often that one finds a 
large herd of goats in the possession of 
one man, if we except the Angora herds 
in the western States of America. 

In the field of live-stock breeding, 
there are to be found few more successful 
examples than that of the Pasang, bred 
on two different lines, and in each case 
with such remarkable results. 


AN UNUSUAL PERSIMMON TREE 


The persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is known to most Americans as a small tree, often 
only a shrub; and most authorities on forestry state that it reaches a maximum height 
of 50 feet and diameter of 1 foot. Michaux remarks, ‘‘The persimmon varies surprisingly 


in size in different soils and climates. In the vicinity of New York it is not more than 
half as large as in the more Southern States, where, in favorable situations, it is sometimes 
60 feet in height and 18 or 20 inches in diameter.’’ But here is a specimen near Luxora 
Ark., which is 7 feet in circumference, and is estimated to be 130 feet high. The abser 
of limbs on most of the trunk is probably due to the fact that the tree was crowded, an 
was obliged to go high in order to get sunlight. It is standing in a field of cotton and 
photographed on October 6, 1914, by S. E. Simonson of Luxora. (Fig. 17.) 


THE TREE THA TLOWNG SEE 


That Georgia possesses the only tree in the world that owns itself, was men- 
tioned in the September issue of the JoURNAL oF HEREpITy by W. H. Lamb. 
Professor T. H. McHatton, of the State College of Agriculture, Athens, 
Ga., thereupon sent in the above photograph of the tree. “It is a fine, 
healthy white oak (Quercus alba),’”’ he writes; ‘It is 12 feet 2 inches in cir- 
cumference at 5 feet from the ground and about 60 feet high. The follow- 
ing is the inscription to be seen on a marble slab at the base of the tree: 

‘‘ ‘Por and in consideration of the great love I bear this tree and the great desire I have for its 
protection for all time, I convey to it entire possession of itself and all land on 8 feet of 
the tree on all sides.—William H. Jackson.’ 

‘Of course, in the State of Georgia a plant may not own itself; but being some- 
thing out of the ordinary the will has been allowed to stand and should 
this tree be molested in any way there would certainly be trouble. The 

city takes care of it, sees that it is pruned when it needs it; has placed granite 

posts about its 8 feet of estate and connected them with iron chains.”” (Fig. 

18.) 


iter er) OF SELECTION 


HE well known maize breeding 
experiments at the Illinois Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station 
represent, it is said, the longest 

continued breeding experiment now in 
existence, with that cereal, which ranks 
second only to rice in its importance as a 
food crop of the world. L. H. Smith 
describes some of the results as follows: 

“Starting in 1896 with an ordinary 
variety of corn that contained at that 
time 10.9% protein, there has been 
produced after seventeen years a strain 
which now contains 14.83%, while on 
the other hand by selection for low 
protein there has been produced another 
strain which contained in last year’s 
crop 7.71% protein. In other words, by 
the method of continuous selection of 
seed there have been gradually developed 
out of the original variety two quite 
different kinds of corn, one of which is 
practically twice as rich in protein as the 
other. 

“Again, starting with this same 
variety of corn which contained origin- 
ally 4.7% oil, it has been possible to 
produce a strain that contained in the 
crop of last year an oil content of 8.15%; 
whereas, selecting in the opposite direc- 
tion has resulted in a strain that ana- 
lyzed last year 1.9% oil. Or, expressed 
in other words, by this method of 
breeding, it has been possible to start 
with a single variety of corn, and produce 
two different sorts, the one of which is 
now more than four times as rich in 
oil as the other. 

“In 1903, a variety of corn was 
taken for selection to modify the height 
at which the ear is borne, and selection 
for high ears and for low ears has 
continued since that time. Because of 
two unfavorable and rather abnormal 
seasons during the past two years, the 
results have not been so striking as those 
obtained in 1912, when the ears of the 
high-ear strain were borne at an 
average height of 78 inches from the 
ground, as compared with 25 inches in 
the corresponding low-ear plot. Thus 
there was an average difference amount- 


ing to over 41% feet, a most graphic 
demonstration of the power of selection 
in corn to influence certain character- 
istics with respect to habit of growth. 

“Another line of selection affecting 
habit of growth was begun in 1904 in 
which the endeavor has been to modify 
the angle at which the ear hangs on the 
stalk. In one strain the selection has 
always been for ears standing erect 
while in a corresponding strain the seed 
has been chosen from ears that hang 
downward. The comparison is made 
each year by measuring the angle at 
which the ear declines from the per- 
pendicular. Last season’s results gave 
an average of 66 degrees for the erect 
ears as compared with 124 degrees for 
the declining. This particular habit is 
one that is easily affected by environ- 
mental disturbances and this last year’s 
results are not so striking as that 
obtained two years ago when the average 
difference in angle between the two 
strains amounted to 73 degrees. 

“Still another line belonging to this 
same general category of selection to 
modify physical characteristics of the 
corn plant is that which was started 
ten years ago to develop from an ordi- 
nary single-eared variety a strain which 
should bear two ears to the stalk. In 
the season the first selection was made, 
the proportion of two-eared stalks was 
only 244%. This proportion has been 
very materially increased, varying greatly 
in different years with the environ- 
mental influences, but on the whole 
showing a marked response to the 
selection so that last season the propor- 
tion of two-eared stalks was the highest 
that has yet been attained, namely 73%. 

“In addition to the experiments 
above described to modify through the 
method of continuous selection these 
physical and chemical characteristics 
of corn, there is being conducted a 
comprehensive fundamental study of 
heredity in maize with reference to the 
unit characters and their modes of 
transmission. This investigation is 
being conducted mainly by the method 


527 


528 The Journal of Heredity 


of hybridizing varieties of diverse char- A number of promising strains of 
acters and observing the resulting wheat and oats have been isolated at 
Mendelian phenomena. Hundreds of the same station, and it is hoped that 
separate independently transmissible they will soon be ready to appear in the 
characters are being observed and the 4 7de 9 ip qe ealcalatedecnen eight years 
ee of ae = leading to a pes: on the average, are required to multiply 
P eae ae yo a eee on eae and test a new strain of cereal sufficiently 
OT eens a ae ee oe ween ater GeO estab lishtr ednut McEyrenniga 
acters such as partial or complete lack eae 
Se The soy bean, a legume that is grad- 
of chlorophyl, barrenness, sterility, and tly Wei gis BI in Iie 
others which may have a more or less  “*-y (Coe ee ee ee 
? because of 1ts use in crop rotation, is 


direct practical bearing upon yield, are : : 
included in this study of unit characters. getting a good deal of attention, and 


“This same kind of analytical study is @ppears to be particularly ‘responsive 
being extended to several of our other to selection, which is directed in two 
field crops such as wheat, oats, clover, different lines: to make beans valuable 
alfalfa, soy beans, millet, broomcorn, for oil production, and to improve them 
sorghum, and sweet clover.” for human food. 


Some Apple Statistics 


Variation in apples has been investigated at the Massachusetts agricultural 
experiment station, the entire crops borne by certain Baldwin and Ben Davis 
trees being measured for six successive years. As expected, a great difference was 
found in the productivity of different trees, and a slight difference in the amount of 
variability. It is possible that the larger the apples a tree bears, the more variable 
they are. The apples from the upper south parts of the trees, which were largest, 
were also the most flattened, and there is found to be a pretty constant relationship 
between the form of the apple and the temperature for a period of several weeks 
following the bloom; the cooler this period, the more elongated the apple. The 
station now has Mendelian experiments under way with peas, beans and squashes, 
and has made much progress in breeding rust-proof asparagus, in codperation with 
the federal department of agriculture. The garden pea study has shown that the 
ordinary commercial varieties are composed of many different strains or pure lines; 
work is now being carried on to determine whether selection within the pure line 
can increase or decrease vine length, and to determine the degree of correlation 
between weight of seed and length of vine. The study of the squash has also shown 
the common varieties to be of heterogeneous composition and the particular point 
now under investigation is to determine whether homozygous races may be isolated. 
The study of the inheritance of pigmentation and other characters in garden beans 
during the last six years has embraced more than 100 crosses of sixteen varieties, 
and included more than 50,000 plants, all of which have been carefully studied and 
tabulated. 


Inheritance of Bad Temper 


In Bulletin No. 12, I, of the Eugenics Record Office (Cold Spring Harbor, L. I., 
September, 1915), Dr. C. B. Davenport presents a study of the family history of 
165 wayward girls, with a view to determining the heritability of violent temper. 
He concludes that ‘The tendency to outbursts of temper—‘tantrums’ in adults— 
whether more or less periodic or irregular and whether associated with epilepsy, 
hysteria or mania, or not, is inherited as a positive (dominant) trait, typically does 
not skip a generation and tends, ordinarily, to reappear, on the average, in half of 
the children of an affected parent.” 


The 


Journal of Heredity 


(Formerly the American Breeders’ Magazine) 


Wale Vii, No. 12 December, 1915 


CONTENTS 


Ice Melting from a Twig—Frontispiece.......................:....-D30 
What is a Breed?, by Orren Lloyd-Jones............................531 
SHMGTestOls CLETOUS FE EUMES 6 ysis cre ee tks ae cin he. Pinpalg Ae 537 
Value of Negative Eugenics, by Edwin G. Conklin................... 538 


New Publications: 
The American Pet Stock Standard of Perfection, by J. Henri 


NY fern OR a ee ee ee ee hth oa OR Cg Ret eee a41 
a hemitancetotarkrotles 1s Salar ae eee ees.) bc Nae tree be bee eaty AE 
The Marking Factor in Sunfiowers, by T. D. A. Cockerell........... .542 
nbentkance Of Sex: in SbrawDercmies.. 602 men es ae Pee eo 345 
Natural Selection in War, by Roswell H. Johnson...................546 
enes nine spiny CO thor Fhe eye ee eek + Se a NOL ae ee Oe ne eee AS. 
he Self=Sterility Problem; by E-.J= Kraus... -..:/:....5....9.......... 549 
Home Growl Or HOreionySeed soi ec co. n toe ee ee EDL 
Plant Breeding in Cuba. by F. S. Earle and Wilson Popenoe...... . .558 
Cenehe Stuy OlAppless <a ee e Bie)aie\o Aare os Wee Seo A ee DOS 
ehuildrarahne.LechoLey. - cee es toc ck tee a ae Re he 09 
itlesbaceotevol=, Vile.) fa Pyke ero ie eh Soe ae Le a eT Nant! at o7l 
[nd Pose i AY ls Meare oo Sates SRI oH 2 re eae el spe Shel owe een NN lg Poe, 573 


The Journal of Heredity is published monthly by the American Genetic 
Association (formerly called the American Breeders’ Association) for the benefit 
of its members. Canadian members who desire to receive it should send 25 cents 
a year, in addition to their regular membership dues of $2, because of additional 
postage on the magaziné; foreign members pay 50 cents extra for the same 
reason. Subscription price to non-members, $2.00 a year, foreign postage extra; 
price of single copies, 25 cents. 

Entered as second-class matter February 24, 1915, at the postoffice at Washing- 
ton, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Contents copyrighted 1915 by the 
American Genetic Association. Reproduction of articles or parts of articles 
permitted provided proper credit is given to author and to the Journal of Heredity 
(Organ of the American Genetic Association), Washington, D. C. 


Date of issue of this number, November 26, 1915. 


ICE MELTING FROM A 


Ice forms on trees during a rain, particularly when the temperature of a thin layer of air on 
the ground is below freezing, but the temperature of the air above is warmer, thus prevent- 


ing the rain from turning to sleet. In this photograph (highly enlarged) the ice has begun 
to melt, and in doing so clearly reveals its crystalline structure, the typical angles seen 
being those of a hexagon. From a photograph by David Fairchild. (Frontispiece. ) 


WHAT IS A BREED? 


Definition of Word Varies with Each Kind of Livestock, and is Based Almost 
Wholly on Arbitrary Decision of Breeders—Some Strange Contra- 
dictions—The Meaning of ‘‘Pure-Bred’’! 


ORREN LiLoyp-JONES 
Associate Professor of Animal Husbandry, Iowa. State College, Ames, Iowa 


T IS the custom in legal documents 

to achieve unmistakable clearness 

of meaning by multiple repetition 

of words, and synonymous words 
and phrases. This method of securing 
clearness is distasteful to the scientific 
writer, and discussions and dissertations 
aiming to define the scope and set the 
limits of scientific words are numerous 
and lengthy. Some classic biological 
examples of terms of this sort are the 
words: species, hybrid, race, variety, 
etc. A kindred term which has served 
its purpose long and well is the word 
breed, and it may be worth while to give 
this word further attention. 

The term “‘breed”’ is in such common 
use that most persons, on invitation, 
would be quick to explain its meaning 
and even ready to offer an exact defini- 
tion of the word. For those who take 
pleasure in formulating terse, concise 
definitions of common terms the above 
word presents an interesting problem. 
If the person is a scientist, he must 
especially be on his guard, for it must 
be remembered that this is a term which 
arose among breeders of _ livestock, 
created, one might say, for their own 
use, and no one is warranted in as- 
signing to this word a scientific defini- 
tion and in calling the breeders wrong 
when they deviate from the formulated 
definition. It is their word and the 
breeders’ common usage is what we 
must accept as the correct definition. 

This sounds simple enough, but 
when we begin a search to discover 
what the “‘common usage’’ is we are 
dismayed at the varied and _ loose 
meanings which the breeders have 
given to this word. 


We find that a great divergence of 
opinion, as to what a breed may include 
before it must be subdivided, exists 
between the breeders of different classes 
of livestock. For instance, Shorthorn 
cattle can be any of four colors, and 
Percheron horses have a choice of half 
a dozen, but each breed remains a 
homogeneous unit without subdivisions 
on the basis of color. With smaller 
animals the lines are more finely drawn. 
In case of poultry, for example, the colors 
are kept separate, as distinguishing 
features of a strain, under the name of 
varieties, but several of these varieties 
are grouped together as a breed. We 
have white, barred, buff, or partridge 
varieties of the Plymouth Rock breed, 
and of Wyandottes I believe there are 
about a dozen varieties differing from 
each other in color, pattern, feathering, 
or comb shape. 

Thus in poultry the breeds are com- 
posite, made up of several subdivisions, 
although the range of variation may be 
no greater, or even far less, than that 
found within a single breed of the large 
mammals. Breeders of “pet stock” 
rabbits, guinea-pigs, and especially of 
dogs, use the word “breed” in a very 
reckless fashion, and an attempt to 
divine their exact understanding of the 
term would be in many cases well nigh 
hopeless. 

But to add to the confusion, breeders 
of the same class of livestock in different 
parts of the world do not always adhere 
to the same usage. The case of the 
Leicester sheep serves as a good illus- 
tration of this point. 

In England there are two sorts of 
sheep which are connected by a certain 


1 Presented to the Agricultural Club of Iowa State College in February, 1915. 


Jt 
w 
— 


RINGMASTER, GRAND CHAMPION SHORTHORN BULL, 1913 


The Shorthorn is a breed with wide limits; it takes in a number of different colors and types 


which in other branches of the animal industry would be considered distinct breeds. 


