THE OTTAWA NATURALIST 



VOL. XXIIl. OTTAWA, AUGUST, 1909 No. 5 



CERTAIN BIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES AND THEIR PRAC- 

 TICAL APPLICATION IN THE IMPROVEMENT 

 OF THE FIELD CROPS OF CANADA. 



By L. H. Newman, B.S.A., Secretary, Canadian 

 Seed Growers' Association, Ottawa. 



To learn what is true in order to do what is right is the summing 

 up of the whole duty of man. T. H. Huxley. 



Modern science has done much to awaken a greater interest 

 in the improvement of the lot of man by giving us a better 

 understanding of life processes. A more comprehensive know- 

 ledge of the laws w^hich determine our well-being in the physical 

 world has resulted in the control of many dread diseases. A 

 greater knowledge of the interaction of, and the relation between, 

 hereditary forces and environment places within the reach of 

 man a remarkable power in guiding and controlling the creative 

 forces of nature. This last makes possible the betterment of the 

 condition of man through the improvement of his food. 



The world's supply of food to-day is directly dependent upon 

 one great kingdom ^the vegetable kingdom. At first man de- 

 pended for his liveHhood upon the chase and the fruits, seeds and 

 herbs which nature provided. This source, however, soon requir- 

 ed to be supplemented so that we find even our primitive races 

 resorting to the raising of crops as a means of sustenance. The 

 native forms of plant-life which were utilized soon responded to 

 the hand of man, and from this early beginning dates the im- 

 provement of plants. 



The great complexity and diversity in the forms of vegetation 

 which clothe the surface of the earth has long been a question 

 to haunt the mind of the scientist and the philosopher. That 

 new species were constantly being produced in nature was a 

 recognized fact as long ago as before the birth of Christ, but the 

 exact manner in which these were brought into existence has 

 long remained obscure and puzzling. 



