38 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



we have said in the case of the cotton of Mr. Cole, it is not enough to have 

 made a start. It must be kept up, and only constant vigilance will keep any 

 plant true to type and above its fellows. Therefore we would lay down the 

 following rules for those who would improve their cultivated crops: 



1. Fix well in mind the type of plant you wish to grow, and never for an 

 .instant lose sight of it. 



2. Begin by selecting the plant that comes nearest to the type, and do not 

 expect to get your ideal all at once. 



3. So far as practicable, remove inferior plants from the immediate 

 vicinity of your selected plant ; save seed from the selected plant only. 



4. Plant the selected seed as far removed as possible from any other 

 plants of the same kind, and then rigidly root out every plant that falls below 

 the first selection; save seed only from plants that show a decided advance 

 towards the ideal plant you have in mind. 



5. Never breed for a single character of the plant, but take the whole 

 plant into consideration. If you breed simply for a big ear of corn or a big 

 boll of cotton, you may get these at the expense of other desirable characters ; 

 but take the whole character of the plant, its habit of growth, its general 

 productiveness and every desirable character, so as to get not only the kind of 

 product you want, but get it on an ideal plant. If you follow this up with 

 patience, year after year, always remembering that what you want is seldom 

 what nature would place in the survival of the fittest, and that any relax- 

 ation of effort on your part will give nature a chance to undo your work, 

 you will finally find that you have a race of seed on which you can rely 

 with certainty as to the result, you will find that intelligent seed merchants 

 are ever on the hunt for the men who have sense enough to study and im- 

 prove their plants, your neighbors will take an interest in your crops and there 

 will be more money in your purse, and you will be a benefactor of -your race 

 by improving production. 



While the improvement of the soil for the production of crops is the 

 main object of this book, there is no doubt that we will be excused for dwell- 

 ing so long on the seed and its selection, for there is fully as much to be 

 gained in this way as by the improvement of the soil in which they are grown. 



No matter how a farmer or gardener may improve his soil in productive 

 capacity, if he plants seed of inferior character his crops will not be what they 

 should be. If our farm readers could visit, as I have done, the seed farms of 

 the seed growers, and the testing farms of the great seed dealers, they would 

 be amazed at the minute care that is needed to preserve and improve the 

 seeds they purchase ; they would no longer wonder that first class seeds must 

 bring a fair price, and they would realize that the most costly thing a man 



