104 THE SEED-GROWER. 
nothing like what may be expected in the future, now 
that a greater public interest is being created in the 
subject by the efforts of the press, the publication of 
text-books on the science, and notably by the special 
investigations which are being made from time to time 
under governmental supervision by experts in our 
national Department of Agriculture. 
The scope afforded by nature in which to perform 
experiments for the improvement of plant-structure not 
only takes in all plants at present under cultivation, 
but includes, for practical purposes, the possible subjec- 
tion, through amelioration, of many wild species now 
regarded beyond the pale of utility. 
Qualities Requisite for Success in Plant-Breed- 
ing.—In the practice of plant-breeding, there are 
especially called for the following prime requisites: 
patience, persistence, and keenness of power of observa- 
tion. Having these, the experimenter will find, besides 
a prospect of pecuniary reward, a fascination in the 
work, with a wholesome, pleasant relaxation from the 
monotony that usually pertains to most garden and 
field labor. 
Seed-Trade Offers Greatest Stimulus for Pro- 
duction of New Varieties.—Plant-breeding as it 
relates to vegetables and fiowers, receives its greatest 
encouragement and stimulus at the hands of the seed- 
trade, by the custom which prevails in that business of 
purchasing the privilege of introducing a new variety. 
The manner in which this is done is: a seedsman pays 
the highest price for first seed of the new variety, or 
buys up or contracts for the entire crop produced from 
the first seed; either of which constitutes a privilege of 
introduction, as it thereby secures market control of the 
sale of seed of the new sort for the time being. A 