But 


when it comes to lack of horns, the Shorthorn breeders draw the line, as the next illustra- 


tion shows. (Fig. 1.) 


degree of kinship in “‘blood,” but which 
are now, and for the past sixty years 
have been, recognized as distinct breeds. 
The two referred to are the 
English Leicester and the Border Lei- 
cester. They differ from each other in 
size, ancestry (the Border Leicester 
having received some characters from 
the Cheviot breed), general activity, 
fecundity, and manner of wooling, to 
an unmistakable extent. Both the 
Scotch Highland Society and the Eng- 
lish Agricultural Scciety provide sepa- 
rate classes and awards for them at the 
agricultural shows, and there are two 
distinct registration associations, each 
of which maintains a flock book for 
its own breed. In America, however, 
we speak only of the Leicester breed of 
sheep. The two hown to- 
gether at fairs, often freely crossed, and 
are registered in the same flock 
They are here simply regarded as differ- 
ent ‘‘families’’ of the Leicester breed 


breeds 


Sorts are 


i. 
book. 


There is no fix d, commonly accepted 
degree of difference which serves to 
typify and separate the breeds. Thi 


532 


can be illustrated by citing cases of the 
two extremes. First, types which differ 
widely between themselves may be 
included within the boundaries of a 
single breed. 

Poland China breeders recognize the 
distinct varieties which they speak of as 
the ‘large type’’ and ‘‘small type.’’ The 
differences between the two are constant, 
deep-seated, and striking, but the mem- 
bers of both types are all of the un- 
divided Poland China breed. A similar 
“dimorphic’’ condition exists within the 
limits of the Jersey breed of cattle. 

But perhaps the most striking case of 
this sort is furnished by the Shorthorn 
breed of cattle. The Milking Short- 
horn is profoundly different from the 
strictly Scotch-bred beef animal. The 
difference between these two types in- 
besides three pr ssible color 
factors, pronounced and easily recog- 
nized peculiarities of shape and also of 
function. furthermore, these two types 
usually differ clearly from each other in 

‘y. The pedigree of the typical 
cng Shorthorn will generally trace 


volves, 


5 
25 


SULTAN’S CREED, GRAND CHAMPION POLLED DURHAM BULL, 1913 


Genetically, the Polled Durham is nothing but a Shorthorn without horns. This 


difference is due to a single factor in heredity, as the analysis of breeding experi- 
ments shows. It is one of the smallest differences on record which have sufficed 
for the establishment of a distinct breed, and is a difference which may exist 
between full brothers who resemble each other in every other respect. A com- 
parison of the above animal with the Shorthorn shown in Fig. 1 will show that 
they conform minutely to the same type. The horns form the only significant 
difference between them, and they are of little significance as far as the value of 
the animal is concerned. Sultan’s Creed and Ringmaster might actually have 
been born twins—it is a genetic possibility—but they must go through life as 
members of different breeds because of the difference in one factor, which affects 
the horns. Photograph from the owner, J. H. Miller, Peru, Ind. (Fig. 2.) 


MONARCH’S 


VICTORIA, A BEEF TYPE SHORTHORN 


Champion Shorthorn heifer at the Chicago International Stock Show in 1913, she represents 
the prevailing American idea of a good Shorthorn, intended to produce meat, not milk. 


Every line of her form proclaims the fact that she is not a dairy cow. 


“i 


thinks that the Shorthorn “‘breed”’ 


back to the breeding of Thomas Bates, 
while the spe cialized beef animal shows 
predominantly in its pedigree only ani- 
mals of Cruickshank or Booth breed- 
ing, the lines of lineage frequently 
running entirely separate for the past 
fifty years. But the limiting confines 
are very elastic and, despite these far- 
reaching differences, the integrity of the 


Shorthorn breed has not yet been 
disrupted on this basis. 
TRIVIAL BREED BARRIERS 
Second: On the other hand, types 
which show minute similarity may 
belong to separate breeds. Back in 


the Miami Valley of Ohio, in the mother 
country of the world-famous Poland 
China hog, there are many herds of 
Poland Chinas that retain the spotted 
pattern characteristic of all early Poland 


hogs. These pigs boast the same an- 
cestry and the same type as their 
aristocratic “‘pure-bred”’ cousins. They 


534 


But if anyone 


cannot produce dairy animals he is mistaken, as the 
illustration opposite will prove. (Fig. 3.) 


are the true, reliable, rent-paying Poland 
China sort; paint over their white spots 
and they would defy detection in many 
a high class Poland China herd. But 
their spots make them outcasts, and to 
enable them to get inside the boundaries 
of a breed it is necessary that they set 
up a standard of their own. As a 
result, the Spotted Poland China breed 
is a reality. 


It is particularly interesting that 
Shorthorn breeders, so generous and 


broad-minded in accepting wide vari- 
ants into the ranks of their breed and so 
reluctant in permitting a cleavage of 
the group, also furnish an example 
under this head. For a variation has 
appeared among Shorthorn cattle which 
is deemed of sufficient moment for 
creating a separate breed. In this 
case, the excuse for splitting the breed 
is a simple difference of structure, 
which is known to act as a simple 
Mendelian unit character, 1.e., the 


MAMIE’S MINNIE, A MILK TYPE SHORTHORN 


This animal represents a family of Shorthorns that has been bred with a view to milk pro- 


duction, not beef ee 


Her record in 1913 was 14,838 pounds of milk, in 1914, 


16,201 pounds, a record better than that of many fine members of the Jersey or other 


dairy breeds. 


scarcely a single feature of type or conformation in common. 
for example, are negligible in comparison. 
sisters, and might appear on the same page of the herd book. 


a Jersey and Guernsey cow, 
cows are ‘‘breed”’ 


Between this animal and the one shown on the opposite page there is 


The differences between 
Yet these two 
Such 


a contrast as this illustrates graphically the point that a breed is whatever its adherents 


ae LOucaliett thes nob: 


Otis, Granville Centre, Pa. (Fig. 4 


polled condition. Animals may be iden- 
tical in form, function and even ancestry, 
but if they differ in respect to the pres- 
ence or absence of horns, one may 
belong to the Polled Durham breed and 
the other will be merely a Shorthorn. 
These two types are exhibited separately 
in the shows, they are recotded in 
separate herd books and are recognized 
officially and in text-books of the day 
as distinct breeds of cattle. 

Lastly, we find that what is ordinarily 
considered as the most reliable feature 


2 It should be said, however, that many good 
herd book, as well as in that of their own breed. 


iu some other breeds. 


pooee = division. 


Photograph from the owners, May and 


to which we may hold fast in our con- 
ception of a breed, that is, degree of 
kinship among animals of a group, is 
not at alla safe means to delimit a breed. 
The oldest and most honored of the 


registry associations—that maintained 
for Shorthorn cattle in England— 


accepts today as members of the breed 
animals which have but fifteen- 
sixteenths of Shorthorn ancestry. The 
rules of the Morgan Horse Association 
admit the entry of animals with only 
one thirty-second of the blood of Justin 


Polled Durhams are entered in the Shorthorn 
This double registry is not altogether unknown 


535 


536 The Journal 


Morgan, with certain reservations as to 
the other ancestors; while until recently 
the American Saddle Horse Association 
was ready to receive animals from 
whatever source or breeding as bona 
fide breed members if they were able 
to successfully execute five distinct 
gaits under the saddle. Furthermore, 
animals which themselves had never 
traveled under the saddle, but had 
produced several ‘‘performers,’’ were 
eligible. 


TWINS OF DIFFERENT BREEDS 


The above cases are examples of 
animals ‘with very slight degree of 
kinship belonging to the same breed, 
but the opposite may also be true. 
That is, animals with ‘100% the same 
breeding” may belong to separate 
breeds. We will again choose an illus- 
tration from the Shorthorn _ breed. 
Two animals may have the same sire 
and the same dam, and yet one will be 
registered in the Polled Durham herd 
book, while the other will be limited to 
the Shorthorn registry. It might easily 
happen that two calves would be 
actually born as twins and yet these two 
animals would be known and referred 
to throughout their lives as members of 
two distinct so-called “breeds.” 

It will be said that the Leicesters are 
grouped together in this country for 
purely economic reasons; that the 
American saddle horse is merely re- 
peating the historic stages of every new 
breed in opening its books so wide; 
that livestock men when “‘pinned down” 
will confess the Polled Durham to be 
simply a sub-breed; and that the Poland 
China breeders are privileged to draw 


up whatever rules they choose in 
regulating their own registration. 
The above comments are true in 


every case, but the situation remains 
unchanged. It is simply the usage of 
the word breed which has been called to 
account in the above paragraphs and 
not the usefulness of the boundary lines 
which breeders have set up between the 
different groups of animals. With the 
latter, the writer does not here take 
issue. It is plain, however, that mere 
statements to the effect that two animals 


of Heredity & 


are members of the same breed, or that 
two other animals belong to different 
breeds, have very little value in them- 
selves as means of describing the like- 
ness or unlikeness in type or kinship of 
the two animals. It is further necessary, 
to know just what breed or breeds are 
referred to before one can form an idea 
of the degree of difference or similarity 
to be expected between the two animals. 

The word breed has no_ biological. 
meaning: it is bandied about by different 
classes of men in different places in the 
world without uniform regard to either 
type or kinship of the animals referred 
to. Its whole meaning is ~ entirely 
dependent on the action of ,the rules 
committee of the breed association. A 
breed is whatever the breeders want to 
call it, there are no natural boundaries; 
and no arbitrary ones that are uni- 
versally accepted. 

A breed is a group of domestic animals, 
termed such by common consent of the 
breeders, and in formulating a universal 
definition no person can go very much 
further without usurping a right which 
is not justly his. 


WHAT PURE-BRED MEANS 


The significance of the derivative, 
pure-bred, may well be considered at 
this time. When a group of animals 
becomes sufficiently set off to be called 
by common consent a breed, a number 
of breeders unite themselves into an 
association. A charter is secured from 
the Government, a breed record or 
register is established, and rules of 
eligibility for entry into the same are 
set down in the by-laws. Thus the 
breed is definitely delimited and from 
this time, but not before this time, the 
term pure-bred can be correctly and 
safely applied to individual specimens. 
There is no natural boundary and 
breeders must await the arbitrary and 
official one. A pure-bred is an animal 
entered or eligible to entry in the assocta- 
tion books, or descended from such 
animals. 

The history of the Percheron breed of 
horses is interesting in this connection. 
Draft horses from France were early 
imported into this country and in 1876 


Lloyd-Jones: What is a Breed? 


an association was formed for their 
registry. But it soon developed that 
more than one kind of draft horse 
existed in France and that a motly 
array of horses was being offered for 
entry into the American book. A bitter 
dispute arose concerning eligibility of 
horses for record. All admitted that a 
breed existed, but no one could give a 
satisfactory definition of a pure-bred. 
Finally in 1883, acting on the insistent 
requests of American importers, the 
French breeders established a Record 
Association. They accepted as founda- 
tion animals only those draft horses 
found in the six provinces which com- 
prised the old district of La Perche. 

At once American breeders stipulated 
that imported horses, to qualify for 
entrance in the American Association 
books, must first be accepted by the 


Sa. 


French Society. This ended the em- 
barrassing uncertainty; a breeder could 
now lay claim to the title ‘‘pure-bred”’ for 
a horse and could successfully establish 
his right to do so. Pure-breds were 
created by definition as a result of this 
action by the Society. But though the 
sale value of these horses was greatly 
increased, their biological nature was 
not changed. This word again depends 
for its meaning on the verdict of a body 
of men; it is in fact a civil, rather than a 
biological word. Biologically a horse 
may carry enough heritable traits to 
make him a high caste pure-bred 
Percheron, but if his ancestors lived 
across the line in Boulogne rather than 
in one of the six provinces originally 
specified by the French rules committee, 
he cannot claim that title, but must 
remain a Boulonnais. 


Studies of Citrous Fruits 


Study of citrous fruits at the California Agricultural Experiment Station has 
convinced the investigators that : 


1. In all naturally fertile varieties of orange trees, self-pollination is the rule and 
cross-pollination unnecessary. 

2. Viable pollen is either wanting or very scarce in parthenocarpic varieties—i.e., 
varieties which produce fruit without seeds; the navel orange, for example. 

3. The time required for complete fertilization after pollination varies with the 
variety from thirty hours in the Satsuma orange to four weeks in the wild Citrus 
trifoliata. 

4. Normal embryo sacs are occasionally produced in the Washington Navel and 
Satsuma oranges. If such oranges happen to be pollinated with viable pollen 
from a nearby fertile variety, the result is the production of a few seeds in a navel 
orange. In other cases, even if pollination should take place, no seeds are pro- 
duced because the embryo sacs in the navel orange disintegrate. In other words, 
navel oranges are seedless in most cases merely because they are not effectively 
pollinated and yet are able to produce fruit without such pollination. 

Finally, the investigators have come to the conclusion that the origin of partheno- 
carpic citrus varieties—the navel orange, the seedless pomelo, etc.—is to be found 
in hybrids between naturally fertile varieties. The same explanation has been 
given for the seedlessness of the commercial banana and many other fruits. Such 
a theory, if it can be developed, opens the way for the commercial production of 
seedless fruits in many species where simple selection would be of little practical 
value. Extensive hybridization work is being taken up in citrus, while the study 
of purity of varieties has also received attention. 


VALUE OF NEGATIVE EUGENICS 


Measures That Are Possible Are Decidedly Worth Taking but Must Not Be Ex- 
pected to Cause Any Great Amount of Race Betterment— Difficulties 
in the Way of Constructive Eugenics! 


Epwin G. CONKLIN 
Professor of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, N. J. 


O WELL-informed person doubts 
that the principles of heredity 
and evolution apply to man as 
well as to the lower organisms 

and in spite of much controversy with 
respect to the importance of natural 
selection in evolution, I make bold to 
assert that no other principle has yet 
been suggested of equal importance 
with this, and that the elimination of 
the unfit. affords not only the only 
natural explanation for the existence of 
fitness, but also the only means by 
which breeders have been able to im- 
prove domesticated animals and culti- 
vated plants. The only possible control 
which mankind can exercise over the 
production of improved races of lower 
organisms or of men lies in the elimina- 
tion from reproduction of the less 
favorable variations which are furnished 
by nature. For it has become more 
and more clear in recent years that, 
while environment exercises a great in- 
fluence over the development of the 
individual, its influence on the germ 
plasm or the hereditary characteristic 
of the race is relatively slight and in 
general is not of a definite or a specific 
character. Probably environment may 
under certain circumstances modify the 
germ plasm, but there is no evidence 
that good environment will produce 
good modifications, and bad environ- 
ment bad modifications in this heredi- 
tary substance. Consequently, the only 
method which is left to man for improv- 
ing races is found in sorting out the 
favorable varieties from the unfavor- 
able ones which are furnished by nature. 
If the human race is to be permanently 
improved in its inherited character- 

1 Paper read before the Eugenics Section, 
of Infant Mortality, Philadelphia, Pa., 

538 


November 11, 


istics, there is no doubt that it must be 
accomplished in the same way in which 
man has made improvements in the 
various races of domesticated animals 
and cultivated plants. 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the 
methods which breeders use cannot be 
rigidly applied in the case of man. It is 
possible for breeders to eliminate from 
reproduction all except the very best 
stocks, and this is really essential if 
evolution is to be guided in a definite 
direction. If only the very worst are 
eliminated in each generation, the 
standard of a race is merely maintained, 
but the more severe the elimination is, 
the more does it become a directing 
factor in evolution. This may be illus- 
trated by a diagram in which variations 
in all directions are represented by lines 
radiating from a central point. These 
lines may be thought of as being indi- 
vidually distinct, as in the “pure line”’ 
concept. If only those lines are blocked 
which lead in one direction, the center 
of radiation or ‘“‘mode”’ would be but 
slightly changed in successive genera- 
tions. But if all lines are blocked but 
those which lead in one particular 
direction, the mode will be rapidly 
shifted in that direction in succeeding 
generations. Therefore the value of 
selection as a directing factor in evolu- 
tion depends on its severity. 


