Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-08-23
Importance of Better Planting Seed


Farmer? Where do you expect to
obtain your planting seed. and what
guarantee have you that it will be
of a satisfactory character? Do you
expect to test it's terminating quail
ity? Do you wish to plant other than
seed known to be the progeny of an
especially vigorous Tariety, or one
well adapted for growth under our
alocal conditions? Or are you simply
going to plant whatever you can
find? If so, you will continue to
raise ten bushels of wheat per acre
and fifteen or twenty bushels Of
oats. Why not double these yields
You ask in some amazeme at, can
this be done?" Yes. surely it can.
How? One OF the best ways to
achieve the desired end will De
through the use OF better seed.
When we wish to improve hogs
In a community, we buy purebred
sire, and it is a noteworthy TACT
that the type and grade of hogs IN
that location soon show evidences
of improvement. If we secure such
marked benefits from the use OF 4
purebred sire on our native soWs, ls
there any reason to think that SIM
- liar Improvements will not be eVi-
- denced in our farm crops IL we use
: nurebred seed? One experiment att
err another has demonstrated that
purebred seed is Just as effective
in raising the standard of produc-
ton in field grains as the use OF
purebred sires has proven in the
A,rsse of A livestock breeder. Let us
get in line in this proposition and
improve by mass selection or ped
igreed selection, not only the cereals
we are Cultivating, but the legumeS
and other field crops which we grow
on such an extensive scale through
out the south.
II you will read what the asron-
omv division of the Georgia State
College of Agriculture has found
out as the result of its investlSa-
tions along the particular lines men,
toned, YOU will be convinced that
1t Is necessary for you to take I'M
mediate action relative to this fun
damental matter in order to prop
erly safeguard your interest as
landowner.
Wheat. oats and barley are all
a close pollinated crops. and once
pure strain is isolated, it will re-
main pure for a long period unless
linked in the thresh or elsewhere
Rye is cross pollinated and requires
constant selection.
In all of these crops many types
are found. some of which are better
than others. In unsolicited red rust
proof oats are found at least four
types, a compact head with plump
grains, an open head with medium
plump grains, an open head with
long, slender grains and an open
head with slender black or dark col
ored grains. Tests have shown that
the contract heads with large plump
grains give a much higher yield. AT
the Georgia State College of Agr1cui-
ture a pedigreed strain of Fulcastei
wheat has been developed that has
given a three-year average yield Of
AS bushels per acre as compared
with 35.5 bushels per acre from the
.Aoriginal, unsolicited strain grown
during the same years; an increase
of 81 bushels per acre.
In Appler oats, selections were
made of the compact head with
plump grains which have given an.
average yield of 63.2 bushels per
acre for a period Of five years. The
{. type with loose spreading head with
slender grains has averaged only
AGA bushels for the same period and
ID the type with loose spreading head
and black grains only 39.5 bushels
per acre.
Some hereditary characters desir-
able in small grains are ID high
yield; ~ stiff straw; 81 earliness; (D
resistance to rust and 90 resistance
to- cold.
BY making mass selection OF
heads, all the same type much inn
provement can oe made in the small
In CO.
lected and threshed by hand to
plant q seed patch ard seed from
this patch used to plant the general
crop. Care should be taken, how
ever, to see that the threshing ma
chine is thoroughly cleaned before
threshing the seed plat. By making
this mass selection from the seed
.patch every year, a very high grade
of seed can be maintained.
Pedigree selection in small grains
offers a wide field for improvement
as it has been found that seed from
heads apparently alike give wide va
riations in yield.
The usual method of handling
them Is to take about % seed from
each head, planting them in a five
foot row, spacing the seed evenly in
the row. The second year, seed from
seeded in 16foot rows, each selec-
ton being replicated three or six
times. The third year, longer rows
are grown from the best four or five
selections, and the fourth year the
best selection is grown in an in
crease plat to furnish seed for the
general crop the fifth year.
A small thresh that is very easily
Teleaned can be made from an Old
threshing machine by using only
the cylinder, cylinder head and fan
parts, for threshing the small rows.
The peanut is a close pollinated
crop, and does not mix with other
varieties. An examination of
field of peanuts will show that
there are several different types in
the field, and tests have shown
/. Ahat selection will make big in
crease in yield. Desirable char
Rcters that may be secured in pea
nuts are: % high yields, CD in
ability to remain in ground for a
long period without sprouting or
decayinG. (3) nuts firmly attached
to plant so they can be pulled up.
90 resistance to disease, go re-
duction in number Of pops.
Peanuts can be handled by either
pedigree or mass selection in a
manner very similar 10 that de-
scribed for other crops.
The Florida velvet bean which
was the first Velvet bean grown in
this country is a late maturing Wig
orous growing plant. From this
variety have arisen three very dis
tinct types which are the result of
selection: % the medium early
type that originated in Alabama,
(2) the early type which was first
found in southern Georgia and the
bunch type also originated in south