66 



distinct sort, now known as Wellman's Fife. In a similar manner 

 Powers's Fif e, Hayne's Blue Stem, Bolton\sBlue Stem, and other sorts 

 have been produced b}' the men whose names they bear. 



By the process of selection an unusually good variety of white wheat 

 for the Eastern States, usually called Gold Coin, has very recently been 

 produced by Ira W. Green at Avon, N. Y. Several years ago he 

 grew a field of Diehl Mediterranean, a bearded, red-grained wheat, 

 and while passing through this field one day found a bald head possess- 

 ing white grains. Planting every grain of this head, he found as a 

 result next season that he had heads with very long beards, some with 

 short beards, and others with none at all. The grain also was mixed, 

 some red and some white. He desired a bald wheat, since the beards 

 interfered with his success in woolgrowing, hence only the grains 

 from the bald heads were again planted. From this as a beginning, a 

 practically new variety resulted, which he called '"No. 6." It has 

 proved to be of considerable value for certain localities, and is already 

 pretty well known. Various names have been given to it by difierent 

 seedsmen, but it is best known by the name Gold Coin. 



In instances like those just related the change has been so great as 

 to produce really a new variety. But, of course, the majority of 

 improvements made by selection do not represent such marked changes, 

 though there is a great tendency among breeders to establish new 

 varieties on the basis of very slight improvements. In a majority of 

 the instances above described the circumstances too are such that one 

 can not escape the thought that the abnormal heads found in the fields 

 were the result of natural crosses. In fact in the cases of Clawson 

 and Gold Coin wheats this is almost certain, since the seed from the 

 first heads continued to produce sporting progeny, the following year. 

 Or it is possible in the case of Gold Coin that the sporting was simply 

 a later cropping out of this phenomena in the Diehl Mediterranean, 

 which is itself a hybrid. Besides these cases, there are also instances 

 mentioned by other writers which pretty well establish the fact of the 

 occurrence of natural crosses among wheat varieties,^ though, of 

 course, such occurrences are rather rare. On the other hand, in the 

 work of hybridization the selection of parent forms and the after 

 .selection of the best individuals from the sporting ofispring are by far 

 the most critical operations to be performed. Hence selection is both 

 the most important part of all the work of wheat breeding, and is also 

 to be considered from two rather difierent standpoints: (1) that of its 

 operations in connection with hybridization (natural or artificial), and 

 (2) in making the ordinary less striking improvements in the same 



»See especially Rimpau's statements in his article on " Kreuzungsprodukte land- 

 wirthschaftlicher Kulturpflanzen," in Landwirthschaftliche Jahrbiicher, Bd. xx, S. 

 347-350, 1891. 



