ir. 



IMPROVEMENT OF FIELD CROPS. 



29. Changes in Farm Crops. — Probably there is no grain, 

 grass, fiber or root crop cultivated in the United States which 

 has not been greatly changed since it was a wild plant. In 

 recent years many new varieties have been produced, differing 

 in marked degrees from those formerly cultivated. Farmers 

 generally do not actively interest themselves in the improvement 

 of their crops ; are not always careful to maintain them in their 

 present standard of excellence. Much less attention has been 

 given to the improvement of farm crops than to the improve- 

 ment of farm animals. 



30. The Importance of Plant Breeding. — The individual plant 

 is the result of two forces : environment (climate, soil, fertilizer, 

 culture, etc.) and heredity (parents, grandparents, etc.). The 

 increased yield of a crop by modification of environment, 

 although a necessary process to successful agriculture, can only 

 be accomplished by an expense more or less considerable. 

 Heredity, however, is a silent force, which acts without expense. 

 If a plant be discovered that would produce because of the force 

 of inheritance only one grain of maize more on each ear than at 

 present, it would be capable of increasing the maize crop of the 

 United States five million bushels of maize, not next year alone 

 but for years to come. This is the significance of improved 

 seed. 



" The vast possibilities of plant breeding can hardly be estimated. It would not 

 be difficult for one man to breed a new rye, wheat, barley, oats or rice which would 

 produce one grain more to each head, or a corn which would produce an extra 

 kernel to each ear, another potato in each plant, or an apple, plum, orange or nut to 

 each tree. What would be the result? In five staples only in the United States 

 alone the inexhaustible forces of Nature would produce annually without effort and 

 vrithout cost : 



