ARID AGRICULTURE. 239 



NEED OP As a rule, plant breeders have given special 



PLANT attention to improvements which appeal to the 



BREEDING . . ,, i i . 1 



aesthetic and artistic. They work in horticul- 

 ture, making more beautiful trees and shrubs 

 and flowers, or developing new fruits. Compar- 

 atively little has been done in this country, and 

 that in recent years, to improve the great staple 

 crops of the farm. Nearly all of our improved 

 varieties of grains have come from the Old 

 World. In the Middle States corn breeding 

 has brought about remarkable increase in crop 

 yields and values. On the Atlantic and Pacific 

 seaboards much effective work has been done in 

 creating and adapting new varieties of fruits and 

 vegetables. But in our great arid America, 

 where irrigation farming is developing so rap- 

 idly, and dry farming is now receiving so much 

 attention, outside of one or two Experiment Sta 

 tions, there has been little or no consecutive ef- 

 fort put forth either to improve our crops or to 

 adapt those kinds and varieties most suitable to 

 our new conditions. Nearly two decades ago 

 Professor A. E. Blount put out some important 

 improvements in grains. His Xo. 10 and Xo. 

 16 wheats were widely grown and his rust-proof 

 oats gave him a world-wide reputation. For 

 some years past Mr. Robert Grauss of Denver has 

 been doing most interesting and valuable dry- 

 farm wheat breeding. Alfalfa, the king of crops 

 for the West, and fast becoming a queen among 

 crops for the East and South, has not yet been 



