CHAPTER VII. 



METHODS OF PLANTING NURSERY WHEAT. 



The method of breeding wheat outlined in previous, 

 pages may result in an average increase of 5 to 10 per 

 cent, over large areas while occasionally no increase 

 results. But to secure more radical increase more ef- 

 fective plans may be pursued, requiring more of meth- 

 od, detail and time. In the plan already outlined the 

 improvement is secured by choosing the best heads. 

 These may be from seeds which, on account of produc- 

 ing only one or two culms, could develop one strong 

 head. It is probable that selecting too large heads for 

 a long series of years might reduce the stooling habit. 

 This might result in reduced yields, especially in years 

 when climatic and soil conditions are unfavorable to 

 stooling, which condition frequently occurs in case of 

 spring wheat. On the other hand a variety so bred as 

 to produce only two or three large culms, instead rf 

 dissipating its energies on a number of small culms 

 with no heads, might require more seed to the acre and 

 have the advantage, providing more seed were used per 

 acre, thus depending on more primary culms and fewer 

 seeds. Besides, more pounds of seed per acre give 

 more food to the plantlets, making them more indepen- 

 dent of the soil food during the earliest stages cf 

 growth. An experiment now under way may later on 

 indicate the solution to this point. These thoughts il- 

 lustrate that we need to better know the theory of 

 breeding, and more experimenting on the theory of 

 breeding is needed. Actual knowledge of these seem- 

 ingly minor matters often is of great importance in 

 practical breeding. 



But try as we may to select superior heads in 'he 

 field and superior berries in the bin, we come around 



