Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1912 — Originating New Varieties of Wheat [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Originating New Varieties of Wheat

By C. O. CROMER

Purdue University Agricultural Extension

By mixing a white and yellow ear of corn together and planting this mixture the breeder will obtain in each ear the product of a mixture of both the white and. yellow ears. This is because the eorn plant is an open fertilized plant. With wheat it is quite a different proposition. A pint each of Rudy and Michigan Amber wheat when mixed together , and sown will produoe just so much Rudy and an equal amount of Michigan Amber wheat. There will never be a new variety produced containing the blood of the two parent varieties except by accident. How, c then, is a new variety of wheat to be created? The reproductive parts of the wheat plant being encased by differentiated parts called glumes, makes it necessary to transfer by hand the pollen from one vatiety to the pistil of the other variety

to be used as the female of the proposed cross. The operation is as follows: The operator selects the heads he desires to cross-fertilize. He then removes with small scissors the two top and bottom spikelets and the middle florets of the remaining spikelets, leaving only the strongest and best developed flowers on which to operate. By the use of a small pair of tweezers the pollen sacks are removed from the florets, care being taken to emasculate before any of tbe anthers have liberated any pollen. This bead is tagged arid when the pistils are sufficiently developed pollen from the ether variety la dusted,on the pistils

of the florets. The wheat head Is then wrapped in tissue paper and allowed to ripen. The mature grain is planted and for at least three years the principle of selection is 'rigidly applied to each year’s progeny in search for the type in which is found the largest number of desirable characters and the least number of undesirable qualities of the two parent varieties. This desired type is then multiplied and cornea to be known as a new variety.

Pollinating Wheat