36 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



undesirable plants. In these cases the method suggested by Hays « 

 is most practicable. In case, however, the selections are being 

 made along different lines, as for yield, leafiiiess, or composition, 

 there can be no natural elimmation of the undasirable individuals. 

 Ai-tificial elimination in many cases is tedious, as, for instance, when 

 selection for composition is in progress. The method here described 

 will enable fixed strams to be secured in a much shorter time than 

 where the seed is influenced by pollen from inferior individuals. 



In cases where there is at hand but a single individual of a given 

 strain its possible destruction hj accident may be guarded against 

 by mcreasing the stock, as here suggested. If the prelimmary tests 

 show it to be of probable value, the question of seed production can 

 then be considered. 



The transplanting of matured alfalfa plants is difficult, owing to 

 their great root development. It is much more expedient to make 

 cuttings to the required number and transplant these to the desired 

 location. 



In experimental tests, such as fertihzer pot trials with smgle plants, 

 it is well known that the individual variations of the different plants 

 utilized is a varying factor, for which it is difficult to make correc- 

 tions. This factor is practically elimmated where the plants under 

 test are produced by cuttings from a single individual. It is sug- 

 gested that in fertilizer tests, for instance, where pots or even small 

 plots are used, the experiments can be rendered less liable to error 

 by utilizing freshly rooted cuttings of a single mdividual for the 

 entire series of experiments. 



In view of the bearing which the self-fertility of a given species 

 has upon the application of the method to starting a strain from a 

 single mdividual, a list of self-sterile and self-fertile plants is here 

 given. This list is from Kirchner,^ based in part upon his own work 

 and, in part, upon that of others. Those plants listed as self-sterile 

 failed to set seed when the inflorescence was bagged, while the self- 

 fertile species produced seed when similarly covered. 



Self-sterile.— Uedic&go sativa, M. falcata, Trifolium pratense, T. 

 hybridum, Vicia cracca, V. angustifoha, V. villosa. 



Self-fertile.— UeMlotus alba, Medicago carstiensis, M. denticulata, 

 Trifolium repens (slightly), T. incarnatum (slightly), Ornithopus 

 sativus, Cicer arietinum, Vicia sativa, V. faba. Lens esculenta, 

 Lathyrus sativus, L. tingitanus, Pisum sativum, Glycuie hispida, 

 Phaseolus vulgaris, Vigna sinensis. 



oHays, W. M. A Method of Breeding a Hardy Alfalfa. American Breeders' 

 Association, vol. 1, 1905. 



b Kirchner. Q. Ueber die Wirkung der Selbstbestaubung bei den Papilionaceen. 

 Naturw. Zeitschrift fiir Land und Forstwirthschaft, parts 1, 2, and 3, 1905. Digest 

 in Bot. Centralbl., Vol. XCVIII, No. 18, p. 449, 1905. 

 102— IV - 



