Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-05

year in the Iowa experiment station. one
year as associate editor OF an agricultural
four years in the University
of Minnesota, two years in North Dakota
Agricultural college. eleven years in the
University OF Minnesota again and four
years in the United States Department
of Agriculture have given many oppor-
tunitles for a technical. sane and broad
view OF affairs relating to the farming
population OF our country.
Began breeding Early.
In 1887 Mr.. Hays began the breeding Of
timothy, wheat and other field crops. In
1889 he had demonstrated that by the
methods he had devised he was able to in
crease the yield OF standard varieties of
wheat 1920, and even % per cent. In a few
more years similar improvements were
made with several other field crops, and
some Of the new varieties were grown on
hundreds Of thousands Of acres. His
unique methods were rapidly developed into
a system, with a most wonderful organiza-
ton OF detail in selecting the seeds, plant
ing large broods of the seeds of single
mother plants, recording the performance
OF individual plants and OF fraternity
groups Of plants, and in tabulating and
displaying the pedigree value of the thous-
ands Of newly created pure-bred varieties.
Thus corn, oats, barley, flax and the
grasses and clovers came under the master
hand Of this breeder.
The resourcefulness needed to find ways
TO plant, make records of. select. hybridize,
multiply, advertise and distribute new va
Sieties in working with each OF a score Of
Species OF field crops is illustrated in ira
ditions about Minnesota's experiment sta
ton. Mr.. Hays first experiment In start
ing a field crop nursery with one plant in
a hill was with timothy. The wind per-
sisted daily in blowing, thus making 1t inn
possible to plant one tiny timothy seed by
itself In hills a foot apart each way. To
prevent loss Of the seeds by the wind little
balls of clay we're, therefore, made In the
laboratory and a seed placed in each.
These clay balls were then planted. No
one had before grown single timothy plants
in hills so as to see the great stools Of
culms and heads from single seeds. The
immense variation showed the young plant
breeder that even grass crops could be
bred like animals, comparing the breeding
value OF one fine looking parent plant
with the breeding power OF another. Thus
the very first experiment led to the de-
velopment by Mr.. Hays Of the sO-cailed
centgener method Of breeding now recog-
nizod as the most important method for
many crops.
New Word for New Method.
Under this cengener methods the breeder
first secured many superior parent plants.
\ hundred or more seeds OF each Darent
were planted. The word centgener, COM
bining the words centum and genera, sim
ply means a hundred, more or less, of one
birth, having a common parentage. BY
comparing the average Of the progeny Of
the respective parent plants the power Of
each parent to project It's own individual
values into It's progeny was measured,
that the seeds OF those relatively few
parent plants which boget the best strains
might be preserved and made into new
.pure-bred varieties. BY this means the
parent plants were compared in a far more
vital way ehan by simply comparing their
own yields.
The expressions, "cengener power anu
projected breeding efficiency have IN
c~arnated this new plan OF breeding into the
thought Of the times. This basic plan has
made it possible to organize large estab-
lishments for creative work In making new
strains OF plants and animals. These eS
adjustments are 50 organized that a d.
vision OF the work among technical helpers
Is carried out as in a facpory, thus making
Il possible 70 organise establishments sz-