Pedigreed Animals and Plants. 31 



mals and plants have "blood" which is average in its 

 stability, or in the stockman's term in its "prepotency." 

 A term coming into use in plant breeding where some 

 species are hermaphroditic and self-fertilized, where 

 the word prepotent does not quite fit. the case, is cent- 

 gener power, or the ability to produce generations of 

 strong and valuable progeny. The word centgener, 

 made up of the root words centum, hundred, and gen- 

 era, generation, is applied to the large group, a hundred, 

 more or less of one generation, usually from a single 

 mother plaint, but may be used in animal breeding where 

 the measurements may be based on the average value 

 of only a few, or many, progeny. Projected efficiency 

 is also a recent expression which may most forcefully 

 express the idea of breeding power in many statements, 

 and is also a useful addition to the language of tht 

 breeder. 



The future is interested in selecting from among 

 the many individuals those few at the very top of 

 the curve which combine in their inherited makeup 

 the ability surely to reproduce the many superior qual- 

 ities which must be correlated to give excellence, wheth- 

 er for specific or general utility. Thus because of its val- 

 ue as a parent plant, Peter Gideon's original tree of the 

 Wealthy apple was worth millions. Because of its 

 centgener power the mother plant from which "Minn. 

 No. 163" wheat sprung is adding 10 per cent to the 

 yields of Minnesota wheat fields as rapidly as the farm- 

 ers can substitute it for the wheats in common use. The 

 germ in the one kernel from which that variety sprung 

 in 1892 contained the prepotency which is now spread 

 over 60,000 acres, and in five years more, or fifteen 

 years after the parent seed germinated, its progeny 

 could be made to cover the wheat area of the group of 

 hard spring wheat States, increasing the value of the 

 crop many millions of dollars. 



The projected efficiency of Messenger, the father 

 of the American trotting horse, was wonderful. Truly, 

 tfiere is power and value in certain germs, and effective 



