THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK ix. 



these examples been the object of cultivation. The reverse is the case 

 with cereals, which are grown expressly for their grain ; and to the 

 improvement and differentiation of the latter all cultural efforts have 

 been directed. And yet, if two specimens of seed are taken, the one 

 of the wild beet and the other of globe mangel, though they may afford 

 no clue to their origin even when subjected to the most careful 

 examination, the inherited qualities are nevertheless hidden away in 

 some mysterious manner in the microscopic embryo within, and will 

 reveal themselves as the plant develops. Nobody can assert that the 

 wonderful effects which pedigree produces amongst farm animals are not 

 also exemplified in farm plants. Faraday is credited with having said 

 that no clever man has ever yet sprung from really stupid parents, and 

 it would be as reasonable to expect a good crop from seed of ill pedigree 

 as to look for figs upon thistles, or grapes upon thorns. 



It is worth quoting, as an example, an interesting case of seed 

 selection made at the New York Station. From the stock of oats in 

 the granary, 1,000 of the smallest grains and 1,000 of the largest 

 grains were selected. The large ones weighed altogether one and one- 

 fourth ounces, the small ones nine- sixteenths of an ounce. On May 4, 

 the two lots of oats were sown under the most uniform and similar con- 

 ditions possible. On May 12, the large oats were seen to be vegetating 

 more rapidly than the small ones. On June 8, the numbers of plants 

 were : Large oats, 823 ; small oats, 650. By June 23, the plants 

 from the large oats were larger and more robust than the others, and 

 subsequently they showed a tendency to ripen earlier. On August 6 

 both crops were cut, and afterwards threshed and weighed. Here is 

 the result : 



Grain. Straw. 



Ib. oz. Ib. oz. 



Large oats crop 11 14 34 12 



Small oats crop 8 15 32 6 



More than this, 10,000 grains of each plot were weighed ; those of the 

 large oats crop weighed 19'92 grams, an equal number of the small 

 oats crop gave 19'21 grams. A case of this kind may serve to show 

 how by continual selection of seed a race of plants may be steadily 

 improved. 



As regards the germinating capacity of seeds, if in a given case it 

 hardly comes up to the highest standard, this nevertheless should 

 hardly be regarded as a serious drawback. It is unwise policy to 

 purchase a sample which obviously has not been well cleaned from 

 living impurities ; there is, it is true, the temptation offered of a much 

 lower price, but seed containing injurious impurities is dear at a gift. 

 In the third place, as to a sample being true to the species ordered, an 

 opinion ought to be taken in doubtful cases, but both in this and in 

 the fourth case that of improved seed being what it purports to be 

 the buyer is really in the hands of the seedsman. It is only possible 

 to suggest that he should go to a seedsman whom he has learnt by 

 experience to trust, or whose reputation is such that he ought to be 

 trustworthy, and on this point he must trust his seedsman just as he 



