94 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo Feb., 1910- 



A prominent feature of the crop competition is the number of different 

 varieties of wheat grown. It is only possible to make comparisons between 

 the yields of varieties in the Murchison, Kochester, Elmore, and Tungamak. 

 districts, where the competitive crops consisted of one variety only. In^ 

 the districts named the number of crops and average estimated yields were: 

 as follow : — 



Crops. 



2 



.3 



2.5 



18 



2 



1 



Turvey 



Steer's Early Purple Straw 



Federation . . 



Dart's Imperial 



Steinwedel . . 



Wallace 



Purple Straw 



Red Straw . . . . . . 3 



Hudson's Early Purple Straw 1 



Suitability of Wheat Variety to Various Districts. 

 It is interesting to note the following order of preference shown by the 

 crops under review to each district. 



The Federation emerges from the above analysis with considerable credit^ 

 and may fairly be claimed to be the most prolific yielding variety grown at 

 present in Victoria. It is gratifying to know that the Field Branch of the 

 Department of Agriculture was the means of introducing and widely dis- 

 tributing this variety by means of experimental fields which afforded com- 

 parison between some 40 varieties, the great majority of which have now 

 been discarded in favour of Federation. The Commonwealth of Australia 

 owes an undying debt of gratitude to the late William Farrer for this fine 

 example of the application of science to the breeding and selection of wheats. 



It is to be hoped that the farmers throughout Victoria will appreciate 

 the advantages that are to be gained by entering their crops for these 

 competitions, and that the number of competitors will be trebled next, 

 season. 



