Latest FEATS of the PLANT BREEDERS


TWENTY-FIVE per cent of the vegetables and annual fruits we eat were unknown ten years ago, says an agricultural authority.
Of course, he adds, common vegetables like peas and potatoes still look the same but we are now using improved strains that didn't exist a decade past. Scientific plant breeding is continually creating new varieties of commercial plants that are larger, better flavored, more resistant to disease, or more desirable in other ways.
Few who buy ordinary cantaloupes in season, for example, know that the melons they get today are a brand new strain. Ten years ago cantaloupes were afflicted periodically by a mildew that caused the meat to resemble that of a leathery cucumber. Then a plant scientist discovered a relative of the melon family in India that was practically useless except for a strong resistance to mildew. As a result of a long breeding program this quality was joined with all the desirable features of the old cantaloupe in a new strain of fruit.