90 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



field of plant breeding, if we are really doing all in this field of de- 

 velopment which the world has a right to expect of us. 



I speak with some hesitation on this subject when I remember that 

 I am addressing this great organization, the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society, which has done so much to advance horticulture 

 and agriculture in the past century. I remember the great work of 

 this society in offering prizes for improved new fruits in the early 

 days of the nineteenth century, when plant breeding was indeed 

 in its infancy. I remember the very large number of new fruits and 

 flowers which had their origin in the stimulation given by this asso- 

 ciation. You have doubtless done the best you could and it was a 

 great work. Yet I am convinced that the work has only just 

 begun. 



If we are to feed the increasing millions of our population with 

 our soils depleted in fertility, with our mineral deposits of nitrate of 

 soda, potash, and phosphates approaching exhaustion, we must use 

 strenuous methods to improve our plants to the highest degree of 

 efficiency. 



Where, now, can the breeder enter with profit into this field? 

 When our nitrogen fertilizers fail, where are we to get fertilizers 

 for our great cereal crops which are more important than any others 

 in feeding the world? Wheat, corn, and rice are not legumes. 

 With what can we fertilize our potatoes, which in many countries, 

 is the staple article of food and the valuation of which in the 

 world as a whole, exceeds that of our "King Corn." It is quite 

 probable that the various legumes known to fix free nitrogen can 

 be improved, made more important, and led to assume a much 

 greater part in food production. Beans, which are nitrogen- 

 fixing legumes, now make a flour, from w^hich buns, biscuits, 

 griddle cakes, and the like can be made which nearly equal similar 

 products from wheat and corn flour. Beans, peas, and other 

 legumes, must ultimately be bred particularly for this purpose. 

 Several wild legumes, as yet entirely undomesticated, produce tubers 

 which are fairly large and wholesome as food. These may be 

 bred as substitutes for potatoes, and be suited to growth on nearly 

 nitrogen-free soils. Indeed, the possibilities in this direction from 

 a breeding standpoint, are almost unlimited and as yet untouched. 

 When the condition of the world demands, the plant breeder can 



