I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as

ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
details to anybody interested.

But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.

My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
naturally-occurring alders.

My plan is to pull the cones off the branches with an ordinary garden
rake with a bag attached. The tree will hardly be harmed. I have made
a hand-held roller/crusher for getting the seeds out of the cones -
the seeds are fully formed and viable long before the cones open. I
have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds. I
only need a few for the project to be a "goer". Will I find those few?

There is no way of knowing beforehand.

This coming autumn I plan to go round alder woods and try to find the
seeds I want, and I wonder if you can advise me where I might find
interesting trees. For example bigger cones - is it too simple to
think that they might have bigger seeds? Or a tree which fruits young.

It is my theory that I might find interesting trees where exotic
alders have interbred with local strains. But I might be wrong in
that.

Do you know of good sites? What is the likely position as regards
permissions? With the exception of a stately home garden where I asked
permission and it was freely given, around Newcastle I have just gone
and taken what I wanted. Nobody ever asked what I was doing, and I am
sure that if they had they would not have objected. Formal asking
would surely involve weeks of delay and create mountains of paperwork.

Going around the country seeking those precious few seeds might seem
"hard work", but it could also be a pleasant way of getting to know
the country.

Any feedback would be welcome.

Michael Bell


--

In message
Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message
from Michael Bell contains these words:

I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as

ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
details to anybody interested.

But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.

My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
naturally-occurring alders.#
. I
have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds.

? You're making an assumption that a larger seed, will produce a tree
that also bears larger seeds?

I've not noticed that feature in any other plants which produce
multiple seeds (beans for example)

Janet

It's the basis of all plant breeding!

Michael Bell


--

"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...
I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as

ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
details to anybody interested.

But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.

My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
naturally-occurring alders.

My plan is to pull the cones off the branches with an ordinary garden
rake with a bag attached. The tree will hardly be harmed. I have made
a hand-held roller/crusher for getting the seeds out of the cones -
the seeds are fully formed and viable long before the cones open. I
have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds. I
only need a few for the project to be a "goer". Will I find those few?

There is no way of knowing beforehand.

This coming autumn I plan to go round alder woods and try to find the
seeds I want, and I wonder if you can advise me where I might find
interesting trees. For example bigger cones - is it too simple to
think that they might have bigger seeds? Or a tree which fruits young.

It is my theory that I might find interesting trees where exotic
alders have interbred with local strains. But I might be wrong in
that.

Do you know of good sites? What is the likely position as regards
permissions? With the exception of a stately home garden where I asked
permission and it was freely given, around Newcastle I have just gone
and taken what I wanted. Nobody ever asked what I was doing, and I am
sure that if they had they would not have objected. Formal asking
would surely involve weeks of delay and create mountains of paperwork.

Going around the country seeking those precious few seeds might seem
"hard work", but it could also be a pleasant way of getting to know
the country.

Any feedback would be welcome.


You might have to resign yourself to a long hard road, Michael.
It's not impossible that alders can be a crop from their seed, but don't
hold your breath.
Lots of luck with it anyway.
Tina

In message
"Christina Websell" wrote:


"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...
I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as

ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
details to anybody interested.

But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.

My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
naturally-occurring alders.

My plan is to pull the cones off the branches with an ordinary garden
rake with a bag attached. The tree will hardly be harmed. I have made
a hand-held roller/crusher for getting the seeds out of the cones -
the seeds are fully formed and viable long before the cones open. I
have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds. I
only need a few for the project to be a "goer". Will I find those few?

There is no way of knowing beforehand.

This coming autumn I plan to go round alder woods and try to find the
seeds I want, and I wonder if you can advise me where I might find
interesting trees. For example bigger cones - is it too simple to
think that they might have bigger seeds? Or a tree which fruits young.

It is my theory that I might find interesting trees where exotic
alders have interbred with local strains. But I might be wrong in
that.

Do you know of good sites? What is the likely position as regards
permissions? With the exception of a stately home garden where I asked
permission and it was freely given, around Newcastle I have just gone
and taken what I wanted. Nobody ever asked what I was doing, and I am
sure that if they had they would not have objected. Formal asking
would surely involve weeks of delay and create mountains of paperwork.

