Excerpt from New Methods of Plant BreedingA few years ago Dr.. B. T. Galloway, Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, mapped out some plant-breeding work for the writer which involved crossing varieties of lettuce, alfalfa, and cowpea, and also certain species of Poa, Trifolium, Melilotus, etc. The work in the beginning presented many difficulties which have since been over come, and it is now progressing satisfactorily.The improvement of plants by cross-breeding varieties is gradually becoming an important factor in the culture of many Of our field and garden crops. The majority of intentional crosses and hybrids made in the past represent work which has been easy of accomplishment. The more difficult subjects have been passed by or at most the efforts of breeders with the hitherto refractory genera have to a large extent been nullified by natural Obstacles in the path Of success.The only difficult part of plant breeding lies in knowing just how to make the most of a cross or hybrid which has been secured. The literature on this subject which has appeared during the last few years is apt, unfortunately, to lead the beginner and even the prac tical breeder into a maze, and he may conclude that the subject is too complex for comprehension.This should not cause discouragement, however, because the mission Of the plant breeder 13 to produce varieties which are in some measure improvements over the Old ones, and each advance made will tend toward that perfecting of plant life which will insure better products for man and the domestic animals.The present contribution to the subject deals not with laws, but with methods used by the writer in accomplishing what have hitherto been considered impossible or difficult crosses, and they may prove helpful to others engaged m the same line Of work.Until recently it has been found impos'sible to cross many plants owing to the fragile nature of the sexual organs. This difficulty has been removed, and the process whereby it has been accomplished is here described for the first time.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.