236 



ARID AGEICULTUEE. 



BREEDERS 

 OF THE 

 PRESENT 

 DAV 



In the last two decades a few of the greater 

 plant breeders merit special notice. While 

 there are a number who have produced numerous 

 varieties of merit, more especially in parts of 

 Europe, the men who have ffiven the subject pro 

 found attention are : Hugo DeVries, the great 

 Dutch breeder; Mendel, the discoverer of Men- 

 del's law; Luther Burbank, who has done more 

 than any other man in the improvement of 

 plants and the creation of entirely new things; 

 Professor ^N^ilson of Svalof, Sweden; W. M. 

 Hays, who developed new improved varieties of 

 wheat in Minnesota; and L. H. Bailey of Cor- 

 nell, who has written much to popularize the 

 subject. ]Srumerous other men have done im- 

 portant work along this line, most of it being in- 

 cidental to other activities, or consisting of more 

 or less accidental discoveries. Among these 

 were Professor Blount, who developed new 

 wheats in Colorado ; Robert Gauss, who has been 

 working with dry land wheats at Denver; Pro- 

 fessor Holden, who has improved corn in Iowa; 

 Burpee of Philadelphia, who originated im- 

 proved beans and sweet peas ; Peter Henderson 

 of 'Sew York, in the same kind of floral work, 

 and others. 



WHAT FI^ANT 

 BREEDUra IS 



The principles of breeding need not be 

 touched upon at this time. It is not compli- 

 cated to one who has given it much study ; in 

 fact, Bailey states, in answering the question, 



