THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 74

THE NATURALIST.

; Secrets of Plant Breeding. i — Latest Views of the ' 'Wizard." — When we look about us on the plants m- ' , habiting the earth with ourselves, and , j watch am .-peeiis day by day, we are unI able to see any iliange in some of them, i I l>urin^ a lifetime and in some' oases per- ■ I fiaps including the f ull breadth of modern • i history, no vem.irkable change seems to i \ have oocuriwi. And yet there is not to- ! day one pi.int species which has not under- ; . gone sriertt nmd to a certain, extent, con- , , stant change s Th-j life-iorc^s ol the plant, in endeavourl ing to harmonise and adapt tbe action of i its acquired tendencies to its surrounding*, s ; may through many generations, e'owly r adapt tliemwives to nece»?ities of existi ence. yet th« 6" same a/ccrued forces may , . also produc* si.dden and, to one not > acquainted with its past history, most sur- > prising and unaccountable onanges of char- ; acte>r. * , I The very existence of tbe higher orders » ' of plant* wh:oh now inhabit the earth has r | been sacured ro them only by W>eir power r ! of adaptation to cro sings, foi through the ■ j variations produced by the combination of >: numerous &endßnc't6, individuals are prol ' daosd whioa are better endowed to meet i the prevailing conditions of life. Thus to > Nature's persistence in crossing do we owe - all that eartn now produces in man, ani f mals, or plants. Mr LutheT Bunbank. whe i has como to be known as the great plant ; ■ wizard, seeks to expedite Xat-ure's work by > producing useful vegetable growths as a ' • ifsu;t of ais own crossings. We have often . j given examples of his marvellous efforts in 1 j this direction. Here we give an extract of his latest views, the purpose of which is to help otheie on the road he is travelling. ' j —Fruits and Flowers 'all Improvable. — '. • It was once though Ir that plants varied '. i within the so-called species but very little, - i and that true species never varied. Mr > , Burbaak has now proved that no two plants ' are ever exactly alike, eacli one having its I [ own individuality, and that new varieties , i having endowments of priceless value, and . ; even distinct new species, can bo produced , ) "by the plant-breeder with the sarrife pre- ' i cision that machinery for loromotiou and p othfr useful purposes ia produced by the mechanic. v ' Piant orceding is, then, says the I j "Wizard," tbe irrtelligent application of the 5 I forces of the human m-ind in guiding the , i inherent life-forxjee into uosful directions , ■ by crossing to make perturbations (dusturh- \ ances) or variations and new combinations '. of these forces, and by radically changing [ i environments (the surroundings), both of which produce somewhat similar results, f thus giving a broader field for selection, , i which again is simply xHe persistent appli- | cation of mental force to guide and fix the > i perturbed life-forces in the desired ohan- - ' nels. By these means the- best of fruits, r i grains, nuts, and flowers are capable of > still further improvement in ways which . j to the thoughtless often seem unnecessary, . | irrelevant, or impossible. ; ! When ,ye capture and .domesticate tbe j } va-riou3 plants, the life-forces ane relieved [ j from many of bhe hardships of «n un,-, t ! protected wild condition, and have more | j leisure, ec to speak, or, in other words, i I more surplus force, to be guided by the ; ! hand of man under the new environments r j into all t&e useful and beautiful new forms l which are constantly appearing under culL j tivation, oioseing-, and selection. Some

plants are v-etjfftnuch - moW liable th*uthers, as the breeder coo* learns. Plants having n-u-merous repTesentafcives in various parts of the earfeftj generally poseessthis adaptability in a mjioh higher degree than jhe - monotypic (singfc -form) spev . cies, for, having been subjected to great variations of soil, climate,* and.- other influences, their continued existence has been secured onty by tbe iiiherent >h*bits which adaptation, demanded, while toe monotyp>o species not being able to fit themselves for their surroundings without a ppq radically expensive change, have continued to exist only under certain special conditions. Thus twoimportant advantages are eoiifed to th* bretnlei who selects from ihe genera having numerous species— the advantage- of natural pliability, and the- numerous species t» wor& upon by combination foi skill further - variations. - x , —Sixty Million Extra Bushels a Yea. Growai. — The plant-breeder .before naking combina- ' tioru should with great cape select tha " j individual plants whach eeem< best adapted to his purpose, as ay this . course many ■ years of, .experiment and much needless ex- ; pense will be avoided. The dafferences In . the individuals whioh the -plarrt^breeder has ' to wort upon are sometimes extremely ' ' slight. The ordinary unpractised person cannot by any possibility disoovex the exceedingly minute variations vi form, aiie, ■ colour,. frag<ranoe,- porcocity, «nd a thousand other characters which, the oractiaed breeder peicsives by a lightning-like glance. The work, Mr Burb&nk tern us, is not easy, requiring an exceedingly keen perception of minute differences, great practice, and extreme care in treating tf» j organisms operated upon, and ever witb , all the naturally acquired fariationa added to those secured by scientific crowing* *nd ; numerous other means, the careful accumulation of •light individual differences through, many generation* ia,, imperative, after which several generation? are often, but not always, neoessarjr" thoroughly to "fix" tbe desired type for all practical purposes. ' The above applies to annuals, or those plants generally reproduced by seed. The breeder of plants which oa.n be reproduced by division has great advantage, for any valuable .individual variation aua be multiplied to any extent desired without the ..extreme care necessary in fixing by lineal breeding the one wh-'en must be reproduced by seed. But even in breeding perennials the first deviations torn the original form' *re often almost unappreciable to the DeroeA>t*o»», out by accumulating . the most minute d'ffe--ences through many generations, the deviation from the original form, i* often, astounding.. Thus by careful and ' intelligent breeding, any peculiarity nay be made, permanent, and valid new species At time* produced by tb» art of the breeder; and there' is no known limit to the improvement ot plants by education,' breeding, and selection. ~ ■ > !i ■ v 'lire vast possibilities of: plant-breeding | can hardily be estimated. It would not b» j difficult ; for one man to breed. ift- new rye, j wheat, barley, oa-ts, or ripapwhioh. would ■ 1 produce, one .grain more to. eacb head, or a, j corn * which would produce an extra kernel to each ear, another potato to each plane, or an apple, plum, orange, or nut to each tree "\ ' What wouW be- the result! In five staples only in the United States alone tob* inexhaustible forces of Nature would pro-duce-.annually,. without effort and without cost, 5,200,000 extra buehejs of corn. 15,000,000 extra bushels of wheat, . 20,000,000 extra bushed of oats, 1,500,000 extra- bushels of barley, 21,000,000 extre bushels of potatoes. But these vast possibilities are not alone fdr'orie year, or for our l own time 'or ' race, but' are beneficent legacies for every ' man, woman, and child who shall inhabit the earbh. Through science lies the way to the desired millennium.