The Hybridisation of Barleys

Extract

The following experiments on the hybridisation of barley were commenced in 1901; consequently the inheritance of some of the characteristics has been known for some time. In view of the fact that from the earlier accounts of Rimpau and Tschermak the main outlines of the story could be traced without any special difficulty, there appeared to be no necessity for immediate publication. This was delayed, therefore, in order to complete the investigation of one or two doubtful points. The literature of barley-breeding published prior to the year 1900 is rather extensive, but of comparatively little interest to the modern student of heredity. The most important papers are those of Liebscher and Rimpau. That part of Rimpau's great paper, “Kreuzungprodukte Landwirtschaftliche Kulturpflanzen,” dealing with barley, is of exceptional interest on account of its extreme thoroughness and the completeness of the records it contains. As one reads it one cannot help thinking that Rimpau must have come very near to making an independent discovery of Mendel's laws of inheritance.