PLANT BREEDING.

North Otago Times, 27 October 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

PLANT BREEDING.

THE HYBRIDISATION CON.

TERENCE.

The conference held in London at tho beginning of August, under the auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society of Englaud, may be looked on as a "sign of the times," It is one which reflects credit on the old society, and shows that its directors are conscious of tho responsibilities that rest upon them, and are dceirqus not to limit their energies to the holding of exhibitions and tho distribution of medals. Darwin's "Origin or Spociee," and more particularly his "Animals and Plants under Domestication,' 1 in the preparation of which he availed himself so largely of the observations of cultivators, drew special attention to the subject of heredity, lor a time it seemed as if this were a subject that could not be studied with much chance of euocess. Tho explanation of the various phenomena scorned to be be-1 yond our grasp. There was, as the pro-1 eident (Mr William Batosou, F.E.S.) Baid: more of misery than of order. But con- j ditions have changed. Mr Batcson ree-i cued Mendel's observations from obliv-l ion; De Vries worked in the same di-i S rcclion; Correus and Teshermak have re- ! peated Mendel's experiments. In our ' own countrv, besides Bateson, Hurst aud Biffen, Miss Sanders and many others : are now engaged in reducing to order, ! and symmetry facts and observations which were previously, in a more or less j chaotio condition. Vagueness and conjectui'o are giving place to exact numori. cal proportion, according to the law of segregation, to tho great advantage ot physiological science, and ultimately assuredly to the great benefit of tho .practitioner. This great change has been brought about, not merely by careful observation and comparison, but by actual experiment. The student of what it is proposed to call "genetics," if he is to make progress, must not rely'on text books or the teaching of the master j he | must not bo content with the laborious | comparison of dried, specimens in flip i herbarium, or tho more or lefes casual 1 inspection of plants in the trial grounds. I lie must conduct carefully planned exj periments, and, by their aid, ho will obtain' answers to his questions ulliell ! can be supplied by no other means. | This is the work for tho coming generaI tion in particular. Observers of a former generation will have much to unlearn. , they will find it difficult to shake off old ! routine and divest themselves of all preI judices. A battle like that between the j ''artificial and the natural system'' will • have to bo fought in new circumstances, | and, judging from the past, there can b& i no doubt as to the result. The natural i system is ideally perfect, but in prac- • lice an artificial system is still and j must always be, a necessity. Whatever j advance may be made by the Mendelians, j and the students of cytology, however ! widened may be our conception of : "species" and "varieties," in practice we shall still have to trust in the judgment | and discrimination of tho systematic bo. > tanist. There will bo room for both 1 classes of observers and workers, r.nd each ivill derive assistance from the other. Push analysis as far as we may, synthesis will still be noeded to co ordinate results and make them intelligible to students in general. The old Linnsan "species" are now recognised afl too ' comurojienpiyo tg bo taken as uuita lun-

