LETTER OF TRANSMIHAL 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Division of Vegetable Physiology and I^athology, 



Washington, D. C, January 38, 1901. 

 Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith the manuscript of a 

 paper on phmt breeding, prepared l)y Prof. Willet M. Hays, of the 

 University of Minnesota. Professor Hays has been engaged in plant 

 breeding for a numl)erof years and has done mnch to arouse an inter- 

 est in the subject tliroughout the country. The Department of Agri- 

 culture, through its laboratory of plant breeding, several years ago 

 actively took up the investigation of plant-breeding problems, and 

 much work has been done in the improvement of cotton, corn, Avheat, 

 oranges, pears, grapes, etc. Results of great importance liave already 

 been obtained, and several ]iapers treating of important factors of 

 plant breeding liave been published in bulletins of tliis Division and 

 in the various Yearbooks of the Department of Agriculture since 1897. 

 Tlu; pi-esent pai:»er is of special interest to experiment station workers 

 and otliers engaged in similar lines, and I respectfully recommend its 

 [)iil)licati<)n as lUilletin No. 29 of this Division. 



KespectfuUy, Albert F. Woods, 



C hief of Division. 

 Iloji. James Wilson, 



Secretarij of Ayr- ic til I are. 



