84 Breeding of Plants and Animals. 



peculiar color or form should take warning from this 

 experiment. I am not sure but this and the experiment 

 mentioned above with corn are the most important 

 experiments we have finished in breeding plants at the 

 Minnesota Experiment Station. Trying to breed values 

 into plants by breeding to some color or to some fanci- 

 ful form or to breed animals by selecting to color of 

 coat or to some feature or form not based strictly on 

 physiological grounds is like a man trying to gain en- 

 during distinction by means of choice clothing or by 

 skill in the mere social arts. Broad-minded breeding 

 takes into consideration all essentials both of appear- 

 ance and of performing ability, also of uniformity. 

 Every variety or breed is such a complex proposition 

 that breeding for one feature is not sufficient. 'The 

 nnal economic unit is a combination of many units; 

 some of which at first may seem almost antagonistic -to 

 each other. 



Flax breeding as represented in the nursery by 

 13,000 plants, 4x4 inches apart, and by numerous 

 varieties grown in field test plots. Starting with ordin- 

 ary flax, which grows about twenty-six inches tall, 

 adding ten inches in height has proved an easy task, 

 thus apparently overcoming the fault of our dry cli- 

 mate, and making possible the production of long-line 

 flax fiber in the Northwest. Numerous' varieties bred for 

 larger yields of seed are under trial in field plots, some 

 of which are very promising. In fact, more profound 

 changes have been produced in flax than in the case of 

 any other crop. The common Minnesota and Dakota flax 

 was used as the parent variety. In 1903 four stocks of 

 the original variety, secured from four seedsmen, were 

 planted in field plots in a rented field (not especially 

 prepared) and beside these were planted new seed 

 varieties and also four new varieties bred for finer 

 fiber. The four original varieties averaged 11.9 busb^ 1 - 

 of seed per acre; the best four varieties bred for seed 

 yielded 17.5 bushels per acre; while the four fiber 

 varieties yielded only 10.5 bushels. The four parent 



