In a single field he succeeded in distinguishing no less than 23
varieties, all growing together. Colonel Le Couteur took the hint, and
saved the seeds of a single plant of each supposed variety separately.
These he cultivated and multiplied till he got large lots of each and
could compare their value. From among them he then chose the variety
producing the greatest amount of the finest, whitest and most nutritious
flour. This he eventually placed in the [97] market under the name of
"Talavera de Bellevue." It is a tall, white variety, with long and
slender white heads, almost without awns, and with fine white pointed
kernels. It was introduced into commerce about 1830, and is still one of
the most generally cultivated French wheats. It was highly prized in the
magnificent collection of drawings and descriptions of wheats, published
by Vilmorin under the title "Les meilleurs bles" and is said to have
quite a number of valuable qualities, branching freely and producing an
abundance of good grain and straw. It is however, sensitive to cold
winters in some degree and thereby limited in its distribution. Hallett,
the celebrated English wheat-breeder, tried in vain to improve the
peculiar qualities of this valuable production of Le Couteur's.
Le Couteur worked during many years along this line, long before the
time when Vilmorin conceived the idea of improvement by race selections,
and he used only the simple principle of distinguishing and isolating
the members of his different fields.
Pages:
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112