I907-] PLANT BREEDING PRINCIPLES AND RESULTS. II9 



POTATOES. 



With potatoes the work this station has done thus far has 

 been to study the particular difficulties which are the peculiar 

 property of this bud-propagated annual. It is now studying 

 especially, the factors necessary to control in order to improve 

 the potato in the important points of yield, disease resistance 

 and culinary value ; and has worked out a method by which the 

 breeder can select potatoes of high cooking value without in- 

 juring the tubers for planting. Next year we hope to begin 

 an extended study of methods, and possibly some actual breed- 

 ing. We expect to have about eight hundred different varieties 

 collected from all over the world growing here at the Station, 

 and we hope all interested persons will feel free to visit us 

 and see the work. 



CORN. 



Owing to the great common interest in maize or Indian 

 corn, and the amount of work in progress at the Connecticut 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, and in co-operation with 

 growers throughout the state, I will treat it at greater length 

 and let it serve to illustrate the general methods of plant 

 breeding. 



All economic plant breeding may be divided into five dif- 

 ferent lines : ( i ) Increase of yield, which includes breeding 

 for disease-resisting varieties; (2) increase in actual food 

 value, as for example, breeding for higher protein content in 

 corn; (3) increase in commercial qualities, such as breeding 

 for higher oil content in corn ; breeding of flax for longer and 

 stronger fiber, or the breeding of cotton for longer lint; (4) 

 breeding for table qualities, as for the increase in flavor and 

 sugar content of sweet corn, improved quality of apples and 

 other fruits; and (5) finally, esthetic valuations, as for ex- 

 ample, increase in size, beauty and flowering efficiency of 

 many ornamental plants. It will be noticed that in the above 

 mentioned qualities for which plant breeders are striving, 

 corn supplies examples for four out of five. 



The work on corn now going on in Connecticut in co- 

 operation with this Station includes three of these main lines, 

 and is as follows : 



