April 29, 1911 



horticulture: 



635 



MENDEL'S LAW AS RELATED TO 

 HEREDITY AND BREEDING. 



By Dr. Herrmanu Decker. 



Translated from "COSMOS," by Gustave 

 Thommen. 



' "Heredity", is the name given to the 

 generalization of certain facts, con- 

 cerning the transmission of physical 

 and psychical characters from the par- 

 ent to the offspring. Among all living 

 beings, people, animals and plants, we 

 find that certain characters, attributes 

 and qualities, belonging to either one 

 of the parents, are reproduced in the 

 young. They have been inherited 

 (transmitted by heredity.) 



The action of heredity can be traced 

 through all the ages. In our own fam- 

 ilies we find among our children, 

 marks and distinctions; as; a certain 

 form of nose, color of the eyes or the 

 hair, texture of the skin, height or 

 other proportions, which we recognize 

 as belonging to either the fathjr or 

 the mother. 



Why is this so? How are these 

 things transmitted to the offsprings 

 in ever recurring order? Heredity Is 

 a phenomenon In regard to which, un- 

 til a few years ago, only vague and 

 conflicting notions were entertained. 

 In fact it was mostly taken for granted 

 that it just happened so. There was 

 no apparent law recognized. In every 

 rule and law of nature there is a cer- 

 tain logic, a legitimacy, but until re- 

 cently there was no way of explaining 

 satisfactorily the quesiion of heredity, 

 consequently the results of many 

 breeders did not come up to expecta- 

 tions and the outcome of many crosses 

 would seem to be simply some vagary 

 of nature. 



Breeders had to face the great and 

 important problem of heredity hope- 

 lessly and helplessly and many an 

 ill-advised cross was made, simply 

 with the hope that somehow or other 

 the wished for result would show itself. 

 Even Darwin stood yet upon this 

 ground, groping and experimenting 

 helplessly. He was still moving In the 

 rut of popular thinking. 



Now comes Mendel. Gregory Men- 

 del, Augustinian monk in the convent 

 of Bruenn, province of Maehren, Aus- 

 tria. In the seclusion of his convent 

 garden he solved the problem, silent 

 and thoughtful. Patient trials, made 

 according to a carefully considered 

 plan, revealed to him the great secret 

 of heredity. He found that it is not 

 only possible, but absolutely safe^ to 

 predict the result of matings if the 

 necessary terms and conditions of nat- 

 ure are complied with. His discovery 

 lets him perceive the systematical 

 worVing of the laws of heredity. The 

 principle which he discovered is simple 

 and splfevident. 



In 18G5 Mendel modestly placed his 

 discovery before the members of a 

 small circle of scientific men. None 

 of these was able to comprehend the 

 immense scope of it. Even eminent 

 botanists like Naegely did not grasp 

 the idea. So the quiet abbott was for- 

 gotten, so was his labor of research 

 and for the time being his discovery 

 came to naught. Nobody remembered 

 Mendel and this happened at the time 

 when Darwin filled the world with 

 new and great ideas abo\it evolution 

 and creation. Unfortunately Darwin 

 never heard of Mendel's lifework; he 

 would certainly have recognized its 

 worth and importance. 



Mendel died in 1S84, totally unknown 



in the world of science. Grass obliter- 

 ated his resting place. But in time 

 the problem of heredity claimed the 

 attention of serious investigators 

 more and more and when they began to 

 rummage among the papers of former 

 researchers, his secret was found 

 among the papers which he had left 

 behind. 



In 1900, Tchermack, Correns and 

 DeVries, three men at the same time, 

 but independently, found his writings 

 and at once recognized their worth. 

 They read the papers with surprise 

 and admiration. Enthusiastically the 

 experiments were repeated and put to 

 trial. They were found to be correct 

 and nobody could understand how such 

 a valuable discovery could have sunk 

 into oblivion. Mendel's manuscripts 

 were published and his theory was 

 proved and strengthened. The name 

 of the dead abbott is now known all 

 over the world. 



Now wherein does Mendel's work 

 deserve especial credit? Wherein was 

 Mendel ahead of his time? He recog- 

 nized the importance and also the 

 limitations of the problem from 

 the start and after clearly outlining 

 the plan for the work before him he 

 carried it to the end through the pa- 

 tient labor of many years. He ap- 

 proached the problem of heredity in its 

 most simple form; he put his questions 

 up to mother nature and let her answer 

 them through her own children, the 

 plants. Plants are patient and increase 

 rapidly. 



Mendel chose for his trials the pea. 

