The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1901-1903, 1902-10-26

Gaz21 SEs@ national Conference on
Plant Breeding and Hy-
bridization.
As pointed out by an expert on the
subject. all our most familiar flowers,
fruits, vegetables and cereals arc the
results OF unconscious plant breeding,
sometimes dating so far back that the
original types are unknaMn, as in the
instances of wheat and Indian corn.
All systematic work in this line. now
ever, has been done in the last fifty
years. and the greater part in the last
twenty years, while the last five years
have been more productive of varia-
Die results than the whole foregoing
period. In paper by Mr. Barron he
emphasizes the fact that the history
of gardening as an advanced art
did not begin till about 100 years ago.
while Linnaeus was building up his re-
markable system of plant classification.
From that time until recent years the
world was ransacked for new plants.
until native fioras were practically ex-
hausted. The new plant of today is
generally recognized as an artificial
production, the result of naturalization.
A clear understanding of sexuality in
plants was first recorded in 1876. and in
1851 Camerarius published results of
Investigations he had made Of the ster-
ility of a mulberry tree. The first
actual, intentional hybrid produced
between two distinct species was
"Fairchilds sweet-william, the
achievement of Thomas Fairchild.
London nurseryman. who died in 1929.
The progress of LIBERALIZATION was slow
for many years afterwards. the effect
of the process often being very slight
in the first generation. so that first re-
suits We're frequently disappointing.
and early eXperimenters. who trusted
to chance, Were apt to become dis
couraged. After more scientific and
persistent lines of investigation were
adopted, the pioneers were opposed by
popular prejudice, objection being
raised to their work on the ground that
it was an impious interference with
the laws of natuge. So strong was
this prejudice in England that in mod
ern times a noted firm of nurserymen
near London concealed the fact that
they were manufacturing their novel
ties, and placed on the market a large
number OF artificial hybrids, produced
in their nurseries, as original species
from the Cape of Good Hope.
IMPROVEMENT by SELECTION.
Wonderful results have been accom-
plished in plant breeding by the process
OF selection alone. The sugar in sugar
beets has been increased more than 100
per cent. in the last century by means
Of rigid selection systematically and
scientifically carried out on a large
scale by French and German seed
growers In every generation or bets
the best roots, with the highest per
centage of pure sugar. have been Sc.
lected as the parents of Il new genera
ton. Most valuable results have been
obtained in this country by the work
Of the State and the United States
Agricultural Experiment Stations. In
a report by Wiilet NJ. Hays. of the Min
nesota Agricultural Experiment sta
ton. which was published in 1901. he
says: THE ten leading field crops in
the United States annually yield near
~ $1,000 100000 worth OF plant prod
ucts. BY means Of 1.-Two stock and by
manufacturing processes the value of
these is so increased before they are
consumed that it is very nearly
doubled. Experiments have demon
strated that by breeding alone these
crops may be so improved in their in
herited tendencies as to yield five per
cent. more, even with the cultivation
remaining unimproved" He adds that
the Minnesota Station by six years of
selection produced varieties of fax
thirty-two inches tall from varieties
only twenty-six inches tail, increasing
the length of the fibre more than TWEEN
ty per cent. This experiment demon
strates the possibilities Of breeding
FAX which will grow as long fibre in ~
dry climate as Is produced from the
common flax in Belgium. Ireland. and
other moist countries where most of
the long fibre is now produced. By the
process Of selection in wheat breed
ing at the same station, two new vari-
cites have been produced and distri-
buted, which win, 1t is estimated. re-
pay the State in few years for all
the money it has expended to date in
agricultural experiments.
In paper read by George Lee. gar
dener. before meeting Of a gardeners
association, at Exeter, England, last
spring, he said that nothing in scientific
agriculture had attracted more atten-
ton throughout the world in the last
ten years than the raising of new
breeds Of wheat in America and other
wheat growing countries. 1t had been
demonstrated that these new wheats
would increase the present yield in
the regions to which these particular
wheats were adapted by four bushels
per acre. If that could be accomplished
in the United States alone, it would
add over 160,000,0O0 bushels per year.