38 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND THE FARMER : 



inherited; we want to understand how, and why. Until this 

 knowledge is available, the plant breeder is largely working in 

 the dark, and is about as much handicapped as a chemist would 

 be who was obliged to mix his liquids in earthenware vessels 

 where they could not be seen. The investigation of fundamental 

 principles is usually termed " pure " research; its one and only 

 object is the acquisition of knowledge. This pursuit of know- 

 ledge " for its own sake," with no obvious practical outlook, 

 is sometimes looked upon with scepticism by the farmer, but 

 actually it is most important, for it is the foundation of all 

 real progress — the bricks from which the substantial building 

 must be erected, and any half-knowledge is but a brick substitute 

 and cannot be permanent. The main Institute engaged on 

 the investigation of fundamental principles of plant breeding in 

 this country is the John Innes Horticultural Institute, Merton, 

 Surrey. This Institution is not maintained from public funds, 

 and, moreover, an account of the investigations being conducted 

 there would hardly be of interest to the agricultural reader. 

 The work in many cases is remote from a practical application ; 

 but the crossing of peas by Mendel had no immediate practical 

 bearing, and yet his results laid the foundation for most of the 

 invaluable breeding work that has since been carried on in all 

 parts of the world. At the John Innes Institution work is 

 being done on a great variety of plants chosen on account of 

 their fitness for experimental purposes rather than for their 

 economic importance. Even weeds are thus pressed into the 

 service. The farmer may feel that he does not want to breed 

 weeds ; but the main thing is to discover principles, and when 

 they are discovered they mc^y be applied to any plant, and 

 possibly to animals. 



An investigation into principles, which, however, has a more 

 obvious practical bearing, is being conducted at the Cambridge 

 Plant Breeding Institute, where an attempt is being made to 

 discover the exact nature of certain inherited characters. We 

 speak, for example, of a barley plant as being awned or awnless, 

 and regard the awn as a definite inheritable character. But in 

 practice it has been found possible to produce both awned and 

 awnless plants from one variety, by sowing at different times. 

 This danger of confusion attends work on other kinds of plant 

 characters, and it is important that a more exact definition of 

 each character should be arrived at. Much of the work of this 

 type that has been done at Cambridge is so far only of academic 

 interest, but one or two cases may be mentioned which have 

 a more practical application. In cereal breeding the most 

 important problem is one of yield, and this is closely associated 



