Breeding of Cereals 81 
and it was assumed that by sowing their grains on a small plot 
a family could be obtained, which could afterwards be improved by 
a continuous selection. Differences between the collected ears were 
either not observed or disregarded. At Svalof this method of 
selection was practised on a far larger scale than on any German 
farm, and the result was, broadly speaking, the same. This may be 
stated in the following words: improvement in a few cases, failure in 
all the others. Some few varieties could be improved and yielded 
excellent new types, some of which have since been introduced into 
Swedish agriculture and are now prominent races in the southern 
and middle parts of that country. But the station had definite aims, 
and among them was the improvement of the Chevalier barley. This, 
in Middle Sweden, is a fine brewer’s barley, but liable to failure 
during unfavourable summers on account of its slender stems. It 
was selected with a view of giving it stiffer stems, but in spite of all 
the care and work bestowed upon it no satisfactory result was obtained. 
This experience, combined with a number of analogous failures, 
could not fail to throw doubt upon the whole method. It was 
evident that good results were only exceptions, and that in most 
cases the principle was not one that could be relied upon. The 
exceptions might be due to unknown causes, and not to the validity 
of the method ; it became therefore of much more interest to search 
for the causes than to continue the work along these lines. 
In the year 1892 a number of different varieties of cereals were 
cultivated on a large scale and a selection was again made from them. 
About two hundred samples of ears were chosen, each apparently cone 
stituting a different type. Their seeds were sown on separate plots 
and manured and treated as much as possible in the same manner. 
The plots were small and arranged in rows so as to facilitate the 
comparison of allied types. During the whole period of growth and 
during the ripening of the ears the plots were carefully studied and 
compared: they were harvested separately; ears and kernels were 
counted and weighed, and notes were made concerning layering, 
rust and other cereal pests. 
The result of this experiment was, in the main, no distinct 
improvement. Nilsson was especially struck by the fact that the 
plots, which should represent distinct types, were far from uniform. 
Many of them were as multiform as the fields from which the parent- 
ears were taken. Others showed variability in a less degree, but in 
almost all of them it was clear that a pure race had not been 
obtained. The experiment was a fair one, inasmuch as it demon- 
strated the polymorphic variability of cereals beyond all doubt and 
in a degree hitherto unsuspected; but from the standpoint of the 
selectionist it was a failure. Fortunately there were, however, one 
D. 6 
