lo May, 1909.] W/ieat Improvement Committee. 281 



promise of excellent results both in prolificacy and in quality. Some of 

 ;the progeny have red chaff, while the remainder are white. The grain i.'i 

 plumper than the Federation grown in the same paddock. It will, how- 

 ever, be another year or two before the milling test can be carried out, as 

 all the seed at present in existence is required for sowing. And until the 

 new varieties have been tested under field conditions, their interest to the 

 farmer lies mainly in the fact of their relationship to such a well known 

 variety as Federation. 



The Power of a Variety to Hold Its Grain. 

 The practical quality most desired in a pjolific ear is its power to hold 



•the grain and ..yet permit of its being properly threshed or harvested by 

 the farmer. Among the crossbred seedlings there are many prolific varie- 



'ties, but they are so difficult to thresh that they are useless for cultivation ; 



■ on the other hand, there are .some that are useless for the opposite reason 

 — they shed their grain too^ readily. Such varieties are of interest only to 

 the wheat-breeder. To illustrate the different forms in which prolificacy 

 is made manifest, a number of ears have teen collected. These include 

 principally the forms produced by myself during the last fifteen or sixteen 

 years, mostly by cross-fertilization, but, in other cases, by selection of ears 

 showing mutation or a departure from the normal. 



The simplest way to increase the prolificacy of a variety is to increase 

 the rachis— that part of the stem on which are arranged the spikelets which 

 form the ear. This lengthening of the rachis is naturally accompanied 

 by additional rows of spikelets, usually wide apart and forming what is 

 generally known as an " open " ear. To condense the rows it is necessary 

 either to shorten the rachis or to develop more rows in the same length. 

 In order to increase the prolificacy of the variety the latter object is the 

 one to be aimed at, but it is not readily achieved. In the plots this year 

 were some ears 10 inches in length, but they were rather open and con- 

 tained less grain than some varieties only half as long. These very long- 

 eared varieties are, for such varieties, more prolific than the varieties from 

 which they were derived, but only becau.se they ha^'e a few more rows of 

 spikelets. There are about sixteen rows of spikelets, and five florets to 

 each spikelet, usually two or three being fertile and the others abortive. 



'These abnormal developments of the ear are the outcome of the variety 

 being grown under the best conditions. The experiments in this connexion 

 are not comi>lete owing to the question being of secondar\ importance, and 

 to the want of facilities, especially as regards time to devote to the matter. 

 Still, the illustrations might excite the interest of some young and progres- 

 sive agriculturists. 



The length that can be attained by the rachis appears to be limited, 

 for when the conditions are favorable to a splendid growth and ripening, 

 the tillering is increased; and, instead of the spikes increasing in length, 

 they increase in number. Provided the straw is strong enough !| the wheat- 

 breeder endeavours to increase the number of rows of .spikelets. and either 

 to increase the number of florets in each spikelet or to crowd more spikelets 



■on to the joints of the rachis. This tends to make the ear more or less 

 irregular in .shape. It is only when the season is favorable that these 

 abnormal spikelets are well developed ; and it will be noticed that only the 

 well developed ears on any given plant show in any marked degree the in- 



• crease in the number of spikelets. 



The well known Mummy or Miracle wheat, which ha.s. been grown here 

 for over twenty years, has several smaller ears branching from the lower 

 part of the rachis, the rachillse being modified into strong branchlets. 

 If the environment is favorable, the development is very marked ; 



