6o PLANT-BREEDING 



ing to be kept in culture. Since only the elite can produce 

 the most advanced side-branches, the production of seed 

 grains has always to return to it or rather to be started anew 

 from it. No farmer should sow his own harvest, because 

 if he does so, he will soon be surpassed by others. Or, if 

 he should be able to do it without harm, it can last only for a 

 few years, since he cannot keep up the selection which alone 

 is adequate to maintain the race at its highest standard. 



Contrary to the opinion of Hallett, w^ho claimed to pro- 

 duce his ameHorations by giving his plants large space, 

 ample manure and the best possible exposure and treat- 

 ment, the German principle was to make the selections under 

 precisely the same conditions as those of the ordinary field 

 cultures. It was assumed that changes produced by the 

 outward conditions of life, were only of a temporary and 

 and not of an hereditary nature. Hereditary qualities were 

 assumed to be innate and independent of environmental 

 influences. Only by means of selection could they be fixed, 

 increased or lessened, and finally changed in definite ways. 

 On the ground of these views, selection was the true factor 

 of the improvement, and since the breeder could select ac- 

 cording to his own wishes and ideals, it was believed that 

 selection was a means of changing any plant in any direction, 

 and to any desirable degree. By direct changes, brought 

 about by local and individual differences in the life conditions, 

 tliis selection could only be misled, since such a change 

 might be taken for an hereditary improvement whenever its 

 real cause was hidden. Therefore it was a rule to reject all 

 specimens which could possibly have profited by an excep- 

 tional amount of space, manure or light, before beginning 

 the real selection. 



Such were the more or less clearly understood, and more 

 or less generally accepted views in central Europe at the time 

 of the establishment of the experiment station at Svalof . No 



