lO SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 11. 



summarises the characteristics which make for prolificiiess in a wheat under 

 Australian conditions as follows: 



1. Well-developed root system. 



2. Strong tillering or stooling property. 



3. Long ears. 



4. Dense or close ears or an increased number of spikelets per ear. 



5. Increased number of fertile florets per row of spikelets. 



6. Large and heavy grain. 



Wheats with the above characteristics are the most likely to withstand 

 droughty conditions, and to hold their grain well, at the same time allowing 

 the grain to be threshed readily. 



Drought Resistance. 



The problem of creating, either by selection or by cross-breeding, varieties 

 which will yield well under comparatively dry conditions is one of the most 

 important which presents itself to the breeder of improved wheats for 

 Australian conditions. It is also the one in the solution of which some 

 of the most striking successes have been achieved by our wheat-breeders. 

 .The future extension of the wheat area depends upon the cultivation of 

 wheat in districts with a considerably lower rainfall than is at present 

 considered the minimum. With improved methods of cultivation and 

 fallowing, and the selection of such wheats as are best able to withstand 

 dry conditions, wheat is now being profitably grown in districts which, a 

 few years ago, were regarded as unsuitable. 



As the development of these wheats proceeds, and with the use of motor 

 traction and multiple ploughs and the application of proper soil manage- 

 ment, our best authorities are agreed that wheat-growing on the large scale 

 will be successful in drier areas than have yet been farmed. Light sowings 

 and light manuring are also factors in successful wheat-culture in such 

 areas. 



The characteristics to be looked for in wheats for dry districts are 

 summarized as follows by Mr. McAlpine,*: who has made a special and 

 extended study of the wheats suitable to the so-called Mallee district of 

 Victoria. " They must be early-maturing to escape the hot winds, drought- 

 resisting, holding the grain well (since the grain must be dead ripe for 

 harvesting with the stripper). They must, in addition, be good milling 

 wheats, prolific, and fairly rust-resistant." 



It may be said that the production of wheats with the above characteristics 

 and modified to suit the exigencies of the varying soils and climate met with 

 in different parts of Australia, constitutes the problem of the local wheat- 

 breeder. 



* Report on wheat experiments at Port Fairy and in the Mallee, season 1899- 

 1000, by D. McAlpine, A^egetable Pathologist: published by Department of 

 Agriculture, Victoria (March, 1900). 



