April 2, 190^.^ Agricultural Gazette of N.SJF, 339 



I^ovemljer. It was tiien feared that it would \)q inipossiWle to liarvest the 

 laid crop witli the strip2)Hi-, and that it would be very dilficidt to cut it with 

 the reaper and binder, but such was the elasticity of the straw that a few- 

 weeks later the crop of about 10 acres was stripped, and averaged between 

 32 and 33 bushels per acre. So far, we have had no trouble with it shelling, 

 but if it held its grain a little tighter it would be an improvement. It strips 

 about as easily as Early Purple Straw. 



Sliould it, on further trial, maintain its ability to yield as it has done in 

 the past, it is sure to become a great favourite with farmers, as it possesses 

 the desirable properties of quick maturity and suitability for either hay or 

 grain. 



As a milling wheat it is amongst the very best. This season buyers have 

 been offering 3d. to 6d. per bushel premium for parcels of this wheat. 

 A milling test, made by Mr. Guthrie, the Departmental Chemist, of the best 

 sample grown this year at Cowra, shows that the grain weighed 65^ lb. per 

 bushel, and produced 70"5 per cent, of flour of excellent colour, which had 

 a strength of 61-5, and contained 15-74 per cent, of dry gluten. These are 

 the best results we have had, and they at once stamp Comeback as being in 

 the very front rank of milling wheats. 



An extensive baking trial, conducted by one of the largest Sydney bakers, 

 with Hour made from this variety, proved in actual practice that the quality 

 of the flour was quite equal to the best imported American (Manitoba). 



Such results are very gratifying, and combined with the fact that this 

 variety yielded up to 36 bushels per acre last year at Cowra, show that the 

 climate of Xew South Wales is admirably suited to the profitable production 

 of the very highest class of wdieats. 



Firbank. 



This varietv is the result of a cross between the well-known Zealand and 

 a crossbred called ]Maffra. It if? very early, and is specially suitable for hay, 

 the straw being sweet, soft, and of excellent colour. Should it prove, under 

 farmers' trials, as prolific and otherwise as suitable foi' hay as Zealand (or 

 Berthoud), it is likely to replace that variety, for Firbank is about fourteen 

 days earlier than it. If required for hay, it should not be sown before mid- 

 season ; but if sown early, it will be ready to cut for ensilage before the 

 " black oat " ripens, and if utilised in this way it will prove a very valuable 

 aid in profitably ridding dirty paddocks of that pest. 



Last season the yield of hay from a small plot of this variety planted on 

 May 8 was at the rate of 2 tons 16 cwt. per acre. 



Florence and Genoa. 



These wheats are the successful results of the efforts, initiated by the late 

 William Farrer in 1901, to produce varieties so resistant to smut (bunt) that 

 it will be unnecessary to treat the seed with bluestone or other preventives 

 of smut before sowino- it. 



