MODERN PLANT-BREEDING METHODS 713 



marked at about 60, London Households {i.e. a good bread- 

 making flour) at 80, whilst the strong wheats imported from 

 Canada may mark from 90 to 100. Higher marking than this 

 is exceptional, though it occurs at times. If the quality of our 

 wheat crop could be raised to that indicated by a mark of 80, 

 English-grown wheat would be suitable for most of the purposes 

 of the baker. 



The obvious suggestion is that strong varieties should be 

 imported and grown in this country in place of Square Heads 

 and such varieties. There are, however, so many points which 

 determine whether a variety can be profitably cultivated under 

 any given set of conditions that at first sight it appeared 

 improbable that such suitable varieties would be discovered. 

 A minor point may be chosen to indicate this difficulty. If, for 

 instance, the introduced variety differed in its time of ripening 

 from ordinary English wheats by, say, ten days either side of 

 the usual limits, its cultivation might be rendered impracticable, 

 from the agriculturist's point of view, by the attacks of sparrows. 

 The most serious difficulties to be apprehended, though, were 

 from deficiencies in yielding capacity, for our wheats as a whole 

 are characterised by producing unusually large crops. The 

 attempt has, however, been made with some peculiarly interesting 

 results. 



A large number of strong varieties have been introduced 

 and tested from season to season, and their cropping capacity 

 and strength determined. In the majority of cases the strength 

 has been found to deteriorate rapidly, and after a couple of 

 years the grain when tested has proved no stronger than 

 ordinary English wheat. Some noteworthy exceptions have 

 been found, which show without question that strength is not 

 so completely determined by climatic conditions as these trials 

 would appear to suggest. Galician wheat, for instance, retains 

 its strength perfectly under our conditions, which are indeed 

 somewhat similar to those of parts of Western Europe in which 

 it is grown. This variety is the wheat known as Fife in Canada 

 and parts of the United States, and the value of such wheats as 

 those described in commerce as Manitoban depends chiefly on 

 the amount of Fife wheat they contain. Tests extending over 

 several seasons and over a considerable range of soil conditions 

 have shown that English-grown Fife or Galician wheat is fully 

 as strong as that grown in Canada. No deterioration is to be 



