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

cities of British oats with this Chinese variety, an oat has been produced which has no hull at all, and 1t can be used at once for preparation as human food It
 has a beautiful bright yellow grain,
 which looks very much like an elonga- ted corn of the finest white wheat.
 The value of this part of the Newton experiments has been testified to by food experts Dr. Goodfellow, profess sor of physiology at the Bow and Brom- ley Institute, says:
 'I have carefully investigated the
 system pursued by Messrs. Carton in
 the production of new types of cereal food plants, and am convinced that 1t Is based on the sound scientific princ- pies which underlie heredity, whereby intentional variations obtained from the parent by Fertilization are subse- | quently fixed resulting in a new per
 manent type. Comparatively useless varieties of cereals have been converted
 by Messrs. Cartons system into most valuable food plants, which are of such a character that they may be applied to purposes and used In forms for which the ordinary varieties are quite unsuited, thus providing novel and valuable food materials which could
 not be obtained from any other source.'
 Professor Jago F. I. C., says:
 "I have recently had an opportunity of thoroughly examining and studying from food point of view the results of the prolonged experimental investiga- tions by Messrs. Carton of methods ef- fecting improvements in cereals. l These experiments have been extended over a period of eighteen years, and
 throughout have been conducted on a rigidly scientific basis. By these means they have succeeded in produ- cing such variations in wheat and oth- CT cereals as practically to create new food plants. These new types of food | plants, which give every promise of be- ing absolutely permanent, are charac- terized by the possession of valuable properties not present in the parent plants Not cnly are the results al ready obtained of immense value from a food point of view, but the system perfected by Messrs. Carton is capable of almost unlimited extension and de- velopment.
 Messrs. Carton began their work in 1SS0 For the first two or three years | they did not meet with much success. Their first successful crossing resulted i in grain which partook of the char acteristics of both of it's parents. But | in the second generation all sorts of queer abortions made their appearance. It is not until the fifth or sixth genera tion that these tendencies to sport or to revert to original types ceased. After | this the new species became permanent and fixed. I saw magnificent speci- mems of cereals, in every one of which | the valuable characteristics of the pa- rents were intensified and improved. I | have given one instance of this, in the case of the marriage of the Chinese and l the British oat. Another case is that of 1 the crossing of the old Lincoln red wheat with triticum spelta, sort of wild wheat which grows in southern Asia. The characteristics of the latter variety are that the grains adhere very | firmly to the chaff, and consequently are not liable to be beaten out by high winds after they become ripe and before | they are harvested. It is also a strong, | glutinous wheat, and has imparted | what the bakers call strength to the l flour. All these qualities are present in l the resulting hybrid. As to barley, the best kinds of malting barley have only | two rows of grains, one on each side of | the stem. But there are rows of unfer- | tile forets on the other side of the | stem, and MT, Carton has succeeded by l hybridization in getting barley which 1 has all the characteristics of the finest | malting barley, such as the Chevalier, | and which has six rows of grain instead | of two.
 | As to straw, MT. Carton has paid great attention to the evolution of ce- reals which are stiff and sturdy in their | straw, and consequently cannot be beaten down by storms before harvest. l By microscopic investigation he has discovered that every straw has long l hellcal spring, which enables it to bend before the passing gale and spring up | again into an upright position. The straw is also strengthened by stays which extend throughout it's whole length, and the more this helical spring is developed, and the more of these stays there are in the straw, the stronger and stiffer 1t becomes, and the less readily is it beaten down by wind and rain. By cross fertilization these cHaIaclellsticS nave pSeH ueVel- oped.
 I have said nothing about the new grasses which have been brought out one cross between rye-grass and fes- cue which has all the feeding qualities of the former and all the perennial characteristics of the latter. Then there are the new clovers, which com- bine the succulent leaves and stems of the red clover with the perennial hab- it's of the white. MT. John Carton thinks that all cereals and grasses have a tendency to deteriorate unless crossed with new blood, and he places no limit on the Improvements which may be made by judicious scientific hybridiza- tion.-London Chronicle.