Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1870-05-05
AGRICULTURAL.
From the American Agriculturist
Pe<liua.es, Grain.

A discovery recently brought before the
British public. but scarcely heard OF on this
side of the Atlantic, as yet, would seem to
be of the highest Importance to every cul
tivator of the soil-of garden plot even
And as the experiments we propose can be
made by every one, we ask the attention
of all to the subject. In the proceeding
article we have given an outline OF what
has been done and may be done In the I'M
provement of animals. The course pur-
sued with animals, it is proposed TO apply
to the improvement OF plants OF all kinds
grown from seeds.
To illustrate. let US look at the origin of
our different varieties Of peas, taking the
Champion of England for example. Less
than dozen years ago. q single pod
Of remarkably good peas was found in q
plot. The cultiyator saved this pod and
sowed the peas 1t contained. The result
was a small crop of peas resembling the
original In general character and quality.
The whole OF the second crop was sown.
and a third crop resembling the original
was obtained The process was continued
the whole crop being sown each year. and
now the Champion of England pea in grown
almost all over the world. But the general
character of this variety is much the same
as that OF the second crop-probably infe-
nor On the whole There has been 10
special Improvement made.
Now suppose that from the second crop
the cultivstor had, after careful examna-
ton selected the very best single pod that
could he found. and planted this alone
Would not the third crop have been better
ON the whole. than that obtained frow sow
ing all of the second crop. good, bad. and
Indifferent: Suppose again, that from the
third crop produced by III. single pod Sc
lected from the second crop. the best sin
gle poi had been selected and sown, would
not still further improvement have been
made
The reader will note. that the proposed
process is entirely different from the usual
one adopted in producing or multiplying
new varieties. In the latter case the whole
product. or nearly the whole of the pre-
vious crop. is used in propaga.ing and null
tplyiig the variety In thenew process,
il Is proposed 10 select each wear only a
single head. pod OF seed-the best among
the whole-to be used for propagation.
he idea Is, that not only will there he a
decided improvement each year, but that
this repeated annual selection will cstab-
lish pedigree. or breed. that shall be as
valuable in plants. as il is now in animals.
Reason. and the laws of production would
seem to be strongly in favor of this result.
The Duchess family of Short Horns have
unfailingiy the good qualities they have in
herited. May not this power be similarly
acquired by plants OF all kinds. and that in
BRETT time. Three or four years are re-
quired for each generation of cattle, but in
our field and garden crops propagated an
nually from seed, only a single year is re-
CURED for generation.
We propose TO our readers that each one
experiment in accordance with the above
sugge>tions-in Spring upon field and gar
den crops. and in Autumn upon Winter
grains. But little trouble will be required
while important results may be obtained
And. 10 Illustrate what may be done. we
VIII give an example of what has already
been accomplished by Mr.. Is. f. Hallett.
who Is creating some sensation in England
by his successful experiments upon wheat
Though We have sent for some OF his ped
isree wheat. and gave il out TO our sub
scrihers, yet as we stated. we had some
mlsglNings about the claims put forth for
IT. But in the Gardeners Chronicle for
August "a, the editor. the scientific Prof.
Lindlev, tells US that he has seen Mr.. Hal
let's wheat in the field, and endorses the
almost incredible statcmcn. put forth The
pith IF the matter is this
Some years ago Mr.. Hallet selected the
two largest heads he could find in field OF
valued variety OF wheat called the Red
Nursery The Two together contained 81
kernels. The - kernels were planted
inches apart each way. One of them pro-
duced 10 stalks, the heads yielding 6ss ker-
nels- The largest ten other heads from the
whole Of the remaining So kernels sown.
produced only SOS kernels. The whole
was planted separately. each kernel being
numbered in the plot, and one grain from
the largest OF the first ten heads now WELD
ed Ia heads (besides green ones, which
contained 1880 kernels. These Il ears
were planted and one kernel from the larr-
est head among them yielded 80 heads con-
tanning Pas kernels. We omit the details
OF the experiments with the produce from
the other products of the original grain.
II is sufficient for our illustration TO show
the Increase from the original size and
number of stalks. The first year the best
kernel sown yielded 10 ears containing 6sS
kernels; the fourth year the best kernel
yielded 80 heads containing Pas kernels,
multitude OF other experiments. carried
on al the same time, showed a similar re-
suit from the successive repeated selection
of the largest head from the most produc-
tive root or stalk for propagation.