38 PLANT-BREEDING 



and productiveness of the principle involved in their method 

 of selection. 



At nearly the same time with the latter experiments of 

 Shirreff, another renowned breeder began to improve cereals 

 by selection. At Brighton, in one of the southern districts 

 of England, F. F. Hallett began his work in the year 1857. 

 He seems to have known the improved varieties of Le Couteur 

 but not those of Shirreff. He started from quite another 

 point of view, which did not rest upon the observation of 

 the variability of his grains, but was derived from his previ- 

 ous experience in the breeding of cattle, especially in that of 

 the short- horns. 



His principle was that each plant has one head which is 

 the best of all its ears, and that in the same way each ear 

 has one best kernel. Moreover, he was convinced that the 

 best kernel of the whole plant is always to be found in the 

 best ear. He also assumes that the qualities of the single 

 kernels are inherited by the plants which they produce. 

 From these premises he concluded that varieties could be 

 improved by choosing the best kernel of the best ear for 

 their reproduction. This choice had to be repeated through 

 a series of generations, but his experience taught him that 

 though the gain was large in the beginning, it did not con- 

 tinue so, but soon reached a limit which it was practically 

 impossible to transgress. 



Two other features distinguished his work from that of 

 Le Couteur and Shirreff. In the first place, he tried to 

 improve his plants directly. He satisfied himself that a 

 plant, in order to attain its utmost development, must have 

 ample food at all seasons, and that for this purpose not only 

 manure but also depth of soil and space were essential. 

 Therefore he planted his selected plants in a little garden 

 near his house, gave them the best garden 'soil and the 

 ordinary culture and treatment of garden plants. By this 