MAINTAINING THE LEVEL 


In the case of man, however, even 
the most enthusiastic eugenicists have 
never proposed to cut off from the 
possibility of reproduction all human 
stocks except the very best, and if only 
the very worst stocks are thus elimin- 


American Association for the Study and Prevention 


1915. 


Conklin: Value of Negative Eugenics 


ated, we must face the conclusion that 
practically all that can be accomplished 
will be to preserve the race at its present 
level. The ecstatic visions of those 
eugenicists who look forward to a 
world of supermen to be produced by 
this method of eliminating from repro- 
duction the worst human stocks, can be 
regarded only as irridescent dreams, 
impossible of fulfillment. It is impos- 
sible, then, to apply rigidly to man the 
methods of animal and plant breeders. 
Society cannot be expected to eliminate 
from reproduction all but the very best 
lines. The great majority of mankind 
cannot be expected voluntarily to efface 
itself. The most that can be hoped for 
is that the great mediocre majority may 
eliminate from reproduction a very 
small minority of the worst individuals. 

Furthermore, other and perhaps even 
more serious objections to the views of 
extreme eugenicists are to be found in 
human ideals of morality. Even for 
the laudable purpose of producing a 
race of supermen, mankind will prob- 
ably never consent to be reduced to the 
morality of the breeding-pen with a 
total disregard of marriage and mon- 
ogamy. The geneticist who has dealt 
only with chickens or rabbits or cattle 
is apt to overlook the vast difference 
between controlling reproduction in 
lower animals and in the case of man 
where restraints must be self-imposed. 

Another fundamental difficulty in 
breeding a better race of men is to be 
found in a lack of uniform ideals. A 
breeder of domestic animals lives long 
enough to develop certain races and see 
them well established, but the devotee 
of eugenics cannot be sure that his or 
her ideals will be followed in succeeding 
generations. The father of Simon New- 
comb is said to have walked through 
the length and breadth of Nova Scotia 
seeking for himself a suitable mate, but 
neither he nor any other eugenicist 
could be sure that his descendants 
would follow a similar course, and long 
continued selection along particular lines 
must be practiced if the race is to be 
permanently improved. Mankind is 
such a mongrel mixture, and it is so im- 
practicable to exercise a strict control 
over the breeding of men, that it is 


539 


hopeless to expect to get pure or homo- 
zygous stocks except with respect to a 
very few characters and then only after 
long selection. 

But granting all these difficulties 
which confront the eugenicist, there is 
no doubt that something may be gained 
by eliminating the worst human kinds 
from the possibility of reproduction, 
even though no great improvement in 
the human race can be expected as a 
result of such a feeble measure. The 
question which has been assigned to 
me on this occasion is ‘‘ How the Num- 
ber of Births of Children Receiving a 
Faulty Heritage from their Parents 
May Be Reduced?” Strictly speaking, 
there is no one who does not receive a 
faulty heritage, at least in some respects; 
‘there is none perfect, no not one.” 
But there are some whose heritage is 
so faulty that they constitute a menace 
to society, and it is doubtless to these 
that this question refers. There are 
large numbers of persons, loosely called 
‘‘defectives,’”’ in modern society, and it 
seems to be a question whether they are 
not actually increasing in number. 
Thisincrease may be due, however, to a 
more accurate recognition and classi- 
fication of defectives than prevailed 
formerly. There is no clearly and 
sharply defined class of defectives, but 
human populations show every grada- 
tion from the highest and most efficient 
individuals to the lowest and worst; 
strictly speaking, defectives may be 
said to include all individuals below the 
average, from subnormals to monsters. 
In general all defectives are shorter 
lived than normals, and the more 
serious the defect the shorter the life. 
The worst monstrosities die in the early 
stages of development, others live but 
a short time after birth, and none of 
these ever leaves offspring. Only those 
defectives in whom abnormalities are 
relatively slight ever reproduce. Nature 
has thus erected an insuperable barrier 
against the propagation of the worst. 


ONE EFFECT OF CHARITY 


Nevertheless a good many defectives 
survive in modern society andare capable 
of reproduction who would have per- 
ished in more primitive society before 


540 The Journal 
reaching maturity. In the most highly 
civilized States the lives of these un- 
fortunates are preserved by charity, 
and in not a few they are allowed to 
reproduce, and thus natural selection, 
the great law of evolution and progress, 
is set at naught. It is within the power 
of society to eliminate from reproduc- 
tion this dependent class. 

How can the number of defectives 
born from defective parents be reduced? 
Evidently if these defects are heredi- 
tary it can be done only by preventing 
their breeding, since in modern society 
defectives cannot be destroyed by 
Spartan methods. Many ways have 
been recommended and a few have been 
tried to accomplish this end, but they 
all come under two categories: (1) 
Segregation to prevent the union of the 
sexes, (2) sterilization or other means 
to prevent conception following sexual 
union. Such methods if rigidly applied 
to all defective or abnormal persons 
would doubtless reduce the number of 
“children receiving a faulty heritage 
from their parents,”’ but since it is im- 
possible for reasons indicated above to 
apply these methods to any except the 
most seriously defective class, which is 
usually dependent upon public care or 
private charity, and since in general 
the birth rate at present among such 
defectives is not large, no great change 
in the number of births of defective 
children through such elimination need 
be anticipated. And this is especially 
true since children inherit not merely 


Number of families investigated............... 


Both parents feeble-minded................... 
One parent feeble-minded and other normal........... 
One parent feeble-minded and other unknown.......... 


Family history of feeble-mindedness.... . 
Both parentsmornrmalee ses: ous nwa es 
One parent normal, the other unknown. 
Both parents unknown.......... 


the traits which their parents show, but 
also those family traits which are carried 
along in the germ plasm in a latent or 


recessive form, waiting only for an 
opportunity to become patent. The 


study of heredity shows that the normal 
brothers and sisters, or even more dis- 
tant relatives, of defective persons may 


of Heredity 


carry the defect in their germ plasm and 
may transmit it to their descendants 
though not showing it themselves. 
Such persons are more dangerous to 
society than the defectives themseives. 
And yet it is probably impossible 
rigidly to exclude them from reproduc- 
tion. 

Finally, it is usually difficult and often 
impossible to decide whether a given 


defect is due to heredity or to environ- 


ment; if it is due to the latter the 
methods adopted for its prevention 
must be wholly different from what they 
would be if it is due to :the former 
cause. Experiments on guinea-pigs, 
rabbits and other animals show that 
serious defects may be produced in off- 
spring by the action of alcohol and 
drugs on either or both of ~ the 
parents before conception, and Forel 
with his wide experience in such 
matters does not hesitate to main- 
tain that the effect of alcohol on 
either or both of the parents at the 
time of conception is one of the most 
fruitful causes of monstrous or defec- 
tive children. No doubt there are 
many other environmental causes of 
defects in children, such as infection, 
malnutrition, injury, ete., at various 
stages in their development. 

Dr. Henry H. Goddard, of the Train- 
ing School at Vineland, N. J., has 
kindly furnished me with the following 
figures regarding the mental condition, 
so far as it has been investigated, of the 
parents of the inmates of that institution: 


... 154 or 45.7% 


bene ve th nesidity oh wr se.0th deny (on 


47 or 13.95% 
46 or 13.65% 


I am indebted to Dr. Martin W. 
Barr of the Pennsylvania Training 
School at Elwyn, Pa., for an extensive 
etiological table which he has prepared 
showing the probable causes of men- 
tal defect in more than 4,000 cases, 
from which I quote the following sum- 
maries: 


a 


Conklin: Value of Negative Eugenics 


Gases aching MelOre DIFGM chic Sette es 6 

Family History of Idiocy and Imbecility. .. 
rrsestachine cin DITCM A Sis t.. k thbe sche tyats. orene 
Gatisestactine ater DITbH 2" joc. 2,00 so nee uae 


INS SG AR a UES De Se eer oe, Me a 


Dr. George Mogridge, Superintendent 
of the Iowa Institution for Feeble- 
Minded Children has kindly supplied 
me with the following figures regard- 
ing the reported mental condition 
of the parents of persons who have 
been admitted to that institution, at 
the same time warning me_ that 
such statistics are not altogether reli- 
able: 


Number of families investigated............... 


Inmates who have both parents feeble-minded. . 
One parent feeble-minded and other normal or unknown.................... 
Number with both parents normal............ 
Number with both parents unknown........... 
iisamiby~inone Or Doth parentss. 2.5.26. sa. 


Defects, whether due to heredity or to 
environment, are multitudinous. Even 
feeble-mindedness is no simple thing 
some persons are born fools, some 
acquire foolishness, and some _ have 
foolishness thrust upon them. Even 


541 


No. of cases Percentage 
ear ee ohm sas 2,651 65.45 
mr. LcOS0'or 25:43 
PPh a NES aie fame cot etote Ls 186 4.59 
Pe ger Ns inst Mie Tage on HA LS 29.96 
Me Mind os 4,050 100. 
with apparently good heredity and 


good environment the children of many 
excellent people are more or less defec- 
tive, and at present we know of no 


means to reduce the number of such 


mistakes of nature. The eugenicist can 
sometimes ‘“‘explain’’ such mistakes 
after they have occurred, though unable 
to predict them before the event. 
Indeed eugenical explanations are apt 


RS RD EERE oo mgarca jr ekue Ia i 4s 1,701 or 100.0% 


66 or 3.88% 
1340r 7.88% 
Eyl Sp rere = 310) / 
876 or 51. 
1I2.Ore Oe 569% 


to be more convincing and accurate 
than eugenical prophecy; it is well to 
have eugenical insurance against having 
defective children, but it is advisable 
not to have all your insurance in one 
company. 


NEW PUBLICATIONS 


THE AMERICAN PET STOCK STANDARD OF PERFECTION and Official Guide of 
the American Fur Fanciers’ Association. Compiled by J. Henri Wagner, president. American 
Fur Fanciers’ Association, Washington, D. C., 1915; pp. 52, price 50 cents. 

Breeders of rabbits, cavies (guinea-pigs), rats and mice are here provided with 
specifications, such as breeders of other animals and fowls have long enjoyed. In 
the case of many breeds, a brief account of the origin is given. Diagrams of 
color pattern and photographs of excellent specimens of each breed increase the 
value of the book as a work of reference for all who are interested in the smaller 
kinds of pet stock. 


Inheritance of a Profile 


At the Casalina estate, near Perugia, Italy, crosses are made between Rambouillet 
rams and Middle Tiber Valley ewes. The latter have a very convex profile of 
nose and forehead, as compared with the straight face of the Rambouillet; the 
results obtained lead to the conclusion that in the first hybrid generation all the 
crosses have a straight face profile, while the convex profile reappears in the second 
hybrid generation, in a ratio very nearly following the expectation for a recessive 
under Mendel’s law—namely, one in four. —Carlo Pucci, director of the zootech- 
nical laboratory of the Royal Agricultural Institute of Perugia, in [/ Moderno 
Zooiatro, Bologna, April 30, 1915. 


THE MARKING FACTOR IN SUNFLOWERS 


T. oD SsA: sCOCKERELE: 
University of Colorado, Boulder, Col. 


AST year, working on the coloring 
matters in sunflowers, I made 
the unexpected discovery that 
the rays of a number of perennial 

species contain a substance which turns 
bright scarlet or vermillion in caustic 
potash solution. The annuals give no 
such reaction, and thus it is evident that 
although the viszble colors in life may be 
exactly the same, there is still something 
fundamentally different, only revealed 
by a chemical test. 

Another class of hidden characters has 
to do with the markings of those 
varieties which assume a red_ color. 
In the ordinary orange-rayed sunflowers 
it is often possible to detect a certain 
deepening of the color toward the base 


of the rays; sometimes this is quite 
conspicuous. Photographs of such 


flowers, taken without a color screen, 
accentuate this effect, and produce the 
appearance of strongly bicolored rays. 
A very remarkable instance of this sort 
was discovered by G. N. Collins in 
Bidens heterophylla, and published, with 
good illustrations, in Plant World, 
November, 1900. No species of wild 
sunflower has red rays, and yet in the 
red-rayed varieties developed under 
cultivation, or very rarely found wild 
as single sports, the distribution of the 
red is controlled by ‘‘marking-factors,”’ 
which existed prior to and independ- 
ently of the color-development through 
which they are made manifest. The 
independent existence of these marking- 
factors is shown not only by their 
behavior in heredity, but also by their 
partial or faint appearance in the orange 
(wild) forms, and their revelation 
through photography. 

In the common garden sunflower, 
Helianthus annuus, or rather the series 
of cultivated forms we have obtained 
through crossing the original wild red 
sport (H. annuus lenticularis var. coro- 
natus) with garden varieties, the mark- 

542 


ing-factors form a quite definite system. 
Their independence of the shade of 
color is shown by the fact that the 
chestnut-red (coronatus) and wine-red 
(vinosus) groups afford exactly parailel 
series of types. The commonest form 
(var. bicolor) has the basal half or more 
of the rays dark (chestnut or wine-red) 
and the apical part yellow or orange in 
the chestnut forms, primrose-yellow or 
very pale yellowish in the wine-red. 
Frequently, however, the base is pale 
(var. zonatus), and the red forms a ring 
around the head, crossing the middle of 
the rays. When the pattern-factor is 
absent, the whole ray is_ colored, 
chestnut or wine-red, as the case may be. 
Such forms frequently show yellow at 
the extreme base, and sometimes this 
becomes a definite spot or patch. In 
an occasional form there are two spots 
of color, either chestnut or vinous, one 
on each side of the basal part of the ray; 
the rest of the ray being orange or pale. 
(Fig. C). This I call var. maculatus. 
In the vinous or primrose-yellow it is a 
very pretty thing. 

