SEED BREEDING AND GROWING 113 



be depended upon to produce plants of any type possi- 

 ble to the species. 



The first essential for breeding is to have a clear 

 and exact conception of precisely what, in all re- 

 spects, the type shall be and then the securing of seed 

 which has come from plants of that exact character 

 for the greatest possible number of generations, care- 

 fully avoiding the introduction by cross-pollination of 

 tendencies from plants differing in any degree from 

 the desired type. Secondly, seed should be used from 

 plants which have been proven to produce seed, which 

 will develop into plants like themselves or are strongly 

 prepotent. A practical way to accomplish this in the 

 tomato is as follows : 



By experiment and observation form a very clear 

 conception of precisely the type of plant and fruits 

 which is best suited to your needs. This may be done 

 by the study of available descriptions of sorts, by 

 conference with those who have had experience in 

 your own or similar climatic and soil conditions and 

 in raising fruit for the same purposes and, best of all, 

 by trials of samples of different sorts and stocks on 

 your own grounds. Having formed such a concep- 

 tion, write out the clearest possible description of ex- 

 actly what you want and the ideal plant you are aim- 

 ing at, stating as fully and minutely as possible every 

 desirable quality and also those to be avoided. I 

 consider not only the formation of an exact ideal, 

 but the writing out of a most minute and exact de- 

 scription of precisely what in every particular the 

 ideal plant should be and the rigid adherence to that 

 exact ideal in selection, as the most important ele- 



