The Washington herald., 1908-01-27
BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN
By FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

The fourth annual meeting of th'
American Breeders Association. which be
gins to-day IN Washington. will brinl
/. together the men Of the United States
who are figuntively and literally making
two blades Of grass grow where one
grew before Man has never been able
/ 20 make himself master of the laws OF
! heredity but ne has been able to So
regulate their operation that he can In
time develop animals and plants, within
! certain limitations. according TO his will
| 1t is a wide difference that exists be
/ tween the wild boar and the domestic
/ hog. and yet the breeders art has COM
passed IL. The step from the little old
wild rose 10 the American Beauty seems
an impossible gulf. but cultivation has
! bridged II. The difference between the
AIbermarIe pppin and the little sour
apple. that grew on the wayside tree
/ fifty years ago. seems almost as the
difference between day and night, yet ii
/ represents only the mixture OF a little
brains with nature
! The animal and vegetable kingdoms
have both been made plaster In the hands
| OF man. He has taken the horse and
/ bred it up into dozens OF breeds, each
with It's own particular qualities. The
bovine has been developed into beef cat
/ tie, milk cattle, butter cattle. and still
others, combining all these qualities 70
| a certain degree. lie has taken the
( ordinary chicken and developed some
( fifty different breeds, and of dogs one
will ind anything from the Great Dane
and the st. Bernard. down to the little
toy spaniel. each with its own peculiar
markings. conformation, traits, and ma
ture
In the fruit kingdom one may often
find twenty different varieties OF apple
/ trees in the same orchard, and by graft
Of them grow on a single tree In the
vegetable garden, milady may have a
half-dozen varieties Of beans growing,
and the same is true of almost every
other vegetable. Her flower garden may
have as many kinds OF roses. as many
kinds Of chrysanthemums, and almost as
many Of every other popular flower.
But with all the knowledge scientific
men have Of the laws Of heredity. and
with all their ability to manipulate the
working OF those laws, there are yet
gaps in their knowledge. and this is to
constitute one OF the most interesting
subjects before the association 1t will
form the basis of the concluding paper
of the meeting. which will be read by
II. j. WebbeT. OF Ithaca, n. Y. Prof
ETaH-g.
will remind those who have traced the
work they have done, OF the fact that
much as they have learned and discov-
cred, there are yet secrets locked In the
bosom OF the laws OF after their kind
shall they bring forth" some Of which
may be unlocked by the golden key OF
diligent research. and others that must
ever remain mystery even TO the sclen-
tist
No less a parsonage than Secretary VIII
son. Of the Department OF Agriculture, is
the president of the association. Farmer
Wilson has. perhaps. done more for the
Improvement Of stock. poultry, fruits. and
plants than any other one man in the
United States. There will be some thirty
five reports laid before the association.
showing what has been accomplished
during the past year in each line Of ex-
pertinent. David G. Fairchild will tell
about what has been accomplished in
introducing new plant and animal life
in regions where they have not hitherto
been known. Prof. ". J. Spillman VIII
have something 10 say about the expert
ments that have been made In animal
hybridizing. such as the development OF
the zebrula and the cross between cattle
and buffalo. There will also be reports
and papers on breeding cattle for dairy
production and others covering every
branch OF animal breeding, plant breed
ing fish breeding. and flower breeding.
The latter subject will be handled under
the auspices Of the American Carnation
Society. which meets in connection with
the Breeders Association. There will be
a report on breeding roses. another on
breeding carnations. and another on the
development of immune and resistant-in-
character plants.
- Some of the work that has been done
recently in the line of plant breeding has
been as valuable to man as It is interest
ing TO the student When it Is rected
that the improvements on the potato
which that wizard Of plant life. Burbank.
was able 10 make. are estimated TO have
already been worth 81, ,000, coo to the Amer
lean people. the value of the work that is
being carried on will readily appear. Per-
haps one of the most interesting and im-
portant experiments that have been made
recently was that of Prof. Webber. who
will tell what there is vet to learn of the
laws of heredity. It was he who created
the new frost-resisting orange. This tree
mill nH z4rfff of
400 miles north of the present northerly
limit of orange growing. He started out
by crossing the ordinary orange on the
trifoliate kind, which is hardy. but other
wise worthless. The result was that he
got new orange, which took the single
trait OF hardness from the trifoliate
parent. and the good qualities from the
other. Extending the northern boundary
of the orange growing zone 400 miles will
mean millions TO the people of the United
States.
The work of Biffen in creating a new
wheat in England stands out as one of
the instances Of the wonderful things
science is able to do in overcoming seem
ingly insurmountable dificulties in deal
ing with plants. In England the bakers
want -four made from what is known as
strong wheat This kind of wheat
would not grow In that country, so it had
TO be imported from America. and was
more expensive than the native wheat.
Attempts were made to grow these Amer
lean wheats. but the scanty yield the
farmers were able TO make. iH spite OF the
ravages of the rust, did not make the
growing Of the higher-priced wheat as
profitable as growing the native variety
At this juncture Biffen came along, asI
one Of the scientists connected with the
University of Cambridge experiment sta
ton. and made his experiments in pro-
ducing new variety. He got some seed
of the Michigan bronze wheat. This is