The Florida agriculturist., 1906-07-04

nificent forces be overlooked or neg
lected?
All the real difference to-day be-
tween the Bushmen and Hottentots
and the civilized races is what has
accrued through the better cultivation
of plant life, and by it the improve
mnet and multiplication of domestic
animals. Laws libraries, music and
art are only outgrowths from the
| more intelligent application OF these
| vital forces.
The first grand principle in the I'M
provement of plans is selection, con-
| tinued selection, and if possible, on
| large scale; for each plant has indlv1d-
ual characters, as has each human be-
ing.
To the careless observer all dalses,
dandelions, golden-rods and asters
are alike; with more experience and
training one learns to know the varl-
Gus species of these, and by still
| further study, individual differences
are appreciated 1t is by selecting
seed from some individual in species
which shows even a faint tendency
toward the object sought for, plant
ing the seed, and from these rese-
lecting in the same line, that improve
ments are made. This continual Sc
lection and reselection must be fol-
lowed from season to season, until
the ideal is attained.
But some plants are exceedingly
variable and pliable, others stubborn
ly fixed in their habits and tendencies.
The beginner should select species
or variety which has proved itself
somewhat pliable-ln other words,
one in which some differences among
; the plants from the seeds of one
, plant can be detected Where the
slightest variation is seen, great ones
can by patient care, be produced.
We have spoken of selection as the
: first principle in plant improvement;
but progress is often accelerated
, thousandfold if crossing two some
what differing species or varieties
has first made the plants more varia-
BILE.
When two plants have been grown
under somewhat different conditions
for some time, they Acquire slightly
different tendencies and habits. Such
, plants when crossed will bear seeds
: which when planted will produce a
more or less 'mongrer' or variable
race of plants, and plants raised from
= these will be still more variable, thus
giving the grower a great range OF
= variations to select from. This is the
. real object in crossing plants, and as
much progress in their improvement
, can often be made in few years by
S selection after thus crossing as could
: be made a century by selection alone.
& The operation of crossing in many
cases is very simple, although exceed
ingly complex in others. 1t is, OF
l course, necessary to have the plants
to be operated upon in bloom, for it
q is only by dusting the pollen dust
! from one plant on the stigma of the
: other and planting the seeds result
/ ing from this cross that the habits
E and tendencies of the two plants can
: by any means be combined.
The blooms to be operated upon
: should have the pollen-bearing an
! theirs removed early in the morning,
: before the wind or insects have scat
{ tered it on the stigma, so that the
4 pollen which has been collected from
II the other variety may be applied first
" The blooms thus crossed should be
carefully marked with a tag or string
3 and the seed gathered by itself fol
:, planting at the appropriate season
" From the resulting Seeding plants the
one approaching nearest to the idea
IS sought should be selected. From this
=, another generation of seedlings tC
q select from in the same way will bt
IS produced. Among these seedllns