542 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G2. 



in our generation." He further maintained that he was sup- 

 ported in his contention by an eminent agricultural scientist^ 

 who had stated that, " as a matter of fact, although he had watched 

 wheat crossings conducted by eminent men on the continent of 

 Europe for 25 or 30 years past, he was not aware of any single 

 variety which has yet come on the market." Farrer, for one, has 

 shown this contention to be ill-founded. He has realised his aims, 

 as defined in 1898, almost to the full. 



The direct result of his work has been of incalculable value to 

 the Commonwealth, in that it has indicated what is possible and 

 how to achieve the possible ; the indirect result of his work will in 

 the future be of still greater economic value. 



No record of Farrer's success would be complete without — 

 as he did, and would now wish to do — paying tribute to his co- 

 worker, Mr. F. B. Guthrie, the chemist of the Department of 

 Agriculture. To Guthrie was left the task, by no means easy, 

 of devising new methods to reliably test the milling value of the 

 very small samples of grain, which were the only ones available. 

 The fact that these methods have furnished results which when 

 acted upon have been confirmed by commercial experience, is 

 the best proof of their efficiency and the thoroughness with which 

 they were devised. Fortunate indeed was Farrer that, in the 

 early and critical stages of his investigations, he had in Guthrie 

 such a sympathetic colleague. Without such sympathy and 

 enthusiastic co-operation thus extended to him, Farrer would have 

 been hampered and would have been unable to have accomplished 

 all that he has. 



3.— ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF CERTAIN AUSTRALIAN VARIETIES 

 OF WHEAT WHEN GROWN IN SURREY (ENGLAND). 



By A . E. HUMPHRIES, Chiirman of the Home Grown Wheat Committee of the National Association 

 of British and Irish Millers. 



On behalf of the Home Grown Wheat Committee of the National 

 Association of British .and Irish Millers, of which Professor Biffen, 

 of Cambridge, and Mr. A. D. Hall, F.R.S., Director of Rothamsted 

 Experimental Station are members, I have grown experimentally 

 a great number of colonial and foreign wheats. We have sought 

 to ascertain — 



1. Whether any one or more kinds were suitable without 



selection or hybridizing for distribution as seed to' 

 British and Irish farmers. 



2. Whether among the commercial grades or kinds of wheat 



one or more varieties could be found, which when 

 segregated and grown in Great Britain and Ireland, 

 would be superior or at least equal in yield of grain 

 and straw and superior as regards quality of grain to 

 the varieties now generally grown by British farmers. 



3. Whether any colonial or foreign variety retained or de- 



veloped when grown in England any one or more 



