The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-27

grain is concerned, and nothing at all
 so far as regards grasses. Messrs.
 Maund and Raynbird carried out some
 experiments in 1S46, and specimens of
 new varieties of wheat were exhibited
 by them at the exhibition in 1851.
 Messrs. Carter the Well-known seeds
 men, have also eXperimented since 1883, and they have succeeded in putting new varieties of wheat on the market
 But 1t has been left to two young
 men in Lancashire to grapple success 1 fully with this mighty problem, and,
 after eighteen years of hard, unremit-
 ting. and unremunerative work, to open up vast field of new discoveries in the cultivation of cereals and grasses which bids fair to revolutonize agrlcul- ture. In 1880 John and Robert Carton,
 the sons of a Lancashire corn mer- chant, began their experiment in the production of new varieties of cereals by means of cross-fertilization at New
 ton-le- Willows. Hitherto, with the two exceptions which have been referred to, improvements in grain have been brought about by carefully selecting the best ear in a field, and the best grain in that ear, and then keeping the produce of that variety for seed. And & chance of seed from one district to another, e. g. planting wheat grown in Midlothian in Kent, or vice versa, has been found to be beneficial, as differ
 ences of environment sometimes lead to improvement in the produce. But the number of improved cereals to be ub- tained in this way is strictly limited, and they cannot be said to be new yari- cities at all.
 On the other hand, the labors of Messrs. John and Robert Carton have been productive of new species of wheat, oats, barley and grasses, the number of which seems only to be linn ited by the time and trouble which may be taken by the experimenters spent a day during the present week at New n-le-Willows, (writes one of our rep resentatives,) and saw enough to con- vince me that work was being carried | out destined to have a remarkable, in fiuence over the future of agriculture. For consider the possibilities. Compare a crabapple with Blenheim orange or a strawberry pippin, or sloe with a Victoria or Orleans plum, or wild strawberry with a Sir Joseph Paxton or British Queen, and you have some idea of what Messrs. Cartons experi- ments may lead to. Already they have succeeded in producing varieties of wheat the average weight of the grain of which is sixty per cent. heavier than I the average weight of grains of wheat in ordinary cultivation. With oats | they have been even more successful. I saw field of black oats growing at | Newton, which was just ready to be harvested and the grains were just as much finer than the best Poland white oats as these latter are larger and finer | than ordinary Tartarians. Already they have varieties of wheat and oats which promise to yield thirty and forty per cent. more per acre than ordinary varieties, and so increase the national 1 production by that amount.
 l In the ordinary course of things, and in any other country, the labors of men | like the Cartons would at once have att tracted the notice of the state depart- ment of agriculture. But it is not so in England. The English farmer, like his | compatriot, the British trader in China, l is left to his own devices by paternal I government Had the Messrs Carton | Dtti lNlliS III IldilCS, VI tliS 1llllCNt States, or Canada, everything possible would have been done by the govern ment not only to assist them in their work but to make the results of that work as widely known as possible. The l Newton -le- Willows experiments have been made known to three successive ministers of agrculture-to MT. Henry | Chaplin, to Mr. Herbert Gardner, and to MT. Walter Long-but in each case the usual stereotyped official reply has been received, which may be summed up as declined with thanks" More l than this, Messrs. Carton have offered to place the whole of their samples and varieties of grain at the disposal of the ministry of agriculture, and to devote their time to the continuation of their experiments under the direction of that | body. But all to no purpose. As usual, 1t is left to private individuals ao de- | velop British agriculture, which now 1 has to face the whole world in the mar ket, and to compete with many coun- tries in which every farmer has behind him a competent, fully equipped de- partment of agriculture, which pays the best scientists of the day to bring the whole of their skill and knowledge to | bear on the problemes of increasing and | improving the produce of the soil of the | country they cultivate. In this connec- tion it may be stated that the United | States department of agriculture, hear | ing of the experiments which were be- | ing conducted at Newton, sent over | special envoy to examine and report upon them. And so struck was this gentleman with what he saw that, Mr. John Carton tells me, he at once made an offer for the whole of the stocks of the new cereals in hand, and also an of fer which would secure the further re- suits of the experiments for the bene- fit of the farmers of the United States. But Messrs. Carton declined the offer, as they were anxious to give the Brit ish farmer chance to participate in the benefits of their discoveries.
 In the work of the brothers Carton nothing has been left to chance. The whole world has been ransacked for specimens of different kinds of cereals, every one of which has been carefully grown and it's peculiarities noted through several seasons. Nearly three hundred and fifty varieties of wheat have been collected, including thirty six English, twenty-five German, twen- ty-six French, four Russian, fifteen Hungarian, one hundred and four Creek sixty-five Italian, sixty Indian,