The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-03-17

spread from some central point, quite IRE
spectiye OF the boundaries OF the several
gains, until the pnwer wa, exhassted. Mr..
Meeban mentioned similar phenomena IN
other plants. He found plant OF partridge
berry (Mitchella repens) with white berries
and removed a portion 10 his grounds. This
portion bore no fruit. on account Of the
absence Of pollen.bearing plants, while the
portion left IN the woods continued to bear
white berries, though 1t must have been
feriilized with pollen from the original
scarlet berrie6 form, since THE species is
really 9cioHs; that Il, bears male and 10.
male flowers on separate plants. Mr.. Nee nan
argues that there may zee doubt whether
the variation IN corn, often attributed TO
cross.fertilizat!on, may not, in some cases.
result from an innate power 10 vary" be
concludes with the remark that the belief In
the immediate influence OF strange pollen is
a reasonable one so fer general observa-
tion gees, but that as no carefully con-
ducted experiments seem 10 have been made,
il is we'll TO wait for them. Ia may oe re.
marked that the inmate power TO vary" In.
voked by Mr. Meehan is bat another mode
of say ing causes 20 Us unknown" since any
innate power must be the result Of trans
mitted characters, which must have been
produced by the environment of the an
cestral plants.
correspondent of the Record (R O. T. }
Claims to have solved the problem. He as.
serts that by treating plants In a certain
manner, by supplying lacking elements to
the plants, variation in color can be pro-
duced. He thus details his experiment:
Some OF she came seed, not treated. had
planted the season before, and found no
change OF color. II was much attacked by
smut, nearly every other stalk being affected.
In the last experiment not one stalk showed
any signs of smnt, and 20 per cent. produced
ears of full, Plump grain, different TO the
original seed sown, which WAS dent c)rn.
1t WIS en- these altered ears only that / got
the various colors. The remaining 50 per
cent. showed no particular change ia color,
in Tor 4 OF grain or in time of ripening. This
so pe cent Tipened three weeks later than
the - Per cent, which ! consider i'm proved,
and tom which I am sure of healthier
grow greater produc!iVeness and earliness
in III ming.
1t S evident that this experiment proves
nothing either for or against the theory that
the change of color is produced by fertiliza-
lion from the pollen of stalks bearing red
ears. No care seems TO bava been taken to
prevent the access of pollen borne from
other sources, and wind borne pollen flies
long way. The good ears might have been
those which were fertilizsd by pollen from
neighboring fields while the poorer ones
fsrtilzed by pollen from the same field, and
could not thus be ex pectsd % be greatly bet
ter than the parent crop. Moreover, IL the
anure Or method Of treatment made the
difference, why were only 20 per cent OF IT,
GERS improved. To conclude, cross-fertilizs
ton seems to be the most probable eau oil
variation in color. Toe perti colored grains
do T OF dispose of this idea. for each grain,
| like an animal, hiss two parents, and We can
resdilv conceive tbIt some grains ferttized
| by the pollen OF the red variety yet in close
| proximity TO yellow grains might only par
| tia lv char &c from the mother form uader
| the influence of fertilization.