



454 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [June 2, 1920. 



Toronto. 



At a meeting on 6th April the secretary submitted a balance sheet in 

 connection with the show, which indicated receipts to the amount of 

 ^17 19s. 8d., and a balance over the expenditure of £2 lis. 2d, 



On 4tli May Mr. Martin gave a valuable lecture on incubation (natural and 

 artificial) of chickens, and was accorded a very appreciative vote of thanks. 



Wellington. 



The feature of the March meeting of this branch was the reading of a 

 valuable paper by Mr. E. G. Salter on wheat breeding. Mr. Salter's interest 

 in the subject is well known, and his paper reflected a wide acquaintance 

 with many authorities. A summary of the paper follows : — 



Peinciples of Wheat Breeding. 



It was little wonder that plant life got away with the soil water. If the roots, 

 secondary roots and thousands of microscopic root hairs of a mature wheat plant, grown 

 under favoui-able conditions, were placed end to end and measured they would total 600 

 3^ards ; it had been estimated that the root system of a mustard plant had a total length 

 of over 2,000 feet, a clover plant over a mile, and a full-grown pumpkin vine over 15 

 miles. Plants lived and grew by a process of exchange with the air and soil. A simple 

 «xahiple would illustrate the process (called osmosis) by which a plant benefited by the 

 mineral matter in solution in the soil water. If a piece of parchment or bladder was 

 covered over one end of a lamp chimney and this partly filled with strong brine and 

 then placed in a vessel of water, the two liquids would be separated merely by the thin 

 membrane. After a little time, each of the liquids would diffuse through the membrane 

 and mix with the liquid on the other side. The movement would continue until the 

 liquids on both sides of the dividing membrane were of the same composition. 



This was the reason why plants in swamps or sloughs ceased to grow as soon as they 

 became as alkaline as the soil surrounding them, also why a handful of salt would kill 

 the grass on which it was placed, and why the immoderate use of strong manures did 

 more harm than good — tending to balance the plant in strength and to check its growth. 



With the taking in of soil-water through its roots came the plant's desire to grow, and 

 automatically it started to divide its cells into two, by a process known as mitosis or 

 cell division. All plants and animals grew in the same way. The nucleus (the heart or 

 life of a cell) was composed of thread-like bodies of opposite attraction, which might be 

 called plus and minus — or, using electrical terms, positive and negative. These living 

 bodies (called chromosomes) becoming restless, the single cell became overcrowded, and 

 the nucleus thereupon sent out two captains or leaders, which went to opposite 

 ends of the cell — the plus captain to one end and the minus captain to the other. Being 

 of opposite attraction, the plus (or positive) captain naturally attracted the minus or 

 negative units, and the minus (or negative) captain the plus (or positive) units. Then 

 ensued a microscopic tug of war. The captains at either end of the cell lined up their 

 teams chosen from the chromosomes across the middle of the cell, and tugged away until 

 half of each side was pulled over to the opposite side and the game was drawn, the 

 nucleus having been pulled into two exactly equal parts. Each part then comprised a 

 new nucleus at either end of the cell, and a wall formed between them. And so the 

 process went on. The offspring of animals and plants was formed by the union of living 

 material, split from the bodies of the parents, and man himself grew by the division of 

 what he was in the beginning. 



Speaking of selection, Mr. Salter remarked that whereas the control of the breeding of 

 animals had been practised by man for over 2,000 years, the systematic mating of plants 

 had only been practised for about two centuries. The discovery of sexuality in plants 

 was only made in 1691, and nearly half a century elapsed before the structure of the 

 flower was properly appreciated. Then, in later years, came the " school of genetics " 

 on Mendel's principles of heredity. Mendel's discoveries were accepted in all lines of 

 thought to-day. In reality, Mr Farrer discovered the laws of Mendel for himself. 



Sometimes the complaint was heard that " seed has run out," and it was a (juestion of 

 importance how many farmers took care to see the seed did not run out. What possible 

 advantage could one grower expect who changed his seed for another grower's who gave 

 his crop as little attention as he himself? In reality he was most likely to benefit more 

 from his own seed, as it had settled down to the conditions of its own soil The reason 

 for running out was that wheat was self-fertilised, good, bad, and indifferent plants all 

 going to produce seed. " Just as there is a best plant in every field of wheat,^there is 



