The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-12-30
BREEDING OF PLANTS
How One of the Problems Of Food
Production Is Being Solved

Production Is Being Solved
The fundamental problem Of man
kind is to produce food for itself.
This food must grow out of the earth
and In the sea. In the last analysis.
1t all depends on the vegetable cover
on the earth. How to make the veg
etable kingdom more productive to
the needs of man is therefore a prob
lem that concerns all persons who
at any time live in the world.
Great and serious study has been
given to this fundamental problem In
the last century, and the problem
must increase In Importance as every
new generation adds TO the population
OF the earth. we are eradicating pes
thence and insanitation, and are be-
ginning to think of putting an end to
war; all this should allow the human
race to increase rapidly in the future.
But the future increase will probably
depend more on social and economic
factors than on physical factors alone
and the foremost economic factor is
the facility or the difficulty with
! which the race may be fed.
Tic DldnlUlOCQClo dAN Va wv
groups, those who are not connected
with an organization, but who prose
cute their work on their own resour-
ces, usually in connection with a nur-
sery or seed business and those who
are attached to some college, expert
ment station, or government depart
ment.
AS an unattached plant-breeder Mr..
Charles G.. Patten of Charles City.
Iowa, should be mentioned, both be-
cause his work is deserving and be-
cause it is of such long standing that
! / can write of results actually occom-
plished.
Mr.. Patten was farm boy in nor
them New York, reared in the gener-
al mixed husbandry of that region.
At an early age he went to Wisconsin
where, being impressed with the need
of apples specially adapted to the
climate, he began to raise seedlings.
In 1864 he removed to Charles City,
and settled on the raw prairie near
the town; in 1866 he established q
nursery business. AS he attempted
to supply the needs of the new and
untried region, he found himself com
PEELED to test great numbers OF varie-
ties of fruits and ornamental plants
from the older country, and also TO
attempt to breed new ones that might
more perfectly meet the conditions
of very cold winters with dry, killing
winds. The result has been the pro-
duction of the Patten Greening, now
a standard apple of the Northern
Iowa. Wisconsin, Minnesota region lor
what may be called the box-elder
country and several other accepted
varieties. There are also large num-
bers of new things yet awaiting ful-
Her tests. II is not often that man
has more than one accepted new var
iety TO his credit.
In the region that have indicated,
| the Baldwin, GreenIng, Northern Spy
and other familiar eastern apples, are
killed by the winters. Mr.. Patten OBJ
served that trees and shrubs which
did well even in his Wisconsin exper-
ience were lacking in hardness In
northeastern Iowa. He pondered all
these facts and worked out a theory
or plan OF procedure. 1t was clearly
necessary to secure a new stock or
race OF fruits There are still several
theories as to the best way OF doing
this with apples. One plan is to i'm
port varieties OF fruits direct from a
country OF similar climate; the noted
introduction OF Russian apples thirty
or forty years ago was the working
out of this idea. Another theory Is
to improve the wild crab-apple that is
native to the region From this crab,
probably hybridized with the domestic
apple the Soulard and few others,
have actually been produced; but all
are OF small value where any other
apple can be grown Another idea
is to use the Siberian crab as foun-
dalton from which to breed. Another
plan, or rather. practice, is TO plant
unfortunately the seeds of eastern
varieties, in the hope that an adapta'
BILE form may appear. The Wealthy
apple. our leading cold-country vari-
ETY., was actually produced In this
way, Peter NJ. Gideon. In Minnesota.
sowing bushel OF apple seed from
Maine, out of which this one seed
ling proved to be yaluable.-The Cen
tury Magazine.