1905.] 



Improvement of Mangels. 



353 



There are, perhaps, few subjects of more practical interest 

 to the farmer than the production of new varieties of cultivated 

 plants possessing superior cropping powers 

 Improvement Q r feeding qualities. The frequent intro- 

 Mangels. duction of new strains of our common root 

 crops, differing only in some minor charac- 

 teristic, is evidence of the eagerness with which new varieties- 

 are sought after in the hope of obtaining a heavier crop, while 

 the experiments which are now being conducted in legard to 

 the improvement of wheat* by cross-breeding are an example of 

 an attempt to influence the quality of the produce. The more 

 common method of improvement, viz., by selection, is, briefly, to 

 make a careful examination of the individual plants in crops- 

 cultivated in the ordinary way, and from these to select those that 

 are distinguished above their fellows by features which it is con- 

 sidered desirable to perpetuate. Whatever may be the object 

 selected, it must be kept steadily in view for a series of years,, 

 and all individuals in the progeny that fail to develop the 

 desired characteristic must be carefully eliminated. 



The essential point, however, which should be taken into 

 account in the case of farmers' crops is that the feature selected 

 for improvement should be one which really makes the 

 crop of more value to the farmer, and not merely some un- 

 unimportant and possibly external modification. 



In this connection, some investigations! which have been* 

 carried out at the University of Cambridge by Mr. T. B. Wood, 

 M.A., Reader in Agricultural Chemistry, and Mr. R. A. Berry,, 

 F.I.C., Assistant Chemist in the University Department of Agri- 

 culture, in connection with the variation in the chemical com- 

 position of mangels, are of great interest to farmers, since they 

 suggest that, notwithstanding the numerous new strains of" 

 mangels introduced during the last half-century, it is question- 

 able whether there has been any real improvement in that 

 feature which alone is of importance to the farmer, viz., the 

 feeding value. 



The method adopted in carrying out the investigation was to 

 sow annually at several stations a number of seedsmen's strains 



* Journal, Sept. 1904, p. 321 ; June, 190c, p. 156. 

 + The Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. I., Part 2. 



F F 