I was ready to suppose that this 
series of patterns would be found, quite 
the same, in all annual sunflowers which 
could be colored red. It turns out, 
however, that this is not true; that 
Helianthus cucumertfolius has a very 
different set of patterns. Some years 
ago M. Herb of Naples sent out what 
he called Helianthus cucumertfolius pur- 
pureus, a form with more or less red on 
the rays. The seeds first distributed 
produced very unsatisfactory plants, 
with very little red, and that dingy; but 
M. Herb persevered, and this year we 
have scme very well-colored varieties 
raised from seed which he kindly sent. 
The patterns are on the whole very 
different from those of H. annuus. In 
the early cultures a common form 
(illustrated in Herb’s catalogue for 1913) 
had the color confined to about a fourth 


A PRODUCT OF SUNFLOWER BREEDING 


In 1910, Mrs. Cockerell found near Boulder, Colo., a mutant from the familiar yellow sun- 


flower. Its rays were suffused with chestnut red, which proved on examination to be due 
to anthocyan, a pink pigment that appeared chestnut because of its background. As 
there was but one of these mutants, and the sunflower is sterile with its own pollen, 
it had to be crossed back to the ordinary yellow form; when the seeds of this cross were 
grown, it was found that about half of the flowers had red rays. One of the forms isolated 

is shown above, and was named bicolor; in red forms of another species the pattern was 
reversed, the dark pigment being at the tips instead of the bases of the rays It is 
evident from the photograph that there is a pattern factor which controls the distribu- 
tion of the dark pigment. The presence of this factor would not be suspected in an 
ordinary yellow sunflower, although it is certainly there. The incident illustrates the fact 
that one can never know, ‘from mere inspection, all the factors that any plant or animal 
has inherited, for many of them cannot get expression except under certain rare con- 
ditions. (Fig. 5.) 


is shown in Fig. 5 


H, I. 


Dahlia, 
THE WORK OF FACTORS FOR MARKING 


A represents the patterns of aray of Helianthus annuus, var. bicolor, an entire flower-head of which 


B is the same species, var. ruberrimus (or if the color is vinous, it is 


called var. vinosissimus); C is a new variety, maculatus, of the same species; D is a hy brid, 


H. annuus var. coronatus X H. cuc umerifolius. 


trade, H. cucumertfolius, var. apicalis; 


F is another ray of the same form. 


E isa ray of the Red Lilliput sunflower of the 
G illustrates 


a new variety, H. cucumerifolius var. vittatus, and H is the variety purpureus of the same 


species. 


of the ray, at the extreme base. A very 
pretty variety has the ends of the rays 
(half or less) delicately reddened, thus 
reversing the condition in H. annuus 
var. bicolor. It is this variety which 
was offered by Peter Henderson & Co. 
in their catalogue for 1915, under the 
name of Red Lilliput, with a rather 
over-colored but otherwise very char- 
acteristic figure. A more singular form, 
occurring in this year’s cultures from 
Herb’s seeds, has a variably distinct 
narrow red stripe down the middle of 
the ray (Fig. G); this occurs both on a 


sulphur yellow and a pale primrose 
background. Finally, we have obtained 


544 


I is a dahlia ray and J comes from Helianthus annuus var. zonatus. 


(Fig. 6.) 


a plant in which the whole upper surface 
of the rays is a deep brownish-pink or 
dull crimson, while the under side is 
clear light sulphur yellow, in complete 
contrast (Fig. H). The contrast be- 
tween the upper and lower sides is 
emphasised by the twisting of the rays. 

All these plants from M. Herb’s seeds 
are H. cucumertfolius, not hybrids with 
H. annuus coronatus, as is shown by the 
bracts. They have developed their red 
color quite independently of our coro- 
natus. 

We have raised a number of hybrids 
between our red H. annuus forms and 
the various forms of H. cucumertfolius. 


Cockerell: The Marking Factor in Sunflowers 


These hybrids show the chestnut red 
color on the basal part of the rays, 
usually covering less than half of the 
ray (Fig. D). The general effect is 
quite different from that of H. annuus 
var. bicolor. A full description of one 
of the best of these hybrids is given in 
Standard Cyclop. Horticulture, Vol. III, 
page 1446. 

This year we have obtained a very 
interesting hybrid, which may be called 
X evanescens. It is derived from a 
vinous H. annuus (v. vinosus) XK a 
very pale H. cucumerifolius. The red 
color, therefore, comes from the annuus 
side. The disc is dark, and the rays 
vary from clear bright lemon (not 
orange) to pale primrose. When the 
flowers first open, the basal third or 
more of the rays is suffused with the 
anthocyan color, which in the lemon 
rays is a clear chestnut, often very 
bright and conspicuous. With time, 
this red color fades out completely, 
leaving in its place an orange suffusion. 
The appearance of the lemon-rayed 
variety from primrose or cream ancestry 
appears to confirm the suggestion made 
in a footnote in Science, August 21, 1914, 
to the effect that “‘the pigment of the 
primrose variety is quite the same as 
that of the lemon one, appearing paler 
only because not massed.’ The factor 
for density of pigment is apparently 
independent of that which controls the 


545 


kind of pigment. The loss of the red 
color with maturity can be understood 
on the supposition that a deoxidising 
factor or substance (as described by 
Miss Wheldale) develops. 

In the dahlia we find another series of 
color patterns, more or less like those of 
the sunflower, and similarly independent 
of the kind of color, whether scarlet or 
yellow, or vinous or white (compare the 
colored plates in Gardeners’ Chronicle, 
March 14 and May 23, 1914). I figure, 
for comparison, a dahlia ray (Fig. I) in 
which the basal third or less is light 
yellow, and the rest vinous, reversing 
the condition of the Helianthus cu- 
cumertfolius X annuus hybrid. 

Thus it appears that plants may 
contain determiners, or whatever we 
please to call them, which produce 
practically no visible effect in the 
normal forms, but which give rise to a 
complex series of effects as soon as 
anthocyan pigments appear in the rays. 
We are warned by such phenomena as 
these that our breeding experiments 
cannot always (? ever) be really 
restricted to a chosen set of characters; 
that other characters lie in wait, as it 
were, to confuse us and trip us up. In 
other words, the internal environment 
of the character studied cannot long be 
neglected, difficult as it may be to 
understand or to control. . 


Inheritance of Sex in Strawberries 


Many thousand strawberry seedlings have been grown at the New York (Geneva) 
Experiment Station, including some 3,000 selfed plants which have come mainly 
from five parents. The problem with this fruit of chief importance to the plant 
breeder is the inheritance of sex. f 

While the main breeding work at this station is with fruit, yet the isolation of 
pure lines in varieties of peas, beans, cabbage and potatoes is also being carried on. 

For nearly twenty years the general problem of the improvement of plants 
through bud-selection has been in hand. Originally this work was started with 
the Rome Beauty apple. It now includes also the Baldwin apple. In order to 
get results more quickly and to handle a larger number of individuals this problem 
is now being studied in the greenhouses by means of the English violet. 


NATURAL SELECTION IN WAR 


Conclusions as to Eugenic Results of Conflict Cannot Be Drawn Without Inquiry 
As to Very Large Number of Different Factors—War May Either 
Help or Hinder Race Betterment—Present Strife is 
Overwhelmingly Dysgenic in Effect 


RosweELit H. JOHNSON 
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 


HE unqualified statement that 
war is either eugenic or dysgenic 
in its effect on the human race, 
is found, on closer investigation 

to be unjustifiable. The modification of 
selection by war is far more manifold 
than the literature on the biological 
effects of war would lead the reader to 
suppose. All wars are partly eugenic 
and partly dysgenic. Some are mainly 
eugenic and others mainly dysgenic. 

Natural selection should be sub- 
divided into (1) lethal, that which 
operates through differential mortality; 
(2) sexual, that which operates through 
differential mating; and (3) fecundal, 
that which operates through differential 
fecundity. Again, selection operates 
both in an inter-group competition and 
an intra-group competition. We must, 
then, in analyzing the influence of any 
agency on natural selection, examine it 
under each of these six heads. In the 
case of war, however, we may eliminate 
fecundal selection, as it is little influ- 
enced. Still another division arises from 
the fact that the action of selection is 
different during a war upon the armed 
forces themselves and upon the popula- 
tion at home; and after the war, upon 
the nations with the various modifica- 
tions that the war has left. 

We will consider lethal selection first. 
To measure the effect of the inter-group 
selection of the armed forces, we have 
to compare the relative quality of the 
two races involved. The evidence for 
believing in substantial differences be- 
tween races is based (a) upon their rela- 
tive achievement when each is isolated, 
(6) upon the relative rank when the 
two are competing in one society, and 

546 


(c) upon the relative number of original 
contributions to civilization each has 
made. Such comparisons lead us to 
reject the sentimental equalitarianism 
that denies race differences. While we 
admit of course a great deal of over- 
lapping, there are, nevertheless, real 
avetage differences. To think other- 
wise is to discard evolution and revert 
to the older standpoint of “special 
creation.” 

The comparison of the quality of the 
two sides becomes more and more 
difficult as fighting is more and more 
between groups of allies which may 
differ greatly among themselves. Yet 
this by no means removes the inequality 
of the two sides taken each as a whole. 

Without entering into the evidence 
at this time, we readily see that the 
eugenic effect of war would be very 
different according as the sides differ 
much or little. Yet this difference in 
quality, however great, will have no 
significance, unless the superior or 
inferior side is in general more likely to 
lose fewer men. Where the difference 
has been considerable, as between a 
civilized and savage nation, it has been 
seldom that the superior does not 
triumph with fewer losses. Victory, 
however, is influenced much less in 
these later days by the relative military 
efficiency of two single nations than by 
the success in making alliances with 
powerful nations. But such alignments 
are by no means always associated with 
better quality, because (a) there is a 
natural tendency for the weak to unite 
against a strong nation, (b) to side with 
a group which is apparently succeeding, 
and (c) the alliances may be the work 


Johnson: Natural 


of one or a few individuals who happen 
to be in positions of power at the 
critical time. 


HIGH QUALITY ON BOTH SIDES 


In this present war the contrast 1s 
particularly noticeable, since on both 
sides the combatants are in so large a 
proportion members of the old Teutonic 
or Hebrew races, both stocks being 
preéminent for their contributions to 
science and art. In this very feature, 
it is probable that we have the most 
noteworthy dysgenic element in the 
present war. 

As for the selection taking place 
within each of the struggling nations, 
we must consider first of all the contrast 
between the combatants and the non- 
combatants of the same age and sex. 
This difference depends largely on how 
the army in question was raised. 
Where the army is a permanent, paid 
force, it probably does not represent a 
quality above the average of the 
nation, except physically. When it is 
conscripted, it will be superior phys- 
ically, and probably slightly in other 
respects. If it is a volunteer army, its 
quality will depend largely on whether 
the cause being fought for is one that 
appeals to adventurers merely or one 
that appeals to some moral principle. 
In the latter case, the quality may be 
such that the loss of a large part of the 
army will be peculiarly damaging. 
This situation is more common than 
might be supposed, for by skillful 
diplomacy and journalism, a cause 
which may be really questionable, is 
presented to the public in a most 
idealistic light. In the present war, 
the soldiers of each country have been 
made to believe that they are the glorious 
defenders against unprincipled aggres- 
sors. 

Even within the army of one side, 
lethal selection is operative. Those 
who are killed are by no means a 
haphazard sample of the whole army. 
Among the victims there is a dispropor- 
tionate representation of those with 
(1) dauntless bravery, (2) recklessness, 
(3) stupidity. These qualities merge 
into each other, yet in their extremes 
they are widely different. However, as 


Selection in War 547 


the nature of warfare changes, with the 
increase of artillery, mines and bombs, 
and decrease of personal combat, those 
who fall are more and more chance 
victims. 

In addition to the killed and mortally 
wounded, there are many deaths from 
disease or from wounds which are not 
necessarily fatal. Probably the most 
selective of any of these three agencies 
is the variable resistance to disease and 
the widely varying knowledge and 
appreciation of the need for hygienic 
living shown by the individual, as, 
for instance, less reckless drinking of 
unsterilized water. But here, too, in 
modern warfare, this item is becoming 
less selective, with the advance in 
discipline and in organized sanitation. 

The efficiency of selection will be 
affected by the percentage that each 
side has sent to the front, if the com- 
batants are either above or below the 
average of the population. A nation 
that sends all its able-bodied males 
forward will be affected differently 
from its enemy that has needed to call 
upon only one-half of its able-bodied 
men in order to win its cause. 


THE POPULATION AT HOME 


Back from the fighting lines of the 
contending sides, the conditions that 
prevail are rendered more severe in 
many ways than in times of peace. 
Poverty becomes rife, and sanitation 
and medical treatment are commonly 
sacrificed under the strain. During a 
war, that mitigation of the action of 
natural selection, so common now among 
civilized nations, is somewhat less effec- 
tive than in times of peace. 

After a war has been concluded, 
certain new agencies of inter-group 
selection arise. The result depends 
largely on whether the vanquished have 
had a superior culture brought to them, 
as in the case of the Philippines, or 
whether, on the contrary, certain dis- 
eases have been introduced or crushing 
tribute has been levied, as in the 
Franco-Prussian War, or grievous op- 
pression such as befell the Hebrews in 
Egypt. 

Sometimes the conquerors themselves 
have suffered severely as the result of 


548 The Journal 


excessive spoliation, which has produced 
vicious idleness and luxurious indulg- 
ence, with the ultimate effect of dimin- 
ishing the birth rate. 

Within the nation there may be 
various results. Sometimes, by the 
reduction of overcrowding, natural selec- 
tion will be less severe. On the other 
hand, the loss of that part of the 
population which is more economically 
productive is a very serious loss, leading 
to excessive poverty with increased 
severity in the action of natural selec- 
tion. Selection is also rendered more 
intense by the heavy burden of taxation, 
as is now so evident in Great Britain 
directly, andin the very common depre- 
ciation of currency asin the Southern 
States after the Civil War. 

Sexual selection as well as lethal is 
affected by war in manifold ways. 
Considering the armed force, there is 
an inter-group selection, when the 
enemy’s women are assaulted by the 
soldiers. While this has been an im- 
portant factor in the past, this is less 
common now, with better army disci- 
pline and higher social ideals. 

Within the group, mating at the out- 
set of a war is greatly increased by 
many hurried marriages. There is also 
sometimes an increase of illegitimacy in 
the neighborhood of the training camps. 
In each of these instances, these 
matings do not represent as much 
maturity of judgment as there would 
have been in times of peace, and hence 
give a less desirable sexual selection. 

In considering the belligerent nation 
at home, the number of marriageable 
males is of course far less than at 
ordinary times. It becomes important, 


of Heredity 


then, to compare the quality of the non- 
combatants and those combatants which 
survive and return home, since their 
absence during the war period of course 
decreases their reproduction as com- 
pared with the non-combatants. The 
marked excess of women over men, 
both during the war and after, neces- 
sarily intensifies the selection of women 
and proportionately reduces that of 
men, since relatively fewer men will 
remain unmated. This excess of women 
is found in all classes. Among superiors 
there are, in addition, some women who 
never marry from the lack of sufficiently 
eligible suitors caused by the war. 

In the past, and still among many 
savage peoples, inter-group selection 
has been affected by the stealing of 
women from the vanquished. The 
effect of this has been very different, 
depending. on whether these women 
would otherwise have been killed or 
spared, and also depending on the 
relative quality of their nation to that 
of their conquerors. 

