118 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



pliate. Walter G. Sackett, Andrew J. Patten and Chas. W. Brown, 

 March, 1908. 



Special Bulletin 44 — Michigan Varieties of Fruits. S. W. Fletcher. 

 June. 1908. 



Special Bulletin 45 — Spraying Calendar. L. R. Taft and R. S. Shaw, 

 May, 1908. 



Special Bulletin 46— Report of South Haven Sub-Station for 1907. 

 L. R. Taft and F. A. Wilken, May, 1908. 



Circular No. 1— Alfalfa. R. S.^ Shaw, June, 1908. 



Circular No. 2— The Babcock Test. W. B. Liverance, June, 1908. 



FIELD CROP BREEDING. 



The following is a brief statement of the field crop breeding work 

 based on a report submitted by Mr. F. A. Spragg, in charge of the 

 actual work. 



The object is to procure pure or pedigreed strains from various varie- 

 ties of wheat, oats, barley, beans, cowpeas, soy beans, alfalfa, clover, 

 timothy, etc. Most of the original varieties contain individuals char- 

 acterized by wide variation in form, habit and function. The pure 

 strains must needs have pedigrees tracing to single plants. As some 

 classes of plants are close fertile they may be planted side by side 

 without danger of crossing but others require to be isolated or so 

 grouped that crosses will either not occur at all or will not be harm- 

 ful. 



It is essential to have large numbers of individual plants to start 

 from in order to furnish a wide range within which to choose indivi- 

 duals of marked excellence in conformity- with the desired object. Dur- 

 ing the development of the individual plants they should be submitted 

 to like conditions as far as possible, relating to space, soil, moisture, 

 sunshine, etc. 



The desirable qualities to be considered in selection are previously 

 recorded as a guide. Large numbers of individual plants permit rigid 

 selection along several lines at the same time. The selected plants 

 furnish seed for individual plots the following year. When a number 

 of pure strains have been developed to standards of desirable quality 

 and uniformity and sufficient quantities of seed have been procured, 

 they are then put on a comparative basis, not only among themselves 

 but against standard varieties also as record yielding power. The next 

 step is to increase the desirable ones and send them out to the farmers 

 of the state. 



WHEAT. 



Variety testing has of course been in progress for many years. In 

 1906, Mr. M. Craig produced some hybrids which are being selected, 

 improved and increased. 



The plots of 1907 contain twenty-three commercial varieties planted 

 in one hundred twenty-six beds last season for the selection of pure 

 strains. There is also a variety series of wheat under culture num- 

 bering thirty-one. Most of these came from the seeds of selected heads 

 secured from the 1907 plots. 



