818 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECOED. 



value of a pure botanical variety. In the production of a barley for 

 brewing purposes uniformity of germination is of prime importance, 

 and at the Swedish Brewers' Exposition at Malmo, in lsi»8, the varie- 

 ties of barley which took the prizes were all botanically pure or nearl}' 

 so. Such sorts as were mixtures of several strains were invariably of 

 inferior quality. It can be easily understood that grains which are 

 descended from a common parent will show a greater uniformity, 

 even in length of time required to germinate, than those from differ- 

 ent parentage. 



Dr. Nilsson finds that none of the existing races of cereals now sold 

 by seedsmen is pure, but rather mixtures of many different strains, 

 which he is able to separate and identify. He holds that when a race 

 has been produced which is botanically pure a remarkable uniformity 

 results. The writer saw 14 acres of a new variety of wheat, not yet 

 on the market, which had for several years been subjected to the most 

 careful selection. Every plant in the field was the offspring of the 

 same ancestral plant which Dr. Nilsson had discovered some 4 or 5 

 years before. The uniformity of color and evenness of growth were 

 most remarkable. Two bands of dark green along the margin of 

 the field could be seen for hundreds of yards, and were as distinct as 

 if painted above a chalk line. Upon closer observation they proved 

 to be formed by the dark green upper nodes of the individual plants, 

 which were of such uniform height that, the nodes stood at the same 

 level. 



It is easy enough, in Dr. Nilsson's opinion, to secure variable varie- 

 ties and curious sports by crossing; but it is very difficult, once the 

 strain is disturbed by cross breeding, to secure uniformity. At pres- 

 ent he finds so many variations in his experimental fields without 

 recourse to hand crossing, and he has been so successful in rendering 

 the best of these uniform, that he has not paid much attention to the 

 matter of artificial cross fertilization. He admits, however, that cross- 

 ing must be judiciously resorted to for the production of quite new 

 varieties of superlative excellence. 



Not content merely with the production of a new variety, the sta- 

 tion continues work upon sorts alread}^ put on the market by the com- 

 pany. Every year a new representative plant is selected from the trial 

 plats, the seed from it sown, and the machinery set in motion for its 

 multiplication. The Svalof Princess barley of 1898 is not the same 

 nor as well bred as that of the same pedigree, but originated in 1900. 

 The system of records and methods of systematically studying each of 

 the characters of these pedigreed sorts are among the most interesting 

 features of the station. The field and record books, and the S3'stem 

 of numbers employed to keep track of these almost countless varia- 

 tions, are the result of years of experience. Extensive herbaria and 

 photographs assist in rendering the short descriptions of the various 



