Hayes and Garber - Cucurbit Breeding

140 BREEDING CROP PLANTS
to quality but the yield was low. Johnson (1919), of the Wisconsin
Agricultural Experiment Station, attempted to overcome this
objection by breeding. In 1909 a pure-line study revealed the
fact that there were no less than three distinct morphological
types present in the particular variety, grown at the experiment
FIG. 30. Tobacco No. 27. A pure line strain with a high leaf number and a
low breadth index of leaf. (After Johnson, 1919.)
station, which was introduced from Connecticut. Selections
No. 26 and No. 27 differed distinctly from the normal or prevailing
type. Form 26 carried fewer leaves but of larger size than the
normal, while form 27 possessed more leaves which were somewhat
smaller in size than the normal. A cross between 269
and 27 cT was made in 1910 with the hope of combining the
desirable features of the two forms.
The success of the cross is
indicated in the following data taken from Johnson.