The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1920-02-13
CLAIMS TO HAVE DISCOVERED
NEW LAW IN PLANT BREEDING

have attracted considerable attention
He says plant and animal life may be
greatly increased in size and quality
by a scientific process he has discov
cred.
| His experimental nursery is l0cat
ed in sheltered valley in the shadow
of famous Mount Tamalpais. In this
Isecluded spot, working without much
danger of interruption from the out
side world, Richard Diener has in 9
little more than three years tripled
the size of half dozen well known
flowers. He claims to have made siz
bushels of wheat where one grew be
fore: to have developed a blight-pr00i
tomato bearing fruits weighing three
pounds each; a potato many times
the size of ordinary 'spuds' and a
white Ieghorn rooster weighing ten
pounds. 1t is to be hoped that the
quality of the flesh of the leghorns
for food has been improved in proper.
ton to the size.
If Mr.. Diener has produced what he
claims it will certainly pay him to
exhibit his products in the east. The
International Flower Show to be held
in this city in March offers an excel
lent opportunity.
Diener is short, stocky man Of
forty-six, and began experimenting
with plants when a lad of fourteen IN
the Hartz mountains, in Germans.
The results he is now obtaining are
the fruits of lifelong experience and
hard work.
He has spent much time in cross
breeding and careful scientific selec-
ton to develop the big flowers and
plants. The exact process he declines
to divulge at present-not because he
wishes to keep it secret, but because
he refuses to impart such knowledge
except through careful personal teach
ing. Whether Diener has discovered
something new or has simply worked
out well known laws remains to be
seen.
During the course of recent inter
view regarding his work, Mr.. Diener
said:
Il believe l have conclusively prov
ed that any variety of plant. fruit
flower or grain, or any variety of IL.
NAL can be enlarged a. vii, and the
process can be- repeated until that
size is obtained which is most desired
for continuous use. In plants ii
takes only one cross to double the size
of the parents. In animals, | have
had opportunity to try it on chickens
only. 1t takes two crosses to bring
the same result So I am sure ii
works with animals as with plants, ia
which | have tried it thousand dif
ferent ways. Another interesting
fact is that by reversing the process
| can make plants smaller with each
crossing.
This discovery means so much to-
civilization that few will be able to-
grasp its effect. Already from fhe'
common wheat producing twenty-five
to thirty bushels per acre as used By
the farmers here I have produced
new varieties which yield at the rase
of 100 bushels per acre, and this with
the same labor, the same fertilization
and the same land
MY new tomato yields thirty to
forty tons of fruit per acre, and has
proven in every respect far superior
to anything existing now. The size
of the. first fruit reaches weight of
three pounds. but the average fruit
weighs about one pound. is perfectly
filed out, and does not contain any
hollows like so many other varieties,
and the surface is as smooth as an ap
pie.
"The flesh is more solid than any
other tomato now known, and for de
hydrating is most valuable variety.
II is a magnificent dark red shade,
which makes IT very attractive: it il
very sweet and free of the acid taste
1.-THE most astonishing thing about
this tomato is that it has proven to
be absolutely blight resisting. Last
year thousands of acres in California
We're destroyed by blight, and this to
mato was grown alongside of other
varieties which have been killed of
entirely by blight and has not been in
the least affected.
''Thus far my work has been chiefly
with flowers: it is only since the lat
ter part of 1915. at the request Of Con
gresham William Kent, and with his
xx-r,.fyrsE ~