Richardson: Wheat Breeding 



129 



FLOWER OF WHEAT, MUCH ENL.4RGED 



The ovary (o) contains the minute ovule or egg cell which, when fertilized 

 by a pollen grain, will develop into a grain of wheat. From the ovule 

 arise the feathery styles (s), whose function is to catch the pollen grain 

 and give it access to the ovary. The stamens (st) are three in number, 

 each one consisting of a slender stalk — the filam?nt — bearing at its 

 summit the anther or pollen sacs, which in this case consist of four 

 longitudinal chambers containing large numbers of pollen grains (sperm 

 cells). Normally these pollen-grains fall directly on the styles below, 

 so the wheat flower is self -fertilized; but to serve his own purpose the 

 breeder removes these anthers, and introduces pollen from some foreign 

 source, thus ensuring cross fertilization. (Fig. 14.) 



The same principle of repeated selec- 

 tion has since been very largely practised 

 in Germany, and has been very success- 

 ful. Rimpau, in particular, has applied 

 this principle of gradual improvement 

 by continuous selection to rye, and 

 succeeded in developing the famous 

 Schlanstedt rye, which is now grown 

 throughout France and Germany. 



THE SVALOF METHOD. 



Finally, it is necessary to consider 

 briefly the method of selection adopted 

 at the famous Swedish Experiment 

 Station at Svalof. Sweden. It may be 

 explained'" that this station owes its 

 origin to a small cooperative village 

 company, formed in 1886 by private 

 farmers for the production of improved 



"For a fuller account see Plant Breeding in 

 Heredity, V, 7, 281, July, 1914. 



" Vide journal. Board of Agriculture, London, August, 1910, p. 280 



seed wheat, oats, and barley, and the 

 testing of new and foreign varieties of 

 grain. 



R. B. Greig,'^ one of the members of 

 the Scotch Commission who visited 

 Australia in 1911, gives a most inter- 

 esting account of a visit to this remark- 

 able institution. He says: "The work 

 at Svalof is based on two discoveries — 

 first that among the farm crops there 

 exist an indefinite number of elementary 

 species which breed true; and secondly, 

 that superior individuals among these 

 species can be quickly recognized by 

 certain morphological characters. The 

 first discovery was almost an accident; 

 the second was the result of painstaking 

 and minute investigation, assisted by an 

 elaborate system of record keeping. 

 Sweden by H. Hjalmar Nilsson. Journal of 



