546 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G2. 



The yield of grain from Nhill, Yandilla King and Federation 

 was practically nil, from Marshall's No. 3 very small, from Come- 

 back and Gluyas small. I milled and baked a little from Come- 

 back and Marshall's No. 3. The former behaved well in the bake- 

 house ; the dough was tough, resilient and stable, the loaves of 

 good size and shape. Using our technical terms to comprise these 

 qualities, it possessed " stability " in high degree, and was " strong," 

 in both points giving clear evidence of its Fife parentage. Mar- 

 shall's No. 3 was poor in both respects, as well in the absolute 

 sense of the term as in relation to Comeback. 



In passing I would like to note the further illustration these 

 cases provide of the principle that there is no correlation, at any 

 rate in England, between strength and rapidity of maturation. 

 For it will be seen that whereas an ordinary weak English 

 variety occupied 42 days from earing to cutting. Comeback in spite 

 of its rapid early growth required (say) 62. Red Fife, it may be 

 noted, occupied 48 days in that stage of its growth. 



These results from our 1908 crop were so unfavoiirable that 

 I had some hesitation in making further experiments in England 

 with Australian wheats. How^ever, bearing in mind that the 

 results ah"eady recorded concerned spring-sown wheats, and that 

 the apparently fatal streak of bad weather in July might not be 

 encountered in another season, I determined to try Comeback, 

 Gluyas and Marshall's No. 3 again. In the meantime I had 

 received samples of Bobs, Florence and Jonathan, and I included 

 them in the set for our 1909 harvest. It will be seen that in this 

 case I was using for the former three varieties seed raised in 

 England, and therefore sown again within three months of har- 

 vesting, and for the latter trio seed raised in Australia and sown 

 at least ten months after harvesting. 



The Florence was " sprouted." This variety in several re- 

 spects reminds one of the New Zealand " Tuscan," which seems 

 to be more susceptible than other New Zealand wheats to the 

 blemish, from a miller's point of view, of a tendency to " sprout " 

 readily in wet or broken weather. If this characteristic be in- 

 herent in Florence, it is prima facie unsuitable to our conditions. 

 However, I tried it, and obtained a satisfactory " plant." 



The figuT'es already given indicate the sort of season we had 

 for our 1909 wheats. The six plots were situated on the same 

 farm and soil as for the 1908 crop, and >v-ere drilled about the 

 end of October. The weather had been superb for the time of 

 the year, and the land was in first rate condition for planting. 

 November was a particularly dry month, and not unfavotu'able 

 as regards temperature. On December 6th I noted that these 

 Australian wheats had germinated well, and presented quite a 

 favourable appearance. In December we had rather more rain 

 than usual, and some snow, but the conditions on the whole were 

 not unfavourable to wheat. My notebook records that on Decem- 

 ber 27th : " Comeback very noteworthy for its light green colour." 



