46 THE BOOK OF WHEA 



cure the disease. "As a foundation for rational wheat im- 

 provement, a knowledge is required of the characteristics and 

 needs of different wheat districts, and the characteristic quali- 

 ties of the natural groups of wheats." A century ago wheat 

 was wheat, but now thousands of varieties have been bred up 

 which thrive best under the local conditions for which they 

 were bred, and often they satisfy conditions, uses and tastes 

 not in existence a century ago. The entire wheat harvest of 

 the world is being improved. The value of this work in 

 proportion to its cost must appeal to everyone, and indicates 

 its permanency. J Luther Burbank jmade the statement that if 

 a new wheat were bred that would yield only one grain more 

 to each head, Nature would produce annually, without effort or 

 cost for man, 15,000,000 extra bushels of wheat in the United 

 States "alone. 



The conclusions of scientists seem to be that varieties will 

 not wear out or materially change if the same conditions which 

 made them excellent are kept up. If special care was exercised 

 to produce an artificial variety, this care must be continued, 

 or it will deteriorate. The improvement of wheat by breeding 

 is no longer a theory, as in the time of Darwin, but an es- 

 tablished fact. 



