137 



Style, after all, is a matter of taste ; many will disagree with the 

 present reviewer in his strictures. But errors of grammar, punctua- 

 tion, and syntax are in a different category ; they are all too numer- 

 ous in this work, and contribute not a little to the peculiarity of 

 the style. One could wish that the editor of a University Press could 

 find time to attend to such small matters. 



The New York Botanical Garden H. W. Rickett 



Plant Breeding 



Methods of Plant Breeding. By H. K. Hayes and F. R. Immer. McGraw- 

 Hill. 1942. $4.00. 



At a time like the present when it behooves every person to 

 examine his own endeavors and ask himself what he is contributing 

 to the nation's war effort and to the cause of humanity this book 

 seems particularly pertinent and useful. It clearly serves the dou- 

 ble purpose of being a working guide for investigators in its own 

 field and an excellent review of the accomplishments and possibilities 

 of plant breeding for others. 



Methods of Plant Breeding is a long book (well over four hun- 

 dred pages), but the subject of plant breeding is one of tremen- 

 dous consequence, and its accomplishments are already notable. 

 The first chapter is a brief statement of the role of plant breeding. 

 Chapters II and III cover respectively the genetic and cytogenetic 

 basis of breeding methods and the mode of reproduction in rela- 

 tion to plant breeding. The latter chapter includes a good practical 

 discussion of the heterosis question. In view of recent work of 

 Dobzhansky and others indicating the close association between 

 appearance and degree of hybrid vigor and the method of reproduc- 

 tion this arrangement seems particularly good. Chapter IV gives 

 details of methods for selfing and crossing the principal economic 

 crops. It is chapters like this one and later ones on the handling 

 of data which gives the book its value as a working handbook. 

 Chapters V, VI, and VII cover methods of breeding and Chapter 

 VIII correlates them with practical problems of breeding for dis- 

 ease and insect resistance. Chapter XIII returns to this discussion 

 of breeding for special characters. The intervening chapters are 

 given over to summary discussions of the genetics of wheat, oats, 

 barley, and flax. Chapters XIV and XV deal with breeding meth- 



