26 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 11. 



2 or 3 acres, according to the area occupied by individual varieties in the 

 selection plots. In the year following these seed plots supply our farm 

 seed, and in the year after that the seed is available for seed to outsiders. 



" By these means our. farm seed supply is constantly being renewed by 

 more recent selections. The result has been most satisfactory; all our 

 wheat is sold for seed purposes, and we are never in a position to meet all 

 demands. The seed has gone all over Australia; and varieties which have 

 been grown without change on the farm for between seventeen and eighteen 

 years are still some of the best on the farm." 



There is also a wheat research station at Turretfield. At this station a 

 large and constantly increasing number of crossbred wheats are made and 

 kept under observation in what are known as " crossbred plots. 7 ' Last season 

 sixty-eight new crosses were made. In addition to this are the "breeding 

 plots," in which hand-selected seed of local and foreign wheats are grown in 

 small plots, and made use of for crossing purposes. 



Mention has been made above of the nature of the work carried out at 

 Roseworthy Agricultural College. This institution deserves mention as 

 being the first of its kind in Australia, being first opened in 1882. In 

 addition to the selection plots described above by the Principal, the College 

 encourages wheat cultivation by carrying out experiments in improved 

 methods of cultivation and in the use of manures. 



Other departmental farms which are particularly devoted to wheat are 

 (besides Turretfield) Kybobolite, Veitch's Well, and Booborowie. 



The Agricultural Bureau system, which originated in South Australia, and 

 has been introduced into New South Wales, and already referred to, has 

 also been an important factor in the improvement of wheat. The Bureau 

 consists of a central advisory body, with branches in country districts, where 

 meetings are held at regular intervals, papers read, ideas exchanged, and 

 discussions held. Officers of the Department attend these meetings and 

 discuss their special lines of work with the farmers, and the system provides 

 an admirable opportunity for keeping farmers in touch with the Depart- 

 ment. Experiment plots are also conducted by farmers under departmental 

 supervision^ 



WESTEKN AUSTKALIA. 



In this State until recent years the most prominent wheat-breeder who 

 sought to improve wheat by cross-fertilisation was Mr. G. F. Berthoud. He 

 was also in correspondence with Mr. Farrer, and in the earlier days did a 

 great deal of work in the selection of this investigator's wheats and in 

 acclimatizing them both in New South Wales and in West Australia. Mr. 

 Berthoud, after leaving New South Wales, started wheat experiment plots 

 at Hamel in West Australia, about fourteen years ago, where he worked on 

 the selection and cross-breeding of wheats, both his own and Mr. Farrer's. 

 The outcome was the establishment of a State Experiment Farm at Hamel 

 under Mr. Berthoud's direction. 



