184 THE POSSIBILITIES 



meter." * But as he seems to know how difficult 

 it often is to convince people of the plainest 

 facts, he published the photographs of separate 

 wheat plants grown in different soils, differently 

 manured, including pure river sand enriched by 

 manure.f He concluded that under proper 

 treatment 2,000 and even 4,000 grains could be 

 easily obtained from each planted grain. The 

 seedlings, growing from grains planted ten inches 

 apart, cover the whole space, and the experi- 

 mental plot takes the aspect of an excel- 

 lent cornfield, as may be seen from a photo- 

 graph given by Grandeau hi his Etudes 

 agronomiques.% 



In fact, the eight and a half bushels required 

 for one man's annual food were actually grown 

 at the Tomblaine station on a surface of 2,250 



* L. Grandeau, Etudes agronomiques, 3 e serie, 1887-1888, p. 

 43. This series is still continued by one volume every year. 



f On one of these photographs one sees that in a soil im- 

 proved by chemical manure only, seventeen stems from each 

 grain are obtained ; with organic manure added to the former, 

 twenty-five stems were obtained. 



J Most interesting experiments for obtaining new sorts of 

 wheat, combining the qualities of Canadian wheat with those of 

 the best British sorts, are being carried on now at the Cambridge 

 University. Similar experimerilfe have been made in Germany 

 by F. von Lochow, at Petkno, in order to produce new races of rye 

 rich in gluten and prolific. These last experiments wer made 

 on Mr. Hallett's method, and the results were satisfactory, as 

 it appears from a report published in Fuehling's Landwirthschaft- 

 liche Zeitung, Leipzig, January and February, 1900, pp. 29 and 

 45. 



