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Plant Breeding at Aberystwyth. [Oct., 



PLANT BREEDING WORK AT 

 ABERYSTWYTH. 



Professor K. G. Stapledon, M.A., 

 Plant Breeding Institution, Aberystwyth. 



Introduction. — An increased output of hoine-grown food 

 implies not only intensive farming but also the use of the best 

 possible strains of plants and of the highest class of animals. The 

 conditions in Wales, with its average high rainfall and not 

 inconsiderable tracts of country under cultivation at altitudes 

 of 600 to 800 ft. and with an appreciable acreage under the 

 plough at elevations up to and occasionally over 1,300 ft., 

 undoubtedly call for special strains of plants if crop production 

 is to be maintained at a reasonably high level. It is satis- 

 factory, therefore, to be able to state that owing to the fore- 

 sight of Sir Laurence Philipps, Bart., of Llanstephan House, 

 Boughrood, Radnorshire, who generously provided an endow- 

 ment for the purpose, it has been possible to start a Plant 

 Breeding Station with the avowed aim of improving and 

 breeding strains of agricultural plants suitable for Welsh 

 conditions. 



The new Station is attached to the University College of 

 Wales at Aberystwyth, and its work is, of course, closely 

 associated with that of the Agricultural Department of the 

 College. The activities of the Station commenced in May, 

 1919, with the appointment of a Director and a Research 

 Assistant, who took up their duties immediately; a Kew- 

 trained gardener joined the staff shortly afterwards. The 

 Station has now been recognised by the Ministry of Agricul- 

 ture as a Research Institution entitled to grants-in-aid from 

 the Development Fund, and by virtue of substantial grants 

 towards maintenance and salaries of fully qualified research 

 workers it has been possible further to augment the scientific 

 and outdoor staff for the current year's working. 



Suitable laboratory accommodation has been arranged for in 

 connection with the new Agricultural Buildings now nearing 

 completion. Fortunately, the College was able to acquire for 

 the Agricultural Department a disused foundry near the 

 railwa}^ station at Aberystwyth. The work of alteration was 

 taken in hand last summer, and the laboratories for the 

 Department of Agricultural Botany and the Plant Breeding 

 Station were in use as soon as last October, and are now 



