The Improvement of Plants Through Bud 



Selection 



PLANT IMPROVEMENT. 



We are indebted to Charles Darwin for much of our knowledge of the be- 

 havior of animals and plants under domestication (14, 15). His investigations 

 established many of the principles of, and laid the foundation for, the further 

 scientific study of organic evolution. The records of his observations and experi- 

 ments with plants have furnished a large amount of fundamentally important 

 data and reliable information which has constituted the basis for much of the 

 recent constructive work for plant improvement. He states that the conscious 

 or unconscious selection of superior plants for propagation by man has been 

 carried on for about as long a time as agriculture has existed. He found in 

 ancient Chinese encyclopedias (15), translated by the Jesuits in the 18th cen- 

 tury, records of recommendations for the preservation and propagation of the 

 best plants, the choice of large seeds for planting, and the history of an improved 

 variety of rice secured through the selection and propagation of superior plants 

 by the Emperor Khang-hi. Rice is one of the best examples of the value of plant 

 improvement work. At the present time there exist more than 5,000 local varie- 

 ties in different rice-growing districts of the world which have been developed 

 through plant selection and propagation. 



The sexuality of plants was demonstrated by Camerarius in 1691. The first 

 hybrid of which we have a record was made by Thomas Fairchild, an English 

 gardener, in 1719. Knight, an eminent English student of plant life, contributed 

 a large amount of information to our knowledge of plant hybridization. Van 

 Mons, a Belgian horticulturist, produced a number of improved varieties of plants 

 through selection. 



The re-discovery of Mendel's famous law in 1900 (3) and the publication 

 of De Vries' mutation theory in the following year (72) marked a new era in 

 plant improvement. These contributions stimulated a widespread interest in the 

 study of plant improvement which has been unequaled in the history of agricul- 

 ture. A large number of investigators are now devoting their entire time and 

 energy to a study of the various phases of this subject. Many universities have 

 inaugurated courses of instruction and study for students along these lines. A 

 number of research institutions have been established in the United States and 

 abroad for the purpose of investigating the fundamental principles underlying 

 the work of plant improvement. Several commercial organizations have been 

 built up for the sole purpose of carrying on practical plant improvement work for 

 particular crops. As a result of this intensive and systematic activity, plant im- 

 provement has become a subject of great scientific interest and large commercial 

 importance during recent years. 



Much of the pioneer work for plant improvement has been carried on with 

 sexually reproduced plants. In science, sex, fecundation and the behavior of 

 hybrid plants have received the major share of attention. In practice, seed se- 

 lection has been the most important phase of plant improvement work. While 



