S'lLiDiriS ON Crown Gma. oi Plants -115 



illustrated by Walter T. S\vint;le's and Webber's crosses in citrous 

 fruits, especially the orange. These had been reported by Webber 

 at the first or 1899 conference on hybridization and cross breeding, 

 so Smith focussed attention on the progress since that time. Under 

 the sub-title, breeding for greater productivity and for quality in 

 edible fruits, foliage, fibers, etc.. Smith described Webber's and 

 Swingle's cross-breedings to improve the pineapple not only for 

 increased resistance to disease but also for increased vigor, absence 

 of spininess in the foliage, medium size, shallow eyes, juiciness, 

 better flavor, absence of hard core, attractive top, good shipping 

 and keeping qualit)-, and other desirable attributes which made 

 for increased marketability. Webber's long staple cotton strains, 

 their increased length of fibre one-third more than the ordinary 

 and bearing twq or three times the amount of fruit, provided an 

 excellent example of breeding for greater productivity and im- 

 proved quality. Likewise, A. D. Shamel's cigar-wrapper tobacco 

 improvements by breeding and selection begun in the autumn of 

 1903 in the Connecticut" River valley.'^ Or, Willet M. Hays's 

 " blue stem " spring wheat in Minnesota, the yield of the best 

 strains. Smith said, increased two to five bushels an acre by simple 

 selection. A Departmental program of corn improvement had 

 been in effect now several years and was adding some results to 

 the state experiment station work in this regard. Breeding for 

 increased vigor, better productivity, and improved quality were 

 time-honored objectives industrially, and the utilization of plant 

 introductions both foreign and domestic in aid of the work had 

 been approved practice for many, many years, not only among 

 nurserymen, orchardists, and horticulturists, but also within the 

 Department itself since the 1860's when William Saunders had 

 inaugurated the work.^'* 



Achievements in breeding for disease and cold resistance were 

 to be extended gradually. Although Smith in his address did not 

 mention this, Townsend in 1902 had begun selecting sugar beets 

 for resistance to the curly top disease, and in 1907 would report 



" A. D. Shamcl, The improvement of tobacco by breeding and selection, Yearbook 

 of the U. S. Dep't of Agric. for 1904; 435; New tobacco varieties, idem, for 1906; 

 387 ff. 



"* William Saunders, by the editor. Yearbook of the U. S. Dep't of Aerie for 

 1900: 625-630. 



