The Opelousas courier., 1902-07-26
FHB BREEDING OF PLANTS
FASCINATING STORY AND I'm
ENCHANTING PAsTiME.

kIOU III buS FuIafS'
Besides being a subject of vast econ
omic importance, the breeding OF plants
is a fascinating study and a most en-
chanting pastime to those interested IN
the welfare of the work. The Depart
ment of Agriculture has issued a bulletin
on the subject which says: 1T is one OF
those subjects in which students lii to
specialize.
"In looking toward the future, it seems
probable that plant breeding will receive
far more attention than heretofore. In
European countries mitch mor attention
is given to the improvement OF plans
than in America. In two towns in Ger-
many there are nearly thirty large SEED
firms, with an aggregate capital invest
ment probably FIVE times as great as the
capital of the general seed firms OF AM
erica. In that country owners OF large
farms breed and raise seeds OF wheat:
oats, rye, sugar beets, potatoes and otner
crops. They get better profits from this
work, and they build on their farms
chemical and seed laboratories where the
seed selection is done Systematically.
Those farmers to whom they supply seed
which will make their yields H~ger are
also benefited.
"In England the average yield of wheat
is over thirty bushels per acre, while IN
the dUnitet States it is below fifteen
bushels. This difference is in part due
TO the better preparation Of soil and the
uoister climate; but doubtless it is also
due in part to the selection and breeding
of wheat during a much longer period
than has passed since wheat was hrst
own in this new country.
breeding plants, since the literature
on the subject is growing in volume:
gives opportunity for wide study: IS
pecial!y as All art does the breeding o.
plants give the opportunity for the de-
velopment of skill Of a high order.
The breeders of plants, as well as the
breeders OF animals. need to make more
Of a study of records, of relationships;
in a word, design, collect and study pedi-
Igrees of the plants and animals with
which they deal.
In ATlCTlCd 1LNidLl AoiA HN
bred for numerous conditions. Early
large-yielding dent varieties have finally
been bred for southern Minnesota and
other northern States.
"What farmer would think OF return
ing to the smaller cars of fifty or one
hundred years ago? Yet it is quite pos
sible in another half century, by more
carefully breeding and with greater at
~tention to the composition and quality
of our corn, to make as important I'M
provements as have been made IN the
past. 1t is probably safe to say that the
farmers, by adding IS per cent, more TO
the care and labor Of rotating crops
manuring the soil and cultivating the
corn, could secure rs per cent. larger
Yields. And it is probably just as salt
: to saw that if one-tenth of I per cent
of the corn crops value were devoted BY
!, the government to breeding this plant se
' as to better adapt it to each locality II
,, Der cent. more could be added to thu
: Weld. While better farming and bette
cultivation are ultimately the o I'M
~portant in the aggregate, plant breeding
is relatively more important until gu
crops are brought up more nearly Il
e their possible maximum of yield. =,
"Onr ten leading field crops in tn
United States yield an annual incom
3 which is valued on the farm at somethinl
like $2,ooo,ooo,ooo. No man who ha
earnestly and in~telligently tried to- in
crease the yields of any one of thes
crops will doubt the assertion that b
d breeding alone, other conditions remain
j. ing the same. an average increase OF
per cent. could be added to the yield
D. of these ten crops in twenty years b
ls a line of thorough experimentation
Prices remaining the same. this woul
ID add S~Ioo,ooo.ooo annually to the aggrt
s. gate valuation of these crops; or,
re twenty succeeding years, $~2,ooo,ooo,D
al If to the increase in value of our prime
ut pal field crops are added the increase
In values of orchard, garden, %greenhou'
ae and forest crops, WI will have a mu'
greater aggregate gain. All these crol
s, are capable of improvement by bree,
ht ing. the same as corn and wheat, and Il
u general principles to be followed are Il
ot same throughout. In many of the flow
81 and vegetable crops changes have alrea,
been produced by breeding that are +
greater than the anticipated changes
- the Yields of corn and wheat.
In the case of sugar beets, for e
ample. the percentage of sugar in
Juice of the roots has been increas
probably 100 per cent. by rigid scientl
:" methods practiced on a large and e
- ~pensive scale by European seed grove
- This work, started by Vilmorin
France. has made possible a large
dustry, profitable to the farmers and
a. manufacturers, and has resulted in mt
=, cheaper sugar for the entire world. He
s1r as in other lines of breeding, the prln
plies and practice are comparatlv
simple and easily mastered. Remove
IN from the domain of abstruse reason
where some teachers of heredity pl
it, and plant improvement becomes
-" practical business proposition, an
ian ~portant affair of state."-Wash'ng
ave Stor.
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