Abstract of an address on 'plant breeding in the United States Department of Agriculture' / by Erwin F. Smith.

  • Smith, Erwin F. (Erwin Frink), 1854-1927.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Abstract of an address on 'plant breeding in the United States Department of Agriculture' / by Erwin F. Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    IReprinte^from The Report of the Conference on Genetics.] *■ r5*C' .. C ■ ABSTRACT OF'AN ADDRESS ON “PLANT BREED- ING IN THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE” By Dr. Erwin F. Smith, Pathologist in Charge of Laboratory of Plant Pathology, United States Department of Agriculture. The speaker prefaced his remarks by saying that it was always dis- appointing to an audience to have to listen to a substitute; that he was no plant-breeder himself but only a pathologist; that he had, however, been closely associated with the plant breeders of the Department since the beginning of the work, and might therefore be able to express the views of an intelligent layman, and, moreover, was deeply interested in that phase of the subject which relates to the production of plants resistant to disease. No one regretted more than he that Dr. Webber could not be present and speak with authority concerning these interesting facts. The subject is comparatively a new one in the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, dating back not further than twelve or fourteen years. The Department has bred plants principally for four reasons, viz. (1) For resistance to disease. Examples of plants bred for this purpose are cotton, melon, and the grape vine. (2) For resistance to cold, e.g. citrous fruits. (8) For resistance to alkali, droiight, &c., e.g. alfalfa, wheat. (4) For greater productivity, and for qiiality, in edible fruits, foliage, fibers, &c., e.g. pineapple, tobacco, cotton, maize. Taking these subjects in order, I will first mention cotton. Some years ago the “ Sea Island cotton ” growers in the United States were greatly troubled by a mysterious disease which sometimes swept away entire fields of cotton, and often destroyed many plants in fields not so severely attacked. This disease persisted in ground once subject to it, and became more and more destructive as time went on, so that finally some of their best fields (tile-drained and heavily fertilised) had to be abandoned as waste land. I determined the cause of this troublesome disease to be a little fungus known as Fusarium, which lives over winter in the soil and which attacks the plant through the root system, filling the vascular or water-carrying bundles with its threads, and in this way crippling or destroy- ing the plants. The work then assumed such proportions that it seemed wise to turn it over to an assistant, whose whole time should be given to the subject, in order, if possible, to find a satisfactory remedy for the widespread trouble. I picked out for this responsible post Mr. William A. Orton, then a recent graduate of the University of Vermont, who subsequently obtained most brilliant results in overcoming the ravages of this disease by means of selection. I might add in passing that Mr. Orton had never seen a cotton field until he went South on this perplexing and seemingly well-nigh hopeless mission. Very little was accomplished the first year. I well remember a notable conference with Mr. Orton at the close of the first season’s work, when he was thoroughly discouraged A