in HKIWSKD ANh I'l.l >I .1:1.1. 



. 





. 



TRITICUM 

 VULOARK 



trvnjth 



or absence of a beard. He forms six sections : two of which are bmrd- 

 less and correspond, he says, t> 7. /////*. //<////, / 



>uld appear to be for tin- n.~: part white \vhrt both nof 

 hard, though one of them, the 1 M hani 



and the illustration .>hou Mv h.-ur . 



(iuinmie's third .section lie kuli Lmfial, 



Litfinn wheats, which lie identities with /. /,,.,*,/,,, 

 In tin -e. the spikelets are velvety, bearded, and the grain* described M 

 hard \\hite. yellow or red. The bak&hi wheats are almost confined to 

 1'iomliav. more especially the Deccan, and are not met with in tin* Kmikan. 

 Then i lie fourth and fifth sections are also bearded wheats, which (J a ramie 

 re^jirds us being forms of T. u-*tirmn. I. inn. The former he calls popatta 

 \\heut (I.e., t. vi.), a form met with mostly in liombay and the Central 

 Provinces, and possessed of hard yellow or hard red grain. The Utter be 

 designates the daudkhani wheats (I.e. t. vii.) ; these are shortly bearded 

 and the grains soft white, hard white or hard red. They are met with 

 in the Pan jab and, Gammie says, may be viewed as the transitional 

 ionns between the long bearded and beardless wheats. Lastly, his sixth 

 M'.-I ion (I.e., t. viii.) embraces the various forms of khapli already discussed 

 (p. 1084). These, he says, are awned and have a covered, hard red grain. 

 An American correspondent of Gammie's, it would seem, had identified 

 the Bombay khapli to be the same as Emtner wheat of Siberia " a 

 variety used to transmit rustproof qualities." But in 1903, Gammie tells 

 us, the khapli " became decidedly rusted, so that it has now lost its long- 

 maintained reputation of immunity." 



Hybridised and Pedigree Wheat. The improvement of the stock Hybrid*, 

 of wheat has for many years been recognised as an essential feature of 

 rational cultivation. Recent research would seem to show, however, that 

 not only better but more immediate and more enduring results are likely 

 to be attained by hybridisation of stock than by the tedious process of 

 selection that hitherto has resulted in what are known as pedigree wheats. 

 It is, in fact, not enough to know the species and varieties of / ; it 



has become imperative to be able to recognise the races and to successfully 

 cross these in directions ascertained to secure the fixation of properties 

 of value in direct adaptation to environment. For example, the property 

 of certain flours, known technically as " strength," that is to say the 

 capacity to afford a large loaf, has been established as a racial character- 

 istic that may be secured by the adoption of certain stocks, or by their 

 utilisation in hybridisation. At one time it was assumed that strength 

 was due to manuring, to methods of cultivation, to soil and climate, or 

 to season of reaping, but each and every one of these opinions have 

 been tested and found unconnected with the production of " streiu 

 All English wheats are admittedly deficient, but Red Fife Wheat (among 

 others that might be mentioned) has been found not only to possess 

 that property, but to preserve it when grown in England, and to trans- 

 mit the same when employed in crossing with standard English wheats, 

 such as Golden Drop. [Cf. Hall, in Journ. Board Agri., 1 

 33 ; Rept. Confer, on Genetics; Roy. Hort. Soc., 1906, 384.] In a brief 

 by Howard (Agri. Journ. Ind., 1906, i.,pt. iv.. 401 -3) it is very properl 

 urged that the first step toward impro\ 



He has accordingly pointed out that in India it is noc uncommon to 

 find wheat not only grown mixed with barley, gram and other such 



1087 



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