734 



Improvement of Cereals. 



[march, 



increase the value of the grain for brewing purposes ; it was not, 

 on the one hand, lost by late germination, nor did it prove 

 injurious to the beer by too early sprouting. 



In view of the quality of the malt prepared from these barleys, 

 the French Society resolved to adopt the method of botanical 

 analysis, which appeared to have been attended with such suc- 

 cessful results at Svalof, with a view to the improvement of 

 French barleys. They have secured the services of a botanist, 

 M. Blaringhem, who has made a special study of the Svalof 

 methods, and a series of experiments is now being carried out 

 under his direction. 



The Svalof Seed Laboratory* was founded in 1886 by a 

 number of landowners and farmers, with a view to the im- 

 provement of the principal cultivated crops, and it still preserves 

 its private character and independence, though of late years it 

 has been subsidised by the State. At the time of its foundation 

 the method adopted was that of improvement by " selection." 

 Plants which exhibited exceptional qualities of yield, of chemical 

 composition, of uniformity of germination, of resistance to frost 

 and disease, were selected and cultivated under the most favour- 

 able conditions, but experience showed that these qualities were 

 not transmitted under ordinary farming conditions. Subse- 

 quently the selected plants were grown without any special 

 treatment, but although an improvement in the plants was 

 effected, it did not take place to the extent which was anticipated. 

 Attempts at improvement by selection were therefore abandoned, 

 and other means were sought, which gave hopes of obtaining a 

 practical result within a reasonable time. It was seen that in the 

 method of selection practised up to that time the cereals bred 

 from had shown too great a tendency to variation, with in- 

 sufficient powers of hereditary transmission. After many 

 experiments, the conclusion was reached that most plants 

 transmitted their own individual characteristics in a high 

 degree, and if bred from further, without cross-fertilisation, 

 showed but little tendency to variation. To avoid variation, 

 therefore, it was necessary to adopt a system of pure pedigree 

 breeding, and from this time plants were grown springing from 



* Accounts of the work of the Svalof Laboratory will be found in Wiener Landw. 

 Zeitung) 26th April, 1905 ; Der Weitbewerb der danischen und der schwedischen 

 Landwirte mil Deutsckland, 1904 ; Bull, du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 

 1904, No. 7. 