 Even this shows his shrewdness, for, 

 as the pea blossom is self-fertile and 

 its construction almost totally pre- 

 cludes fertilization through extraneous 

 agencies, it left him free to exact from 

 nature clear and concise answers to his 

 questions. He knew that if he wished 

 to solve this great question of hered- 

 ity he must employ only the most sim- 

 ple and easiest controlable means. In 

 this way only could he hope to succeed. 

 All of the former investigators and 

 breeders had been trying to solve the 

 problem by means of the most com- 

 plicated and unsuitable agencies and so 

 it was only natural that the results of 

 their labors did not harmonize and 

 prevented the formulation of any law 

 of heredity. No wonder that those men 

 did not succeed. A student of chemis- 

 try, for instance, is not supposed to 

 start in on his studies by analyzing a 

 mince pie. 



(To he continued.) 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 



The Easter Flower Trade. 



Each season there appears to be an 

 increased demand at Easter for flowers 

 for decorative purposes. The growing 

 of bloom for market has now reached 

 extensive limits in Britain, besides the 

 tons of bloom which are imported 

 from southern France and elsewhere. 

 Just before Easter we experienced a 

 second edition of winter, with snow 

 and occasional blizzards. This had the 

 effect of seriously retarding the devel- 

 opment of the out-door daffodils, with 

 the result that the supplies have not 

 been as heavy as usu^l. Excellent 

 prices have been made, these being in 

 advance of the average. A good trade 

 was done in arums, white stock, scar- 

 let pelargoniums, and other flowers 

 for church decoration. The florists in 

 London are expecting a busy time in 



making preparations for the coronation 

 festivities. Queen Mary has chosen pink 

 carnations as the chief flower for the 

 bouquet which is to be presented to 

 her by the Gardeners' Company. This 

 choice is likely to set the fashion in 

 the popular adoption of the carnation 

 for decorative schemes, notwithstand- 

 ing the zealous booming of the sweet 

 pea in some quarters. 



Electricity in Horticulture. 



At a recent meeting of the Farmers' 

 Club, in London, Professor J. H. Priest- 

 ley, of Bristol University, lectured on 

 "Electricity as a factor in crop produc- 

 tion." The methods were described by 

 which electricity has been applied to 

 the crops, either by small electric cur- 

 rents running through the soil, or by 

 the use of atmospheric electricity col- 

 lected by conductors, also by the dis- 

 charge of high tension electricity from 

 overhead wires, as well as the use of 

 the electric light. In reply to ques- 

 tions, the lecturer stated that he pre- 

 ferred to employ electricity outside 

 rather than inside a greenhouse, as 

 owing to the moisture in the latter 

 case there was a great leakage of cur- 

 rent. He agreed that much research 

 work had yet to be done, and that the 

 apparatus must be so perfected as to 

 be workable by non-experts. So far 

 he had proved that it was possible to 

 stimulate the growth and vitality of 

 plants and it was in that direction he 

 proposed to continue his experiments. 

 At the close of the meeting, a resolu- 

 tion was passed inviting the Board of 

 Agriculture to assist in further experi- 

 ments which are necessary for additi- 

 onal research. 



Jottings. 



An experimental station has been 

 established at Burbage, Leicestershire, 

 by C. C. Hurst, for the purpose of 

 applying Mendelian methods of re- 

 search to the practical breeding prob- 

 lems of agi'iculture, horticulture, and 

 forestry. — The National Gladiolus So- 

 ciety has now been launched for the 

 advancement and improvement of this 

 flower. The Secretary states: "It is 

 the intention of the Society to compile 

 a handbook as soon as possible, giving 

 valuable information, and a classified 

 list of named varieties, with their flow- 

 ering season. It is felt that the gladi- 

 olus, second only in beauty, form and 

 coloring to the orchid, is not nearly 

 wide enough known, and the Society 

 hopes through its members to increase 

 its cultivation till it is grown in every 

 garden." 



Silas Cole, head gardener to Earl 

 Spencer, has been appointed director 

 of "The Times" experimental station 

 at Guildford, in succession to the late 

 Mr. Chas. Foster. Mr. Cole was the 

 raiser of the Countess of Spencer sweet 

 pea, the first waved variety which was 

 the fore-runner of the latest develop- 

 ment of sweet peas. 



In connection with the "Festival of 

 Empire" to be held at the Crystal 

 Palace, from May to Oct., a special fea- 

 ture is to be made of the floral dis- 

 plays. W. H. ADSETT. 



Middletown, N. Y. — Someone on the 

 iiiuht of April 6th forced an entrance 

 to F. H. Rau's greenhouse and de- 

 stroyed a large stock of plants by 

 sprinkling saltpetre over them. The 

 Tiiilice are searching for the culprit 

 ^iii i a reward is offered for his arrest. 



