162 SYSTEMATIZED PLANT-BREEDING 



of the relative shortness of their supply they 

 command considerably higher prices than wheats 

 of the kinds grown here, which for the sake of 

 convenience we may describe as "weak" wheats. 

 In normal times when English wheat is selling at 

 say 35^. several of the imported strong wheats will 

 usually command 39^. or 40.5-. per quarter. The 

 miller is forced to purchase these more costly 

 wheats in order to utilise the English crop. This 

 is done by blending the strong imported and weak 

 native types in suitable proportions and then grind- 

 ing them together. The question at once arose, 

 whether it was practicable to grow strong wheats in 

 this country for given an equality in the crop they 

 would be worth somewhere about a sovereign per 

 acre more to the farmer. No evidence could be 

 obtained as to the possibility of this. The farmers 

 had no real experience of the cultivation of wheats as 

 strong as those imported from Canada, for instance, 

 and they were frankly sceptical as to the value of 

 even attempting the experiment. They contended 

 that the miller now gave very little more, if any- 

 thing, for the wheats which they considered to 

 be of good quality, and at the best the difference 

 was so slight that it paid them far better to grow 

 the greatest possible crop regardless of quality. 

 The millers on the other hand had a very strong 

 case, for they could show conclusively that the 

 change of public taste brought about by the impor- 

 tation of strong wheat during the last generation 



