52 Breeding of Plants and Animals. 



breeding nurseries at the Minnesota Experiment Sta- 

 tion could not be managed as one of the several lines of 

 work there in progress were not a system used and 

 trained men employed in carrying out the details. 

 Methods. of planting have been evolved which greatly 

 expedite the work and in many cases place the seeds in 

 the soil under the most favorable conditions. Wheat and 

 other sfnall grains are planted '4 or 5 inches apart each 

 way, timothy, soy beans and white beans a foot apart 

 each way, and alfalfa and red clover two feet apart each 

 way, while field peas, bromus, and white clover are 

 planted three feet apart. Distances and depths to plant 

 are only tentatively determined and those found best 

 in Minnesota would not prove best in all localities. The 

 depth to plant the seeds must be regulated very much 

 by the conditions of the soil and climate. In most cases 

 the figures may be taken as averages, planting shallower 

 for early -spring with cold soil and wet weather condi- 

 tions and deeper for late spring with drouthy open-soil 

 conditions. The planting of wheat is done in carefully- 

 prepared beds, preferably on land which was bare fol- 

 lowed with frequent cultivation the previous year to re- 

 duce to a minimum the insect enemies and to furnish a 

 fine seed bed easily made mellow and uniform in tex- 

 ture. The stocks of wheat are planted in beds, both to 

 admit of clear demarkation of plots in note-taking and 

 to provide slightly depressed paths to prevent rains 

 from washing across the plots and to serve as paths for 

 workmen who must do much hand work in planting, 

 cultivating, note-taking and harvesting. 



Since wheat roots spread widely it has been found 

 necessary to discard the outer two rows of the bed. or 

 plat, in some theoretical experiments. In many cases it 

 has been found convenient to place between the differ- 

 ent stocks of wheat two rows of variety differing in 

 general appearance, so that these rows may be cut oat 

 before harvest, that the plats may be thus set apart by 

 these narrow alleys so as to make note taking easier, 

 each plat standing out by itself. All these are called 



