CHAPTER V. 



SELECTION OF FOUNDATION STOCKS. 



In the case of wheat, mentioned in previous pages, 

 the height of the plants is only one of the qualities in 

 which there is variation. There are also a few plants 

 which yield heavily and a few which yield but little 

 grain. Likewise, there is occasionally a plant with stif- 

 fer straw, one a little more rust resistant, one with more 

 or tougher gluten. But to find a plant in which are 

 correlated to a maximum degree all these desired qual- 

 ities thousands must be examined. And to find one 

 that has such a desirable combination of good qualities 

 and also the far more complex and important quality 

 of breeding power or projected efficiency in transmit- 

 ting the combination, it would seem natural that many 

 of those with the desired individuality must be tried as 

 breeders. 



The problem is very complex if we take the case 

 of plants which are open pollinated, as corn; or of 

 animals, which also are reproduced only by the sexual 

 union of the two individuals. Here the strong individ- 

 uality of the prepotent plant or animal must be able 

 with its combination of desirable qualities to override 

 the qualities of the other sex with which it is bred, or 

 it must so "nick" with the qualities of the other mem- 

 ber of the cross as to make a new combination of value. 

 This feature of the complexity of the problem is here 

 chvelt upon to lead men to see that not by easy or short 

 methods are important breed or variety improvements 

 to be made. Large numbers must be tested, measured, 

 recorded and averages made and the blood of only the 

 very few utilized in breed or variety formation, or in 

 material and radical variety or breed improvement. 

 This general proposition is borne out by the fact that 



