548 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G2. 



the Australian wheats was irretrievable. Comeback, Bobs and the 

 autumn-sown Gluyas became extremely rusted, in ears as well as 

 on leaves. Indeed, in all cases it was no longer a question of 

 goodness but of badness in varying degrees, and Marshall's No. 3 

 was the least bad. 



As regards five of the six autumn sown ones, rust practically 

 killed them, and the tiny quantities of grain contained in their ears 

 the birds wanted, and I made no effort to stop them. Marshall's 

 No. 3 yielded a small crop, the others practically nothing. For a 

 time it seemed that the spring-sown Austrahans would do better, 

 indeed the spring sown Gluyas came into ear about June 24th, when 

 it was free from rust. The same remark applies to Huguenot, which 

 had a stem just below the ears of corkscrew shape and was very 

 " blue," but Alpha even then was very rusty on its bottom leaves. 

 By July 18th this spring-sown Gluyas was shghtly rusty ; of Alpha 

 I then recorded " leaves practically all dead from rust, ears fairly 

 free" ; and of Huguenot, "well grown, very slightly rusty." A 

 week later, of these three I recorded" Alpha valueless," " Huguenot 

 all right," and Gluyas " well worth saving." At the end of another 

 week, that is to say on August 7th, I wrote : — " Huguenot very 

 largely gone wrong, mostly the purple headed and purple strawed 

 plants." The finish of their story is that spring-sown Gluyas did 

 yield a little grain, and could be described as " fairly free " from 

 rust ; the Huguenot suffered from mould as well as rust, and 

 practically no grain ever formed in its ears. Alpha was an absolute 

 failure, for the straw died when it should have ripened. It seems 

 to me quite unnecessary to set out in detail our tabulated records 

 of these wheats. The story is dismal, and need not be prolonged. 

 Marshall's No. 3 and spring-sown Gluyas were the " least bad," 

 but on no point could I discover anything of any value to us in 

 any of the 11 varieties I tried in all. 



In 1905 the Agent-General for South AustraHa sought the 

 advice of the National Association of British and Irish Millers " as 

 to any improvements which may be possible in the conditions and 

 quality of Australian wheat." I ventured then to say that 

 " wheat growers at the Antipodes should be left to work out their 

 own salvation." It seemed to me, and in the fight of our subse- 

 quent experiences detailed herein, it is now more than ever apparent 

 that Engfish and Austrafian wheat growers can usefully interchange 

 ideas on principles only. For instance. Comeback is superior in 

 quafity to any Austrafian wheat I know, but I understand that it 

 yields much less grain than, say. Federation. Therein lies an ex- 

 emplification of our English experience, on an average of many 

 cases, as regards Fife and our common English varieties. 



Farrer's demonstration that the better quafity of Fife can be 

 inherited intact by its child Comeback, and Prof. Biffen's work in 

 showing not only that such a result is possible, but that it can be 

 reproduced at will in accordance with Nature's own laws, show that 

 it is possible in Austrafia to produce a wheat which is Comeback 

 (or Fife) as regards quality of endosperm, and Federation in all 



