CROP IMPROVEMENT 163 



Crossing of Varieties in Small Grain Breeding. — Different varieties 

 may be crossed for new combinations of characters as discussed before. 

 The first generation from the cross will look like one parent in respect 

 to some characters and like the other parent in others. The seed of each 

 plant should be kept separate and planted like the head-rows in selection 

 work. Usually it will be found that the progeny of these parent plants 

 are not uniform. In that case the grain from each plant must be kept 

 separate and planted again in separate rows as before and this must be 

 kept up until all the plants from a parent are alike in all of their visible 

 characters. Those that are uniform should be considered pure strains, 

 and after this the testing may proceed as with selections from the third 

 year on. 



Varieties of these crops should be improved in production first of 

 all, but also in resistance to disease and stiffness of straw. In the case 

 of wheat, the milling quality of the grain is important, and in oats, from 

 the market point of view, the color of grain, white being the preferred 

 color. 



Many of the older varieties of these crops owe their origin to selec- 

 tions made by farmers and some to crosses. Of the varieties of wheat, 

 Fultz was originated by Abraham Fultz in 1862 from a selection from 

 Lancaster; Gold Coin, which was an accidental seedling variation, was 

 selected from Deihl Mediterranean; Fulcaster, the well-known red- 

 bearded variety, resulted from a cross between Fultz and Lancaster, made 

 by S. M. Schindel, Hagerstown, Md. 



POTATOES 



Production of Seedlings. — New varieties of potatoes originate from 

 seedlings. The seeds are produced in the true fruits, which come after 

 the blossoms and look like little green tomatoes. These fruits or balls, 

 as they are commonly called, are produced very sparingly and in some 

 seasons none are seen. The seed should be sown indoors early in the spring 

 and the young potato plants handled like tomatoes until they are set out 

 in the field. Transplanting to pots increases their vigor. The first year 

 few reach full development and most do not for two or more years. The 

 seedlings, as a rule, are quite variable and few if any look just like the 

 parents. Each should be regarded as a new variety and given a number 

 and kept separate as long as grown. 



The work is very interesting and may give varieties better than those 

 already on the market, but most seedlings are of inferior merit. 



Hill and Tuber Selection. — Potatoes vary in the hill and it is possible 

 to improve a variety by selection of the best hills or the best tubers. It 

 is a good practice to dig by hand a great many hills and save seed of some 

 of the best for a seed plat the next year. This seed plat should be gone 

 over and weak and diseased hills removed and the remainder saved for 



