748 



selected, abundant crops of both white and red hybrids were pro- 

 duced, partaking of the best qualities of both parents. 



There are no wheats exhibited superior to the South Australian. 

 This is probably owing to climate ; for it appears, after a careful exa- 

 mination of many samples from the best wheat-growing climates, that 

 Spain, and certain districts of southern Russia, produce hard wheals, 

 equalling the Austrahan; whilst the produce of England, of the South 

 of France, of the United States and Canada, hardly fall short of the 

 same high standard. Large allowances have, in many cases, to be 

 made for faulty agriculture, carelessly collected or insufficient samples, 

 and for inefficient methods of threshing, &c., the grain. Such circum- 

 stances affect the adjudication of awards, but not perhaps the original 

 value of the crop from which the samples were collected. 



British Department. — But few malts are exhibited : the samples 

 shown by Taylor and Son receive Honourable Mention. A sample 

 of porter malt prepared by a " patent process " was exhibited by S. 

 R. Poole, in which the " torre faction or roasting" was not carried so 

 far as in the ordinary brown malts, and which is said to contain in 

 consequence a larger proportion of unchanged saccharine matter. 



British East India. — Wheat has from time immemorial been a 

 staple crop in the plains of northern India, and especially in the Pun- 

 jaub ; and since the establishment of the studs at Buxar, Ghazepore, 

 &c., oats have been Q^tensively cultivated. Both are winter (cold 

 weather) crops. The climate and soil are well fitted for these cereals, 

 but owing to defects and carelessness in the agriculture and harvest- 

 ing, the crops, though excellent, fall short of what most corn-growing 

 countries produce. Further, owing to foul boats and granaries, and 

 to the moist heat of the months immediately succeeding harvest, the 

 wheat reaches England in a state too dirty and weavelled for market. 

 There are two samples in the Exhibition, one of hard and one of soft 

 wheat, of which the former is most prized by natives of India, pro- 

 bably for no better cause than that the hardness of the grain more 

 closely resembles th*^ir favourite food, rice. Barley is most exten- 

 sively cultivated in tiie Hiraalayah and Tibet, replacing in many dis- 

 tricts the wheat, and producing an admirable flour ; both are deside- 

 rata (as are the oats), which is much to be regretted. 



Australasia. — From this quarter of the globe, including Van Die- 

 men's Land and New Zealand, there are splendid samples of wheat, 

 some of barley, and a few of oats. Port Adelaide stands pre-eminent 

 for wheat and barley. Prize Medals have been awarded both to R. 

 Ilallett and Sons, and to Heath and Burrow, for wheat, which may be 



