28 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 11. 



the best early or mid-season varieties. He has two varieties with solid 

 straws and beardless, of similar parentage to Le Huguenot, which he will 

 shortly distribute, and which he considers will be even more generally useful 

 than Le Huguenot, in that they tiller better, hold in the ground better when, 

 ripe, and can consequently be better stripped. They are more readily 

 threshed, and produce better and more abundant grain. These varieties he 

 calls La Eochelle and De Conde, and they appear to be the result of natural 

 cross-fertilisation between Medeah and a wheat called Hawkes Club, a 

 field of which was growing alongside. 



Other varieties (Correll's No. 7 and No. 8) are also hay-wheats and bunt 

 and smut proof, and will probably be found to be rust-resistant. 



Of the grain wheats, the one which Mr. Correll considers most promising 

 is No. 10, which will shortly be available for distribution. This has long 

 square heads free from tip beards, with purple straw, comparatively short 

 straw, and very shotty grain. Mr. Correll's wheats, as will be seen, are all 

 the products of selection of two or three natural crosses with Medeah as one 

 of the parents. 



Among the more recent enthusiasts to take up the matter of wheat- 

 breeding in Western Australia is Mr. W. Catton Grasby, of the Perth 

 Technical College and the West Australian newspaper. Mr. Grasby was 

 for some years in communication with Mr. Farrer and Mr. Richard Marshall, 

 of South Australia. 



He carried on wheat experiment plots in West Australia in co-operation 

 with the late Mr. Charles Harper, and since Mr. Harper's death has continued 

 this work alone. 



Mr. Grasby has been successful both in selecting special wheats and in 

 cross-breeding. The principal objects at present aimed at by him are the 

 creation of early-maturing varieties possessing stiff straw and the production 

 of hay-wheats. In this latter respect very promising results have been 

 obtained by using Huguenot as a parent. Tall, well-stooled wheats result* 

 and there is every likelihood of one or more of these wheats taking the 

 place of Baroota, the present favourite. Crosses between Alpha (Berthoud's} 

 and Federation (Farrer's), and also between Federation and Rerraf (two 

 Farrer wheats), give considerable promise, being notably early-maturing 

 varieties, and escaping mildew, which did a great deal of damage in Western 

 Australia last season. Some of these crosses will be ready for distribution 

 in a couple of years' time. 



Departmental action. 



Largely through the instrumentality of Mr. Grasby, the Education Depart* 

 ment has introduced wheat-growing as a subject for Nature Study in schools. 

 Mr. Grasby has placed at the disposal of the Department the produce of his 

 own experiment plots, including a number of cross-bred varieties of his owii 

 creation. 



It is anticipated that the work will prove of great commercial value to the 

 State, although the plots are intended primarily to be educational. 



