Practical Plant Breeding* 



THERE are two classes of plant 

 breeders, both of which are doing 

 good work of more or less value 

 from the scientific and economic view- 

 point, in the interest of advanced 

 knowledge and our advancing civiliza- 

 tion. The first is the breeder who works 

 for the purpose of proving his theories, 

 and who by a limited number of re- 

 corded crosses is able to place the simple 

 analysis of his investigations in present- 

 able form for educative purposes. The 

 second, or the breeder for practical 

 results, cannot do this without placing 

 limitations upon his activity, which 

 means his experience and success, as it 

 is only the man who makes many crosses 

 who may hope to approach even the 

 border of a field of limitless possibilities 

 in results. 



By practical plant breeding I mean 

 the application of that knowledge of the 

 science which will enable the worker to 

 secure the highest ratio of economic 

 value in the results. In my work on the 

 Canna, which embraced all available 

 species and early European hybrids, as 

 well as the latest and best productions 

 obtainable, I proved yearly the correct- 

 ness and value of my contention, for 

 seven years of select breeding gradually 

 eliminated types of no commercial value, 

 until in the last season not only were 

 discards practically nil, but the value and 

 quality of the selected seedHngs were 

 equal to those of the best novelties of 

 European introduction. 



The great value of the system advo- 

 ■cated by me is the fact that the success 

 of breeding depends much upon the 

 removal of every influence adverse to 

 increased multiplication of advanced 

 types. This will be appreciated by those 

 workers on bulky plants and trees of slow 

 maturing habit, requiring a large acreage 

 for development, and the fact that I am 

 speaking from an experience with nearly 

 a million new hybrid gladioh, a plant 

 that requires comparatively little space, 

 although needing from three to five years 

 to mature from seed. Fifteen years of 

 unbroken work on this now my sole 

 specialty has also proven the value of 

 my views in practice. In the progres- 

 sion of my system the first five years 

 only is known to commerce, having been 

 discarded by me 10 years ago; the 

 second series of five years is little known 

 commercially, and received the Pan- 

 American Exposition Gold Medal and 

 St. Eouis World's Fair Grand Prize; 

 while the third series of five years is all 

 in my personal possession, and un- 

 known outside my trial grounds. 



♦Extracts from a paper submitted to the 

 Plant Breeding Conference, held in London, Eng- 

 land, last summer. 



H. H. Groff, Simcoe, Ontario 



It is imperative that the breeder 

 should specialize, that he should use 

 every obtainable wild species of his 

 specialty, and in using each for the pur- 

 pose dictated by his judgment and ex- 

 perience, thus control and render amen- 

 able to his direction the vital forces and 

 chemical constituents of this founda- 

 tion stock. By using all obtainable 

 species he multiplies the possibilities for 

 practical results and increased diversity 

 in the material to be evolved from the 

 product of future years, and yearly dis- 

 carding species and early hybrids as 

 they are superseded in the course of his 

 operations. 



Wild species are only of value so far 

 as they may supply some desirable qual- 

 ity for incorporation in a domestic type 

 containing other good qualities such as 

 size, vigor, vitality and adaptability. 

 Illustrating from my specialty, the 

 blotch of the small purpureo-auratus 

 can be placed upon a six foot domestic 

 type, free from the objectionable cowled 

 habit of this species, the throat mottling 

 of the weak growing Saundersii can be 

 transmitted to a race of strength and 

 vigor, with the added influence of its 

 wide, open flowers, and so on indefinitely. 



That the foregoing can be done is 

 good reason for not developing race 

 hybrids, with the consequent loss of the 



most important quality of general adapt- 

 ability to changed conditions. The 

 natural development of wild species is 

 usually accomplished by restricted con- 

 ditions of habitat, an influence of ages 

 impossible of neutralization by a few 

 seasons' crossing. So highly do I appre- 

 ciate this feature of adaptability that in 

 bringing my productions to maturity I 

 grow on four kinds of soil — sandy, sandy 

 loam, clay loam, and humus or vegetable 

 deposit — and before use in breeding 

 they are proven in this quality in order 

 that it may be also transmitted in cross- 

 ing. Breeding from wild species is, 

 therefore, of little practical value, as 

 the farther our removal from their many 

 objectionable features the better, and 

 when by proper selection their best qual- 

 ities can be controlled and applied ac- 

 cording to our knowledge and discretion. 

 My advice to plant breeders is to 

 multiply types by many thousands, 

 using special proven selections as sires, 

 on the lines of practice by successful 

 animal breeders. Select and develop 

 domestic races and sections of such high 

 quality, vitality and general adaptabil- 

 ity, that their progeny will not only be 

 of higher quahty than the parents, but 

 that this quality will be produced in 

 quantity in the highest possible ratio. 

 This is practical plant breeding. 



XKe -Amateur's GreenKouse 



SOME readers of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist may have some 

 chrysanthemum plants that they 

 desire to keep over. While professional 

 florists would not find it profitable to 

 keep over old plants, amateurs may do 

 so, as they do not make as close an 

 estimate of the cost incurred through 

 time and labor. Cut down the old stem 

 to within an inch or two of the soil. 

 After doing this keep the plants in a 

 temperature of about 45 or 50 degrees. 

 A comparatively cool temperature is 

 necessary to prevent a too rapid growth 

 of the young shoots that appear on the 

 surface of the soil. 



Water the plants often enough to keep 

 the soil only fairly moist. Give air on 

 warm days. When growth has reached 

 about three inches pinch off the tips of 

 the shoots. Repeat the pinching every 

 three or four weeks until May. Then 

 place the plants out of doors on fine 

 days in a sheltered spot, to harden off 

 the growth. Divide or pot the whole 

 plant into a pot one or two sizes larger, 

 or it can be set in the open ground to 

 grow during the summer. Continue to 

 pinch off the tip growth every few weeks 



until July. Then the plants may be 

 allowed to grow at will. 



Cyclamen bulbs that are showing 

 flowering buds will require plenty of 

 water at the roots. Light applications 

 of liquid manure will increase the 

 density of color and the size of the 

 flowers. 



Cuttings of lobelia, double alyssum, 

 cupheas, and similar plants desired for 

 hanging baskets and vases should be 

 taken now. This will give them a chance 

 to make nice plants by the time they are 

 required in spring. 



Why not grow some perennials and 

 house plants from seed? As soon as 

 possible sow seeds of verbena, pansy, 

 lobelia, petunia, snap-dragon, daisy, 

 forget-me-nots and impatiens. The 

 plants will be of good size by planting- 

 out time in May. Sow seeds of tuberous 

 begonia now, if you want large flowering 

 plants by June. Among the house 

 plants that may be grown from seed 

 sown in January or February are Jeru- 

 salem cherry, heliotrope. Primula ob- 

 conica, and various vines such as aspara- 

 gus ferns and the foliage asparagus {A. 

 Sprengeri), smilax and Cobea scandens. 



