44 INHERITANCE OF SOME CHARACTERS IN WHEAT. 



as those dealt with in the present paper leaves little doubt that the 

 number of factors involved in characters of economic importance 

 such as strength of flour, rust resistance and standing power are 

 equally great. This in turn renders the isolation of new kinds which 

 bred true in all respects, from the progeny of a cross, a matter of 

 greater labour and longer time than was at one period suspected. 

 In addition many of these characters are subject to the influence 

 of environment, so that both the study of inheritance and the work 

 of breeding improved varieties becomes increasingly difficult. If 

 progress is to be made in the elucidation of the laws of inheritance 

 on the one hand and in the production of improved crops on the 

 other, it seems difficult to resist the conclusion that there can be little 

 or no progress in either direction unless the work is organised in such 

 a manner that it is restricted to a few centres adequately equipped. 

 The publication of the early researches on inheritance, which followed 

 closely on the rediscovery of Mendel's law, undoubtedly stimulated 

 a large amount of hybridization work at the Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Stations and was the means of raising expectations that the 

 improvement of crops was a simple matter and might be accom- 

 plished in a very short period. As a consequence, plant breeding was 

 started at stations as an addition to an already overloaded programme 

 and the result has been to flood the literature with a mass of superficial 

 results of no permanent value. Whenever plant breeding has been 

 done with thoroughness and on a sufficiently large scale, it has 

 invariably been found that the inheritance of characters is by no 

 means such a simple matter as was first supposed, and the investi- 

 gations conducted at such centres as Svalof explain why it is that 

 the numerous attempts at plant improvement made at the Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Stations have not led to any very striking 

 results. There is no doubt that plant breeding work is useless 

 unless it is carried out on a large scale and with great thorough- 

 ness. This in turn can only be done effectively at Experiment 

 Stations at which this work is made the chief item of the programme. 

 It would be better, therefore, for each country to maintain a few 

 good plant improvement stations than to carry on superficial 

 investigations at many centres. 



