Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-29
Plant Breeding Wonders Teach
Farmers of South Importance
OF Care in the Selection of Seed
Scientists of Georgia Among Modern Wizards Who Are Redi
recing Plant Life Into Interesting and More Profitable Pro
cesses-Many Yields Are Doubled.
By CHARLES A. WHITTLE


oeoF9l oNdte OOl'S9e u n.y. iSN'tN'N
yields by planting seed obtained from
field Of heavy yielding grain. Thu
explanation IS that the seed taker
from the field were hybrids. What h'
actually gets from hybrid seed, in the
way OF a variety Of corn, is doubt
less surprising 10 him.
Farmer Can Grow Pure Seed.
It Is any easy matter for a farmel
10 grow his own seed. and thus b'
sure that he is not getting a veal
hybrid. Having obtained what car
be reasonably expected to be a pure
strain. he should pursue the plant-tO-
row method that is, plant each row
IN his seed plat from grain obtained
from a single ear or head.
Before planting he should be sure
that he is putting into the ground
seeds that are vigorous. He can de-
termine this by conducting germinat-
ing tests. Taking grains from a Sc
lcCtcd ear. he can plant these. in =
sand box, apply moisture and observe
how many Of the seed planted germi-
nate If nearly 100 per cent Of the
grains terminate. the ear is not dis
Carded. only those shown" the best
81 AAA4tih Nlbn FubuAl bt Af7FA N'A ~
plant In the seed plat Some breed
ers go further and Investigate the
rootlets that first develop and dis
card even good terminating ears that
do not also show good root develop
ment.
Having ascertained which are the
good ears. the next step OF the seed
breeder Is TO plant each ear to a row
so as to keep check on the history
and accomplishment OF each ear All
this can be done with little trouble by
the farmer Breeders favor detassei-
ing every other stalk Of corn in a
breeding plat before It has pollenized
itself
Other Plant as Fertilizer.
This leaves the stalk to be fertilizeG
by another plant, which is considered
TO make for stronger breed than
when self fertilized When the gath
ering time comes only those ears
which have grown on the detasseled
stalks are taekn for seed to be used
In planting the seed plat the mex.
year The ears from such stalks
which are not reserved for future
seed plats, together with those from
the stalks not detasseled can be
planted in the field. This, OF course
applies to corn, and no such close
manipulation can be worked with
other grains but the same genera
principles apply. The main point Is
to take care that the selected strain.
OF corn, wheat, oats or whatever els,
are kept put and free from the in
vasion OF rovers and that the strair
is kept as strong as possible by seed
selection, which includes the germi,
nation test
An interesting development in corr
breeding which has been pursued by
Professor p. o. Vanattar, OF tn,
Georgia state College OF Agriculture
is that which has TO do with suck
ers' or stools" on corn. Instead o
discarding corn with Suckers" he ma
developed and watched II. His con
clusions are that corn that sucker
Is the corn that terminates strong
est. produces the biggest yield, ha
the best slower. stands stronges
against winds; In fact. Is the hes
corn. Breeders generally have over
looked this fact.
Farmer Benefits From Science.
These and other important contri
buttons are being constantly made [,
the aggregate Of knowledge OF how [,
enlarge the yields OF not only corn
but other crops. 1t is part which
the scientists and experimenter cal
do for the benefit OF the farmer. Civ
ing the farmer the fruits OF his stud,
in the shape OF increased harvests.
No field of agricultural work 4
| fraught with more fascination AM
wonder than this OF plant breeding
and. without doubt. some marvelou
discoveries viii be made in the mex
few years which will not only Sc
botanists agog, but will rejoice ,
whole world that other ilscoverie
! have been made whereby two stalk
can be grown where one has hereto
fore been grown.
The history Of plant developmen
reads like romance, but back Of IL. q
| course, was long years Of careful tot
that was unromantic enough. A
many as 100 years ago plants tina
were extra We'll developed were taker
from the field and propagated care
fully and were gradually develope,
into varieties which became BROAD
adopted instead Of old varieties. be
cause of their greater yielding power
Reverted to Old Types.
While occasionally something wa
accomplished by such methods in aft
er years, in the main there was dis
appointment Tor the reason that tn
exceptional plants were hybrids an
soon reverted TO original types,
In Germany and Sweden the in
vestigators began on the Darwinial
basis and tried to improve by select
ing a number Of best plants, sowin
them together and attempting to ad
vance the whole. II was known a
mass selection. Finally DIR. Hjalma
Nilsson. of Sweden. fell upon the sin
gle plant or esr-to-row as the basi
for establishing pure breeds an,
maintaining the purity. Since thel
the ear or the single head has beef
the basis OF all successful breeding
one of the points emphasized in tn
boys corn club work is seed selection
What has been learned from thes
various seed breeding experiment
the world over the Government an