448 Traxsactioxs of the Amekicax Ixstitute. 



arise from this one fact — a want of correct understanding of the hiM's 

 of the vegetable kingdom. 



Oh many of the best wheat-producing farms of our country, the 

 soil yields only a light crop of grain, where the product might be 

 fifty bushels of fine wheat per acre, with the same expense of cultiva- 

 tion and harvesting were the operations of the tiller of the soil all con- 

 ducted in accordance with the laws of the vegetable kingdom. Let 

 us dwell on a single thought touching the seed. It is utterly impos- 

 sible to reap a full crop, even when the soil is all right, if the seed i& 

 not perfect or thoroughbred. It is quite as proper to speak of thor- 

 oughbred seed of any kind as to allude to thoroughbred animals, a& 

 the highest degree of perfectibility is attained, in either case, by con- 

 ducting the operations incident to propagation in strict conformity 

 to established laws. We have what are termed thoroughbred horses,, 

 neat cattle, sheep, and swine, whose ancestry can be traced back from 

 dam to sire, or from sire to sire, for a long term of years ; and every indi- 

 vidual in the long lineage will be characterized for that peculiar quality 

 of transmitting to his ofi:spring, with satisfactory certainty, those points 

 of excellence which represent that peculiar breed. So, for example, 

 when a fanner has a variety of Indian corn which produces, from 

 year to year, ears and kernels of uniform size and color, and among 

 which not a single red ear, blue ear, or an ear bearing mixed grain 

 can be found for many successive seasons, he has a variety of thor- 

 oughbred corn, the seed of which will yield a crop in abundance, just 

 in proportion to the condition of the soil, making due allowance for a 

 yield within the prescribed laws of limitation. And the same is true 

 of wheat, oats, rye, and barley. If a farmer would raise forty or fifty 

 bushels of fine wheat per acre, 100 of oats, eighty of barley, and sixty 

 of rye, wliere now the yield is by no means satisfactory, the import- 

 ant step will be to secure thoroughbred seed. But a supply of such 

 seed cannot be obtained in a single season. The labor and careful 

 cultivation requisite to the ])roduction of a variety of wlieat that will 

 yield a bountiful crop of plump grain, all true to its kind, will be 

 found nearly equal to the production of a new and valuable breed of 

 domestic animals. But improvement in seed grain of all kinds is a 

 subject of transcendent importance to every tiller of the soil. And 

 tliere will be no more favorable opportunity to commence the improve- 

 ment of seed during all the year, in this latitude, than the present 

 harvest. "When we go into a field of golden grain, nearly ready for 

 the harvesters, we can usually see that Dame Nature has already 



