544 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G2. 



The varieties passed on to me by Mr. A. D. Hall were Comeback, 

 Federation, Gluyas, Marshall's No. 3, Nhill, and Yandilla King. 

 As I did not get them in time for sowing under favourable condi- 

 tions in Autumn I delayed planting them till February 26th, 1908. 

 The late autumn and winter had been fairly favourable. This 

 February was a very dry one, and the planting was effected quite 

 satisfactorily. March was a month of " many weathers," wet at 

 first, cold in the middle of the month, wet again at its end, so that 

 the six varieties did not show above ground till April 4th. April 

 was wetter than usual and we had two heavy snowstorms at the 

 end of the month, so that the mean temperature was low and the 

 conditions unfavourable. Comeback withstood them better than 

 the other five Australian varieties. May was a beautiful month, 

 rainfall below the average, but sufficient ; temperature was high for 

 the time of year. We escaped late frosts altogether. Nevertheless 

 my note on June 7th was " Nhill is very bad and Yandilla King 

 worse. Comeback is the best of the Australians and just about 

 earing, though it is as yet only 18 inches high." From this it will 

 be seen that although the conditions affecting its earliest growth 

 were unfavourable, this variety required only 102 days to get 

 from sowing to earing, and only 64 from the time it appeared above 

 ground. Gluyas came into ear about a week later, and the other 

 four, Federation, Nhill, Marshall's No. 3 and Yandilla King two or 

 three days later still. This rapidity of growth is noteworthy, for an 

 ordinary English variety sown in the same field about October 

 29th did not come into ear till June 20th, and Red Fife sown on 

 October 25th till about June 10th. 



The rainfall in June was below the average ; indeed, it was a dry 

 month, except for some thunderstorms, and the general conditions 

 were quite favourable for wheat, except during the first few days 

 of the month, when rust showed itself on almost all our wheats. 

 In July we had a normal rainfall. The weather, as a whole, was 

 favourable early in the month and at its end, but we had a " very 

 dull, miserable time " in the middle of it. This played havoc with 

 these Australian varieties. Nhill and Yandilla King were already 

 so poor that their condition could hardly be worsened without absolute 

 extinction, but the others were previously at any rate presentable. 

 However, in one week Federation was irretrievably ruined and had 

 become absolutely worthless. The others were also damaged, but 

 were able to survive and yield small quantities of grain. The 

 weather for harvesting was good. We had practically no rain from 

 July 20th till August 21st. Red Fife and an ordinary English 

 variety grown in the same field as the Australian varieties were cut 

 on July 28th and August 1st respectively. The dates on which the 

 Australian wheats were cut were as follows : — 



Federation . . . . . . August 3 



Gluyas . . . . . . ,, 8 



Comeback . . . . . . ,, 10 



Marshall's No. 3 . . . . ,, 11 



Nhill „ 15 



Yandilla King 15 



