ind of plants are really the best seed plants. First, _you must not
regard single heads or grains, but must select seed from the most
perfect plant_, looking at the plant as a whole and not at any single
part of it. A first consideration is yield. Select the plants that yield
best and are at the same time resistant to drouth, resistant to rust and
to winter, early to ripen, plump of grain, and nonshattering. What a
fine thing it would be to find even one plant free from rust in the
midst of a rusted field! It would mean a _rust-resistant plant_. Its
offspring also would probably be rust-resistant. If you should ever find
such a plant, be sure to save its seed and plant it in a plat by itself.
The next year again save seed from those plants least rusted. Possibly
you can develop a rust-proof race of wheat! Keep your eyes open.

In England the average yield of wheat is thirty bushels an acre, in the
United States it is less than fifteen bushels! In some states the yield
is even less than nine bushels an acre. Let us select our seed with
care, as the English people do, and then we can increase our yield. By
careful seed-selection a plant-breeder in Minnesota increased the yield
of his wheat by one fourth. Think what it would mean if twenty-five per
cent were added to the world's supply of wheat at comparatively no cost;
that is, at the mere cost of careful seed-selection. This would mean an
addition to the world's income of about $500,000,000 each year. The
United States would get about one fifth of this profit.

It often happens that a single plant in a crop of corn, cotton, or wheat
will be far superior to all others in the field. Such a plant deserves
special care. Do not use it merely as a seed plant, but carefully plant
its seeds apart and tend carefully. The following season select the best
of its offspring as favorites again. Repeat this selection and culture
for several years until you fix the variety. This is the way new
varieties are originated from plants propagated by seed.

In 1862 Mr. Abraham Fultz of Pennsylvania, while passing through a field
of bearded wheat, found three heads of beardless, or bald, wheat. These
he sowed by themselves that year, and as they turned out specially
productive he continued to sow this new variety. Soon he had enough seed
to distribute over the country. It became known as the Fultz wheat and
is to-day one of the best varieties in the United States and in a number
of foreign cou