7 i4 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



anticipated in this respect, for it has been shown lately that this 

 same variety has actually been cultivated in this country for 

 some fourteen years, chiefly as a spring-sown crop, for which 

 its rapid maturation makes it peculiarly suitable. 



The cultivation of this wheat will prove sufficiently profitable 

 in some localities, but it will be found unsuitable in many. 

 The difficulty of finding foreign wheats adapted to our con- 

 ditions is well shown in the remarks of growers who have tested 

 Fife for the Home-grown Wheat Committee of the Millers' 

 Association. All agree as to the value of the grain, but some 

 find that the sparrows take too heavy a toll owing to its ripening 

 too early for the district ; others that the straw, though bright 

 and of good colour, is brittle ; others that it lays in bad weather; 

 and many that the yield is insufficient to remunerate the grower 

 even when the enhanced prices are taken into consideration. 

 If only these defects could be avoided by building up a variety 

 with the quality of Fife in its grain and the good features of 

 Square Heads Master in its general habit, an ideal wheat for 

 both the farmer and the miller would be obtained. It rests with 

 the plant breeder to determine whether such a combination is 

 indeed possible. The first step to take is to determine whether 

 strength and its opposite are Mendelian characters. For this 

 purpose a number of wheats known to be strong have been 

 crossed with ordinary English wheats, and the strength of 

 the grain of the hybrids and then of their descendants for 

 successive generations determined. Most of the best English 

 varieties, such as Square Heads Master, Browick, Stand-up 

 White, Rivet, etc., have been used for this purpose. 



The strength of the hybrids has been determined for the 

 most part by eye, supplementing this on occasion by such 

 rough-and-ready tests as chewing the grain to determine to 

 a certain extent the physical characters of its gluten. It is 

 difficult to put into words the distinguishing features of strong 

 and weak grain, although on comparing the two one can dis- 

 tinguish them apart with a fair degree of certainty. Strong 

 grain is, as a rule, more or less translucent, and its surface 

 has a dull bloom. Under pressure it tends to break into 

 angular, glassy fragments. A weak wheat, on the other hand, 

 may have an opaque, starchy appearance, and under pressure 

 it becomes powdered. Under some circumstances, which need 

 not be discussed here, weak wheats are frequently as translucent 