Going around the country seeking those precious few seeds might seem
"hard work", but it could also be a pleasant way of getting to know
the country.

Any feedback would be welcome.


You might have to resign yourself to a long hard road, Michael.
It's not impossible that alders can be a crop from their seed, but don't
hold your breath.
Lots of luck with it anyway.
Tina

Yes, it might be long and hard. Or I might find at least a few bigger
seeds this autumn. Wish me luck!

Michael Bell




--

No, I can't see it would be a good crop at all, at least with the kind of improvement you might make in a few generations. It looks like obsessive folly to me.

Observe that every tree-crop we currently have, the object harvested is quite economically valuable, much more valuable than the object harvested off grasses, and other easily mechanically harvested crops with high yield/area (eg, grapes for conversion to juice/wine, beans, etc). To be worth cropping as a tree crop, you need to improve it so much that each cone is as economically valuable as an olive, almond, cherry, pine-nut, etc. If the cone is only as economically valuable as a grain of wheat, it won't be worth harvesting. Though the value at which it can be economically harvested falls if, as for example with the olive, you can just spread a sheet and shake the tree.

Chestnuts were formerly cultivated to be converted to flour as a staple in Corsica and some other places of that climate. But this became uneconomic in comparison to grain crops, and chestnuts are now only cultivated as chestnuts, with the high value/small volume associated with a high price nut crop.

Likewise monkey puzzle was originally cultivated as a staple in the Araucania region of Chile and adjacent areas of Argentina. The monkey puzzle nut is far larger than most other coniferous nuts, in fact each nut is the size of a chestnut, and the cones are massive with plenty of nuts per cone. Despite this fortunately huge bounty of huge cones with huge nuts, despite it being a wonderful timber tree, despite it happily growing in cooler areas unsuited for the economic eucalyptus/radiata forestry of Chile, despite the desirability of restoring the much depleted monkey puzzle forests of Chile, the monkey puzzle nut has been reduced to a rare curiosity in Chilean markets.

Another issue is getting the stuff to be desirable enough. Nile perch were introduced to Lake Victoria to be an economic fishery. They have bred splendidly. Now I think the Nile perch is very tasty, but the locals don't, they consider it low grade fish which has sadly outcompeted the fish they consider really tasty, and so it has underperformed as an economic fishery.

Growing rice in Madagascar is a pretty mad thing to do, because of teh environmental damage required to succeed with it in most areas of the island, some favoured areas of teh wet eastern coastal strip excepted perhaps. But rice is considered such a desirable food by the population that the attempt to persuade them to grow less environmentally damaging wheat, etc, has had limited success. Likewise, Ethiopians love their teff.

Now if you succeed in converting the alder cone into something like an ear of maize, you might just be onto something. But I think it took a very long time for the ear of maize to be bred from something the size of an alder cone. Then there can be other issues: one essential change in the evolution of commercial wheat was the loss of a gene that made the stem shatter the moment the ear was ripe, causing the ear immediately to fall to the ground before you had time to harvest it. With that gene gone, you could now practically harvest it. Even if you do breed something of high economic value, you will have your work cut out persuading people that this is a desirable thing to eat, so that they will pay you enough to justify its cultivation. Do you know the PFAF (plants for a future) database. It is studded with wonderful plants of good food value that for some reason or other just don't get cultivated on any scale.

In message
echinosum wrote:


Michael Bell;894053 Wrote:
I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as
ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop.

No, I can't see it would be a good crop at all, at least with the kind
of improvement you might make in a few generations. It looks like
obsessive folly to me.

I know that it is a wild idea, I say so. I don't want to be trapped
into a no-hope project year after year as I have seen some do (though
not with a plant-breeding project) and leave an awkward project which
they won't know what to do with. I have decided that if I don't find
SIGNIFICANTLY bigger seeds this autumn, I will abandon the project.
You've got to know when to cut your losses. But going round the
country in autumn sifting through seeds is not hell on earth.

