ioo HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



classes of wheats are needed for the black prairie soils of south- 

 ern Minnesota, for the sandy soils of northern Minnesota and 

 for the very fine clay soils of northern Minnesota, also the very 

 fine clay soils of the Red River Valley, that the yield for the 

 State be raised from fourteen bushels to twenty bushels. In 

 Kansas varieties are needed which are hardier in winter, varie- 

 ties whose chaff more tightly holds the kernels so that the grain 

 need not be harvested the day it is ripe; also varieties which 

 will thrive under the drouthy conditions of the western part of 

 the State. In Washington and surrounding States varieties are 

 needed which combine hardiness or ability to live over winter 

 with high yielding power and ability to stand erect and not 

 shell out for days or even weeks after ripe until harvested; with 

 higher content of superior gluten which will otherwise in- 

 crease the value per acre of this crop on distinctive soil and 

 climatic areas, as in the Willamette Valley, in the Yakima Val- 

 ley, in the Sacramento Valley, and in numerous other localities 

 distinctive in soil, climate and in the system of farming into 

 which the wheat must adapt itself. 



Commercial apples need to be bred not only for the great 

 apple regions of New York, Michigan and Missouri, but for 

 every region in the country where it is practicable to raise apples 

 for family use. Where we have hundreds of successful varieties 

 we could have thousands, that we might better adapt varieties 

 to localities and also that we might throw away many that are 

 not now adapted to the regions in which they are grown. 



The breeding of plants is a long-time proposition. The ele- 

 ments of the work are men with a genius for creative breeding, 

 the unit characters to be blended into new varieties or species, 

 and means and organization for long-continued efforts. We 

 need to develop a class of highly trained breeders who, through 

 long and extensive experience, will become highly efficient in 

 turning public and private dollars into double eagles, and even 

 pennies into dollars. 



The work of men like Mendel, DeVries, Bateson, Daven- 

 port, Castle, and Webber in discovering the laws of heredity is 

 of immense benefit, and for generations men of this class will 

 continue to add to our knowledge facts of large practical value 



