BREEDING NEW GRAINS 



place of old and unsatisfactory ones. The crea- 

 tion of new and better cereals, one of the mas- 

 ter acts of the men of the New Earth, has not 

 been effected primarily for the overthrowing of 

 the arguments of the alarmists, but such crea- 

 tion does, nevertheless, to a great extent refute 

 their arguments. These improved cereals have 

 been successfully made ; they are now in actual 

 service. They show us that we are still in the 

 minimum stage of the development of our re- 

 sources, that the earth has not yet reached the 

 shadow of its maximum of food production. 



The creation of a new wheat or corn having 

 greater nutritive powers than the old estab- 

 lished varieties, capable of better withstanding 

 drought and disease and insect pest, bred to 

 produce a larger yield per acre than the thrif- 

 tiest rival in the fields, — such an act as this is 

 alone sufficient to overthrow an army of alarm- 

 ists. Such an act as this, even if confined only 

 to the limits of the chemist's laboratory and 

 greenhouse, would, by its immense suggestive 

 powers, be sufficient. 



But this work has not been so restricted. It 

 has been carried forward into the actual field 

 of farm operations. New wheats have been 



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