Observe that every tree-crop we currently have, the object harvested is
quite economically valuable, much more valuable than the object
harvested off grasses, and other easily mechanically harvested crops
with high yield/area (eg, grapes for conversion to juice/wine, beans,
etc). To be worth cropping as a tree crop, you need to improve it so
much that each cone is as economically valuable as an olive, almond,
cherry, pine-nut, etc. If the cone is only as economically valuable as
a grain of wheat, it won't be worth harvesting. Though the value at
which it can be economically harvested falls if, as for example with the
olive, you can just spread a sheet and shake the tree.

A fruit cannot be bigger than the plant that bears it. You could not
have an apple on a grass, it couldn't feed it. A pineapple is a big
fruit, but it is borne on a big plant. Likewise a maize cob.

[snip]

Do you know the
PFAF (plants for a future) database. It is studded with wonderful
plants of good food value that for some reason or other just don't get
cultivated on any scale.

I do know of it. On it I found a Finn who gathers alder seed as they
fall on the snow and roasts them.

Hazel/Cobnut is one tree with undeveloped potential. I visited it. I
concluded that it had given up and resigned itself to becoming a
heritage industry like steam railways. I think that mechanised
harvesting methods would give it a commercial future. I am going to
pilot my methods on a local Hazel plantation this autumn.

Are you saying that of all the plants on the planet NO OTHERS have
potential value. This one might be a winner. I'll give it a season's
effort. You never know your luck.

Michael Bell






--

On 14 July, 17:16, Michael Bell wrote:
In message
* * * * * Janet Baraclough wrote:





The message
from Michael Bell contains these words:
I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as
ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
details to anybody interested.
But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.
My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
naturally-occurring alders.#
. I
have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds.
* *? You're making an assumption that a larger seed, will produce a tree
*that also bears larger seeds?
* *I've not noticed that feature *in any other plants which produce
multiple seeds (beans for example)
* *Janet

It's the basis of all plant breeding!

Michael Bell

--- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Not any more it isn't. (Genetic Engineering)

On 14 July, 13:47, Michael Bell wrote:
I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as

ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
details to anybody interested.

But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.

My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
naturally-occurring alders.

My plan is to pull the cones off the branches with an ordinary garden
rake with a bag attached. The tree will hardly be harmed. I have made
a hand-held roller/crusher for getting the seeds out of the cones -
the seeds are fully formed and viable long before the cones open. I
have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds. I
only need a few for the project to be a "goer". Will I find those few?

There is no way of knowing beforehand.

This coming autumn I plan to go round alder woods and try to find the
seeds I want, and I wonder if you can advise me where I might find
interesting trees. For example bigger cones - is it too simple to
think that they might have bigger seeds? Or a tree which fruits young.

It is my theory that I might find interesting trees where exotic
alders have interbred with local strains. But I might be wrong in
that.

Do you know of good sites? What is the likely position as regards
permissions? With the exception of a stately home garden where I asked
permission and it was freely given, around Newcastle I have just gone
and taken what I wanted. Nobody ever asked what I was doing, and I am
sure that if they had they would not have objected. Formal asking
would surely involve weeks of delay and create mountains of paperwork.

Going around the country seeking those precious few seeds might seem
"hard work", but it could also be a pleasant way of getting to know
the country.

Any feedback would be welcome.

Michael Bell

--

You need to realise that most advances in the past were as a result
of one on a million sports or freaks that someone happened to spot
and nurture. These are thought to have occurred due to natural
radiation causing genetic errors in the DNA of the plant. Or Darwinian
evolution.
A lot of horticulural research starts by irradiating seed & then
planting. They get millions of useless stuff & then maybe one useful
plant. If they're lucky.

In article ,
Michael Bell wrote:

A fruit cannot be bigger than the plant that bears it. You could not
have an apple on a grass, it couldn't feed it. A pineapple is a big
fruit, but it is borne on a big plant. Likewise a maize cob.

Not so. The cucurbits are counter-examples - it is common for the
fruit to weigh more than the rest of the plant.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...
In message
"Christina Websell" wrote:


"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...
I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as

ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
details to anybody interested.

But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.

My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
naturally-occurring alders.

My plan is to pull the cones off the branches with an ordinary garden
rake with a bag attached. The tree will hardly be harmed. I have made
a hand-held roller/crusher for getting the seeds out of the cones -
the seeds are fully formed and viable long before the cones open. I
have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds. I
only need a few for the project to be a "goer". Will I find those few?

