HOWARD AND HOWARD. 



obtained for crossing on to various English and American parents, 

 such as American Club and Red Fife. We take this opportunity 

 of expressing our thanks to Professor BifEen for facilities given for 

 the hybridization work at Cambridge and for the sowing and care of 

 the Indian cultures in 1910. 



In the conduct of hybridization work on wheat under sub -tropical 

 conditions several difficulties have to be overcome which are not ex- 

 perienced in Europe and America. At Pusa, wheats have to be 

 grown on the moisture stored up in the subsoil during the previous 

 monsoon and the rainfall after sowing time is insignificant and may 

 be nothing at all. All the generations have to be raised as a dry crop, 

 and the sowing must be carried out without loss of moisture. Irri- 

 gation tends to prolong the growth period of plants sown singly 

 and to bring on rust. Any lengthening of the growth period of 

 wheat is a great disadvantage in India as the plants are bound to be 

 dried up by the hot winds before ripening can take place. The great 

 difficulty is to grow the single seeds under conditions comparable 

 with those obtaining in a field crop. For this it is necessary that 

 the seed should be sown at the proper depth and the soil consoli- 

 dated afterwards. Dibbling in the seed or sowing in furrows made 

 by hand ploughs is not satisfactory as the plants do not root properly 

 and do not stand up during the windy weather previous to harvest. 

 Such plants also seem to develop a shallow root-system and require 

 a considerable amount of irrigation water to maintain them. The 

 best method so far found is to sow the seeds singly in furrows made 

 by the plough, to cover them by hand and to consolidate the soil by 

 a roller. This results in well rooted plants, but the disadvantage 

 of too much space for each plant and consequently the prolonga- 

 tion of the growth period into the hot weather, with the practical 

 certainty of black rust and premature ripening, still remains. Until 

 the various hybrids forms are fixed and sufficient seed has been 

 obtained for a plot sown in the ordinary manner, it is impossible to 

 say with certainty how they will behave under field conditions. 

 Consequently hybridization work in India involves a very 

 considerable amount of work in the testing of the new forms in 

 plots. 



