PLANT-BREEDING IN SWEDEN 



Pioneer Work of the Svalof Institute has Resulted in Revolution in Breeding 



Methods Throughout the World — The Theory and Practice of 



Pedigree Cultures — Hybridizing now being Taken Up — 



New Varieties Put in the Trade 



H. HjALMAR NiLSSON 



Director of the Sveriges Utsddesforening, Svalof, Sweden. 



SINCE its foundation, the Insti- 

 tute of Svalof has had the satis- 

 faction of drawing attention, not 

 only from the Swedish public, 

 but from foreigners. In the course 

 of time many accounts have also 

 been published in technical journals, 

 concerning its special line of work. 

 Although they are marked by a spirit of 

 admiration and good- will, these judg- 

 ments of strangers rarely show a correct 

 understanding of what is actually going 

 on here, since that can hardly be known 

 without a knowledge of the motive for 

 the creation of this establishment, its 

 development, and its standing in its 

 own countr3^ 



The founding of the station at 

 Svalof is wholly due to the private 

 initiative of the agriculturists them- 

 selves. Its purpose was to furnish new 

 and improved seed to Swedish agri- 

 culture. The realization of this purpose 

 and its development have up to the 

 present remained under essentially the 

 same agricultural control, in spite of the 

 fact that the largest part of the necessary 

 funds have been furnished by the public. 



The primary and sole object of this 

 enterprise was, then, to arrive at 

 absolutely practical results. Scientific 

 research was therefore only carried on in 

 special cases, directly connected with 

 some practical question in hand. 



Nevertheless, it was fortunately 

 understood from the beginning that 

 only expert botanists were able to direct 

 the variation and creation of new forms 

 in the directions indicated, that is, to 

 arrive at the creation of real cultural 

 varieties, well suited to the country and 



more productive than those formerly in 

 use. It was also miderstood that strict 

 specialization was necessary, and that 

 we must concentrate all our energies on 

 this one point, eliminating all foreign 

 activities, such as teaching, comparative 

 field trials, commercial analyses, etc., — 

 activities which, elsewhere, too often 

 weigh down the program and the staff of 

 experiment stations. 



SECRETS OF ITS SUCCESS. 



It is in this unrestricted organization, 

 with its well-selected program, its close 

 contact with practical agricultiure, and 

 its men accessible to the latest and best 

 methods and resources of science — it is 

 in these points that one should seek to 

 find how it happens that a humble 

 provincial institution in a poor country 

 like Sweden, under an unfavorable 

 climate, has been able to contribute to 

 the reorganization and improvement of 

 plant breeding to the extent shown by 

 the resiilts of its work during the last 

 quarter of a centtu-y. Another cause of 

 its success can be found in its organi- 

 zation, wholly agricultural, which results 

 from the origin indicated above, and 

 from the character of the directors of 

 the work. 



The question of seed had been long 

 discussed among Sw^edish agriculturists, 

 when M. B. Welinder, a yoiuig farmer at 

 Svalof, seconded by Baron F. Gyllen- 

 krook and many other enlightened 

 agriculturists of the province, founded, 

 in 1886, a local society for the improve- 

 ment of seed. In a short time it aroused 

 so much interest throughout the country, 

 that it soon grew into the Plant Breeding 



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