Scientific A griculture. 



(January, 1912. 



Sugar Beet as it frequently does to five, 

 or even more per cent., is not prevent- 

 able. This may prove to be the truth, 

 but I think it is not impossible that the 

 bolters can be wholly, or almost wholly, 

 eliminated by the application of proper 

 breeding methods. In this particular 

 example I know that season and condi- 

 tions of cultivation count for a good 

 deal in promoting or checking the 

 tendency to run to seed ; nevertheless 

 one can scarcely witness the sharp 

 distinction between the annual and 

 biennial forms without suspecting that 

 genetic composition is largely respon- 

 sible. If it proves to be so, we shall 

 have another remarkable illustration 

 of the direct applicability of knowledge 

 gained from a purely academic source. 

 " Let not him that girdeth on his harness 

 boast himself as he that putteth it off," 

 and I am quite alive to the many ob- 

 stacles which may lie between the con- 

 ception of an idea and its realisation. 

 One thing, however, is certain, that 

 we have now the power to formulate 

 rightly the question which the breeder 

 is to put to nature ; and this power and 

 the whole apparatus by which he can 

 obtain an answer to his question — in 

 whatever sense that answer may be 

 given — has been derived from experi- 

 ments designed with the immediate ob- 

 ject of investigating that scholastic and 

 seemingly barren problem, " What is a 

 species ?" If Mendel's eight year's work 

 had been done in an agricultural school 

 supported by public money, I can 

 imagine much shaking of heads on the 

 County Council governing that insti- 

 tution, and yet it is no longer in dispute 

 that he provided the one bit of solid 

 discovery upon which all breeding 

 practice will henceforth be based. 



Everywhere the same need for accur- 

 ate knowledge is apparent. I suppose 

 horse-breeding is an art which has by 

 the application of common sense and 

 great experience been carried to about 

 a« high a point of perfection as any. 

 Yet even here I have seen a mistake 

 made which is obvious to anyone 

 accustomed to analytical breeding. 

 Among a number of stallions provided 

 at great expense to improve the breed 

 of horses in a certain district was one 

 which was shown me as something of a 

 curiosity. This particular animal had 

 been bred by one of the provided stal- 

 lions out of an indifferent country mare. 

 It had been kept as an unusually good- 

 looking colt, and was now travelling 

 the country as a breeding stallion 

 under the highest auspices. I thought 

 to myself that if such a practice is 

 sanctioned by breeding acumen and 



common sense, Science is not, after all, 

 so very ambitious if she aspires to do 

 rather better. The breeder has continu- 

 ally to remind himself that it is not 

 what the animal or plant looks that 

 matters, but what it is. Analysis has 

 taught us to realise, first, that each 

 animal and plant is a double structure, 

 and next that the appearance may show 

 only half its composition. 



With respect to the inheritance of many 

 physiological qualities of divers kinds, 

 we have made at least a beginning of 

 knowledge, but there is one class of 

 phenomena as yet almost untouched. 

 This is the miscellaneous group of attri- 

 butes which are usually measured in 

 terms of size, fertility, yield and the 

 like. This group of characters has more 

 than common significance to the practi- 

 cal man. Analysis of them can never- 

 theless only become possible when pure 

 science has progressed tar beyond the 

 point yet reached. 



I know few lines of pure research more 

 attractive and at the same time more 

 likely to lead to economic results than 

 an investigation of the nature of vari- 

 ation in size of the whole organism or 

 of its parts. By what factors is it 

 caused ? By what steps does it proceed ? 

 By what limitations is it beset ? In 

 illustration of the application of these 

 questions 1 may refer to a variety of 

 topics that have been lately brought to 

 my notice. In the case of merino sheep 

 I have been asked by an Australian 

 breeder whether it is possible to com- 

 bine the optimum length of wool with 

 the optimum fineness and the right 

 degree of crimping. I have to reply 

 that absolutely nothing is yet known 

 for certain as to the physiological fac- 

 tors determining the length or the 

 fineness of wool. The crimping of the 

 fibres is an expression of the fact that 

 each particular hair is curved, and if 

 free and untwisted would form a cork- 

 screw spiral, but as to the genetics of 

 curly hair even in man very little is yet 

 known. But leaving the question of 

 curl on one side, we have, in regard to 

 the length and fineness of wool, a prob- 

 lem which genetic experiment ought to 

 be able to solve. Note that in it, as in 

 almost all problems of the "yield" of 

 any product of farm or garden, two dis- 

 tinct elements are concerned— the one is 

 size, and the other is number. The 

 length of the hair is determined by the 

 rate of excretion and length of the 

 period of activity of the hair follicles, 

 but the fineness is determined by the 

 number of follicles in unit area. Now 

 analogy is never a safe guide, but I think 

 if we had before us the results of really 