toss pinoly for convenience sako). llow, ; &row o logeUt f ; such there he? Tho answer «, by , croscopical aiialyaie of tlio lll ' c j, eus ( the cell mul its "cliromosomi , hit csneciallv kv experiment] cuk.\.itipn awl rigorous determination of B wl ™ <!" , gical position. ™« »«■';- fertilised plant and isolate the .smiling. When in timo it produces flowers, wiwn them from all possible advent of l-olleji from other ewtrccs. By a conlinunneo of this practice of Eclf-feit) isation for oral generations under like londitioiib and by eliminating all ''rogues. «'e mny hopo to obtain n "specific" lorm wlndi will perpetuate, without .change, its characters—wo shall then .arrive at the elemonUiry species. In this way, M. U . Blsiriiishoin, who has a most valuable paper in the April number of the Journal do la' Societo nationals (Illo'liculture " lui'3 obtained at least 8 'perfectly .distinct forms from tiic barley, Hordeum disHclutm of Liunaeiw. lingo do \ nes in demonstrating by experiment tlio ofsin of what are called "elementary spocies," has supplied tlio method ol discovering new types from which improved and stable froms may be procured. JU. do Yrioi has also shown the. strong tendency there is for certain abnormal forms b become heredity. Amongst other cased ho-cites the case of the twisted teasel. In 95 per cent of his needling,s lie lias ol). Bervctt tho twisted conditions to be reproduced. Here we may remark that ; these results do not always occur. Several , years sine© Professor dc Veins kindly J ! supplied us with seeds of his twisted ] 1 variety, These seeds were sawn, but no | i twist was observed in Uie offspring,' Seeds j : come year by year in our garden, the j . descendants from those orginally sent by ! M. de Vrics, but in no single instance 1 has a twist of any kind been observed, j except.in one-case, hist year, where, after .repeated pinchings and other maj- ! treatment; we induced a slight twist in ■ ono of the side branches of ono of the specimens operated on. In a similar manner M. lie Vries lias observed the Oup of tho "species" (Enotliera iana into nine distinct "mutations," or sports, those sports having all the attributes of species as regards constancy and heredity transmission. 01' course tliore is no doubt whatever as to tho csrrectnees of M, de Vries's observations, which have been confirmed by other observers, but lie has been fortunate; such mutations are not always to: found in (Enotliera, No such change; has been witnessed by others, and we', liavo had other opportunities of seeing,' them, and have watched for them for; several years. In like manner we ob-j served, some years in succession, a very' large patch of Impatiens lfoylei in a de-; sorted garden. Tna plant had, in fact,; usurped the whole spi)ce, but no "niuta- ■ tions" were visible. Negative evidence of this kind is, of course, unimportant, Bavo as showing that "mutations" of this kind only occurs in certain circumetancea, which are at present mysterious. As to Mendel's experiments, they are, of eonrso, tho subject of remark in Mr Meson's address and in other papers. . Wo would only remark that one very im- ; portant point brought out is that in ) hybridisation there is juxtaposition, but i no actual blending or fusion of parental l character; the male cells remain un--1 affected, the female cells are unchanged, ; though soino "characters'' may beeomo : "dominant" others latent or "recessive," ' till, by a so-called process or reversion, 1 the' latent character may reappear, j The subject is too extensive and complicated for us to deal with in the course i of an article. The papers read at the ! conference were numerous, and in many I cases highly technical. That these some- ! what recondite researches will lead to important practical results is certain. M.. Blaringhem, in support of his view, ■' concludes his paper with a reference to ; the "marvellous'' progress in the improvident of agricultural plants effected initlie experimental grounds at Svaloj, in Sweden, by Dr. N. H. Nilsson. In this matter, as in most others, it is researches: made originally for purely scientific purposes, that turn out in the end to be tar the most fruitful in practical results, and hence, whilst technical schools are necessary, indeed iadispeuaable, ®stab- ] lishinent for original research ■ greater importance, albeit then a '™ e l jto the practical man may not be im : ' mediately apparent.—Hie Oaiueners ; Chronicle," 4th August,

A BOOK OF THE DAY.

IN THE DEPTHS.

In writing of a new book "Glimpses j of tho Abyss," by Mary Higgs, a London revciwer says:— •;

'Miss Higgs is one of the vory few! who havo qualified for the right to j speak concerning the vagrant. She has > learnt—in discomfort, if not in suffering —from first-hand knowlodge the con-; dition of thoir broken livci;. She has | descended with a friend into tho lowest: dbp'tlis of tho social abyss; disguised as. a tramp alio lias endured the hospital-i itics of the casual ward and tlio Salva-: tion Army shelter; ehe has lived in' common lodging-houses almost exolu-; sivoly peopled by prostitutes, and can' bring back Zolaesquo pictures of things; actually seen. ■ It. is this first-hand ] knowledge which alone is of value; aud ] her general conclusions upon tho son-j sible, humano treatment of vagrancy'j .como with the guarantee of one who! lias probed to their limits the present! impossible conditions.

