Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 132 Page 133 Page 134 Page 135 Page 136 Page 137 Page 138 Page 139 Page 140 Page 141 Page 142 Page 143 Page 144 Page 145 Page 146 Page 147 Page 148DECEMBER 2016 SEEDWORLD.COM / 143 EXCERPTS FROM THE OCTOBER 1968 ISSUE OF SEED WORLD Continued Editorial By Percey Stelle, Seed World editor “… And then because of greed, the lack of respect for the rights of people within and outside their empires, and the failure to build good relations with their own people and their neighbors, they fell apart. “Do we no longer care about the freedom which our forefathers fought so hard to win? Are we so interested in making money or in having a good time that we won’t take a few minutes two or three times and year to show up to the polls and vote, or to write to those who represent us in Congress expressing our views on important matters being considered by them? If that is the case, then we get what we deserve — poor government, increased taxes, curtailed service, the spending of money wastefully, and indifference upon the part of public officials as to what people want. “With conditions as they are in Europe and other parts of the world, I cannot help but feel that the people of America should try this year to set a better example than we have in the past as to what democracy means by going to the polls on Nov. 5 and casting our votes, and then by contacting those in office when important matters come up and urging our friends to do likewise. …If we all do this, I am sure that the trend which has been gaining headway in recent years for those elected to office to forget their pledges to the people will be reversed, and we will come back to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Public Agencies and Field Crop Development By William Hueg, Jr., University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Perhaps no single idea has done more to foster formal and informal discussion among research scientists in industries and public institu- tions than the prospect of the development of hybrid cereal grains other than corn. Traditionally, plant breeders in universities and the USDA have been responsible for improvement of grain vari- eties. But their roles have changed, and they will con- tinue to change in the future. In the improvement of field crops, public institutions have several distinct roles. The first is the development of new varieties with supe- rior agronomic characteris- tics and superior quality. At public institutions, however, few breeding projects list the development of new varieties as the major program goal. More likely the goal is to dis- cover more about the mecha- nisms of the crop plant — its genetics, physiology, resist- ance to insects and disease. It is also important to find how these characteristics can be incorporated into existing crop lines to improve them, or to determine whether it would be better to develop entirely new materials. Whether this work is done by public or private breeders probably is of less concern today than in the past. The second role of the public institutions is to pro- vide new genetic materials. The main concern is to get the improved germplasm used in a wider base and to make it available to growers. New genetic materials should be available to all breeders. These institutions will fur- ther the total research effort by providing highly skilled scientists and technicians to be employed by federal and state agencies and private industry. Management for the Farm of the 70s By A.G. Mueller, associate pro- fessor of farm management, University of Illinois The future of our country’s largest industry is good. Population is increasing, although not as rapidly as it did during the 1950s, and there is an ever-expanding demand for good products. We live in a time when com- munications have developed to the extent that to be as isolationist means to with- draw from space exploration. New research development in our agriculturally-related industries, universities, and government laboratories have provided us with a constant flow of new technology. Faced with these rapidly- changing technical, social and economic phenomena, the real challenge for our farms is to develop the managerial systems that will permit the farm firm to survive and be profitable. The use of a corporation business structure is increas- ing rapidly in agriculture, and I predict that agriculture of the future will have an increasing number of farm organizations as corporate entities. The Future of the Sod Industry By Ben Warren, president, Warren’s Turf Nurseries The sod industry as it exists today consists of a variety of business methods and grow- ing techniques. In the south the crops are established almost exclusively by vegeta- tive means, and much of this grass is sold for sprigging, plugging or stolonizing in addition to solid sod. In the north, except for the creeping bents, the crops are produced from seed and are sold as solid sod. A few years ago, lawn areas that required more than 1,000 yards or so were not considered good prospects for sod because of the cost. Today, in areas where sizeable production has developed, areas much larger than this are being sodded. The equipment used in the growing of sod has improved over the years, but rather erratically. Of course, much of the machinery is the same as that found on farms or golf courses, and we have and will benefit from the gradual improvements in this equip- ment. Changes in harvest- ing equipment have come slowly and in widely spaced steps. The mechanized sod cutter came in 1948 and it was about 15 years later before labor saving equip- ment designed to make the handling after cutting more efficient began to reach the point of practicality. It would seem that we should see progress in this area in the near future that will be welcome, but not dra- matic. SW