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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1321, 7 March 1883, Page 2

Our best ■ varieties' of wheat were the careftil selection of the. best heads and plumpest grains.. to. befound in the field. Tliddo 1 biiing sown' by themselves the succeeding , season, andttlie best again preserved,'a great improvement has uniformly been the' result, Anyfavmei' : ckn ! do : this,- and it is not necessary to depend on some scientist or p&rticular'scedSman'for an explanation of the proper method. . On this subject Professor A. E. Blount, of the State Agricultural College, Port Collins, Colorado, states that farmers generally permit their 1 wheat to retrograde one-eight, whereas if proper cave, shoud be! bestowed upon'its improyemerits by selection alone, not one would ever find it necessary to procure better seed,' It only takes two. years to make wheat No. 1 and pure by selection, and from three to ten : to . make a' successful hybrid. Wheat raised npon the soil of any locality are better than prove=this fact' Professor Blount'says: " I have sown—and am nicely growing now—this spring 181 ; differepi , varieties,; the seed of whioh°l obtained from every couutry in the. world, j Many I received are winter wheats, 'which I have, converted into spring wheats. Qf all the samples received not one was as good, or began to be as good, as the poorest I now have," In other words, by careful selection, the poorest' wheat now jis bettey'thi&n ..the joliginal lot,;and. 'thisgreatim{jroVeinent-has' ; been:.raade in one year. If it is desired to improve wheat try this method: Go over the field and select]' the j largest, heads; fromj the best stallcr'Spread the'gi'am on a table and, examine' each-'one separately, discarding all but the best formed and fullest. Next season make a seed bed; putting one peed to ; a : hill, ;bne foot -'apart ieach- way, X . Hoe S well. ,and ; keep. clean. The result will be .surprising, as the yield will be larger, the grain: better, and tbe >aeed; .cljean. ; When, by doing this on a small piece' .#gri>uiKli be .towed for. 4 crop.; '" Practice this annu'ally^aß^ Jimit to? imy >