HOWARD, LEAKE VXD HOWARD. 237 



to perfection a wheat which combines high yielding power with 

 high qiiahty." 



The earher investigations carried out in Europe and North 

 America, which bear on this subject, have been restricted to a great 

 extent to the influence of external conditions on the composition 

 of wheat. This literature is referred to in the previous paper. Since 

 it was published one contribution to the subject has appeared which 

 is dealt mth below. 



In the United States, Le Clerc' has continued his investiga- 

 tions on the influence of the environment on the composition of 

 wheat. The object of these experiments was to determine the 

 part played by soil on the one hand, and by climatic conditions on 

 the other hand, in bringing about the well known differences in the 

 appearance and composition of wheat caused by changes in the 

 environment. For this purpose , samples of soil were interchanged 

 among three localities — Maryland, Kansas, and California, which 

 differ widely in climatic conditions. From each locality, sections 

 of a normally fertile wheat -producing soil, five feet square and 

 three feet deep, were dug up in three-inch layers, sacked and re- 

 placed ill the same original position. The various samples of 

 wheat grown were analysed and the results are set out in tabular 

 form. They indicate that climatic conditions, far more than the 

 "oil, influence the composition and appearance of the wheat grain. 

 As in previous years, millmg and baking tests have not been in- 

 cluded in the scheme and the conclusions are drawn from the analy- 

 tical data only. It is unfortunate that the various samples were not 

 milled and made into bread as these experiments would then have 

 been most useful in throwing light on the influence of climatic 

 conditions on milhng and baking qualities. In order to obtain 

 accurate information on the effect of envii'onment on the behaviour 

 of the same sample in the mill and subsequently in the bakehouse 

 it is, in the present state of knowledge, unsafe to rely on 

 chemical data only and on the appearance of the samples. Such 

 important matters as strength of flour and the free-milling nature 



1 Le Clerc ami Yoder, Jour, of Ayr. Restarch, Vol. 1, li)14, p. 276. 



