184 LUTHER BUHBANK 



tigation might be begun. The one mentioned 

 was discovered only after careful inspection of 

 more than twenty-five thousand samples. 



But the finding of one sufficiently proves that 

 there must be others to be found if we search 

 widely enough, so I record the experience as a 

 stimulus to further search and investigation with 

 a tribe of grasses represented by numerous other 

 species that are familiar enough in fields and 

 waste places, but which at present are regarded 

 as weeds rather than as friends of the 

 agriculturist. 



SOME CULTIVATED GRASSES 



Some of the most striking results I have ever 

 seen in the way of development of grasses were 

 obtained with the perennial known as the Sweet 

 Vernal Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum). 



This grass is exceedingly variable. A few 

 years ago I raised about fifty thousand plants 

 in boxes. From the seedlings the largest and 

 the smallest were selected; the broad-leaved 

 and the narrow; the dark green and the light 

 green; and those showing any other striking 

 peculiarity. 



By planting the individuals that presented 

 these diversified traits in plots by themselves, and 

 carefully selecting their seed, races of perennial 



