Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-08-27

matrimonial bureau. He makes mar
USNYEHSV riages by the hundreds a month, and
SS@.zS4Y adds to his children by the of thou
sands year. He not only marries
those within his own boundaries, but he has his
agents travelling at expense and wide
the world searching new brides and grooE.s
to mate with them.
These marriages, however, not of men and
women, but of plants 1t strange to think of plants
marrying but the vegetable world is male and female
1t 10 made up of such matches, and from them are
coming forth and valuable plant children each
day. Evyone has heard of Luther Burbank who
married the plum to the apricot and made the plum
cot who made the white blackberry out of the bru-
nette and Cross and who took the oxeyed daisy and
~ uniting 1t with other varieties created the great
Shasta flower. which many times larger The ARri
cultural department has a half dozen men who have
done as much original work Luther Burbank and
there of others over the country
at our state and national experiment stations who are
yearly producing grains and fruits which will add
enormously to our national wealth.
Our New Baby Wheats
Take the matter OF wheat The agricultural
matchmakers Of Minnesota have done wonders in
their marriages of those servants of man. They have
crossed the various wheats and they have now 900
hybrid babies which they are testing They have
produced one offspring which has been already scat
tered over 1000O 900 acres, and another which IA be-
ing planted upon 100000. Some Of the new wheats
are showing gains of from two to five bushels per
acre. and some have averaged as high as fortyseyen
bushels The old wheats beside them have been Civ
ing only fifteen twenty If the wheat crop of the
United States could be increased only thrae brsbls
per acre 1t would add 81 900 per year
to our receipts from that source
me grains used in producing these hybrids have
pedgrees dating far back into history They have
been collected from all parts of the world Among the
Wneats now used are some sent by Mr. Aronson from
Palestine. He has discovered there wild wheat whose
ancestors are supposed to have grown In the Garden
or Eden and there is another wheat which has bean
found In the tomb Of Egyptian mummy more than
5000 years old.
Among the new varieties which we are now plant
ing Is that brought in from the dry lands bordering
tho Sahara in southern Algeria This is the durun,
or macaroni wheat which M. A. Carleton one of our
agricultural explorers sent to be tested upon the
semt4rtd lands OF middle west It was tried in
Kansas. Nebraska and Texas and the first crop was
$4,000 bushels That eight or nine years ago
The second crop was over a million and we are poE
raising 100000 bushels about one-half of which
is exported to Europe and to the very country
whence the wheat came. That wheat all comes from
land which would not grow wheat before.
New Grains for the Farmer.
Similar experiments are being made by our experts
OF the Agricultural department in almost every grain
known to man. New grains and new varieties of the
old grains being gathered from all over the world
and brought here for testing and uniting with other
varieties. This is especially of corn OATS barley
and rice.
Our corn crop last year worth over 81 500 900
900. It's value was more than dozen times that of
our gold and silver output and the amount raised was
SO great that it would have filled a solid four-horse
wagon train reaching from here to the moon If the
skies could be brdged and the corn taken thither
Nevertheless, the breeders tell me that by marry
ing the different varieties and planting good seed
this crop could be doubled without the addition of
one acre to the area or adding more fertilizer All
that is needed is good seed cultivation and the
land Will produce from two to four times what It does
now. This matter is understood by our well informed
farmers who belong TO the many corn-breeding asso
Citations scattered over the union The varieties of
well known as those of cattle and
horses The best beIhs crossed recrossed and
a variety may be discovered which will be worth
great deal Of money. AS It Is the best seed brings
a high price IN the market
Plants for Our Dry Land.
am told at the Agricultural department that they
making special effort to discover new cereals