CHAPTER XVII 



BREEDING OF VEGETABLES 



SELF-FERTILIZED VEGETABLES 



The long periods of cultivation and the various environments 

 to which many of our vegetables have been subjected, have 

 served to increase the number of varieties. Most of the vegetable 

 varieties have been produced by commercial seed firms or by 

 seed growers. An examination of any seed catalog shows numer- 

 ous new forms which are being constantly introduced into 

 cultivation. There has been a marked tendency among seeds- 

 men to give new trade names to old standard varieties. This 

 has led to a great deal of confusion in nomenclature and much 

 difficulty has been experienced in varietal identification. There is 

 need of a more scientific test of varieties prior to introduction and 

 of a standardization of varieties. Considerable progress has been 

 made in classification of some vegetables. More information 

 is needed regarding the mode of pollination and inheritance of 

 special characters before methods of breeding can be intelligently 

 applied. In this chapter the origin of both cross- and self- 

 fertilized vegetables is briefly summarized. The mode of 

 inheritance of special characters of the self-fertilized vegetable 

 species, pea, bean, tomato, and pepper are given, together with 

 a brief discussion of methods of breeding. 



Origin of Vegetables. 1 The ancient Greeks and Romans were 

 familiar with some of our garden vegetables; on the other hand, 

 many are of more recent origin and new varieties are being 

 constantly introduced. The discovery of America introduced 

 to civilization such important vegetables as the Irish potato, 



1 For a complete history of the origin of vegetables see DE CANDOLLE, A., 

 Origin of Cultivated Plants, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., London, Second 

 Edition; 468 pages, 1886; HENSLOW, G., The Origin and History of Our 

 Garden Vegetables and Their Dietetic Values, in Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc., vols. 

 36 and 37, 1910-11 and 1911-12; STURTEVANT, E. L., History of Garden 

 Vegetables, in Am. Nat., vols. 23, 24, and 25, 1889, 1890, and 1891. 



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