Tosum up, we find there are so many 
features of natural selection, each of 
which must be separately weighed and 
the whole then balanced, that it is a 
matter of extensive inquiry to determine 
whether a certain war has a preponder- 
ance of eugenic or dysgenic results. In 
the present war it would seem that the 
high quality of both sides compared 
with the rest of the world is so pre- 
dominant a dysgenic factor that, to- 
gether with the other dysgenic features, 
the eugenic results are overbalanced. 
The human species therefore on account 
of this is at present declining in inherent 
quality faster than in any previous 
similar length of time. 


Pure Lines in Cotton 


The influence of environment upon pure lines is being studied in a systematic 
way by the North Carolina and Mississippi Experiment Stations, which are grow- 
ing the same strain of cotton 1n the two localities, and carefully comparing the plants 


at different stages. 


The North Carolina Station is further making a study of in- 


heritance and association of some of the important characters of the cotton plant. 
A study of the value of kernels of corn taken from different portions of the ear has 
been made and it has been found that those from about the middle produce stalks 


that yield most heavily. 


Tile SB STERILITY PROBLEM 


Many Important Points in Fruit-Growing Still Await Explanation—Recent Progress 
in the Study—Need of Distinguishing the Various Factors Entering 
into the Problem! 
E: J: Kraus 
State Agricultural Experiment Station, Corvallis, Ore. 


HE problem of the pollination of 
| horticultural fruits has been, 
and is, a subject of great 
practical importance, and of 
much painstaking investigation. Never- 
theless, results from carefully planned 
and skillfully conducted experiments 
frequently are so apparently contra- 
dictory that when the whole body of 
facts is considered, very few conclusions 
seem warranted. In the past far more 
has been concluded from the work of 
two, three or even five years than can 
be justified. The many questions which 
arise, especially as they relate to the 
sterility problem, will require, for their 
solution, years of patient labor. Such 
solution will not come from a mere 
dusting of stigmas with pollen in the 
springtime and an elaborate tabulation 
of results in the fall. 

Still, the outlook is by no means dis- 
couraging. Every recorded fact, no 
matter how seemingly insignificant, is 
to be regarded as a step in advance 
even if for the moment it does seem 
merely to contribute to confusion. 
While it should be realized that a single 
fact is more valuable than extended 
interpretations of opinions based upon 
hasty observations or limited data, yet 
it is equally true that hypotheses are 
often useful and stimulating, and make 
for advancement in the understanding 
of facts. It should be remembered that 
they are hypotheses, and utilized as 
such; it is when they are regarded as 
hard and fast conclusions that they 
become dangerous. The investigator 
should be willing to discard hypotheses 
that are clearly shown by facts to be 
untenable. 


The entire question of the causes of 
self-sterility quite generally in the plant 
kingdom, and in orchard fruits espe- 
cially, is largely in the speculative stage. 
We are just beginning to bring together 
a great body of facts from which, in 
time, we confidently may hope to 
deduce some of the real fundamentals 
of the self-sterility problem. It should 
be understood at the outset that some 
of the statements made in this paper are 
speculative and consequently should 
not be regarded as conclusions. While 
based upon a large amount of experi- 
mental data they may be interpreted 
eventually in some other way. 


DEFINITION OF TERMS 


First of all, it is necessary that there 
be a clear understanding of certain 
terms which often are applied more or 
less indiscriminately. As used in this 
paper, a distinction is made between 
self-fertility, self-fertilization, and self- 
fruitfulness. The term fertilization is 
used in a strictly botanical sense; self- 
fertilization further restricts all gametes 
concerned to those derived from the 
same individual. In the case of varie- 
ties propagated vegetatively any so- 
called individual of that variety still 
would be considered as a mere part of 
the one individual. Self-fruitful is used 
to mean the ability of a plant to produce 
mature fruit, either without pollination 
(parthenocarpy) or when pollinated 
with its own pollen, whether or not 
fertilization takes place, or whether or 
not seeds are produced. It has refer- 
ence to the development of vegetative 
partsonly. A fruit tree, therefore, may 
be self-fruitful and self-sterile, or self- 


1 Read before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association, at Berkeley, 


Cal., August 5, 1915. 


549 


(2 Bq) ‘wom ote sBurppoos oy} ynq AjxoUvA sty} Aq poonpoid uaqzjo o18 Spaes a[qPIA 
Ayrunjsoddo jo yor] ay} Jo esneBood ‘qmaz opyqy] AJOA UT yNSeL P[NOM ‘Q[IJAJ-JOS JOU oie yey} SoMOUvA oUOS YIM 


M SAJOIIvA STU} 0} plvyo.1O oitjUo UL Surjurld ut ojes Joo} Ayquenbasuoo ABW SIdMO1f) ‘uoryeurjod-ssolo ay} Woy 
ayy ye suoutoeds oy} ‘uorjeurjod-sso19 jo yNsel 


ds 9014} 918 Jo] OY IV *AJOLIVA OII}IOJ-jJOS © ST ‘paydeisojyoyd o10y ‘giddv umoyMON MOT[PA OYL 


‘uoryeurjod-sso1o 10f 
surueid © yons ott 
gouvivodde ut ures ou st soy} yeY} SHOTACO ST 4] ‘uoryeurjod-jjes wo1y esore yYBt 
oy} se peonpoid oJom YoryM suotUTe 


SUIddV ASHHL OL FONAHAAATC ON SAMVIA NOLLVYNITTOd-SSOUD 


Kraus: The Self-Sterility Problem 554 


fruitful and self-fertile. Barren and 
self-barren mean the absolute failure of 
a tree to produce fruit; the latter term, 
naturally would imply the lack of 
application of foreign pollen. The term 
fertile has been used to express the idea, 
both of production and capability of 
production. There is a definite distinc- 
tion between the two ideas which should 
be observed, though it would be pre- 
sumptuous to attempt to settle that 
question here. Since it seems more in 
line with usage in other biological 
sciences to regard fertility as synonym- 
ous with the actual production of 
viable offspring, germinable seeds are 
considered the true measure of fertility. 

Let us consider briefly the term self- 
fertility. By it is meant the seminal 
production of independent offspring 
by an individual when not pollinated 
or fertilized by another individual. 
Generally this term has been applied to 
any plant which produces fruit with its 
own pollen. As indicated above, how- 
ever, such an application is far too 
generalized, since a plant may be self- 
fertile and yet not be self-fertilized. 
Examples of such a condition at once 
come to mind in all cases of apogamy 
(including parthenogenesis), or vegeta- 
tive apogamy. Again a plant may be 
self-fertilized and still not be self-fertile, 
if fertility is measured by viable seeds. 
Oftentimes even when actual fertiliza- 
tion has taken place, there 1s a failure of 
the embryo either to complete its 
development, or of the seeds to germi- 
nate. For the present discussion, the 
line which marks the division between 
the fertility and sterility of an individual 
is determined, arbitrarily, by whether 
its seeds do or do not germinate under 
normally favorable circumstances. This 
line of demarcation is arbitrary for 
several reasons; the chief of which is 
that whether a proembryo or an embryo 
fails soon after fertilization has taken 
place, or whether a fully formed embryo 
actually germinates and the seedling is 
markedly weak in constitution, the 
difference in development seems not 
so much one of kind as of degree. It 
does seem, however, that one of the 
definite division lines in the life cycle 
of a plant is marked by the phenomena 


of germination of the seed. While a 
fully matured seed may be called the 
new individual, throughout the following 
discussion only the germinated seed is 
so regarded. Consider in this connec- 
tion, if you will, the frequent failure 
to hatch of the eggs of closely inbred 
domestic fowls, even though the best 
of incubation conditions have been 
provided and the eggs contain appar- 
ently perfect embryos; and also the 
premature birth which frequently takes 
place among animals when species are 
crossed, or, in common parlance, when 
the matings are not congenial. 

For convenience, self-fertility may be 
considered to be of two types, first, that 
directly due to morphological factors, 
and second, that directly due to physio- 
logical factors. Like all classifications, 
no hard and fast line can be drawn 
between the two types—they are inter- 
dependent to no inconsiderable degree, 
as will be pointed out later. 


MORPHOLOGICAL FACTORS 


Morphological factors as causes of 
self-fertility are, as a rule, the most 
readily understood because of the re- 
lative ease with which they may be 
studied. Instances are of common oc- 
currence. Beach and Booth have shown 
that under normal conditions certain 
self-sterile varieties of grapes are in- 
capable of fertilizing other self-sterile 
varieties, which “is in many cases, if 
not all, due to a lack of potency in the 
pollen.” A large proportion, or all, 
the grains are morphologically imper- 
fect. Dorsey has recently shown that 
the cause of impotent pollen in the 
grape is due to “degeneration in the 
vegetative nucleus,’ and that in the 
impotent pollen of certain varieties no 
germ pore is present. 

There is a wide variation in the 
germinability of apple pollen; it ranges 
from less than 1% to 100% according 
to variety. It also should be added 
that the percentage germination of any 
variety, even though apparently per- 
fect morphologically, will vary from 
year to year and is dependent upon 
many factors such as age and general 
vitality of the tree, humidity before and 
during blooming time, soil conditions; 


woz 


in fact, any environmental factor in 
the broadest sense of the term. Jeffrey 
recently has pointed out the widespread 
occurence of morphologically tmperfect 
pollen in many plants, due, as he says, 
to the hybrid nature of such plants. 
Whether the same reasoning can be 
applied to account for morphologically 
defective pollen in all fruit varieties is 
still a question; apparently it accounts 
for some instances. Morphological 1m- 
perfection is also of no uncommon occur- 
rence among ovules, as is readily observ- 
able on inspecting the ovaries of most 
double flowers or of many varieties of 
fruits. There are degrees of imperfec- 
tion, ranging from merely a lack of 
proper development of the egg apparatus 
to an almost complete degeneration of 
the entire ovule. According to Coit, 
some normal embryo sacs are produced 
in occasional fruits of both Washington 
Navel and Satsuma oranges. If dis- 
integration of the embryo-sacs takes 
place, it may occur before the formation 
of the megaspores, but usually not until 
afterwards. He also states that viable 
pollen of parthenocarpic varieties 1s 
either entirely wanting or is very 
scarce. 

Strictly dioecious forms unless par- 
thenogenetic or apogamous are neces- 
sarily self-sterile. In the very interest- 
ing cases of total or partial change of 
the expressed sex of a plant, that 1s, 
staminate to pistillate or vice versa, as 
has been recorded for the Papaya and 
as has been known to occur to a lesser 
degree among the willows, sorrel, and 
some others, there arises a new situa- 
tion; under the latter circumstances the 
abnormal individuals actually might be 
self-fertile. 

In the class of morphological adapta- 
tions which make for self-sterility, also 
would fall all those numberless modifica- 
tions of structure which bring about 
the prevention of self-pollination. Of 
course, through the agency of man, 
dichogamous flowers are Capable of 
being self-pollinated, as they may be 
also in nature under exceptional cir- 
cumstances, but as a rule a single flower 
of either type, when left to itself, would 
be sterile. 

With respect to heterostyled plants, 


The Journal 


of Heredity 


it has been suggested that perhaps the 
pollen tubes from the short styled 
flowers were not of sufficient length to 
penetrate to the eggs of long-styled 
individuals. It is an interesting sug- 
gestion but instances in which this has 
been investigated would not tend to 
bear it out. Cases are established in 
which the pollen tubes do not reach 
the eggs, but this result, so far as deter- 
mined, is due to a physiological not a 
morphological cause. 


PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTORS 


Passing now to a consideration of 
what may be termed the physiological 
causes of sterility, it will be observed 
that several classes can be made here, 
too. The first deals with those pheno- 
mena classed as chemotactic. This is 
no doubt a comprehensive grouping, 
and as more exact data become avail- 
able, it may be shown that chemotaxis 
is but a temporarily assigned cause for 
results not now wholly understood. 
However, such a classification aids in 
furnishing a working basis for a con- 
sideration of available data. 

The greater mass of evidence would 
indicate that in many instances, it 
is largely through chemotaxis that the 
pollen tube is directed in its growth to 
the embryo sac, and the sperms to the 
egg. Cases of self sterility which can 
be explained as having resulted from 
what may be termed negative chemo- 
taxis are not unknown. To such a 
cause it seems preferable to ascribe 
such instances as have been recorded, 
in which, instead of a progressive in- 
crease in the rapidity of the growth of 
the pollen tube down the style, there is 
a progressive retardation, and finally 
total cessation of growth, but neither 
the conductive nor stigmatic tissues 
have been destroyed or perceptibly 
changed. 

In his experiments with orchids, 
Fritz Muller found that not only was 
the pollen of a given plant, when placed 
upon its own stigma, prevented from 
germination, but also that there was a 
poisonous interaction of pollen and 
stigma. 

To a third class, and so far as orchard 
fruits are concerned, by all odds the 


(°Q *81yq) “Ie9TO JOA YOu SI SULUPOU $qyt Ysnoyyye *A4I[1410} 


jjpS UO SULIvOq oUIOS DALY 0} SUIS YOTYM yo} ev ‘Vor yuR{d Jo styde Aq poysazut o10M Sonay peullojop ssoyT, “FYsIt oy} ye symay 


op) 


9914} IY} UT UVVS SI SUOTJEUTTTO 1 -J f[9S Ppetpuny [eloAds 9594} fo IpNsos ete oITJUo OU S}OOSUT Bul. Ay 10 Pulm Aq UOTJEUILUEYUOO ULOLy 
poeqoo 701d pue ‘peyeurjod-J [Os Aynjoreo OTOM Ose, Pee ao [BIOAOS ‘OUITy oUlesS 94 1V “uoryeurjod- SSOIOD 8 UtO1} QULOD de] oy} 4e 
SyInaf OM] IY] OT 4tof-fles sx SUITJOULOS ST aut ysnou4 |e *Q[I194sS- J[es ST “poyerysnqt o1OY ‘odd B STAC] uosg oY} s SOOUBYSUIMOATO Aueut Jopuys) 


WOINVLAOdAT ANOS AO ST NOLLVNITTOd-SSOUD ASVD STALL NI 


554 The Journal of Heredity 


most important and inclusive, it is 
difficult to apply a short, descriptive 
term, though brief discussion will make 
clear its characteristics. The germina- 
tion of the pollen grains upon the stigma, 
the growth of the pollen tube down the 
style, and generally the union of the 
proper nuclei within the embryo sac, 
are apparently normal. Now the 
interesting fact is, that further develop- 
mental phenomena proceed to varying 
degrees. That is to say, the  post- 
fertilization processes may be normal, 
with a full and complete development of 
the endosperm and embryo, or there 
may be practically no development of 
the egg after its union with the sperm. 
All gradations exist between these 
extremes. Very frequently there is 
practically a complete development of 
the endosperm but a far less complete 
development of the embryo. The 
changes occurring in the ovule are 
reflected in the external appearances of 
the young fruits. Time and again 
there is an apparent set of fruit when 
blossoms are self-fertilized, but within a 
period of several days or weeks the 
young fruit turns yellow and finally 
drops. On cutting into such fruits to 
examine the seeds, a highly interesting 
situation is disclosed. If the fruit 
has fallen while still very small, it will 
be noted that there has been very slight 
development of the ovules, though there 
is evidence that the endosperm has 
begun development and often the em- 
bryo also, but only to a very slight 
degree. Fruits which have remained on 
the tree for a greater length of time 
generally show a much greater degree 
of development of endosperm and 
usually, though by no means always, a 
greater development of the embryo. 
Fruits which have fallen when half 
grown generally show what appears 
to have been a complete development 
of endosperm and the embryo clearly 
visible to the unaided eye, often filling 
half and sometimes a much greater 
proportion of the seed. It is inter- 
esting to note that in most self-sterile, 
but not self-fruitful or parthenocarpic, 
varieties of apples and pears, the extent 
of development of the embryo can be 
predicted with a high degree of accuracy 


from the observation of the size or 
weight of the fruit; the larger the fruit 
the greater the embryo development. 
This is in accord with the fact already 
well known that, under like conditions 
in varieties of apples and pears which 
are not parthenocarpic, there is generally 
an important correlation between weight 
of seed and weight of fruit. One more 
condition should be mentioned. In 
mature fruits, shrivelled seeds, which 
were apparently of full size before the 
shrivelling took place, are of common 
occurrence. Examination of such seeds 
discloses an entire lack of embryo or one 
exceedingly small and aborted. » Earlier 
inspection shows the seed-coats filled 
with endosperm, which shrinks away on 
maturity of the fruit. 


