16 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 11. 



selection plots and the use of clean machinery the farmer will be able to 

 dispense with even this precaution. The elimination of the above work has 

 made it possible to extend the area devoted to selections from cross-breds. 

 Fewer, new crosses are made, but the number of selections from each cross 

 has been increased. 



Selections are also made from field crops, for although their pedigrees are 

 unknown, they often include useful material. These new wheats are pre- 

 sumably the result of natural cross fertilisation, a phenomenon which Mr. 

 Pridham thinks occurs more frequently than is generally supposed. 



With regard to drought-resistant wheats, several of the new varieties are 

 extremely promising. It cannot, however, be said of any of them that they 

 are of such general value as Federation. 



Among these Mr. Pridham regards Sunset as the most promising. It is not 

 strictly speaking a new wheat, as it is one of Mr. Farrer's original crosses, 

 and had been rejected on account of its low flour strength. It is, however, 

 likely to prove a very valuable variety, as it matures very quickly, and 

 possesses other characteristics which render it admirably suited to dry- 

 country conditions. It is being distributed this season. It is a cross 

 between a sport from Blount's Lambrigg and a cross between White Fife 

 and Summer Club. 



It is one of the earliest ripening kinds and amongst the most prolific in 

 dry districts. 



Other new wheats which are being distributed this season are : 



Bomen, one of whose parents is Red Potocka and the other a cross-bred 

 wheat containing Fife and Indian blood. It was first made in 1901, and 

 proved bunt-resistant. It ripens a little later than Federation, and is a 

 rather weak-flour, prolific variety, with good straw. 



Canberra. A cross between Federation and Volga barley (a two-row sort 

 contained as an. impurity in a sample of wheat received from Russia). 

 Canberra is an' early-ripening, prolific wheat, its defects being that it is 

 rather weak in the straw, and has a slight tendency to shell. It yields a 

 high percentage of flour of first-rate colour and good strength. 



Nardoo is another promising cross, containing Fife and White Naples 

 amongst its parentage. It is a smut-resistant variety, and a particularly 

 promising hay wheat, though good for grain, also yielding a flour of medium 

 strength. 



At the other farms the wheats produced at Cowra are tested for their 

 suitability for different districts, and grown in the variety trial plots. Those 

 that prove valuable are grown on the larger scale in the stud plots and 

 distributed to farmers. 



The following list, which gives the varieties recommended by the Depart- 

 ment for the present season's sowing, represents the final stage of the 

 Department's action in this direction. The wheats which are underlined 

 are Farrer wheats. 



