8 The Bulletin. 



In his admirable work at the Minnesota Station Professor Hayes 

 found that it was best to obtain beets adapted to the various local condi- 

 tions, and that the seed could best be bred under conditions similar to 

 those where the crops were to be grown. That Mr. Hayes appreciated 

 the influence of soil type on the plant is shown in his statement that 

 ''Special varieties are needed in many localities where peculiar soils 

 exist." Speaking with particular reference to Minnesota he was con- 

 vinced that Minnesota alone needs numerous varieties of corn bred for 

 its various types of soil. • 



Per baps we could quote no greater modern authority on this subject 

 than Prof. Hugo De Vries, who states that local variations in soil (and 

 this is known only too well by all practical beet growers) will directly 

 effect percentage of sugar in beets, and that the variety of beet, etc., must 

 be developed on the same kind of soil as that on which it is to be grown. 

 He says further that this principle has been tested and found reliable 

 and has supplanted almost all others at the Svalof Experiment Station, 

 Sweden. Prof. De Vries thinks also that "all trouble incident to im- 

 perfect adaptation to soil can be avoided by the farmer only by selecting 

 his own seed on his own land." From our point of view this statement 

 is certainly true, but any one conversant with the amount of knowledge, 

 time, and tediousness required in developing a good and distinct variety 

 anywhere will see how impossible this remedy is of general application. 

 The development of varieties of plants for distinct soil types is a State 

 or National problem and can scarcely be accomplished without the aid 

 of one or both of these institutions. 



The United States Department of Agriculture has collected a great 

 many interesting and valuable data on this subject. It has studied plant 

 growth and adaptability almost all over the known world, yet, from our 

 point of view, nothing of more far reaching importance has been brought 

 to the notice of the American people than that expressed by Mr. A. B. 

 Schamel when he said : "The farmers suffer great annual loss from the 

 growing of varieties not adapted to the soils of each region where the 

 crops are grown." 



"The range of adaptability of varieties has never been determined so 

 that, with known soil, growers can intelligently buy seed for planting, 

 however, with more knowledge of the relation of the different types of 

 soil to the different varieties of crops it will be possible for the breeders 

 to produce and distribute seed especially adapted to particular sections." 



INFLUENCE OF SOIL TYPE ON DEVELOPMENT OF PLANT VARIETY. 



It is a fact of utmost importance to agriculture that plants can be, and 

 are, greatly modified by the environment in which they are placed. 



It has long been known that the different varieties of our staple crops 

 make better yields, both of quality and quantity, when grown on certain 

 soils than when grown on others. Until recently, however, our soils had 

 not been differentiated into series and types, consequently, no law of 

 general application could be deduced from the many observed facts. 



In as much as each environment produces adaptive changes in plants 

 it follows that widely different environments will produce marked varia- 

 tions in the same variety of plants. 



