Breeding of Cereals 81 



and it was assumed that by sowing their grains on a small plot 

 a family could be obtained, which could afterwards be improved by 

 a continuous selection. Differences between the collected ears were 

 either not observed or disregarded. At Svalbf this method of 

 selection was practised on a far larger scale than on any German 

 farm, and the result was, broadly speaking, the same. This may be 

 stated in the following words : improvement in a few cases, failure in 

 all the others. Some few varieties could be improved and yielded 

 excellent new types, some of which have since been introduced into 

 Swedish agriculture and are now prominent races in the southern 

 and middle parts of that country. But the station had definite aims, 

 and among them was the improvement of the Chevalier barley. This, 

 in Middle Sweden, is a fine brewer's barley, but liable to failure 

 during unfavourable summers on account of its slender stems. It 

 was selected with a view of giving it stiffer stems, but in spite of all 

 the care and work bestowed upon it no satisfactory result was obtained. 



This experience, combined with a number of analogous failures, 

 could not fail to throw doubt upon the whole method It was 

 evident that good results were only exceptions, and that in most 

 cases the principle was not one that could be relied upon. The 

 exceptions might be due to unknown causes, and not to the validity 

 of the method ; it became therefore of much more interest to search 

 for the causes than to continue the work along these lines. 



In the year 1892 a number of different varieties of cereals were 

 cultivated on a large scale and a selection was again made from them. 

 About two hundred samples of ears were chosen, each apparently con- 

 stituting a different type. Their seeds were sown on separate plots 

 and manured and treated as much as possible in the same manner. 

 The plots were small and arranged in rows so as to facilitate the 

 comparison of allied types. During the whole period of growth and 

 during the ripening of the ears the plots were carefully studied and 

 compared : they were harvested separately ; ears and kernels were 

 counted and weighed, and notes were made concerning layering, 

 rust and other cereal pests. 



The result of this experiment was, in the main, no distinct 

 improvement. Nilsson was especially struck by the fact that the 

 plots, which should represent distinct types, were far from uniform. 

 Many of them were as multiform as the fields from which the parent- 

 ears were taken. Others showed variability in a less degree, but in 

 almost all of them it was clear that a pure race had not been 

 obtained. The experiment was a fair one, inasmuch as it demon- 

 strated the polymorphic variability of cereals beyond all doubt and 

 in a degree hitherto unsuspected; but from the standpoint of the 

 selectionist it was a failure. Fortunately there were, however, one 



d. 6 



