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 Are Among Modern Wizards Who Are Red
rectng Plant Life Into Interesting and More Profitable Pro-
cesses-Many Yields Are Doubled.

By CHARLEs A. WHITTLE.


Yields BY planting seed obtained from
O field Of heavy yielding grain. The
explanation is that the seed takeT
from the field were hybrids. What h'
actually gets from hybrid seed, IN IN,
way Of a variety OF corn, is doubt.
less surprising to him.
Farmer Can Grow Pure Seed,
It IS any easy matter for farmer
to grow his own seed. and thus bt
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
lected ear. he can plant these In a
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 showin" the best
termination should be reserved 10
plant in the seed plat. Some breed
ers go further and Investigate the
rootlets that first develop and dis
cacd 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 tho history
and accomplishment OF each ear All
this can he done with little trouble by
the farmer Breeders favor detassel-
ing every other stalk Of corn In a
breeding plat before It has poileuized
itself
Other Plant as Fertilizer.
This leaves the stalk to be fortified
by another plant, which is considered
10 make for a stronger breed than
when. self-fertilized. When the gath
ering time comes only those ears
which have grown on the detasselcd
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 10 corn, and no such close
manipulation can be worked with
other grains but the same general
principles apply The main point rs
to take care that the selected strain.
OF corn, wheat, oats or whatever els5
are kept put and free from the in
vasion Of rovers and that the strain
Is Kept as strong as possible by seed
selection, which includes the GERM
nation test
An interesting development in corr
preceding which has been pursued by
Professor p. O Nanattar, Of the
Georgia state College Of Agriculture
Is that which has to 40 with suck.
ers' or stools" on corn. Instead OF
discardlng corn with suckers" he has
developed and watched II. His con.
illusions are that corn that sucker.
Is the corn that terminates strong
est produces the biggest yield. has
the best slower. stands strongest
against winds, In fact is the bes;
corn. Breeders generally have over
looked this fact.
Farmer Benefits From Science.
These and other important contri
buttons are being constantly made to
the aggregate Of knowledge Of how 10
enlarge the yields OF not only corn,
but other crops, II Is a part which
the scientists and experimenter can
do for the benefit OF the farmer Civ
ing the farmer the fruits of his study
In the shape OF increased harvests.
NO field Of agricultural work Is
traught with more fascination and
wonder than this OF plant breeding
ana, without doubt, some marvellous
discoveries viii be made in the Dext
nd
botdnists agog, but will rejoice a
whole world that other discoveries
have been made whereby two stalks
can be grown whore one has hereto
fore been grown.
The history Of plant DEVELOPMENT
reads Ike romance, but back of il. of
course was long years Of careful toll
that was unromantiC enough 4.
many az 100 years ago plants thai
were extra well developed were takar
from the field and propagated care.
fully and were gradually developer
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, for the reason that tn,
exceptional plants were hybrids an,
soon reverted to original types
In Germany and Sweden the I'm
vestigators began on the Darwiuia,
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. HIalma
Nilsson. OF Sweden, fell upon the sin
glS plant or ear-to-rOw as the ha
for esta blishing pure breeds an,
maintaining the purity, Since the
the ear or the single head has bee
he basis OF all successful breeding.
one Of the points emphasized in IN
boys corn club work Is seed selection
What has been learned from thes
various seed breeding experiment
the world over the Government an