96 PLANT-BREEDING 



The seeds were sown the next year, and in the harvest 

 the same selection of the best ears was repeated. Care 

 was taken to exclude all those which, because of some ex- 

 ternal condition, would have been benefited by more space 

 or more manure than the rest, and would have grown larger 

 by such accidental means. No care, however, was taken to 

 isolate the individuals and to sow their seeds separately, 

 the principle being that all the plants belonged to one race, 

 and that this race had to be improved. This principle of 

 ameliorating a race without isolating its possible constituents 

 seemed at that period to be the right one, though now it 

 can scarcely be considered as scientifically correct. 



Each year, in the same way, the best ears were chosen 

 for the continuance of the elite strain, and after the exclusion 

 of all ears of minor value the remainder were sown on a 

 field and multiplied without further selection in order to 

 produce all the seed required for the sowing of the whole 

 farm. It took three or four years to reach this quantity. 

 After twenty years of continued selection this elite strain 

 was so much improved as to produce a race distinctly richer 

 than the ordinary varieties of rye in Middle Germany, and 

 slowly but gradually it found its way, first into the surround- 

 ing farms, and afterward over large parts of the country. 

 During this period Rimpau was thereby enabled to sell all 

 his harvest as seed-grain, obtaining in this way a most satis- 

 factory recompense for his labors. Shortly afterward the 

 rye of Schlanstedt was introduced into France, where it 

 soon overthrew the local varieties, especially in the de- 

 partments north of Paris. Even there it is ordinarily cul- 

 tivated from original seed, produced directly by Rimpau 

 or multiplied only during some few generations by seed- 

 merchants. 



For purpose of criticism it is highly interesting to note 

 how a French agriculturist, Professor Schribaux of the 



