NILSSON'S DISCOVERY 79 



vetches. Each new kind, of course, is given a separate 

 name which partly indicates its quality and partly its origin. 

 As instances I may give the Svalof Grenadier wheat, the 

 Svalof Swan-necked barley, the Svalof Great Mogol black 

 oats and others. From the details given, it may easily be 

 gathered that the multiplication and comparative study of 

 the isolated races embraces the largest part of the work per- 

 formed at Svalof. Besides this, the initial choice and the 

 starting of the new varieties is only a matter of temporary 

 concern. The comparative studies require the trials of 

 many hundreds of pedigree-cultures, and accordingly an 

 accurate system of book-keeping is one of the essential feat- 

 ures of the work. From its first isolation each culture is 

 designated by a number, which it retains until it is aban- 

 doned or until it is judged worthy of introduction into com- 

 merce. Then, of course, the number is replaced by an 

 ordinary name, as quoted above. The book numbers at 

 Svalof consist of four figures, the first of which is a zero, 

 which is prefixed to avoid all confusion with other numbers. 

 The second figure indicates the group and the two remaining 

 ones relate to the special sort. So a dwarf Ligowo oats is 

 called 0313, and another kind of Ligowo oats which was 

 afterward recommended as Svalof Ligowo, bore the number 

 of 0353. 



The amount of this book-keeping is almost incredible. 

 In the year 1900, some 2600 numbers were in culture, partly 

 relating to different grains, including corn, and partly to 

 leguminous plants, such as peas, beans and vetches. To 

 .these numbers must be added 138 comparative cultures of 

 races almost ready for introduction into the trade, and 

 among these only twelve older ones were found, the remain- 

 ing 126 having all been isolated by the new Svalof method. 

 Further, the book-keeping was increased in the same year 

 bv 431 numbers afforded by the progeny of mother plants 



