lo Mar., 1911-] Northern Grain Experimental Fields. 



153 



onstancy would appear to be " mutations "' ; although P'ederation may be 

 •cjiisidered a fixed variety, slight variations may be expected to appear 

 from time to time, but these are not sufficiently marked to render the grain 

 impure for sale as seed wheat. 



Firbank is an extremeh' earlv hay wheat, does not grow much flag and 

 is green t*^; the foot. For beating the wild oats on a dirtv fallow it would 

 b>e useful but is not a prolific grain vielder. Bayah is a variety received 

 from Xew South Wales and has a brown ear, but the straw is taller than 

 Federation. It holds its grain satisfactorily and is likely to prove an 

 acquisition. 



\\'allace is a heavy yielder l)ut in this district .suffers, though to a less 

 extent than College Purple Straw, from windy weather at harvest time. 



Best wheats to groiv. — The varieties recommended liy the Wheat Com- 

 mittee are Federation, College Purple Straw, Bunvip. Comeback and 



CROSSBREDS OF THIRD GENERATION COMPARSID WITH FEDERATION. 

 I :ind 3, Vandilla Kinfj ; 2 ami 5, I'ederation ; 4 and 6, Pratt's Comeback 



Wallace. 



^'andilla King. The heads of College Purple Straw snap off easily in 

 windy weather at harvest time. Bayah might be substituted for this wheat 

 when sufficient grain is available for sale. 



Field crops. — If these had l>een .sown later, after an extra cultivation, 

 the yield woulfl have lieen better as the fallow turned out to be verv weedv. 

 But tlie hand .sowing was considered to be more impcitant work and was 

 ])ushed on with as .soon as possible after drilling in the field areas. It 

 wouli! 1h- I letter to restrict our operations to the stud or hand-sown plots 

 in future and arrange for the College to rai.se bulks of S(H'd on a larg»T 

 area for distribution, ihus enabling us to confine our attention to the 

 breeding and improvement work. The Department has a quantitv of 

 Federation, Bunvip, \'andilla King and Comeback seed wheats grown on 



