Wheat Breeding. 45 



most carefully shocked, stored in stacks or barns, 

 threshed and stored in bins in such a manner that the 

 seeds will be thoroughly dry, and kept dry, so that their 

 full power to germinate and produce fine vigorous 

 heavy yielding plants may not be diminished. Farmers 

 can well afford to pay for fresh improved potent blood 

 in seed grain which has been so, preserved that every 

 kernel retains its full power of producing yield and 

 quality. At best our seeds are subjected to many vicis- 

 situdes after they are planted and any injury from be- 

 ing wet in shock or bin makes them less able to germin- 

 ate under unfavorable conditions. And many kernels 

 which are able, barely to germinate are so injured in 

 vitality, or the store of food in the kernel is so reduced 

 in amount or in quality, that the young plant is greatly 

 handicapped. The breed or variety of superior power 

 and value when given the best conditions as care of 

 seed, good soil, proper cultivation and excellent climate, 

 will produce the maximum yield. 



Future Years. Each succeeding year a sufficient 

 number of the best spikes to supply a half bushel of 

 seed may be selected from the field in which stock seed 

 is being grown or from the general field wherein seed 

 for the market is being produced or this work may be 

 inaugurated only once every two or three years. This 

 seed should be used to plant each year a stock seed 

 -plat to produce seed for the field in which the next 

 year's seed wheat is to be grown for sale. Experimen- 

 tation is needed to determine whether the selection of 

 the best heads may be permanently used in improving 

 a variety of wheat. It will probably conduce to the 

 production of only one or a few culms and heads per 

 plant, reducing the number of stools which spring from 

 a single seed, or decrease the plant's stooling power. 

 There is little doubt that the selection of the largest 

 upper ears of corn has reduced the dent varieties of corn 

 and also some of the flint varieties from several-eared 

 to one-eared kinds. 



It is quite probable that some of the more complex 



