DIVISION OF nORTWULTVRE 



693 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



SUMMARY OF REPORTS FROM SEED EXPERIMENTERS. 



EARLY MALCOLM SWEET CORN. 



Breeding is, at this time, the most important field of work at all large centres of 

 agricultural education and research. The stock-man realized the significance of careful 

 breeding, before it began seriously to be considered in other branches of agriculture, 

 but recent energy has tended to emphasise its importance to all branches. 



Plant breeding in the field of horticulture has developed very rapidly within the 

 past decade, and to-day, it comprises in many institutions, the basis of their existence. 

 The recent and very rapid development of this phase of horticulture is the natural 

 sequence arising from the expansion and differentiation of scientific agricultural 

 research. 



Applied entomology now deals with many problems formerly within the field of 

 the horticulturist, the agricultural chemist is similarly engaged in bringing to bear an 

 expert knowledge on problems with relation to soil and nutrition. Variety testing ia 

 narrowing down as the result of the work of past years, and the consequent elimination 

 of many so-called varieties. Yet, despite all this, there is not a variety that can be 

 considered perfect or even nearly perfect, for any crop grown, (that is, judging merely 

 from the qualities now in existence and evident in almost any collection of varieties). 

 The essential object of plant breeding, therefore, is to collect and combine these 

 scattered characteristics and qualities, and secure, if possible, combinations of them 

 more suitable to commercial purposes. 



This closes the report of the work in Plant Breeding at the Central Experimental 

 Farm for the year 1915, but in conclusion it might be pointed out that the basic object 

 of this work is to improve stock of existing varieties and secure, if possible, improved 

 new varieties. At a time like this, this work is of special importance in the field of seed 

 production, but owing to the limited space now available, expansion along the present 

 urgently called for work of seed production is necessarily limited, and it is hoped that 

 in the near future the production of varieties of improved seed in considerable quan- 

 tity may become one of the main objects, if not the chief one, of this field of work. 



Ottawa. 