FAILURE OF EMBRYOS 


How to account for the failure of the 
embryos at various stages in their 
development is not entirely clear, but 
in a study of this problem, some inter- 
esting phases have arisen. In reference 
to pollination of orchard fruits, several 
records are available which state that. 
the variety is self-sterile except for a 
few misshapen or small fruits harvested 
from clusters infested with aphids. 
In our own experiments, we have ob- 
served this same condition dozens of 
times. This setting in the presence of 
aphids has been explained on the 
grounds that the aphids, in crawling 
over the blossoms, carried the pollen 
on to the stigmas, whereas flowers simply 
inclosed in sacks were not so thoroughly 
pollinated. The view hardly seems 
tenable because, unless very hard pressed 
for time, even when flower clusters are 
tagged for self-fertility tests, we brush 
over the stigmas of the flowers with 
their own pollen; and the most fre- 
quently occurring condition of this kind 
with us is that due to the rosy apple 
aphis which works on the leaves in the 
cluster, badly deforming them, but, in 
most circumstances, does not come into 
contact with the fruit at all, though the 
latter is deformed also. In the case of 
apple varieties which normally are 
neither self-fertile nor self-fruitful, in 
other words self-barren, not only is it 
possible to cause the fruit to set if 


Kraus: The Self-Sterility Problem 


aphids are present at blooming time, 
but it is actually possible to produce 
embryo-containing seeds, none of which 
have we ever succeeded in germinating. 
Accidentally and intentionally this re- 
sult has been obtained many times. Of 
course, such fruits are usually deformed: 
the longer and more severe the infesta- 
tion, the greater the deformity. Gardner 
has found in cherries a similar condition, 
produced by the black cherry aphis. 
None of the pits, however, matured 
embryos. There is a radical change in 
the vascular system of fruits badly 
deformed through aphis infestation and 
such fruits may remain hanging on the 
trees for several years. The greatest 
change, however, is that the embryo 
resulting from self-fertilization at times 
will complete its development under 
such circumstances and absolutely fails 
under normal conditions. It would 
seem that this peculiar behavior of 
aphis infested fruits has a fundamental 
significance, especially when considered 
in connection with a study of vegetative 
parts. 

It was soon realized that to arrive 
anywhere in a study of this problem it 
would be necessary to begin such a 
study very early in the history of the 
flower. In our own work on the apple 
and pear, we have not only examined 
the fruit bud in its very beginning, but 
also the vascular anatomy of the spur or 
branch from which it arose. Why this 
latter seemed important will become 
evident directly. It has been demon- 
strated that morphologically defective 
pollen is present in many varieties of 
orchard fruits at the time the anthers 
open. At once the question arises, at 
what stage of development of the 
blossom does the abnormality of devel- 
opment occur, and what is the nature of 
such abnormality? Recent investiga- 
tions have given one answer to the 
problem. The same question may well 
be asked regarding any abnormality 
of ovules. When there appears to be no 
particular abnormality of either pollen 
or ovules, one naturally seeks to discover 
other causes. 

To observe that apparently there is a 
normal union of sperm and egg cells and 
nuclei, and then a varying development 


555 


of endosperm and embryo from little 
more than none to complete, demands 
further search for the causes underlying 
such behavior. Anyone who has carried 
on pollination experiments knows full 
well that the application of so-called 
acceptable pollen does not necessarily 
insure fertility. To a lesser degree, the 
phenomena above enumerated under 
self-fertilization take place after cross- 
fertilization, and this is true even though 
pollen of the highest germinability be 
used. 

Such a result leads one to look beyond 
the pollen and egg cells, important 
though they may be, and he is naturally 
led to question whether there is not 
something to be gained from a study of 
the nutritive processes of structures 
concerned in seed formation and de- 
velopment. Are there abnormalities of 
somatic tissue which actually preclude 
seed and fruit formation even though 
the eggs and sperms immediately con- 
cerned are not lacking in their essential 
qualities? Often the high percentages 
of apparent set from self-pollination or 
cross-pollination shrink to a discouraging 
zero before the maturity of the fruit. 
How often, too, a fair sized fruit is 
found to be without “‘plump”’ seeds. 
The careful observer has noticed that 
this latter occurrence is comparatively 
frequent among certain varieties and 
extremely rare among others. Is there 
a reason for this? What. is the cause 
for certain varieties being able to 
produce seedless fruits when. self-pol- 
linated, while others absolutely fail to 
mature fruit unless good seeds are 
present? Or why will many fruits 
develop parthenocarpically ? As more 
cases are investigated, the evidence of 
differences in texture and even chemical 
composition of seed bearing and seedless 
fruits, is increasing rapidly. Perhaps 
all are familiar with the differences in 
flavor and texture of seedless and seed 
bearing grapes in the same cluster. 
Hume has pointed out the differences in 
persimmons. English cucumbers are 
“often rendered unfit for use when they 
bear seeds.’”’ The quality and texture 
of apples and pears are distinctly dif- 
ferent when the fruits have developed 
parthenocarpically. To me all this 


THE PRODUCTION OF SEEDLESS PEARS 
‘his'is the Winter_Nelis pear, a self-fruitful 
Ab ve is a fruit produced by cross-p yi 


il and, very rarely, self-fertile variety. 
1ation, and having the full complement 


of seeds. Below is a fruit produced from self-pollination—it is entirely normal 
both size and shape, but has not a single seed. It has been determined that 
parthenocarpy—the production of fruits without seeds—occurs only rarely in 
4 


his variety. (Fig. 9. 


Kraus: The Self-Sterility Problem 


points to a phase of the pollination and 
fertility investigations that have not 
received the attention they merit; 
namely, a thorough study of the vas- 
cular system of fruits. There certainly 
are varying degrees of interdependence 
of seed and flesh formation. This 
absolute dependence of some varicties 
upon the presence of seeds in order to 
reach maturity and the absolute inde- 
pendence of others raises a series of 
questions which as yet are not under- 
stood but deserve careful attention. 
Of course, they may have a more direct 
bearing in the problems of  self-fruit- 
fulness and parthenocarpy, but they 
are by no means to be disregarded in 
solving the problem of self-sterility. 


STUDY OF THE CELL 


The further study of the phenomena 
of gametogenesis and fertilization, es- 
pecially as related to nutrition, is 
absolutely essential. Coulter’s recent 
contribution on reproduction in plants, 
especially that portion which deals with 
the conditions under which gametes are 
formed, is most suggestive in this latter 
regard. Much more information is 
needed on nutrition and its relation to 
embryo development, and the inter- 
relation of vegetative or somatic vigor 
to reproductive vigor. Cannot the one 
be measured in terms of the other to a 
considerable degree? The possibility of 
changing certain varieties from a self- 
sterile condition to a so-called self- 
fertile one by a change in nutrition is too 


Bai 


well known to require more than 
mention, but the fact should not be 
overlooked that in the great majority 
of such cases actual self-fertility has not 
been induced but rather a condition of 
self-fruitfulness. In many varieties of 
apples, it is possible to bring about self- 
fruitfulness (without plump seeds) by a 
change in nutrition and self-pollination; 
it is much more difficult to do so when 
no pollination takes place. It seems 
that a stimulation of the ovules must 
be induced, and this stimulation trans- 
mitted to the vascular system; and that 
when a “‘tendency to develop” has been 
set up, the fruit continues to develop 
whether seeds are present or not. A 
greater expression of this “tendency to 
develop” is evident when fruit is pro- 
duced without pollination, but some 
other abnormal condition of nutrition 
or stimulation has been applied to bring 
about the result. Its greatest expres- 
sion is the production of fruit, normally 
parthenocarpic; a phenomenon purely 
vegetative in character, neither pollina- 
tion nor abnormal stimulation having 
been required. It may be argued that 
the term “‘tendency to develop” explains 
nothing. Granted; however, it expresses 
an existing condition or relation, the 
fuller explanation of which will come 
from a more thorough study of vegeta- 
tive parts, and a correlation of their 
structure and developmental behavior 
with fertilization and seed production, 
whether such correlation be positive or 
negative. 


Home-grown or Foreign Seed 


At the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station studies on inheritance in oats 
and beans, having regard to yield, color, and other characters, have been under way 
for some years; cross-bred apples are being studied, and the effect of selection in 


populations and pure lines is also the subject of investigation. 


In view of the 


importance of the oat crop in the state, that cereal has been given special attention, 


with the view of securing the best possible varieties for local conditions. 


The 


work was begun by a careful test of the varieties already in use, and continued by 


isolation of pure lines and by hybridization. 


The current idea among farmers 


that foreign-grown seed is better than home grown, has been found here, as else- 
where, to have little basis; frequently, indeed, a variety behaves much better after 


it has been acclimatized for a year or two. 


PLANT BREEDING IN CUBA 


Rich Opportunities for Geneticists—Attempts Made to Utilize Natural Resources— 


Interesting Problems of the Mango and Other Fruits 


F. S. Earue, Herradura, Cuba, and W1Lson POPENOE, 
Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. C. 


DISCUSSION of plant breeding 
in Cuba must necessarily deal 
more with opportunities than 
with accomplishments, since it 

is only in very recent years that any 
attention has been devoted to this 
subject, and the work is still in its 
infancy. Along several of the most 
important lines, however, a good start 
has been made, and with the remarkably 
rich field which Cuba possesses it is 
scarcely conceivable that the near 
future will not see some noteworthy 
advances in the development of new 
and superior forms of cane, tobacco, 
maize, vegetables and tropical fruits. 

Naturally enough, when the improve- 
ment of Cuban crops was first taken 
up eleven years ago, when the senior 
author was called to the island to 
organize the Government Experiment 
Station, the most important cultures 
were the first ones to receive attention. 
The testing of seedling sugar canes has 
been carried on for the past ten or 
twelve years at the Harvard Experiment 
Station, which is maintained by Mr. 
Atkins, president of the American 
Sugar Refining Co., at his Soledad 
plantation near Cienfuegos. As is well 
known, sugar cane is usually propagated 
by planting the stalks; seedlings were 
first successfully grown by the British 
in Barbados and Demerara, but recently 
they have been propagated throughout 
the tropical world in great numbers, in 
the hope of obtaining varieties which 
would be more resistant to certain 
diseases or contain a greater amount 
of sugar. At Soledad the special prob- 
lem has been to find varieties so well 
adapted to local conditions that the 
yield can be maintained in the face of 
lessened soil fertility due to long- 
continued planting to this one crop. 

558 


The soils of the Soledad district are 
peculiar in not responding to the use of 
commercial fertilizers. Other Cuban 
soils, especially the red lands-and the 
sandy loams, give excellent results when 
fertilizers are applied to them, and their 
productiveness can be maintained with- 
out difficulty. Since sugar cane occu- 
pies the land continuously for a number 
of years the soil cannot readily be 
improved through crop rotation or 
green cover crops. Stable manure is 
out of the question, hence when com- 
mercial fertilizers fail to give the desired 
results the problem is a serious one. 
What possible solution could be found 
for such an unusual problem—to 
make a plant continue to yield heavily 
while the soil in which it grows is being 
steadily exhausted? Few investigators 
would have thought of genetics as a 
solution; but the attempt to get around 
the situation through scientific plant 
breeding was made and is proving success- 
ful, since many of the seedlings are 
giving satisfactory yields even on thin 
and exhausted soils. 


DISEASE RESISTANCE 


In addition to the production of 
seedling canes which will maintain a 
profitable yield on poor soils, an effort 
has been made, in a very limited way, 
to obtain through selection strains 
which will be resistant to the root rot, 
a disease supposed to be caused by 
Marasmius sacchari. On virgin timber 
lands in Cuba cane will often continue 
to give profitable results for twenty or 
twenty-five years without replanting. 
At length, with soil exhaustion and the 
increase of disease due to continuous 
cultivation of this one crop, the fields 
die out and must be replanted every 
third or fourth year. The cane usually 


A CUBAN FRUIT OF PROMISE 


One of the things needed by tropical fruit growers is a satisfactory grape. Most of the grapes 
known to commerce are natives of temperate countries, and have never given satisfactory 
results in warm regions; hence good grapes are not now grown in tropical America. In 
the wild Caribbean grape here illustrated, however, is a plant which breeders can probably 
make serve their needs. It is found in many parts of Cuba and the West Indies, and even 
in a wild formits berries are as good as those of some of the North American wild grapes, 
which have been so admirably improved during the last century. There is reason to be- 
lieve that the plant breeders can produce from this stock a grape that will meet their 
wants as well as the Concord and other varieties meet those of North America. (Fig. 10). 


560 The Journal 


begins to die at certain spots in the field 
where growth is weakest, and the 
disease spreads in concentric circles 
until there are bare spots of an acre or 
more. Always, however, occasional 
stools survive in these diseased areas, 
and continued observation of this fact 
led to the conclusion that some of these 
stools represented plants which had 
greater resistance to the disease than 
the average. It is well known that 
varieties differ very noticeably in their 
resistence to the disease, and if partic- 
ularly immune strains exist in the 
widely planted Cristalina cane, which 
is so satisfactory in Cuba from most 
other points of view, the fact is of the 
greatest importance. At one time this 
problem was taken up by the Cuban- 
American Sugar Co., and many strains 
were selected for trial. Unfortunately, 
the work was dropped before any results 
were obtained, but the question is one 
which promises to yield most valuable 
results when the necessary attention is 
given it. 

While cane and tobacco! naturally 
occupy the most important places in 
Cuban agricultural investigations, to 
the plant breeder there is probably no 
field of greater interest than the im- 
provement of tropical fruits. Cuba 
possesses unusually good opportunities 
for this work, due to the wide variety of 
fruits which are found in the island, and 
the great abundance of several of them, 
such as, for example, the avocado? and 
the mango. 

