SEVERANCE ON CROP IMPROVEMENT. 97 



they sought to bring about the desired result through better tilhige, but 

 nothing in the report indicates that they thouglit of increasing the j)i-ofits 

 by improvement of the character of the plants themselves. The leading 

 agriculturists now realize that better tillage and maintenance of fertility 

 must be supplemented by better bred plants. 



AVe have thus far spoken of the imperative demand for greater produc- 

 tiveness. While there is a great need for heavier yielding varieties there 

 are nniny other characters beside mere prolificacy that need to be im- 

 proved, many of which, however, have a very direct bearing on increased 

 production. For example, a harder, more glutinous berry would improve 

 the milling quality and the food value of our wheat. A plant more hardy 

 and resistant to the attack of the Hessian fly, would also be desirable. 

 Kust resistance is a quality especially desirable to cultivate in our oats, 

 and a stronger straw would generally be beneficial. With the desirable 

 characters in our crops intensified a given outlay on a piece of land 

 would give much better returns than the same outlay with unimproved 

 seed just as in the case of well bred stock vs. scrubs. 



Conceding the need for improving our farm crops we may well inquire 

 as to what the possibilities are for improving them and how the improve- 

 ment may be brought about. 



There are many problems yet to be worked out in relation to-plant im- 

 provement, but in general it is believed that the principles that apply to 

 plant improvement are practically the same as those that apply to animal 

 improvement. 



Plants are endowed with a plastic nature which permits them to vary 

 their characters and manner of growth to adjust themselves to new 

 environments when necessary. These characters become hereditary if 

 they are encouraged by reproducing the plant under the same condition 

 for some time. This tendency of plants to vary and their power to fix 

 and transmit characters makes possible some remarkable improvements 

 in plants by selection, which it seems to me is the practical method of 

 improvement for the general grower. Though I am not prepared to say 

 that I think it would be practical for ordinary producers, the system_ of 

 selection that takes into account the unity of the individual plant is the 

 system that promises greatest results. .As Bailey says, "There is varia- 

 bility in variation itself." Plants under seemingly identical conditions 

 differ widely in their characters. A study of a square yard of standing 

 grain, which to a passerby appears uniform, will reveal the fact that 

 some plants are very productive, others very light producers ; two may 

 send out equal numbers of stools, but the stools of one will be fairly uni- 

 form in size, time of ripening, and quality" of grain while the stools of 

 the other will be very irregular; some produce weak straw, others strong; 

 some are resistant to disease, others are not. If the grain of this square 

 yard be threshed out, mixed, and sown on an even plot of land the result- 

 ing crop will appear as uniform to the careless observer as the original 

 square jard. If, however, each plant be threshed separately and the 

 seed sown in separate rows or plots for comparison, each row or plot 

 will show very nearly the characteristics of the parent plant but the rows 

 or plots will differ so in time of ripening, stooling, strength of straw, 

 etc., that one would hardly believe they are of the same variety, t^ome 

 plots of wheat and oats grown last summer by Professor Jeffery were 

 very interesting along this line. During the summer of 1900 he selected 

 the most promising plants he could find in the general crop. The seed 

 13 



