SEED 



233 



the case of barley it is starch also that is all- 

 important, because it is this substance which, 

 when treated on the malting floor, changes 

 into maltose ; and this, when fermented, 

 determines the quantity and quality of the 

 product of breweries and distilleries. 



Having secured a foundation stock of 

 individual plants which show the desired 

 characters, one proceeds to cultivate them 

 year after year, being careful to eliminate 

 and destroy any individuals which show 

 undesirable variations, or which tend to 

 hark back to the original strain. On the 

 other hand, one retains the seed of such 

 plants as display the characters that are 

 considered desirable, and so, in the course of 

 time, by the process of elimination and 

 selection, one obtains a large supply of seed 

 of some new and improved variety of crop. 

 In the case of wheat, barley, and oats, which 

 are self -fertilizing, one will find practically no 

 tendency to vary, if one sows only the seed 

 of a single individual plant, and if no artificial 

 cross-fertilization has been performed. Selec- 

 tion, therefore, is of importance, in the 

 case of these plants, only in securing the 

 parent type. 



Improvement by selection depends prim- 

 arily upon a property in plants and animals 



