IMPROVING BY CROSS-FERTILIZATION. 307 



'will keep, and is ready to fertilize the stigmas as they mature. 

 All the flowers of a spike may be operated on, or only part of a 

 spike, and the -rest cut off. The culm will be marked so as to 

 secure the grain when it ripens. 



Professor A. E. Blount, of Colorado, is an enthusiast in cross- 

 ing cereals, and has met with excellent success in obtaining good 

 new varieties. Hear him : "All the cereals are susceptible of 

 great improvement. They can be made to produce results, here- 

 tofore unrealized, at which some of the oldest scientific farmers 

 are amazed. The farmer can breed up his grain as he does his 

 stock. If it is deficient in any one element, he can supply that 

 deficiency. Should his wheat, for instance, be too soft, too 

 starchy, or have weak straw, he can, by crossing it upon other 

 harder, more glutinous and stiff strawed kinds, make wheats to 

 suit his soil, climate and his miller. If his corn does not suit 

 him, if it is too long-lived, with too large cobs, too coarse fod- 

 der, too inferior stalks, too high, low, large or small, he can se- 

 lect, cross and interbreed until only quantity, form, and fineness 

 are obtained. The experimenter must be thoroughly acquainted 

 with the plants before he can succeed in improving them by se- 

 lection. If he be a wise man, and understand his business, he 

 does not always take the largest ear or the largest spike. The 

 largest are by no means always the best." 



Many careful experiments have been made by Darwin and 

 others proving conclusively that the chances are largely in favor 

 of great improvements, if the flowers are cross fertilized. 



Tlie crossing of closely related plants is generally an improve- 

 ment over self-fertilization; but crossing with foreign stocks of 

 the same variety is a far greater improvement. 



The reader may ask, What is meant by the term " crossing 

 with foreign stock." The following experiment will illustrate 

 it : Select two lots of seed corn which are essentially alike in all 

 o-espects. One should have been grown, at least, for five years 



