IMPROVEMENT OF WHEAT BY SELECTION 83 



of highly trained men of science. Wheat, oats, and 

 barley are now grown in Sweden on lands previously 

 considered as mere waste, and the yield of previously 

 cultivated districts has been materially increased. The 

 Government of Sweden recognizes the work of the 

 Association by an annual grant of 2,000, the other 

 2,000 of its yearly income being provided partly by the 

 profits of the venture, but chiefly by the Agricultural 

 Societies of the country at large. (These figures are for 

 the year 1909).* Some of the results achieved by the 

 Association are appended. 



AUTUMN WHEATS. 



These figures were published in 1912, f and are sufficient 

 to show that the methods used at Svalof are an unquali- 

 fied success. Had the information given above been at 

 our disposal in 1909, we could have started work on the 

 improvement of the wheats of Canterbury with some con- 

 fidence, but all we knew was that Sweden was using 

 single ear selection with good results, and that the 

 method had been followed by workers in other countries 

 notably by Hunter, in Ireland.^ A plan of work was 

 therefore evolved which has proved in the main similar 

 to that used in other lands where the single ear is the 

 basis of the selection. 



*Sixth Annual Eeport Canadian Seed Growers' Association. 



tNewman, "Plant Breeding in Scandinavia." Canadian 

 Seed Growers' Association, Ottawa. 



JH. Hunter, "Experiments in Barley Growing. " Journal of 

 the Department of Agricultural and Technical Instruction for 

 Ireland. Vol. XIII., No. I. 



