IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEATS. 527 



effect for specifically directing our efforts in that direction. ... I 

 cannot think also that any curative agent could be applied so thoroughly 

 on a large scale and so inexpensively as to be of any practical value." 



I shall give one more quotation from this valuable paper (the 

 whole of which deserves republication), and that is in connection 

 with the necessity that exists in wheat soils of an abundance of 

 vegetable or organic matter. He invariably and consistently 

 advocated the addition of this when deficient. 



" In well drained and porous soils the wheat plant seldom receives a 

 severe check to its growth from drought, for a slight deficiency of moisture is 

 more favourable to its health than an excess. The absorption of such (hygro- 

 scopic) moisture can be further increased very materially in most soils by 

 makmg them richer in humus or decayed vegetable matter. This can be 

 done by green manuring and ploughing in vegetable matter. So valuable- 

 do I consider vegetable matter to be for this purpose that I have come to 

 regard as friends rather than as foes the great majority of our weeds, whicb 

 can also be made to perform other important functions in the economy of 

 the farm." 



Another conference was held the following year, but in the 

 meantime Mr. Farrer had invited to his farm the pathologist of the 

 Agricultural Department, Dr. Cobb, and the artist, Mr. Grosse, to 

 enable them to make microscopical investigations and drawings of 

 rust-affected wheat plants ; and there Mr. Farrer afforded them 

 every facility possible, with the result that a vast amount of in- 

 formation respecting the parasite was obtained. 



At the conference held in 1892 in South Australia, the informa- 

 tion Farrer had supplied to the previous conference was supple- 

 mented to a considerable extent by him. Referring to the- 

 physical qualities which enable wheats to offer resistance to rust, 

 he said : — 



" The work, then, which lies before us is to combine in one variety, in 

 as high a degree as is found to be necessary, the above three qualities together 

 with the other qualities of a good wheat ; and how to do this in the 

 best manner is the subject to the consideration of which I shall now devote- 

 a few words. The most obvious manner in which we should set about effecting 

 this object is, first, to find out what varieties possess in the highest degree 

 one or more of the resistance-giving qualities we are seeking to secure ; and 

 next, to cross them in such a manner as to combine these qualities with 

 the other qualities which give value to a wheat, paying special attention in 

 the first instance to resistance giving qualities. In regard to choosing the 

 parents for crossing, I myself am minded to mate varieties of distinct types. 

 By following this course at first I would expect to get a greater number of 

 types to select from, some of which would possibly combine, in as high a degree 

 as either parent, the special good qualities of both parents, on account of 

 which each of them was selected. Breeding up, comprehending the elimina- 

 tion of undesirable qualities and the higher development of desirable ones, 

 would be effected in the best manner by mating varieties of the same type 

 and by Ime-breeding. Amongst the qualities, the importance of which it 

 would appear to be impossible to over-rate, is that of making the chaff hold 

 the grain firmly and well. I draw special attention to this quality, because 

 all of the highly resistant varieties I have come across, with the exception 

 of Uard's Prolific, and its probably more valuable strain, Marshall's White 

 shell too easily. I also attach additional importance to this quality in view 

 of the fact that it has now been satisfactorily proved that it is more profitable 

 to the farmer to allow his wheat to become ripe before harvesting it. 



