Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1898-11-24
Seed Breeding.


aame az those governing the breeding
Of snimals. There are two laws which
EXPRESS the basic principles upon
which breeding Is founded lin this
article only propagation by seed is
ConsIdered), viz:
(1) The offspring tend to inhe II
characters from the parents. In Bull
letin No. 8, the nature OF Fertilization
was explained. The pollen must come
in contact with the pistil, grow down
to and unite with the ovule, after
which the ovule develops into seed
II the pollen comes from the same
plant as the ovule, it is self fertillzed;
il from different plant, it is Cross
fertiIizad. As was also explained,
plants were usually CROSS fertilized'
~ The offspring tend to vary from
the parents and from each other. This
principal is IN some degree antsgon-
istic to the first. The variation comes
from the fact that the offspring in
herit characters unequally, and from
the Inherent tendency in all organ
isms to vary. The more nearly alike
the parents are ia any particular, the
more likely il this character to appear
in the off spring A character is said
to be fixed when it appears constantly
in succeeding generations.
In practical seed breeding il is, OF
course, the aim to fix certain desirable
characters. To be fixed it must be
originally present. The breeder can
not produce at will rev character;
he cau only make greater or less, 8
character already present. A stock
breeder could not produce q breed OF
cattle with a third horn on the fore.
head unless the character appeared
spontaneously in some individual.
But he can "bfeed off" the horns that
are there by proper selection. The
same Is true Of plants. A spontan-
eous variation along a certain line
may be- perpetuated, or fixed; Or q
normal character may be made great
or or less.
The variability of the offspring may
be increased in various wsys, such as
artificial crossing, increase or altera'
ton Of food supply, and similar
means; but after suitable individual
IS found, one which possesses the
character one wishes, at least in q
slight degree, the variety is fixed by
a constant and judicious selection
from generation to generation. With
the ordinary grower OF plants the
farmer, gardener, or other persons
raising plants from the seed for the
CrOp--selection is usually the practi-
cal method for changing the type, or,
what is still more Hften wished, main
tanning the type or variety at its pres.
emit standard. The farmers chief
care is to prevent a desirable variety
which he has from deteriorating. The
seed dealer produces the varieties but
frequently does not grow them long
enough to fix the characters. Hence
the buyer finds that unless he pur-
Chsses new seed each''year his variety
is running out. A few simple rules
for fixing and maintaining varieties
GEe appended.
~ Give best Of tillsge TO those
plauts from which seed is to be gath
cred.
l2) The more generations the seed
is selected for a certain character, the
more strongly is that character fixed;
and, on the other hand, the more
strongly character is fixed, the more
slowly will it lose this character or
run out"
(9 Grow the parent plants where
theS' will not CROSS or mix with other
varieties.
(4) In selecting the seeds, choose q
plant in which the parts are uniform
that is, consider the plant as a whole
rather than any particular branch. In
Aplant which hes mostly inferior
fruit but which has one large fruit,
seeds from this large fruit are not SO
likely to transmit 'Ae size as if the
seeds are chosen from plant IN which
ThS fruit is uniformly large.
(0 Finally, TO maintain the standard
selection mnst be made each year,
Plants which as rule self-fertilize,
such as the small grains, do not tend
to run out so rapidly as cross-fertiliz'
ed sOrts, such as peas, beans, melons
and kornakoau Knnaau EvoopiYnnnI