Bescuo work at Oldham, Police Court' and Lodging-House work first aroused; interest. Thonco came a personal tour, in Darkest England. Her explorations; embrace a tour through West York-; shire, including one municipal, onei common lodging-hnnse, two tramp' wards, and a women's shcltr.'; a night; jn, a Lancashire tramp ward, and various j examinations of the common lodging- i houses in North and South England.' Her essay on vagrancy, which won the Gibson Prize at Girton in 1905 occupies'' the first ninety pages of this book;: afterwards come the records of the liv-; ing experiences—intensely realistic,, painful, casting a sudden illumination; into a region normally imbedded in ' night and silence. ; "NATIONAL TRAMP MANUFAC- • TORIES." :

It is a quaint black picture of a social : failure which Miss Higgs here depicts.; The common lodging-houses privately | managod are scenes often of vice and' disorder, indoscribably filthy and squa- ; lid, But tlicy are at least human; all| infinitely prcferablo to the cold, me-1 chanical institutions through which tho: State grinds honest men into rogues, and inelfectivos. The experience of; Miss Higgs in- the casual wards for, women corroborates tho experience of; Mr Elisor in a similar tramp outlined' in last ■years 1 "Independent Review"-; that tho population forced to seek re-', fugo there is, if r.o better, very littlo j worse than the normal citizen outside; j that''there is at least a considerable I proportion of decent men and women'

on a journey, seeking employment, and that the whole system forms a mere clumsy, brutalising method of breaking •'idown human respect and human endurance.

' The lack of all human treatment, the 'noise and draught, the poor inedible food, the thirst, the plank bed, the cold, combine together to reduce the human body and mind from resistance to despair: I was in terror of attracting tho attention of the officer, being considered ill and dotained. Anything rather than another day in such a place of torture. As on the night before, .some slept the sleep of- utter weariness, most groaned and twisted, some lay awake. I never understood so woll tho joy of tho first dim daylight, the longing of those who' "wait for the morning," A woman sat up, "I'm dying of hunger," she said. It was the poor woman condemned to stay five days. 'What would she bo at tho endp I ■ felt a mere wreck. Only two days ago I was in full health and vigour. It was no absolute cruelty, only the cruel system, the meagre and uneatable diet, the lack of sufficient moisture .to make up for loss by perspiration, two almost sleepless nights, "hard labour" under the circumstances. Before me lay home aud friends, a loving welcome, good food, sympathy, and j rest. What about my poor sisters? ''ll havo nobody, nobody in the wide world;] I wish I had," said the poor soul next j **", new to such treatment. A eoyfrj

looldng woman beyond liiul never been in before; I shnddcrcd for lliose 1 should leave behind, new to sucli condition's-

"Oar National Tramp,Maniifaeturies" Miss Biggs terms Ihc casual wards. "Wo itot-li Agreed we would face a common lodging-house and its pests, or' even tho danger of prison for Weeping-out,' rather than pass again through such an oxpericnoe"

Slio oalls for the swooping away of tlio wholo system. "What is needed," sho asserts, "is nothing lose than tlxo entiro swooping away of the tramp ward, and the substitution of municipal lodging-houses, coupled with strict supervision of all private ones. The maximum need with regard to Bleeping accommodation on any 0116 night in a great city must be met. Shelters, sanitary and humane, not cliaritablo institutions, but simply well-managed "working people's hotels," must be run privatoly- aiui supplemented publicly, providing accommodation for eveiyouo. To meet destitution, these should bo supplemented by "relief stations" on the German plan, where supper, bed, and breakfast can bo earned. 1' reodom need not be interfered with beyond demanding work sufficient to pay. Payment jshouS. be 011 the graduated tiokot sysItcm. Tho tramp proper hates work. If foiled a national system sufficient for [destitution was inaugurated, tho man who will not work could be penalised. A labour colony is his natural destination..

