THE DRY FARMING COiNGRESS. 



211 



.•idvancement and success of any kind of farming comes from the scienci? 

 of plant breeding 



Seed and Plant Breeding. 



"There are known limitations to the amount of moisture that ma;/ 

 be conserved; there is a fixed number of varieties of farm crops from 

 which to choose at any one time, but it would be difficult to fix in mind, 

 or estimate a limit to our power to adapt crops, or to our ability to create 

 new and desirable farms. What has already been accomplished in plant 

 improvement and domestication is only a slight indication of how the 

 work before us will result. Some of our expectations of improvement wrl] 

 be realized quickly, others will take a long period of time. 



Plant Development. 



"The story of the changes which have been made in plants through 

 domestication is like a fairy tale. From an annual weed growing on salt 

 sea marshes came our highly developed sugar beet, simply by cultiva- 

 tion and selection. From another weed, one of the common mustards, 

 has come the turnip, radish, rape, kale, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, cab- 

 bage, broccoli and cauliflower. This illustration is probably the most 

 remarkable one of variation of any single form of plant life. We now 

 have civilized barleys which are as bald as our most strenuous thinkers. 

 We have roses without thorns, fruits without seeds and even onions 

 without the small. Wliat it has taken centuries to do heretofore we now 

 do in a comparatively short number of years. 



"It may be said that we have only just begun to breed plants sci- 

 entifically. Enough has been done to show, not only the possibilities 

 but some of the certainties of plant breeding. It is as positive a science 

 as mathematics. 



"We have much to do to develop suitable varieties for dry farming. 

 We have already learned something of the value of drouth resistence 

 and also of the necessity of securing other qualities which make plants 

 more hardy, more persistent and more productive. That we will be able 

 to overcome certain objectionable features *rn plants is positively certain. 



Barley . 



"For example, our beardless brewing barley and the beardless, hul- 

 less barleys, have weak straw just below the head which causes loss by 

 the head breaking off. It will be a much more simple matter to breed 

 strength into this straw than it was to get rid of the barley beards. 



Sweet Clovers. 



"Our sweet clover has flavors disliked by stock. It will be no 

 more difficult to breed a sweet clover with the bad odor and flavor left 

 out than it was to breed the bad smell out of the onion or change the 

 color of the California Poppy. Already the sweet clover is the most per- 

 sistent and hardy of all clovers. It is resistent to drouth, to alkali and 

 to disease in a remarkable degree and is most able to produce growth 

 by getting Its plant food from poor soils. Ridding it of its one object- 



