THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 9 



much has been done for the improvement of field crops that 

 the improvement of vegetable seeds has been almost lost sight 

 of. A surprising number of books and pamphlets on vege- 

 table gardening do not even mention the subject of plant breed- 

 ing in connection with vegetable growing in even a general way. 



Technically, "seed-breeding may be considered from at 

 least two very distinct viewpoints ; first, the origination and 

 development of new improved varieties, either through selec- 

 tion or cross-breeding; and second, the development and rais- 

 ing of truer, purer stocks or strains of proved value." This 

 second branch of seed-breeding is of permanent and economic 

 interest in our present emergency of scarcity of food-stuffs 

 throughout the world. Associations have been formed in a 

 number of states to encourage the farmer to demand better 

 seeds, and the seedsmen to produce them. Notable examples 

 of such work are the associations of Wisconsin {Wisconsin 

 Agricultural lui/'roz'eiiicnt Association, and the IVisconsin 

 Potato Cro-a'crs Association) ; Minnesota, {Minnesota Field 

 Crop Breeders Association), Ohio; New York; Illinois, {The 

 Illinois Sced-Corn Breeders Association.) Let us consider in 

 detail what the plant and seed breeders have done for the im- 

 provement of vegetable seeds, and in this way discover other 

 practical means of increa.sing production, taking the kinds of 

 vegetables discussed by Professor Watts in his book on ^ ege- 

 table Gardening in alphabetical order. 



"The artichoke has been so little worked that it offers 

 good opportunities for the amateur, either through cross- 

 breeding or merely through selection. Plants grown from the 

 seed are sure to show a certain range of variation, and you 

 may readily develop improved varieties by selecting seeds 

 from the best and repeating selection through two or three 

 successive generations." Such is the opinion of Luther Bur- 

 bank. By selective breeding after crossing several varieties 



