594 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTIOX G". 



paste by the addition of water, 100 grains were placed in this paste, 

 thus allowing one smut ball on an average for each grain, mixed 

 thoroughly, and allowed to soak over night. By next morning the 

 moisture had disappeared, and the seed was sown the same day. 

 Infection in the resmutted grain was the most virulent, for, while it 

 yielded 5 '72 and 9 '79 per cent, of bunt respectively in Florence and 

 Genoa, there was only 2'42 and 2' per cent, respectively with the 

 ordinary dusting of the grain. Tlie general average for Florence was 

 4'45 per cent., and for Genoa 6'85 per cent. The higher average 

 for Genoa was largely owing to one plot in which the percentage 

 was over 16, while in- a plot alongside it was only a little over 6. 

 This difference was so striking that these two adjoining plots were 

 again carefully examined, with the same result. There was no evident 

 cause for the unequal infection. 



III. Longerenong. — There were only two plots of each sown, a 

 large and a small one, together with the check plots, and the dusting 

 of tlie seed was entirely with the spores of T. foetens. The general 

 average was much higher here than in the other two localities, being 

 9'20 per cent, for Florence and 14'60 per cent, for Genoa. 



It is clear from these experiments that Florence and Genoa do 

 not possess the hereditary quality of bunt-resistance, and Sutton 

 evidently suspected this, as he wrote to me as follows in May, 

 1908: — "I have been referring to the results of our trials with these 

 wheats, while they were being fixed, and I find that in 1905 they were 

 at Lambrigg fairly bunty, and this may indicate that they are not 

 constitutionally resistant to bunt, but that they escape bunt through 

 some peculiar characteristic of their growth immediately after ger- 

 mination." I have found by experiment that they are relatively rapid 

 in their germination, and this may account for their escaping the 

 bunt to a large extent. But, in order to secure complete immunity 

 and the hereditary quality of resistance, it will be necessary to breed 

 from a variety which has shown itself to be free, such as Medeah, when 

 exposed to the most severe infection for a series of seasons. 



Experiments at Dookie Agricultural College. 



]\Ir. Vye, Principal of Dookie Agricultural College, had been work- 

 ing for some years in conjunction with Mr. Farrer in endeavouring to 

 produce bvmt-resisting wheats by selection after seed-infection. He is 

 still continuing this work, and the most promising line lies in breeding 

 from crosses of the Durum variety that resist the bunt. He found, for 

 instance, that Medeah is not so liable to bunt as many others, and 

 he is using this variety as a parent. The seed of the progeny is then 

 dusted Avith bunt spores, and the seed -from those plants which escape 

 infection is sown next season, and so on imtil a strain is secured which 

 will be bunt-resisting. 



Not only have these experiments been carried on for a number 

 of years, but they have been conducted on a most comprehensive 

 scale, as during the past season there were over 200 plots devoted to 

 smuts alone. I have carefully examined them, and find that it is 

 necessary to determine the bunted plants when the growth is com- 

 pleted and all the ears are more or less mature. This is owing to the 