There is no way of knowing beforehand.

This coming autumn I plan to go round alder woods and try to find the
seeds I want, and I wonder if you can advise me where I might find
interesting trees. For example bigger cones - is it too simple to
think that they might have bigger seeds? Or a tree which fruits young.

It is my theory that I might find interesting trees where exotic
alders have interbred with local strains. But I might be wrong in
that.

Do you know of good sites? What is the likely position as regards
permissions? With the exception of a stately home garden where I asked
permission and it was freely given, around Newcastle I have just gone
and taken what I wanted. Nobody ever asked what I was doing, and I am
sure that if they had they would not have objected. Formal asking
would surely involve weeks of delay and create mountains of paperwork.

Going around the country seeking those precious few seeds might seem
"hard work", but it could also be a pleasant way of getting to know
the country.

Any feedback would be welcome.


You might have to resign yourself to a long hard road, Michael.
It's not impossible that alders can be a crop from their seed, but don't
hold your breath.
Lots of luck with it anyway.
Tina

Yes, it might be long and hard. Or I might find at least a few bigger
seeds this autumn. Wish me luck!

I thought I did already:-)

Tina

In message
ups.com
harry wrote:

On 14 July, 13:47, Michael Bell wrote:
I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as

ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
details to anybody interested.

But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.

My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
naturally-occurring alders.

My plan is to pull the cones off the branches with an ordinary garden
rake with a bag attached. The tree will hardly be harmed. I have made
a hand-held roller/crusher for getting the seeds out of the cones -
the seeds are fully formed and viable long before the cones open. I
have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds. I
only need a few for the project to be a "goer". Will I find those few?

There is no way of knowing beforehand.

This coming autumn I plan to go round alder woods and try to find the
seeds I want, and I wonder if you can advise me where I might find
interesting trees. For example bigger cones - is it too simple to
think that they might have bigger seeds? Or a tree which fruits young.

It is my theory that I might find interesting trees where exotic
alders have interbred with local strains. But I might be wrong in
that.

Do you know of good sites? What is the likely position as regards
permissions? With the exception of a stately home garden where I asked
permission and it was freely given, around Newcastle I have just gone
and taken what I wanted. Nobody ever asked what I was doing, and I am
sure that if they had they would not have objected. Formal asking
would surely involve weeks of delay and create mountains of paperwork.

Going around the country seeking those precious few seeds might seem
"hard work", but it could also be a pleasant way of getting to know
the country.

Any feedback would be welcome.

Michael Bell

--

You need to realise that most advances in the past were as a result
of one on a million sports or freaks that someone happened to spot
and nurture. These are thought to have occurred due to natural
radiation causing genetic errors in the DNA of the plant. Or Darwinian
evolution.
A lot of horticulural research starts by irradiating seed & then
planting. They get millions of useless stuff & then maybe one useful
plant. If they're lucky.

I am going to go round natural plantations, especially where they have
hybridised with foreign strains, there is a lot of that on Tyneside
where imported alders have been planted on old slag heaps. I am going
sieve alder seeds, I might get through several million (it will be
interesting to make even a rough count!) in a season and I only need
to get a few. It is lucky that I am seeking such a simple trait which
can be so easily sorted for mechanically. It would be impossible to
search through such numbers for a chemical trait. It IS a matter of
luck whether I find anything.

Michael Bell


--

In message , Michael
Bell writes
In message
ups.com
harry wrote:

On 14 July, 13:47, Michael Bell wrote:
I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as

ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
details to anybody interested.

But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.

My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
naturally-occurring alders.

My plan is to pull the cones off the branches with an ordinary garden
rake with a bag attached. The tree will hardly be harmed. I have made
a hand-held roller/crusher for getting the seeds out of the cones -
the seeds are fully formed and viable long before the cones open. I
have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds. I
only need a few for the project to be a "goer". Will I find those few?

There is no way of knowing beforehand.

This coming autumn I plan to go round alder woods and try to find the
seeds I want, and I wonder if you can advise me where I might find
interesting trees. For example bigger cones - is it too simple to
think that they might have bigger seeds? Or a tree which fruits young.

