The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-03-29

west Canada, when in his own ma
tive cline. their charm Is entirely
lost and their beauty scarcely recog.
nized. SO in the breeding of grains
and. forage plants the wise breeder
will closely observe the things near
at hand and be ready to grasp the
truth at every stage of progress
The painstaking, close observing,
patient person who can settle down
to a ten year job and camp On the
trail, exercising eternal vigilance
cannot help but succeed.
Plan Of Seed Grain Breeding.
"The object of the first plan Of
seed grain breeding instituted at
the station was to breed by straight
selection and the method pursued
was by securing the best heads af-
ter careful study from several hun
dred best plants in given plot. BY
this method good foundation stock
was established. Three years later
the Hays Nursery system of breed
ing was established and has been
continued since. BY this method
approximately 5000 seeds of a given
grain that has been carried through
a variety test are planted in q
nursery bed with a special machine
so as to have the plants four inches
apart in the bed with two border
rows which are later discarded and
only consideration given to plants
within the borders.
"a close study of the plants for
defects and promising characters are
made during the growing period and
the heads of twenty plants from the
5000 are selected for further test.
The heads from each plant are
put into separate envelopes and
weighed and the ten heaviest are
retained for the second years tests.
These seeds are put into little
beds known as centgener plots which
contain 100 plants and border rows,
each plot having within. it planted
the progeny of a single seed from
the previous year. The first FIVE or
six heads are selected from the best
plants in each centgener plot and
retained for the following year and
the process repeated the third year,
and in the fourth year the centgener
plots, of which there are ten for
each variety of grain, are compared
and harvested. After weight and
other factors are determined six
plots are cast out and the four
best are retained for the increase
plots. The fifth year one square
rod is sown which Is increased to
one-tenth of an acre the sixth year
and the acre plot Is used the seventh
year and the twenty acre plot the
eighth year. After the eighth year
the increase is rapid and within five
years from the time of having the
twenty acre plots it. is possible to
have millions of bushels of pure
bred seed dissemination
Ear-to-Row Method.
Pedigree barley. winter rye. win.
ter wheat and oats have been bred
at the Wisconsin, station. Four stand,
ard varieties of Wisconsin corn have
been bred through a course OF breed
ing known as the ear.to-row method.
BY this method it is possible to get
the progeny of one ear out of many
that has within it the power to
transmit to its offspring its perma-
nent characters of high yield, SYM
metry of ear and other, important
characteristics.
"The variation of yield between
ears of corn OF the same variety is
exceedingly great, the yield also
of seed ears, ears that are sufficient
ly good to retain for seed is greater
still. By careful breeding it is
possible to get a variety to yield
three and four times as many seed
ears as the variety would yield il
no breeding were put upon it. Good
seed corn is worth So per bushel in
the ear when properly cared for.
1t makes great difference to the
average farmer now on the high
priced lands whether he is growing
corn worth SO per bushel or corn
worth only so cents per bushel It
is also possible by breeding to get
a variety of corn to nearly double
its general yield. The Silver King,
or Wisconsin No. z which is one of
the most highly bred varieties, gives
yield Of 25 per cent and 80 per
cent seed ears which before i'm.
provement did not give more than