98 Journal of Agriadturc, Victoria. [to Feb., 191 2. 



grain. Among manv that might be mentioned are Kubauka, Medeah, 

 Atalanta, and Huguenot. 



The first three are heavily bearded, and are tiieretore somewhat ob- 

 jectionable for hay, though thev give exceptionally heavy cuts. Huguenot 

 is quite free from beard, but in all other respects closely resembles 

 Medeah. 



These wheats make very sweet hay, which is much relished by stock. 

 Owing to the fact that thev tiller rather badly it is necessary to sow them 

 rather thickly, otherwise the hay is very coarse. It is often advantageous 

 to mix these varieties with wheats like Majestic and Baroota Wonder, when 

 sowing them for hay. The illustrations represent two crops of hay 

 grown at the Parafield Wheat Station on stiff, red clay .soil during 1910. 

 No. I weighed 4f tons per acre, whilst No. 2 gave over 5 tons per acre of 

 dried hay. 



Though the.se two varieties give heavy yields of hav, thev give poor 

 y'elds of grain, and on this account will never rank as dual purpose 

 wheats. 



Having considered in outline the various sub-species of the genus 

 Triticum, let us now consider the internal structure of a tvpica^ kernel. 

 For this purpose, we will take the variety most commonlv grown, viz., 

 Federation. 



Microscopic Structure of the Wheat Kernel. 



If a thin .section be taken longitudinallv through a wheat grain and 

 examined under a microscope with a lower power objective, three distinct 

 structures will be observed (Fig. 3) viz. : — 



1. Embryo or germ. 



2. Endosperm. 



3. Protective coats. 



Embryo. — At the end opposite the bnisJi. will be found the embrj'o or 

 germ, which is destined to form the future wheat plant. Careful ex- 

 amination of the embryo will reveal — 



{a) The -plmnale , that portion of the germ which develops into the 

 stem and leaves of the voung plant, consisting of minute rudi- 

 mentary leaves enveloped within the plumale sheath. 

 {b) The radicle or rudimentary root, with its root sheath and root 



cap. 

 (c) Absorptive epitJicUinu. a series of elongated cells Iving between 

 the embroyo proper and the endosperm, Iving with their long 

 diameters being directed towards the endosperm. 

 According to Brown and Morris,* this epithelium secretes diastase 

 during the process of germination, and this enables the starchy contents of 

 the endosperm to be transformed and assimilated by the developing germ. 

 It is thus the means wherebv the germ derives its sustenance from the 

 stored up food in the endosperm until it has developed sufiiciently to 

 maintain itself by its own root activities. 



Compared with other portions of the grain the embryo is rich in pro- 

 tein, fat, and ash con.stitutents, and, though it contains a considerable 

 amount of sugar, it has but little starch. Nearly one-sixth of the embryo 

 consists of fat and oil and about one-third protein, so that these two con- 

 stituents make up practically one-half the germ. 



Endosperm. — By far the greatest portion of the kernel is made up of 

 the endosperm, which acts as a storehou.se of food for the young plant 



* Germination of the Graminese. 