It is my theory that I might find interesting trees where exotic
alders have interbred with local strains. But I might be wrong in
that.

Do you know of good sites? What is the likely position as regards
permissions? With the exception of a stately home garden where I asked
permission and it was freely given, around Newcastle I have just gone
and taken what I wanted. Nobody ever asked what I was doing, and I am
sure that if they had they would not have objected. Formal asking
would surely involve weeks of delay and create mountains of paperwork.

Going around the country seeking those precious few seeds might seem
"hard work", but it could also be a pleasant way of getting to know
the country.

Any feedback would be welcome.

Michael Bell

--

You need to realise that most advances in the past were as a result
of one on a million sports or freaks that someone happened to spot
and nurture. These are thought to have occurred due to natural
radiation causing genetic errors in the DNA of the plant. Or Darwinian
evolution.
A lot of horticulural research starts by irradiating seed & then
planting. They get millions of useless stuff & then maybe one useful
plant. If they're lucky.

I am going to go round natural plantations, especially where they have
hybridised with foreign strains, there is a lot of that on Tyneside
where imported alders have been planted on old slag heaps. I am going
sieve alder seeds, I might get through several million (it will be
interesting to make even a rough count!) in a season and I only need
to get a few. It is lucky that I am seeking such a simple trait which
can be so easily sorted for mechanically. It would be impossible to
search through such numbers for a chemical trait. It IS a matter of
luck whether I find anything.

A question may want to ask is whether the seed size is controlled by the
maternal genotype (and environmental influences) or the embryo genotype.
If the former then you should be looking for the trees with the largest
average seed size, rather than the largest seeds independent of source.

But your sieving process should preferentially select seeds from trees
producing a higher average size of seed, so this may not matter. You
still have to worry that the higher average size of seed is caused by
the environment and not by the genotype.

Michael Bell


--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
[...]

A question may want to ask is whether the seed size is controlled by
the maternal genotype (and environmental influences) or the embryo
genotype. If the former then you should be looking for the trees with
the largest average seed size, rather than the largest seeds
independent of source.
But your sieving process should preferentially select seeds from trees
producing a higher average size of seed, so this may not matter. You
still have to worry that the higher average size of seed is caused by
the environment and not by the genotype.

A very interesting project, though perhaps in danger of being overtaken
by genetic modification. Two further questions occur to me. One is, are
you selecting not only for seed size, but also for practical harvesting
characteristics? We need our grain crops, whether cereal, pulse, or
whatever, to stay on the plant when ripe, rather than scattering. The
other is, does alder seed /taste/ all right?

--
Mike.

In article ,
says...
A fruit cannot be bigger than the plant that bears it. You could not
have an apple on a grass, it couldn't feed it. A pineapple is a big
fruit, but it is borne on a big plant. Likewise a maize cob.


Have you seen pineapples growing? I would say the fruit weighs a lot more
than the plant
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

In message
"Mike Lyle" wrote:

Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
[...]

A question may want to ask is whether the seed size is controlled by
the maternal genotype (and environmental influences) or the embryo
genotype. If the former then you should be looking for the trees with
the largest average seed size, rather than the largest seeds
independent of source.
But your sieving process should preferentially select seeds from trees
producing a higher average size of seed, so this may not matter. You
still have to worry that the higher average size of seed is caused by
the environment and not by the genotype.

On a search like this, I cannot take such factors into account. I am
looking for "the biggest" no matter how it came to be the biggest. It
came to be big in field conditions and that is enough for me. Really,
I am looking for a "freak", well outside the usual bell-shaped curve,
and searching through such numbers, I have a fair chance of finding
one.

A very interesting project, though perhaps in danger of being overtaken
by genetic modification. Two further questions occur to me. One is, are
you selecting not only for seed size, but also for practical harvesting
characteristics? We need our grain crops, whether cereal, pulse, or
whatever, to stay on the plant when ripe, rather than scattering. The
other is, does alder seed /taste/ all right?


Uncooked, it tastes of nothing in particular. I think the same is true
of wheat and rice.

I am satisfied that mechanised harvesting is in reach - in fact it is
the least of the problems.

Michael Bell



--