is the key to better seeds, better business. More than most other businessmen, the seed 
grower needs continual research because Nature itself is continually varying his 
product. Being able to produce, year after year, uniform strains of flower seeds in Nature’s varying world 
is an art we have spent over sixty years perfecting, for there are tricks of the trade learned 
only through experience. 
It is understandable that most people believe a plant breeder does nothing but develop novelties. While 
novelties, being the standard items of the future, are an important part of Bodger’s research program, 
po our primary responsibility is maintaining the standard strains which are our stock in trade, and yours. An 
established strain has certain well defined characteristics. The plant breeder’s job is to provide stock seed 
for a crop that will be uniformly as described by acknowledged authorities. 
~~ 
3. When, affer many generations, several lines in 
the tigi ground ore “true, their seed is used to 4. Every production field is checked throughout the 
plant a stock-seed increase block, in order to produce flowering season for satisfactory performance. Genet- 
enough pedigreed seed to plant a large acreage. The 
men in this picture are checking such a block to re- 
move any minor variations which might still appear. 
ically, a plant in the field that would “‘pass inspec- 
tien’’ might carry undesirable characteristics which 
would reappear in the next generation if the pedi- 
spe plants gre removed as soon cs they can be gree of the stock were not known from trial ground 
judged, before they can. produce pollen for a pos- 
work, Notes ore kept at regular intervals. 
sible cross with the other plants in the block. 
7. Both improved varieties and novelties can be pro- 
duced by the second basic method of the plant 
breeder: Man-made ‘‘crosses’’ between carefully se- 
lected plants. The plant chosen as the seed-bearing 
parent has the stamens removed from each flower 
before the pollen is ripe. Pollen from the other parent 
desired is then brushed on, and the flower is caged 
to prevent stray pollen from contaminating the cross. 
When the seed is mature it is carefully picked and 
kept separate from any other. 
10. When an outstanding new or improved variety 
is ready for the market, it is entered in All America 
Selections, an industry-sponsored impartial set of 
tests in all climates of the U.S.A. Bodger’s El Monte 
headquarters operates one of the judging gardens for 
9. Although Nature's random crosses or mutations in 
‘the field still produce some novelties, more and more 
/ Bodger novelties are being “‘made to order’ with 
> characteristics specifically requested by seedsmen or 
the public. These plants are being treated with col- 
chicine, a plant drug that causes a complete ‘‘break- 
up’’ in genetic characteristics. ‘Tetra Snaps’’ were 
developed in this way. 
All America Selections, where all entries are made 
by number, and not identified until the awards are 
made. Bodger novelties have won the top award in 
four postwar years of All America Selections, and 
more Gold Medals than those of any other flower 
seed grower. 
job does not stop there. Every strain we grow gets top technical 
attention all the time. We call it Production Control — the ap- 
plication of our years of experience, solidly grounded in pure 
research, to better seeds for a progressive industry. 
