234 STATE EOAKD OF AGKICULTUEE. 



of trees of that variety that bloom in our orchards. Again, it is just as impos- 

 sible that any combination of inanimate matter, or of circumstances of soil or 

 climate, can generate or produce a seed, than that the same conditions should 

 produce a perfect, fully developed tree. 



What would we farmers think of the man who when he wished to graft over 

 an orchard or start a nursery should take buds indiscriminately from any scrub 

 apple tree that might be convenient? AYe should call him a fool, and yet is not 

 that just what we are doing when we take our seeds (specially prepared buds) 

 indiscriminately from the bin to the crib ? 



Should we think he had made much improvement if he simply selected the 

 largest and plumpest bud he could find, without any regard to the tree it grew 

 upon? But do Ave not do just this thing when we take the largest, plumpest 

 kernels of wheat Avithout any regard to the length of head or the tillering 

 habit of the plant upon which it grew ? But you will say a bud or a branch always 

 remains true. A Baldwin apple tree always produces Baldwin apples, while a 

 plant from a seed is not always like its parent. I answer this is not invariably 

 the case. I have a geranium at home, one branch of which always bears leaves 

 distinctly marked Avith Avhite, while the balance of the plant is plain green. 

 The beautiful variegated abutilon did not come from seed, but is a variation in 

 a bud or branch. There is a greater or less tendency in all buds to sport, and 

 in those that become seeds because they form roots of their own Avith little of 

 the parent plant between them, this tendency has a better chance to develop 

 itself ; but I A'ery much doubt if in the case of our grains this tendency amounts 

 to much more than the variations produced by the stock in Avhich Ave insert 

 our buds. And if Ave should pay the same attention to the selection of our seed 

 Avheat that aa'C do to the selection of our apple and pear buds, the crop over an 

 entire field avouM be as uniform as a crop of Baldwin apples or Flemish Beauty 

 pears; and I would cite Hullett's experiments Avitli Avheat in proof . Does not 

 this view of the case, that a seed is simply a bud from the parent stalk with pos- 

 sibly a slightly greater tendency to variation than if it had developed into a 

 branch, make the question of the selection of seed of the utmost importance, 

 and has Prof. Beal in his lecture on the subject stated its importance any too 

 strongly, and ought Ave not to go home determined that in the future Ave will 

 obey the maxim of the Grange and "sow some of the best for seed," making 

 our selections not from cut or bin, but in the open field Avhere Ave can see the 

 entire plant Avhicli Ave wish to increase next year. 



During the CA'cning Judge Eamsdell by request read an original poem on the 

 "Origin of the Grand TraA^erse Eegion," Avhich Avas highly appreciated. 



The committee on resolutions presented the following, Avhich Avere unani- 

 mously adopted : 



Besolved, That Ave tender our hearty thanks to Professors Kedzie and Beal ot the 

 Agricultural College, and to Secretary Baird of the State Board of Agriculture, and 

 all others Avho have aided and instructed us in agricultural science during this Insti- 

 tute. 



Besolved, That in our opinion a liberal appropriation sliould be made by the State 

 for the support of a permanent experimental department in horticulture and agricul- 

 ture, to be attached to the Agricultural College. 



After the adoption of the above resolutions, and a piece of music by the band, 

 the Institute Avas declared adjourned. 



