712 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



breeder always in a position to appreciate the good and bad 

 qualities of any variety from the point of view of the farmer. 

 In the case of the wheat-breeding experiments to be described, 

 the hearty co-operation of the National Association of British 

 and Irish Millers has been of inestimable value. In the first 

 case, a broad survey of the crop was made to determine what 

 features were most in need of improvement. From the farmer's 

 point of view, the varieties in general cultivation may be 

 described as satisfactory on the whole. They give unusually 

 large crops per acre, both of grain and straw, whilst the crops 

 stand well under adverse conditions of weather. Such wheats 

 as, for instance, Square Heads Master, Rivet, Browick, etc., 

 are more or less ideal for most of the conditions under which 

 their cultivation is carried out in this country. The miller, on 

 the other hand, does not appreciate these wheats, and he is not 

 prepared to give the same prices for them as for certain varieties 

 imported from abroad, more particularly from some parts of the 

 United States and Canada. A sufficient explanation of this fact 

 is afforded by the statement that saleable bread cannot be 

 produced from these English varieties unless they are blended 

 with considerable proportions of foreign grain. The miller and 

 baker sum the matter up by saying that the wheats cultivated 

 here are lacking in " strength " or the capacity to yield a light, 

 well-piled loaf. Obviously, then, one of the features which the 

 breeder's attention has to be directed to is that of strength. 

 At the outset the difficulty arises that we have no definite 

 knowledge of what factors determine whether a wheat is strong 

 or not ; consequently there is no simple test at the breeder's 

 disposal to aid him in discriminating between the good and bad, 

 and at present the final test is only to be given in the bakehouse. 

 There the flour of different varieties of wheat can be converted 

 into bread, and the loaves compared with those made from 

 flours whose behaviour is well known to the baker. Using such 

 a flour as a standard, the experienced baker can express his 

 opinion of the variety under examination by means of a scale 

 of marks. Such a method has its drawbacks, inasmuch as the 

 personal equation is a large one, and the judgments have to be 

 made, as far as possible, by one man. Nevertheless, repeated 

 duplicate tests have given such closely agreeing results that the 

 method is one in which confidence can be placed. On the scale 

 actually employed in the baking trials average English wheat is 



