554 Journal of Agriculture. [lo Sept., 1910. 



In 1908. when the work was started by the Department at this College, 

 a crop of Federation was thinned out to single plants standing about 6 

 inches apart to the number of about 2,500. From these at harvest time 

 the best six plants were selected and their weight of grain in each case 

 recorded. In 1909 the produce of each plant was sown separately in 

 rows I foot apart, the grains being planted at every six inches. From 

 these six strains of Federation the best plants were respectively chosen 

 and weighed separately as before, the strain showing the highest average 

 yield being retained for sowing. This season we have enough seed to sow 

 at least three-quarters of an acre, so that next harvest we should secure, 

 given a fair season, enough seed to put in 10 — 15 acres with the seed- 

 drill, all descended from the single plant harvested in 1908. In order to 

 test the value of the selected seed, it was determined to sow alongside it 

 samples of seed from a crop that had not been subjected to the process. 

 Mr. D. Jones, of Haycroft, Nhill, had a fine crop of Federation in 1908 

 and some prolific good plants were marked in his paddock and harvested 

 separately, taking care to obtain in each case only the stalks springing from 

 a single set of roots. These were sown in 1909, with the result that only 

 two out of the eleven strains compared favourably with the selected Federa- 

 tion in adjacent drills. Hays,* of Minnesota, considers, from the results 

 of his experiments in the improvement of Bluestein wheat, that a 25 per 

 cent, increase in ten years is by no means unreasonable to expect in a gwen 

 district. Yandilla King and Bunyip are going through this process and to 

 a small extent, College Purple Straw and Comeback. While we aim at 

 increasing the yield, the grain must also be of sufficient apparent milling 

 quality. 



It has been shown that .selection, as thus practised, has far greater value 

 than change of seed from one district to another. No amount of change 

 of seed would account for the increase in yield of the improved varieties 

 of maize that have been produced of late years. Neither would heavy 

 manuring, nor the most admirable methods of cultivation, have produced 

 the increa.se without the process of selection. It has been often claimed 

 that good cultivation and judicious manuring are the main factors for 

 success in wheat-growing. Admitting this, it must be acknowledged that 

 the seed itself is a very important factor, for with the best methods of 

 farming it is impossible to obtain maximum yields from a crop of wheat 

 plants which vary more in productiveness than the men of a country 

 do in height. 



The principles of breeding in plants are fundamentally the same as in 

 the case of animals, and while no farmer would be indifferent to the 

 mating of his stud draught mares, or to the selection of stud rams for his 

 flock, it has not yet occurred to him to give the same consideration to 

 the raising of a stock of prime seed wheat. 



DAIRYING WITH PURE STOCK. 



E. J. Turner, Dairy Supervisor. 



Of the farms in the Fern Tree Gully Shire which supply milk to Mel- 

 bourne, for retail distribution, Messrs. Selman Bros., Willow Vale Farm, 

 near Lower Fern Tree Gully, is conspicuous. This farm is situated in a 



* Bulletin No. 29. U.S.A. Department of .\i,Tioulture. Plant-liieedinff, by W. M. Hays. 



