314 Plant-Breeding 



Work of the state agricultural experiment stations. 

 Investigators in the state experiment stations have always 

 taken an active part in plant-breeding work. Five years 

 ago, in an admirable editorial in the Experiment Station 

 Record, Dr. Allen says as follows: "The list of proj- 

 ects conducted by the experiment stations under the 

 Adams fund includes sixty-three which fall under the head 

 of investigations in breeding (eleven of these relate to the 

 breeding of animals). This relatively large number indi- 

 cates the popularity of the subject, and an evident feeling 

 that it not only presents large research possibility, but is 

 a line in which investigation is greatly needed. The 

 attention which is being given to breeding is encouraging 

 and the number of enterprises suggests the possibility of 

 material additions to the general understanding of its 

 various phases." 



The experiments subsequent to that time have, to a 

 considerable extent, justified the hope of "material 

 additions to the general understanding of its various 

 phases." Numerous bulletins have been published which 

 have added to that knowledge, and the experiment station 

 men have written many articles which have appeared in 

 various serial publications. 



The lines of work which have received the greatest 

 attention and in which the most constructive work has 

 been done are the application of Mendel's laws to economic 

 plants and the elucidation of individual selection and pure- 

 line breeding. Not only have important practical results 

 been obtained in improving our economic plants, but a 

 considerable amount of material of scientific value has 

 been accumulated. 