The northerner coming to Cuba is apt 
to scoff at many of the native fruits, 
and to compare them unfavorably with 
the temperate fruits to which he has 
been accustomed. In doing so, he fails 
to remember that most of the tropical 
fruits—practically all with the exception 
of the pineapple and the banana—are 
nothing more than half-wild seedlings. 
In the majority of cases, even an occa- 


of Heredity 


sional superior variety which may 
originate through seedling variation is 
lost because of the fact that vegetative 
propagation has never been generally 
understood or applied in the tropics. 
It is no'-wonder, then, that many of the 
tropical fruits, in their present state, 
are of rather inferior quality. On the 
contrary, it is doubtful if the wild 
prototypes of many of our cultivated 
temperate fruits are so attractive or so 
palatable as*many of these tropical 
species which are in the same state of 
nature. 


SELECTION OF FRUITS 


The most obvious means of improving 
most of the tropical fruits, and the 
one which offers the most immediate 
results, is selection. With the great 
number of seedlings which are found in 
Cuba, it is not difficult to find occasional 
ones which are much superior to the 
average and worthy of propagation. 
We are just now getting to the point 
where we can bud or graft most tropical 
fruit trees, and hence the work of im- 
provement is just being commenced. 
It can scarcely be said that Cuba is 
behind in this work, though more has 
been done in Florida in regard to work- 
ing out methods of propagation which 
will permit choice seedlings of mangos, 
avocados and other fruits to be per- 
petuated. Efforts at hybridization have 
been few or practically none, yet in 
several respects this field, too, offers 
remarkably good opportunities. 

The tropics have long been in need of 
a grape which would flourish and pro- 
duce abundantly, the Malaga type 
(Vitis vinifera) as well as the North 
American varieties having proved to be 
poorly adapted to tropical conditions, 
though the South European grapes are 
occasionally grown in Cuba and other 
tropical countries with a certain degree 
of success. There exists in Cuba, 


1A short paper on selected strains of tobacco was published by Dr. Heinrich Hasselbring as 
the result of his work at the Estacién Experimental Agronomica. 


This is the only paper dealing 


with plant breeding that has yet been issued by the station, whose work was largely suspended 
for a number of years, because of political conditions, and has only recently been resumed with 


vigor. 


* The avocado (Persea gratissima Gaertner, a member of the laurel family) is known in tropical 


America as aguacate, a name based on the Aztec name ahuacatl. 


Avocado is a corruption 


of this name, which seems to have become firmly established in the United States. The term 
“alligator pear’’ is also used in this country, but is misleading and objectionable. 


THE CUBAN WALNUT 


Good nutsjare comparatively scarce in the tropics, and Cuban plant breeders have, therefore, 


a great opportunity in the possession of this wild species of walnut. 


in size of nuts with the North 


It compares favorably 


American black walnut, and should easily yield to selection 


and hybridization, as well as furnishing a stock on which to graft temperate varieties. 


Photograph from H. A. Van Hermann. 


however, a native species, Vitis caribaza, 
which might, through hybridization 
with some of th: cultivated grapes, give 
rise to a race which would be of th2 
greatest value to tropical regions. 
The vigor and productiveness of this 
wild grape suggest that it might also 
be of value as a stock on which to graft 
varieties of the vinifera type. Even in 
its present form this grape is equal, in 
size and quality, to many of the wild 
grapes of North America; the individual 
berries are about 38 of an inch in 
diameter, dark purple, juicy, and pro- 
duced in good sized clusters. The 
plant is a strong climber, sometimes 
covering trees 18 or 20 feet high. At 


Santiago de las Vegas it has been 
cultivated on trellises and has done 


remarkably well. Two distinct forms 
have been noted in different parts of 
Cuba, one with a close, compact fruit 


cluster, the other producing looser 
clusters and fewer berries. 
Another native plant of possible 


(Fig. 11.) 


economic) value- has recently ~ been 
brought to the attention of horticul- 
turists by H. A. Van Hermann and 
Dr. Juan T. Roig. This is the Cuban 
walnut, /uglans insularis, a tree occur- 
ring in the mountains of the island and 
producing nuts which compare favorably 
in size with the northern black walnut. 
The kernels are difficult to remove from 
the shell, however, and the partitions 
are thick...The tree. is .not-.at. all 
common, and horticulturally speaking 
it is practically unknown, yet it might 
be of great value as a stock on which to 
graft some of the cultivated walnuts, 
or through selection it might be con- 
siderably improved. There are very 
few nuts which succeed in Cuba, or in 
the tropics generally, and the addition of 
a walnut to those already cultivated 
would be a distinct advance. It may 
be mentioned that the Queensland Nut, 
Macadamia ternifolia, has been fruiting 
for several years at Santiago de las 
561 


562 The Journal 


Vegas, and gives promise of becoming 
a valuable thing. 


OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE MANGO 


In all parts of the island the mango is 
one of the most abundant of fruits. 
During July and August it reigns 
supreme, filling the markets everywhere. 
Many Cubans prefer the mango to all 
other fruits, though there are some who 
would place the pineapple and the anén 
(Annona squamosa) ahead of it, and a 
few might even consider the sapote or 
sapodilla (Achras zapota) superior. With 
very few exceptions, however, the 
varieties or types of mango grown 
throughout the island are inferior ones, 
scarcely worthy of propagation, and the 
opportunity for improvement is great. 

Nearly all Cuban mangos are poly- 
embryonic, and reproduce themselves 
more or less true to type when grown 
from seed. This peculiarity of certain 
mangos has been recognized for some 
time; many years previously, however, 
when English horticulturists took up 
the improvement of the mango in India, 
they found that seedlings from the best 
varieties were usually much inferior to 
the parent, and they were forced to 
depend upon vegetative propagation for 
the perpetuation of good mangos. The 
Indian mangos, in many cases at least, 
are monoembryonic, and seedlings do 
not ‘come. true “to type.= The. West 
Indian mangos are separable into numer- 
ous groups, and it has long been known 
to the natives that a seed from a mango 
of any given type would produce a 
mango of the same type; this reproduc- 
tion of type is so perfect, indeed, that 
among twenty or thirty seedlings of one 
type the fruits will be as similar in 


every character as the fruits of a 
grafted variety. The explanation is 
to be found in the polyembryonic 


character of the seeds. 

Putting the case as simply as possible 
we may say that the plants which grow 
from the seed are not derived from a 
fertilized sexual cell, as is usually the 


of Heredity 


case in the vegetable kingdom, but 
arise as buds in the tissues which sur- 
round the female cell in the ovary. 
Thus the question of sex does not enter 
into the origin of these plants any more 
than it does into the propagation of a 
geranium by cuttings of the fleshy stem. 
The mango tree produced in this fashion 
naturally reproduces the characters of 
its parent as truly as does a tree propa- 
gated by the ordinary means of grafting, 
since it is a case of vegetative reproduc- 
tion in both instances.* 


WELL-DEFINED TYPES 


The commonest Cuban mangos are divided 
into two races, known to the natives as mango 
and manga; the former is a tall, erect tree, 
sometimes 60 feet high, with an oval, open 
crown, the fruit elongated, laterally com- 
pressed, usually curved and beaked at the 
apex, the fiber surrounding the seed long and 
coarse. The manga race, on the other hand, 
is a low, spreading tree, 35 or 40 feet high, 
with a dense, dome-shaped or flat-topped crown, 
the fruit scarcely compressed laterally and 
lacking a beak at the apex, the fiber more 
abundant than in the mango race but much 
finer. Two principal types of the manga race 
are distinguished, manga amarilla, an elongated 
fruit with orange colored flesh, and manga 
blanca, an obliquely spherical form with pale 
yellow flesh. Both these types are very well 
defined and one may find trees in various parts 
of the island which produce fruits absolutely 
identical in appearance and character. Another 
race which is less common but very highly 
esteemed is the Filipino, which is believed to 
have come from the Philippines by way of 
Mexico; this is a rather small, erect tree with a 
dense oval crown, producing elongated, slender 
fruits, compressed laterally, with very little 
fiber and of excellent flavor. 

Besides these principal races and types, 
there are to be found, principally at Cienfuegos 
and in the vicinity of Santiago de Cuba, 
several less important types, which though 
very limited in distribution are very superior 
in quality. The Chino and manga Mamey 
of Cienfuegos, and the Biscochuelo of Santiago 
de Cuba, are among the best of these, fruits of 
all three being shipped to the Habana markets, 
where they sell at 10 to 25 cents each. These 
types have originated in certain gardens, where 
seeds have been brought from other West 
Indian islands or possibly from the Orient. 
In most cases they have been propagated 
locally, and the fruit produced by seedlings 
of the original tree or trees proves the remark- 
able constancy of the polyembryonic mangos. 


’ John Belling demonstrated that the embryos, which vary in number from two to eight or ten, 


are derived from the tissue of the endosperm by budding. 


Whether the ovum itself develops 


into an embryo or not has never been ascertained; if it does, the effect of cross-fertilization might 
be shown, and more variation evidenced in the plant from the fertilized ovum than occurs in 
those plants which arise from adventive embryos. 


TREE OF JUGLANS INSULARIS 


This wild Cuban walnut is somewhat rare in the mountains of the isiand, and has only recenth 
been called to the attention of horticulturists by Van Hermann and Roig. 


A DELICIOUS FRUIT FROM SOUTH AMERICA 


The cherimoya has been called by some writers one of the world’s finest fruits. 


Its rough 


green skin encloses luscious, melting pulp of custard-like consistency, piquant and delicate 


in flavor, suggesting pineapples and bananas. 


While its native home lies within the 


tropics, it only attains perfection at high altitudes, where the atmosphere is cool and the 


soil well drained. 


It has been grown with remarkable success in subtropical regions such 


as southern California and Madeira, where the conditions of climate and soil approach 


those of its native home—believed to be the Andes of Peru and Ecuador. 


The cherimoya 


(Annona cherimola) has been in cultivation for a long time, and numerous varieties have 


(Fig. 13.) 


originated. 


The most important work in mango 
improvement yet done in Cuba con- 
sists in the selection and propagation 
of some of these superior seedlings. 
While the effect of this work is not yet 
very noticeable, 1t has served to show 
what can be done, even by such simple 
means, and without the aid of budding 
or grafting. Now that these methods 
are being applied, however, the oppor- 
tunities are much greater, and choice 
monoembryonic varieties can be per- 
petuated as well as the polyembryonic 
ones. 

THE AVOCADO 


The avocado is another favorite of 
the Cubans, and a fruit which takes a 
very important place in their dietary 
during the summer months. It is 
esteemed by all classes, and forms a 
substantial part of almost every meal; 
it is appreciated so highly, in fact, as 
to have given rise to a common saying, 

564 


“No puedo comer sin aguacate’—‘“I 
cannot eat without avocado.”’ 

Everywhere throughout the island 
the avocado grows abundantly. Nat- 
urally enough, the trees are all seedlings, 
with the exception of the few budded 
orchards which have recently been 
planted, and among them there is the 
greatest variation in size, shape, color 
and quality of fruit, as well as in 
productiveness and season of ripening. 
Unlike the mango, the avocado does 
not come true from seed, and seeds from 
an oval green avocado may produce 
round, oblong or pyriform fruits of 
green or purple color, smaller or larger 
than the parent, and varying in other 
characters as well. For this reason the 
Cubans do not recognize any different 
classes of avocados, but call them all 
aguacate without distinction. 

From the standpoint of plant breed- 
ing, much has already been done in 


‘ojdde-iesns oy jo ssousAtjonpoid ayy 
INI B DONposc ‘ y Loy JIM Passo. 
oy} ueyy 
; OJLIOAV] & ST 4] 
sey pue ‘suoiser yeordorz Ay}. 1.148 uL cisaneits (psompnbs PuoUup) 


> BAOUIT 
SEM 4] 
I JI IOAVY Ul ‘SjoOMOIYY oSuap su 
o1do.1y ay} Jo syzed [[e 0} VoloUTy Ul owOY aAt 
a[dde-iesns oy} ‘eAouLeyo ayy se ATTUIey oe 


W1ddV-HVOOS GAL LINHA NV&AO ALIHYOAVA V 


566 The Journal 


Florida to improve the avocado through 
selection of seedlings, and Cuba has 
taken advantage of this by importing 
budded stock of selected varieties from 
Florida. In Cuba itself a few selections 
have been made, yet the field has 
scarcely been touched, and there can be 
no doubt but that there are many valu- 
able forms to be found among the 
Cuban seedlings. The most important 
point in the selection of varieties at the 
present time is lateness of ripening, 
since it is the late fruits which bring the 
highest prices when shipped to northern 
markets. Here and there throughout 
the island are found occasional seedling 
trees which hold their fruit until 
December, January or even February. 
These should be hunted out and propa- 
gated. 


THE CUSTARD-APPLES 


Other Cuban fruits which un- 
doubtedly possess great possibilities in 
the hands of the intelligent horticul- 
turist, first through vegetative propa- 
gation of the best existing seedlings, 
then through further improvement by 
selection and hybridization, are the 
annonas, especially the anén (Annona 
squamosa), known in English as sugar- 
apple, and the guandbana or sour-sop 
(A. muricata). Hybrids between the 
sugar-apple and the cherimoya (A. 
cherimola) made by Edward Simmonds 
in Florida have demonstrated the possi- 
bilities along this line. The cherimoya, 
without doubt the finest flavored of the 
cultivated annonas, does not attain 
perfection in a truly tropical climate. 
The sugar-apple, on the other hand, is 
perfectly at home and fruits abundantly. 
The hybrid between these two species is 
a plant with foliage remarkably similar 
to that of the cherimoya, and with 
fruits a little larger than the average 
sugar-apple, with the carpellary divi- 
sions less deeply incised, and with a 
more pleasant, slightly acidulous flavor, 
almost midway between that of the 
cherimoya and the sugar-apple. It 
fruits somewhat more abundantly than 
the cherimoya but less so than the 
sugar-apple. Crosses should be made 
in Cuba between these species as well 


of Heredity 


as between the sour-sop and the cheri- 
moya. 

Previous to the American interven- 
tion, citrous fruits were grown in Cuba 
almost exclusively from seed. Valuable 
seedling types, particularly of oranges, 
are often encountered growing half 
wild in neglected gardens and fence 
rows. Inthe early days of the Estacién 
Experimental Agronomica (the Govern- 
ment Experiment Station at Santiago 
de las Vegas) the work of searching out 
and propagating these desirable seed- 
lings was commenced, but was not 
carried very far. Undoubtedly when 
completed it will yield some valuable 
results in the way of varieties adapted 
to Cuban conditions. Other fruits, 
such as the caimito or star-apple 
(Chrysophyllum cainito) the sapote or 
sapodilla (Achras zapota), the mamey 
Santo Domingo (Mammea americana), 
the mamey colorado (Lucuma mam- 
mosa), and the common guava (Psidium 
guajava), all of importance in the 
economy of the Cuban people, will 
doubtless come in for their share of 
attention in later years. 