diamonds in DUST HEAPS, j It' is an extraordinary human record.! ; The heart is sick with the uncleanlincss | and. squalor, the dirt which becomes! so insistent, the populous verminous i life, tho general impression of degra-l dation. But tlio observer is cheered] also with tho mixture of good-nature j and kindness in it all. The oocupants! of the oommon lodging-houses pass from j tlio telling of obscene stories to the J sinking of hymns—the most popular! everywhere, "Lead, kindly light," "Jeeu,: Lover of my soul," "Abide with me.". The girls iv'lio are earning their living on the streets are oonoerned with those; who are sick and unfortunate, and! share their meals with the members wlio have earned nothing. The children in the lodging-houses everywhere rc'coive kindly treatment. The story of the night in tho Salvation Army shelter comes like a sudden refreshment in the midst of the tale of discomfort and dirt. No higher tribute has over been given to tho reforming efforts of .that body by o'no who cropt in as a wayfarer, quite unknown.

Only in the State machinery did tho j investigator find the officials tnomselves: become as hard and contemptuous and. tyrannous as the cold, impersonal sys-: tern,' and tho casual ward, with all its i ostentatious oleanlineas, certainly j touches the lowest depth of her in-; ferno. Of the officers she says: , Any who liave even a drop of tlio i milk of human kindness are remem-; bered with appreciation. But tliey seem; Biro. Not, I believe, that there are many intentionally unkind. "They i know not what they do.' 1 The constant, habit of dealing for so brief a period; with individuals prevents tho formation • of the customary links of human kind- [ liness; s&e worst characters return, the. host stay so short it time and are lost j to sight; any act of kindness meets ap-. patently no reward, Kindness for kind-, noss's salco is difficult! a peremptory; official habit easily acquired. There; may bo texts in an officer's sitting-room,; and . yet the Christian qualities, forti- ■ tude and patience and self-sacrifice, may. bo better exhibited to one another by ; tho tramps outside her door than by! 1 tho inmate in authority. Some work-, 1 houses are to be avoided like poison,. I There positive cruelty and insult reign, • I but tho slightest resentment might 1)0 | interpreted as "insubordination" and j earn prison. A cast-iron system administered in a cast-iron way may, with-j ! out intentional unlcindness, be respon- ! sible for a vast sum of human misery. | SOME CONCLUSIONS. ' 'j

The conclusions of Miss Higgs and.! her recommendations should bo rend in! connection with the recent Bluo Book; o'n Vagrancy. Slio divides up the frc-1 quentcrs of this lowest depth of the; abyss into various classes. The here-; ditary vagabond, or tramp proper (whioh; sho puts as low as 10,000 instead of; tho 25,000 to 30,000 of the Vagrancy; Report), forma "the remains of a vag- j rant class squeezed out of society and | torcyjug upon it." Tho "incapables"—; [infirm, old, blind, lame, epileptic — | '.should bo inside liumano State institu-: tions, Beyond these two arc the "ineffi- j cieuts." which are the specialproduct of i tho industrial system—continually re-J newed from the lower levels of the | population, who breed quickly; recruited i from dying industries, from the old. i Sho calls attention to the same problem J in other countries, and the methods; they, have adopted to grapple with it. Sho asks for labour colonies on tho • ouo hand and for relief stations for gen- j uiuo work-searchers on the other. "To 1 oxpcct our tramp ward—tho repressive! provision of a stationary society for the. sparse survivals of a previous age—to j cope with the needs of migration of la-; hour is about, as reasonable as ft would; be to expect the ancient windmill to 1 grind corn for our modern population." j She is not blind to the signs of men-j aco in present conditions "Let mo found the alarm.note as loud as I can, for afteady evil has gono far. An mi-. stable society has brought about fear." She recognises that the problem of the. ! the abyss merges in the larger problem; i of social order, tlw conversion of a chaos into a civilisation.