DEPARTAENT OP AGRICULTURE, 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. II. 



WHEAT IMPROVEMENT IN AUSTRALIA, 



Embodying the following papers : 



1. Read before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 



Sydney Meeting, August, 1914. 



2. Read before the Third International Congress for Tropical Agriculture, 



London, June, 1914. 



PART I. 



General discussion of the problems involved, and some results 



obtained. 



IN Science Bulletin No. 7, published by the Department of Agriculture of 

 New South Wales, and dealing with " Wheat and Flour Investigations " 

 carried out by the Department, a short introductory account was given of 

 the encouragement afforded to the study of wheat- improvement in Australia 

 by the labours of the Interstate Rust-in-wheat Conferences. 



In the present Bulletin it is proposed to review shortly the work done in 

 the different States of the Commonwealth, and particularly during the past 

 four or five years, towards the improvement of wheat, both by individual 

 workers and as a result of departmental action. 



As was pointed out in the publication referred to, the first concerted 

 official action in the direction of studying and improving the locally-grown 

 wheats was made in 1890, when an interstate conference was called to deal 

 specifically with the question of combating rust, which was at that time very 

 prevalent in all the States. In South Australia alone it was estimated that 

 the damage due to this cause in 1899 amounted to 1,500,000. 

 . The result of these conferences, at which the Agricultural Departments of 

 all the States were represented, was to give an impetus to the systematic 

 study of the wheat-plant, with the special object of improving the grain 

 itself, and the methods of soil treatment and crop production. Wheat- 

 breeding stations were established by the various State Departments, and 

 systematic experiments were carried out at the farms and stations under 

 Government control, in order to determine the best varieties for different 

 districts, the most suitable manures, the best treatment of the soil, methods 

 of combating disease, fee. 



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