LUTHER BURBANK 



the other hand, there is little danger of vitia- 

 tion of the experiments through accidental cross- 

 ing. 



As an instance of what may be done, it may be 

 noted that Professor Biffin, at Cambridge Uni- 

 versity, England, recently succeeded in develop- 

 ing a variety of wheat that promises to revolu- 

 tionize the wheat-growing industry in England, 

 by combining the strains of a hardy wheat of 

 poor quality with a weak-stalked wheat having 

 a good head. The experiment was carried out 

 along Mendelian lines, and perfected in three gen- 

 erations, giving the farmers of England a wheat 

 of good quality, immune to the rust that had 

 devastated their fields. 



Mr. Burbank has under way a series of experi- 

 ments in which he has crossed all available va- 

 rieties of wheat. In his experiment garden the 

 present season one row of these hybrid wheats 

 was found to have vitality that enabled it to stand 

 up under drought and wind when all the com- 

 panion rows (representing different combina- 

 tions) had wilted. 



It is easily within the range of the experiments 

 of any amateur to conduct similar tests in cross- 

 breeding and selection, starting with standard 

 varieties of wheat or oats or rye, and working 

 with an eye to the development of hardy and un- 

 usually productive varieties. It has been pointed 

 out that anyone who would develop a race of 

 wheat that would bear on the average one kernel 

 more to the head would thereby add millions of 



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