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"PEDIGKEE" WHEAT. 



Thb word "pedigree" lias hitherto been applied 

 only to animals, and it can not, in strict propriety, 

 be applied to members of the vegetable kingdom. 

 But we have now a wheat that is "thorough- 

 bred" — one that has a "pedigree," and the use of 

 these terms can no longer be confined to animals. 



In the Genesee Farmer for October, 1861, p. 297, 

 we alluded to the astonishing results that had been 

 obtained by Mr. F. F. Hallett, of Brighton, Eng- 

 land, by carefully "breeding" his seed wheat. 



In the last number of the "Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society," Mr. Hallett gives a detailed 

 account of his system of " breeding " wheat, and 

 its results. In the whole range of agricultural sci- 

 ence we know of no subject of greater importance, 

 and we are sure the intelligent readers of the 

 Genesee Farmer will peruse with the greatest in- 

 terest some account of Mr. Hallett's experiments. 



Mr. H. says it has been his conviction for the 

 past twelve years that a good pedigree is as valua- 

 ble in plants as in animals, and that in the careful 

 rearing of seed which has this qualification lies our 

 only means of materially increasing the produce 

 of the cereals. Amongst animals, whether horses, 

 cattle, sheep, or pigs, the importance of "pedi- 

 gree " is fully recognized, as also even in reference 

 to some of our agricultural plants; for if a farmer 

 wants a good cabbage, mangel wurzel, turnip, or 

 carrot, he selects the seed from a good parent, but 

 the moment be deals with the cereals he almost 

 ignores the great principle of like producing like, 

 which he admits, in the foregoing cases, to be not 

 only a right one, but so important as to deserve 

 much attention, and repay much outlay. Yet Mr. 

 H. has proved that the minutest characteristics of 

 a plant of wheat will be reproduced in its descend- 

 ants; so much so, that we can not only perpetuate 

 the advantages presented to us in an individual ear, 

 but, by the accumulation of selection, make further 

 advances in any desired direction; the union of 

 good qualities imparting a cumulative force, and 

 their successive renewals and establishment con- 

 ferring, as in anima's, a "fixity of type." 



The plan of selection pursued by Mr. E. was as 

 follows. He says: 



A gram produces a "stool," consisting of many 

 ears. I plant the grains from these ears in such a 

 manner that each ear occupies a row by itself, each 

 of its grains occupying a hole in this row; the 

 holes being 12 inches apart every way. At har- 

 vest, after the most careful study and comparison 

 of the stools from all these grains, I select the 

 finest one, which I accept as a proof that its parent 

 grain was the best of all, under the peculiar cir- 



cumstances of that season. This process is repeat- 

 ed annually, starting every year with the proved 

 best grain, although the verification of this superi- 

 ority is not obtained until the following harvest. 



During these investigation^, no single circum- 

 stance has struck me as moie forcibly illustrating 

 the necessity for repeated selections ilian the fact, 

 that of the (/rains in the same ear one is found 

 greatly to excel all the others in vital power. 



In illustration of these principles of selection, 

 Mr. H. gives the following results, due to their in- 

 fluence alone, — as the kind of seed, the land, and 

 the system of culture employed were precisely the 

 same for every plant for four successive years; 

 neither was any manure used, nor any artificial 

 means of fostering the plants resorted to. 



Table showing Vie Importance of each additional Generation 

 of Selection. 



Thus, by means of repeated selection alone, the 

 length of the ears has been doubled, their contents 

 nearly trebled, and the "tillering" power of the 

 seed increased five-fold. 



In commencing his experiments, Mr. II. selected 

 ears in reference to their quality, rather than size. 

 In 1857, he selected two ears of wheat from a field 

 of red "Nursery wheat" of the first quality. 

 These two ears contained together 87 grains. 

 These 87 grains were planted one foot apart each 

 way. One grain of these 87 produced 10 ears 

 containing each 55, 60, 66, 68, 68, 69, 73, 74, 76 

 and 79 grains; or 688 grains from one grain sown. 

 The finest 10 ears that could be selected from the 

 whole produce of the other 86 grains contained 

 only 598 grains. 



This was the harvest of 1858. 



In the fall of 1858 the 79 kernels from the best 

 ear were planted one foot apart. One of these 

 grains produced seventeen ears (besides five green 

 ones), containing 55, 58, 61, 63, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 

 67, 72, 74, 75, 76, 86, 87 and 91 grains; or a total 

 of 1,190 grains from one. 



This was the harvest of 1859. 



The 91 grains from the best ear were planted in 

 the full of 1859. The one that tillered the most 

 produced thirty-nine ears, containing 2, 45 gtains. 



This was the harvest of 1860, which, it, will be 

 recollected, was one of the wettest known in Eng- 

 land for jnany years. The crop was so beaten 

 about and injured by the rain that only two ears 



