CEREAL IMPROVEMENT SELECTION 197 



breeding, the remaining seed of each is harvested in bulk 

 and multiplied and soon forms a variety to be entered in 

 the competitive field trials. 



203. The plant-row method, erroneously called " head- 

 row," in its best form, differs from the centgener method 

 in that exceptional plants, or the best spikes from each, 

 are selected from the field or from new composite varie- 

 ties in the nursery, and all the seed from each plant is 



FIG. 62. Cereal nursery, where months of work are spent each year in 

 selecting and hybridizing. The rows run across the long plats. 



sown in a separate row, giving uniform spacing to the 

 different kernels. The best seed from these rows is 

 planted in longer or several rows next year, which are 

 then at about the same stage in this method as the cent- 

 gener plants, thus gaining one year's time. The follow- 

 ing year the new strain goes into a small-sized plat, and 

 the next year probably into a tenth-acre plat, if con- 

 sidered worthy of further trial. Besides a saving of time, 

 this method has the advantage of a continual compari- 

 son of strains from the first year. The method of seed- 



