370 State Horticultural Society. 



ditions. Thus, two important advantages are secured to the breeder who 

 selects from the genera having numerous species — the advantage of nat- 

 urally acquired pliability and in the numerous species to work upon by 

 combination for still further variations. 



The plant breeder, before making combinations, sh'ould with great 

 care select the individual plants which seem best adapted to his purpose, 

 as by this course many years of experiment and much needless expense 

 will be avoided. The difference in the individuals which the plant breeder 

 has to work upon are sometimes extremely slight. The ordinary un- 

 practiced person cannot, by any possibility, discover the exceedingly 

 minute variations in form, size, color, fragrance, precocity and a thousand 

 other characters which the practiced breeder perceives by a lightning-like 

 glance. The work is not easy, requiring an exceedingly keen perception 

 of minute differences, great practice and extreme care in treating the 

 organisms operated upon; and even with all the naturally acquired vari- 

 ations added to those secured by crossing and numerous other means, the 

 careful accumulation of slight individual differences through many gen- 

 erations is imperative, after which several generations are often but not 

 always necessary to thoroughly "fix" the desired type for all practical 

 purposes. 



The above applies to annuals or those plants generally reproduced 

 by seed. The breeder of plants which can be reproduced by division has 

 great advantage, for any valuable individual variation can be multiplied 

 to any extent desired without the extreme care necessary in fixing by 

 lineal breeding the one which must be reproduced by seed. But even in 

 breeding perennials the first deviations from the original form are often 

 almost unappreciable to the perception, but by accumulating the most 

 minute differences through many generations the deviation from the or- 

 iginal form is often astounding. Thus, by careful and intelligent breed- 

 ing any peculiarity may be made permanent, and valid new species are at 

 times produced by the art of the breeder, and there is no known limit 

 to the improvement of plants by education, breeding and selection. 



The plant breeder is an explorer into the infinite. He will have "no 

 time to make money," and his castle — the brain — must be clear and alert 

 in throwing aside fossil ideas and rapidly replacing them with living, 

 throbbing thought, followed by action.' Then, and not until then, shall 

 he create marvels of beauty and value in new expressions of materialized 

 forces, for everything of value must be produced by the intelligent appli- 

 cation of the forces of nature which are always waiting our commands. 



The vast possibilities of plant breeding can hardly be estimated. It 

 would not be difficult for one man to breed a new rye, wheat, barley, oats 

 or rice which would produce one grain more to each head, or a corn which 

 would produce an extra kernel to each ear, another potato to each plant, or 



