52 AGRICULTURAL AND BOTANICAL EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE. 



the best advantage in the creation of new cultural races. It is im- 

 possible to foresee the importance of the results that may be thus 

 obtained. Those who know what is being done at present in the 

 way of creating interesting races by selection and with our present 

 methods of hybridization will agree with me in saying that the culti- 

 vation of wheat may be revolutionized by the utilization of these 

 wild forms. 



It seems to me that we are justified in hoping to produce races 

 better adapted to the semiarid regions of Algeria, Tunis, Syria, 

 Egypt, Turkestan, and America. If we secure races that will enable 

 us to increase the yield by as much as 1 bushel per acre on these 

 vast areas, the world's total production of wheat will be very ma- 

 terially augmented. 



The study of the wild types of our cereals should not serve merely 

 botanical and historical ends. It has a practical, an economic — I 

 may even say a social — importance. Its ultimate aim is to produce a 

 little more bread at a little less expense where production is difficult 

 and costly, and to render this production possible where up to the 

 present time it has been impossible. 



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