250 



more decidedly influenced by climatic conditions than manuring. 

 But while the climatic factor proves to be large it is less than was 

 anticipated ; an English soft wheat, for example, grown on the 

 Hungarian plain for two seasons has not altered greatly in 

 character nor taken on the characteristic appearances of the wheat 

 of the district. A specially strong wheat from the Canadian north- 

 west, after some considerable fall of strength in the first English 

 crop, has fallen no further after three successive crops, and still 

 retains all the characters of an exceptionally strong wheat, although 

 the yield remains poor from an English standpoint. Other varieties 

 have rapidly and entirely lost their strength when changed to 

 English conditions from America, or Hungary, or Russia ; many, 

 however, while showing the effect of climate, yet stand apart from 

 the typical English wheats and show no tendency to "acclimatize" 

 in the sense of acquiring the character of the local varieties. 



IMPORTANCE OF "VARIETY." 



In the whole work the thing which stands up most prominently 

 is the fundamental importance of the " variety" ; each race, each 

 botanical unit as it were, possesses an individuality and yields 

 grain of a characteristic composition ; and though climate, soil, 

 season, manuring are factors producing variation in the composition 

 they are all small compared with the intrinsic nature of the variety 

 itself. Similar conclusions follow from the work of Wood and his 

 colleagues upon the composition of mangels, and of Collins on the 

 composition of swedes. The proportion of dry matter and sugar 

 in the root, while varying markedly in the individual roots, pos- 

 sesses a typical value for each race ; and though season, locality, 

 and to some extent manuring affect the composition, the changes 

 thus induced are not great. Starting, then, from this point — that 

 variety or race is the chief factor in the composition of a given 

 plant, and that, once the variety is fixed, the other factors, which 

 are more or less under control, such as manuring, soil and climate, 

 have but minor effects upon the quality — the road to the improve- 

 ment of the quality of our farm crops lies in the creation of new 

 varieties by breeding. An improved variety is all clear gain to 

 the farmer ; climate, season, and to a large extent soil are outside 

 his control : while better manuring and cultivation, however much 

 their cost may be lessened by increased skill, yet involve expen- 

 diture and become unremunerative above a certain point. But an 

 iniproved variety, without costing any more to grow, may increase 

 the returns by 10 or 20 per cent., in some cases may nearly double 

 them. As regards the value of selection. Wood shows that the 

 composition of the mangel, which has been selected solely for such 

 external qualities as shape and habit, has remained stationary 

 during the 50 years or so for which we possess any information ; 

 while between i860 and 1890 the sugar beet has had its sugar 

 content raised from an average of 10.9 to 15 per cent, by the steady 

 selection of seed-mothers for their richness. The prospects of 

 breeding new varieties of wheat, and particularly of securing im- 

 provements in such qualities as " strength," have been enormously 



