Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-26
adding considerably to the value OF the
American citrus crop.
A Long Jump.


It is long jump from oranges to lettuce
But that Is another of the things in which
the plant breeders OF the department have
made great advances For instance, the
eastern market demands head lettuce, .
that is. one with close head like a little
cabbage and very few loose outside leaves
The west wants a lettuce all open, with all
what Is called dressing leaves The great
objection to this lettuce is that 1t is too
light, and the plant breeders have now sue
ceeded in producing a hybrid of the two
that has both the inner head and the
outer dressing leaves and at the same time
is heavy enough to be desirable.
The work with corn has been even more
remarkable. Corn has been bred for
variety of purposes, but the chief interest
or the general reader Is in the increa Sc of
the amount that can be raised an acre.
ne department by persistent breeding and
, selection of seed has been able to ra Sc
the yield from IS to co bushels to co to 100
bushels in an ordinary crop on same kind
of ground
bhe best specimen ont of about so at a
planting. A single row with 800 individual
plants In 1t will be put down one season.
When the crop is matured the best spect-
men Is selected out of the row and is used
TOT the next breeding crop. while the grain
from the select row is made the basis of
the general planting. At the end of the
next season the most desira BILE Individual
of the breeding row is taken and used for
the next years seed while the seed corn
from the rest of the row. all of which is
better than the average crop Is saved for
seed corn in the general crop This nroc-
ess is continued year after year. and a
strict record kept of the parentage of the
corn TIL the yield is raised very largely
ana new type of corn is established from
winch 1t Is easy TO furnish as much seed as
Is desired.
The corn may be bred for any one of a
great many qualities. The cob is bred down
In size and the grain is bred up. The
size OF the stalk and the drought re sisting
QUANTITIES are improved and the com is bred
IN a short plant that is more resisting to
WIND storms, and altogether the character
can be changed almost at will to suit any
particular need or to meet local coadit :ons.
rms work has all been carried On under
the direction of DIR. b. r. Galloway. the
director OF the bureau of plant industry,
one OF the newer bureaus of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture that has to do with
the breeding of plants and the Introduction
OF new species into the United States and
the adap tation of whatever seems good In
the plant line to the local conditions il will
nave to meet in its new home.
Some of the Workers.
The work with the individual breeds Of
plants mas oeen carried on by several of
the men of the department each one of
whom has enough practical results to show
for his work to cover all the appropriations
y.
The problem of improving and producing
new breeds of cotton and citrus fruits has
been Immediately in charge of DR.. H. ].
Weber. 1t was he with the assistance of
a number of field workers, both in and out
of the department, who produced the cit
ranges. He has also recently brought the
length of the cotton fiber in several of the
old breeds of cotton up to a point where
the crop will be worth from four to five
cents pound more than formerly
Mr. A. d. Shamel has carried on much
of the tobacco improvement work under
the direction of DrS. Galloway and Weber.
He and Mr.. Cobey, who has worked with
him, have brought the question of seed
lection in tobacco and the Improvement of
the crop by breeding and selection to the
point where the value of the crop Is rap
idly approaching the doubling point.
Mr. c. 2. Hartley has been ju charge of
the work with corn and there have been
new breeds produced and the production
per acre has been largely raised under his
regime.
One of the best of the actual workers
with difficult plants has been George w
Oliver, who has been employed in the green
houses of the department for long time
He Is an Illustration of a man who can do
things which other people conceive Dr.
Galloway or some Of the other workers may
decide that something ought to be done
with lettuce a clover or some of the
other difficult plants with very small
flower. They might not be able to do Ii
themselves but Mr.-Ohver, when the idea
is presented to him, will lie down on his
stomach on a gunRy sack, hold personal
conference with the plant question and
then do things to 1t that SAVIOR almost of
magic. II was thus that he procured the
first cross that was ever made of clover,
mutiating the tiny flower with a lancet and
then keeping it alive by covering 1t with
in inverted test tube. with plug of moist
ened cotton in the bottom. He has done
things in the same way with the almost
microscopic flowers of the lettuce, and is
now at work under the direction of Dr.
Galloway producing Il disease-resistng type
of cow-pea.
It takes all sorts of people to carry out
the work OF plant breeding, but 1t is fas-
cinating work and is being effectively car
ried on and II Is opening up an entirely
new vista in American agriculture.