IMPORTANT VEGETABLES 


Many of the more important tropical 
vegetables, such as sweet potatoes and 
yams, malanga (Colocasia sp.) and yuca 
(Manthot utilissima), all of which are 
widely grown in Cuba, are propagated 
asexually. The opportunity for selec- 
tion is not lacking, however, since bud 
variation seems to be much more 
common in the tropics than in temperate 
regions. Existing varieties of these 
crops are usually very local in distribu- 
tion and few attempts have been made 
to determine which are the most valu- 
able and best adapted to different con- 
ditions. In sweet potatoes, an important 
piece of work has recently been under- 
taken by Dr. Juan T. Roig of the 


Estacién Experimental Agronomica, 
who has assembled a_ collection of 


varieties, over eighty in all, from dif- 
ferent parts of the island, and is now 
determining the comparative value of 
each. 

Northern vegetables of many kinds 
are successfully grown in Cuba during 
the winter months. Certain varieties 


HYBRID BETWEEN CHERIMOYA AND SUGAR-APPLE 


In this interesting hybrid, which was the result of pollinating the stigmas of the cherimoya 


with pollen of the sugar-apple, one can see several characters of each parent. 


The leaves 


are broad, resembling those of the cherimoya, but smooth iike those of the sugar-apple. 
The protuberances are more distinct than in the cherimoya, but less deeply incised than 
in the sugar-apple, while the seeds are somewhat distinct from those of either species, 
larger than those of the sugar-apple and darker colored than those of the cherimoya. 


The flavor is about midway between the two species. 


The tree fruits more freely in 


Florida than the cherimoya, and seems much better adapted to strictly tropical conditions. 
This represents one of the first efforts along a line of plant breeding which holds great 


promise for all tropical countries. 


of each kind have been found to succeed 
better than others, but no systematic 
effort has been made to determine which 
are the most desirable ones from all 
points of view, nor to develop new ones 
in those cases where none of the intro- 
duced varieties is satisfactory. 

Maize, or Indian corn, is another crop 
that presents great opportunities for 
selection and improvement. During 
the early years of the Estacion Experi- 


(Fig. 15.) 


mental Agronomica a great number of 
varieties from all parts of the United 
States and Mexico were tested, but 
none proved to be well adapted to 
Cuban conditions. The common vari- 
ety cultivated in the island was origi- 
nally of a yellow flint type; the ears are 
unusually heavily protected with husks 
which completely close at the tip, and 
the husks, leaves and stalks are abun- 
dantly covered with a thick white 


567 


568 The Journal 


tomentum. This seems to protect the 
young leaves while still inrolled in the 
apex of the growing stalk from the 
attacks of numerous small insects, 
which are always seen working about 
them. It is apparently the attacks of 
these insects that prevent the successful 
cultivation of smooth leaved northern 
types of corn in Cuba. The heavy 
husks, which serve to protect the ears 
from the attacks of the corn weevil, are 
doubtless the result of unconscious 
selection, since under the conditions 
which exist in Cuba only the ears 
which are so protected can be success- 
fully kept from the time they are 
harvested until the next planting season. 
Large quantities of dent corn are 
annually imported into Cuba from the 
United States and from Argentina. 
Some of this has occasionally been 
planted and has developed sufficiently 
to produce pollen, ears of native corn 
occasionally being found which show 
more or less evidence of having been 
fertilized by dent pollen. The problem 
now 1s to select the best of these acclima- 
tized crosses and breed from them in 
the hope of fixing a type which will 
combine the long ears and deep kernels 


of Heredity 


of the dent type with the heavy husk 
of the native flint. This work was 
commenced at the Estaci6n Experi- 
mental Agronomica, thirty of the best 
obtainable ears being selected and 
planted in different rows. The plants 
in each row, 72.e., those from a single 
ear, were fairly uniform in character, 
but among the different rows there was 
a most interesting diversity in vigor 
and height of stalk, productiveness, 
shape and size of ears, and in time of 
maturing. 

The future of Cuban plant breeding 
cannot fail to be of interest. In few 
tropical countries are the opportunities 
more numerous and the conditions more 
favorable. That the Cubans themselves 
are awakening to the value of this work 
is demonstrated by the increasing 
amount of attention being devoted to it 
at the Estacion Experimental Agronom- 
ica under the present. administration,‘ 
and it is to be hoped that a great deal 
will be done by the planters themselves, 
some of whom are in a position to 
accomplish important results with the 
expenditure of very little time and 
energy, because of the wealth of 
material which exists all about them. 


4The Cuban Secretary of Agriculture has recently had a report made on the importance of 


plant breeding, which it is hoped will lead to the commencement of extensive projects. 


In this 


report, written by Armando Lora, the establishment of a new station for plant breeding alone 


is urged. 


Genetic Study of Apples 


Apple breeding was begun at the New York experiment station (Geneva) in 
1898-99 : 148 seedlings of the crosses then made have fruited and have been described 


in Bulletin 350 of this station. 


With the exception of these, work with apples is 


still in an early stage, but further results are soon to be expected, as 1,200 seedlings 


are now ready to fruit. 


in experimental orchards in the next two years. 


In addition to these about 2,500 seedlings will be planted 


It is hoped that this number of 


seedlings will enable the investigators to analyze the genetic characters of the 


parents which have been used. 


Self-seedlings, because of lack of vigor, have not 


proved desirable from a horticultural standpoint and since so much time and 
effort is involved in the growing of apple seedlings, it has not seemed desirable 
to use selfing as a means of studying the parents. The data from these seedlings 
should throw light on the inheritance of skin and flesh color, form and size of 
fruit, season of ripening and quality. 


REBUILDING THE LEGHORN 


T IS only about three-quarters of a 
century since the domestic fowls of 
Italy were brought to the United 
States and formed the basis of the 

Leghorn breed. In their native home 
they were, and are, largely mongrel in 
character, with various colors of plum- 
age, legs, face and ear-lobes. Taken up 
by expert breeders in this country, they 
gave rise to eight standard and four 
non-standard varieties, of which the 
Single Comb White and Single Comb 
Brown are by all odds the most 1m- 
portant, commercially. 

From America the Leghorn was taken 
to Germany, where it goes under the 
name of Italian. Here, too, it was 
taken up by artists in breeding, but 
they were unable to produce the great 
egg yield for which the breed is noted 
in America, according to Professor 
Ehlers of Hanover, who describes the 
situation in the Mitteilungen of the 
Deutsche Landwirthschafts-Gesellschaft 
for October 9, 1915. 

A prolonged test at the experiment 
station of Maryland resulted in egg 
yields averaging 171 in the first year 
the hens laid, 149 in the second year, 
and 115 in the third year. At the New 
York station, a flock maintained for 
some time gave 144 eggs as its highest 
yearly production and 132 as its lowest. 

Citing these figures, Professor Ehlers 
says they cannot be equaled by German 
Leghorns. It is evident to him, there- 
fore, that the capacity for high egg yield 
must be elsewhere than in the high 
comb with carefully incised teeth, the 
long watties, the great white ear-lobes 
and the fancy feather patterns, on which 
the German breeders have spent so 
much energy. 

Dissatisfaction with the behavior of 
the Leghorns has led, he reports, to a 


feeling that the breed should be made 
over into. a typical German _ breed, 
possessing * a -rose comb and_ short 
wattles, which will in his opinion give it 
a smarter appearance. By the intro- 
duction of new blood, it is hoped to 
increase the egg yield. He does not 
say what new blood is being used: in 
the United States the Hamburg has 
been the breed employed in the pro- 
duction of the rose comb Leghorns 
which are fairly widespread. 


CHANGE WELL UNDER WAY 


This German undertaking, Professor 
Ehlers writes, “has secured the approval 
and support of the Board of Agriculture 
in the Rhine province, and the director 
of the winter school in Hermeskeil has 
had since the year 1912 two flocks each 
consisting of a dozen hens and a cock, 
which he has carefully and intelligently 
bred to the point of fixity, with most 
satisfactory results. When this under- 
taking is carried to its conclusion, the 
Italian race will have become a pure 
German race with higher productivity, 
just as the Leghorn has become a 
definite and superior American race. 

“To Director Barth belongs the honor 
of having produced and disseminated a 
‘first class’ genuine German fowl, a 
general purpose breed with regular, 
well-developed bodily form and pure 
color. In its general appearance it 
recalls the old and unfortunately ex- 
tinct Alsatian breed. At the exhibition 
of the German Agricultural Association 
in Strassburg, 1913, a first prize and 
gold ring were given to one cock in 
recognition of this achievement in 
breeding, and at the circuit fair in 
Hanover, 1914, first prize again gave 
recognition to its supremacy in egg 
production. At high altitudes, where 


Number Number of Average Average weight 
Year of hens eggs laid per hen of egg 
DONO SS awe 8 1,018 127 54 gr. 
PL ea en sic 11 1,463 133 56 
DOL 5.5.08 18 2,482 138 59 
TOS Mirae «foie 24 3,667 152 63 
Lk ees, 26 4,019 154 65 


569 


» 

“3 
. 
: 
a 


ery! 


THE ITALIAN FOWL IN AMERICA 


Single Comb White Leghorn Cockerel bred at the Bureau of Animal Industry Experimental 


Jeltsville, Md. 
States. 


Farm, 
United 


all their time on developing fancy points, and have failed to raise the egg yield. 


This is perhaps the most popular breed for egg production in the 
In Germany, according to Professor Ehlers, the breeders have spent 


lias 


therefore proposed to rebuild the breed in Germany, making from it a distinctively German 


breed with rose comb. 
(Fig. 16.) 


the single comb and wattles are likely 


to freeze in cold weather, the rose- 
comb breed has proved particularly 
valuable. Farmers praise its useful- 


ness, its hardiness, and its egg yield, 
even where the single comb is at its 
best. As to the egg production of his 
breed, Director Barth gives statistics 
[found on page 569]. 


570 


Photograph from the United States Department of Agriculture. 


‘The figures show that as the breeding 
continues, the egg yield of the fowls 
continues to increase pretty steadily, 
not only in number laid but in weight 
of each individual egg. In the last 
year reported, we have figures that 
exceed all expectations and are but little 
short of the figures reported by experi- 
ment stations in the United States.” 


= 


| Piero | ea AS Me 


Ada a ote 
4 pa. AIRY aoe Ms AD) eI a 


GINGING Deri. MARL 1900 


S) The Journal of heredity 
494 

J7 

v.6 

cop.2 


Biological 
& Medica} 
Serials 


PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE 
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET 


——— ae 


| | UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY 


HANDBOUND 
AT THE 


UNIVERSITY OF 
TORONTO PRESS 


»< a a, 

Ps ee Lee ee OT ce rn 4 ON i die ee 
i ee a Se OP De ee eed 

- in st cee ae en ee aa ee ae ee ey me ae ee 


SS eee 
+ mee ~ se Oe <0 ee 


— Aaptoteary ea penn Ae in saan en ee Td ape ne me le enna ma a mnt Sy me ae 
nee oe oe Saletan a beam a ir SE a we Pn ne 
‘ = eee ay enecpaiean on A aligd—igs tem aman Are iy = NY I ep 


ee ated amend 
at epee erin y ery 
a ae mr hae 


. at ee = » : fume er < ri ~ ~. - 
aa . ni : ~~ . oe eee - 
ae —* rH ete ee ee Se a a a ee - 
=e ee mt a a a ee — ne See rae 
———— eo ~~ ee = —— ey ae eet 


——— ee eet ecm, ioe 
eke wn a ee 


~~ = i not po mc ra — Sacteageen ead : 
Or eg co me oe atm gery amen eae 
see ecige Pemrecmantn me = pone at ne ap Se 
ay a cain aime a OA —00¢-== eo ee en a= = 
San jo ean _ vm 2 ny pooner a a ae ee eS 
ote ne ine eee Ape eae amen tle pata t Tew op ema ae ne 
eo ae, ee ees nn eee age Ot ee ne 
snanne eens oo ee pe ceil meangeaee pe Sanne a ae AGEN AND send joa He 
Co pieeatarenan aaa peated oom A ep hE A AA OO 
a Scena pate ee en nn aS ee re ——~ 
— RT ey ee a eae nema oe aa A a mee = ie oman = een = we 
tap a aymananeaee A Sn creer Y > Fm en a tat aa a a are Seen 
rr am i! ae ema elite atiantiatene eens Sage RIE Ser 
etn ee ere Senin ca etl haere ae oem ee a AAR Sy EE ae Eee ee 
~ SS a ae epee ot oe oe ee — nae 
ny SE es ae ere Serer a alt en a a — enn rane 
On omar pet Pa SD rg OT Aa a —_——— a een ey ee 
ae arent rmary area 
mer yO Talk tay Pomc — arnt ee hgeay oaeahaene nants ym 
Se ee DS ee an ae ae i 
gains Pp nS SN 
~~ ceed = a 


wee ee ee me 


Sn eR ee eel 


aS i 
ee th ee I OI a A RLS CARLO AA LIN LL A EES ae ee te 
Oe te a a ee = ren ame 
_—-—- 


ee ane a ee et et Mh eng 


cep ye ew pamnerenton 

Pee er AE wie 0s! MO : See enna eee Samo 

A mya: 0 Ste NA canst se ne 
at ROS OST = 


peas a mee Se 
pa tac caepeasy aoe panes Savin = ere ae ; Pc es 
a peel a eatin er ro ne 
<0 ee et meron Ae ee ET 
PEO S 


eine ee ee Ene eee ke pee ae nee 
ae heen ane gn me wee 62 oon 
Santee eco = el ape oni a ee me 
Peete cea n anon Get att a Nn aa IP“ ie 
fee aca ee ee Se ee ee ee 
—— ee PS aes 
Sen + Spree me entree a ae 
ne a ae 


ra ne a 
5 ePID AI OA EE 


0 ee See = pee 


o-< 
ee ete - eee 
Se. = oe ee 


—— 
a OD Ae OS SEDO SS DS 
ee ae 


ee ee 


7 ~ tenes 
ee on eee ee 
Ppa nace nce tpg atentenearee taper pact 


ee a een pet ee er Aan at 
a ee 


i ecpeceeat arta ne ea ec RN I ON EN OSLO TI ATES 
enn nae nae ne ee nahn ana rene A eT ET 
nt A Ao nnn SS 


fo pr a ip AO ar mad ow ae I en a we le ene Dae . - , 
pasando ale rae ee 7 Re atte enc! eu pte Sty ~~ areca renee ne ee hn Oe OL OE ACT RN ALAS NAL AL AE --- 
mar aN a a ee en ca or ee EN ar eee rpna enn cng egress be nates eran nnan = malar ne ee aE IE a a an ee "cenit ese 2 ohm mer onan 
—_ ~ ror pais wah one heey i an i nd 5 a a et a wae ae ——. 
- ore ~ ee cee pon hee eatin Bee aya ee ne, RE RN SR Neat Sete atipetee morcmenpnaare ~— neon es me Rye inne nen ea NG ee — re tee ere “ang erener em a ae 
en RE PA PC Sl eamerrqie sie metre arene appara One meer RO a A a LR RR No ON A A A anne racer ae gn ae mae ne nr NC ON cr rangrera mayer aer ene nomnesee oor" 
: re rr pr nT a a ae sor creeecangnens open eaerene aon? ; oe eee 
= © etal there 9 ee eee oe 


le AROS! 


Orne tre A een et ITO e