Subject: Plant Breeding Book Sought

From: [email-masked] (Don)
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 95 03:06:24 GMT

Could someone please recommend a good reference book for the amature gardener 
who would like to dabble in plant breeding, (Taller sunflowers, bigger 
tomatoes), Etc.?  Thanks very much!
                        
                                -don

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From: Keith <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Aug 1995 06:58:43 GMT

Breed you Own Vegetable Varieties
by
Carol Deppe
Little, Brown and Company (Boston, London, Toronto)
ISBN 0-316-18104-8

Good for amatuer breeders. Good sources for germplasm (US and Canada)

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From: Keith <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Aug 1995 06:59:08 GMT

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From: Keith <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Aug 1995 07:00:26 GMT

Breed your own Vegetable Varieties

by Carol Deppe
Little, Brown and Company

ISBN 0-316-18104-8

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From: [email-masked] (Don)
Date: Sat, 02 Sep 95 23:52:00 GMT

Thanks very much for your reply!  I'll get onto the bookstore right away!

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From: Karl King <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 19:14:19 GMT

I've read a lot of such books.
If your local library (or university library) has it, check out Luther 
Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Application. 
What a title. This is a 12 volume set which covers much of the work of 
the "World's Greatest Plantbreeder" (unless you know about the Russian 
Ivan Michuran). Burbank was the first to breed many plants, so developed 
methods of his own. And has much good advice for experimenters. Eg., if 
you want to breed for disease resistance, be sure to keep some disease 
prone plants around.

Another is Prof. Hugh Devries' aptly named Plant Breeding. Here he 
discusses Burbank's work, as well as that of Nilsson, the Swedish 
agronomist. Nilsson's discovery of "unit species" was revolutionary, and 
undermined some of Darwin's assumptions about how evolution proceeds. In 
fact, Burbank's worked seriously undermined some Darwinian assumptions. 
As did Devries' own research (he is best known for his Mutation Theory, 
and for his "discovery" of Mendel). So, this is a politely 
anti-Darwinian book by an evolutionist.

Darwin's book, Variations of Plants and Animals Under Domestication 
(another overbearing title), outlines what Darwin discovered -- though 
Darwin would not have liked Mendel at all.

Heredity is much the same in plants and animals. Textbooks try to 
simplify the subject, suggesting that all is mechanical and 
mathematical. In fact, the world is far more interesting than our 
academics would have us believe.

According to any text you are likely to encounter, a red rose mated to a 
white rose will produce only pink progeny. Not necessarily so. The rose 
'Chevy Chase' _should_ be pink, but is actually crimson (I'm growing 
it). Such cases are rare, but when you plant hundreds or thousands or 
millions of seeds, even the rare events become common.

One would think that pollination would be the simplest thing since even 
bees can accomplish it. But there is the matter of timing. I raised 40 
or so seedlings from Blush Noisette, all of which proved to be hybrids 
>from  my pollinatings. Not one was self-pollinated, even though I didn't 
touch the great majority of flowers.

In other cases, I have pollinated and pollinated, but can't get the 
cross to take. Then, for no apparent reason, I get a fruit from the same 
cross.

Plant breeding is a fine and relaxing and exciting hobby. I can't 
express the happiness I've had from contemplating the results from my 
crosses, and the even greater joy of finding a "baby" that is really 
great (even if only in my own eyes). Currently I have seedling from 
Blush Noisette pollinated by a polyantha-mini. The plant is like a 
mini-noisette, but the flowers are _much_ larger than those of its mini 
father. And it is fragrant.

I wish you good luck.