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Show Single Germjeet Seed (Internment Kxperl, Mho t'ommeueed Work In l.ehl KIctcii Years Ago, Hopes to 3(aki KxperlnientH u Sue- ft'SR. Ill 1904, Dr. t O. Townsend, enmc to l.ehl from Washington, I). C. to conduct experiment In single germ sugur beet seed. Kvvry beet grower well knows that each little hard ball containing tho seed, tins from 2 to iceds or germs each. Usunlly these iced oil sprout so Hint when they come uii, they nro In clusters, ranking It necessary for boys to creep along Hid rows on their knees, and cnrefull sepnruto and remove all but one ol .hesu little, beets. It cannot be ilotu .vlih , hoe, hccaUBo the plunts nrc Ho close, having nil come up from one seed. If the seed could bo dropped fat nough npnrt so Hint tho thinning could .ill be dune with n hoe, it is estimated lint there would be n saving imnunll) .o the beet growers of America ot ver $3,000,000. Tho multiple gorin seeds nro cans-)il cans-)il by tho flowers lining so close together to-gether on the stems Hint several unlti in the production of one seed ball jccnslnmilly these flowers are more vldely separated on the stem, nnd the result Is a sluglu germ seed. 1)1 rownsend commenced his experiment by Inking tho pnlen from a slngl flower ami polcnlzliig another slngK ilower, nnd then covering them wltl Mile bags so that Inserts nnd tin .vlnd could not poleuizo from othei flowerB. Ilecnuso I)r, Townsend has not beci ron ml l.ehl for several years, mnuy .bought that tho experiment hnd bee. iluiudoned, but It. iippcnrs that ho. hat npt up the breeding for n Hlnglo-gcrm ieil for thu past eleveji years nnt lopes to ultlmateJy bu nuccccsfiil. In tho last Isstto of a periodical cnll d "Sugar" ho hnB n long nrtlclo containing con-taining the nbovo Information, nnti closes his story with tho followlni pnrngraph: To sum up tho work, It Ib apparent Hint commercial beet plants normnll produce n fow single-germ soods. Oui problem was, by selection, to Incrensi tho proportion of slnglc-gorm scedt from less than C por cent to 100. Our selected plants nro now producing about 75 por ccjit of single-germ seeds and Individual plants In n fow ensef ihow a somowhnt higher percentage than this. Tho work nnd progress of iluglo-germ beet seed production Is based upon the fnct that certain beet plants possess the ability to so develop de-velop the, seed stems that tho budf mil flowers nro separated from each ither in tho process of growth. This tendency to sepnrato tho flowers nnd thereby to produce slnglc-gorm Beodi leems to be transmissible from par-int par-int to offspring; whether or not this will bccomei n fixed chnrncter tlmr mly can tell. Tho Indications arc Hint this chnrncter will becomo fixed mil Hint a reasonable amount of care in tho part of the beet growexs wll' nnko the production of single-germ beet seed commercially practicable. |
